This question came about over a discussion my brother and I had about whether dogs should be on leashes when outside. We both agreed that yes, they should, for several reasons, but that’s not the point.
Let’s use a hypothetical to better illustrate the question. Imagine that there’s a perfume - vanilla, for example - that doesn’t bother you at all (you don’t like nor dislike it), but that is very upsetting to some people, and can even cause some adverse reactions (allergies or something). In this hypothetical, based on the negative effects, you agree that vanilla perfumes should be banned. Currently, however, they are allowed.
You’re walking down the street, and randomly smell someone passing you by and they’re wearing a vanilla perfume.
Would that upset you? Why, or why not?
My answer is yes, without a doubt. Even though the smell itself doesn’t bother me, the fact someone would wear that perfume and not only potentially upset others, but put them in danger, is upsetting.
My brother, however, would say no! He couldn’t explain his reasoning to me.
I know this is a little convoluted, but I hope I got my question across.
My response might be sligtly convoluted, but I’ll try to keep it simple. It relates to allergies.
For me, I am extremely allergic to oysters, and largely also allergic to shellfish. I’m so badly allergic to oysters that I cannot be in the same room as someone else eating them, the smell alone makes me gag, my eyes water, and makes my bronchial tubes swell where I can’t even breathe.
I however am luckily not allergic to peanuts. Regardless, I totally understand how potentially deadly a peanut allergy can be to those with the allergy, and if I’m in a public place around strangers, I tend to assume that anyone around me might have a peanut allergy.
Last year, I was in line at a gas station, and the woman in front of me waiting to pay had bought boiled peanuts. And she was fucking shelling and eating the peanuts while waiting in line, the bitch couldn’t even wait to pay for them, with cash, and exit the store first.
I called her out on it, and even pretended that I did have a peanut allergy, and what she was doing was not only nasty, but also a danger to others handling her peanut juice covered money.
She proved to be a Karen and not give a fuck, but I did speak my mind, on behalf of people that could possibly fucking die over her nastiness and carelessness.
Damn, that must suck balls…
Good on you, dude! I wish I called dog owners on their leash-less dogs more often…
Even though the woman proved to be a Karen, the cashiers working the store that day totally understood why I was upset. If only they had or enacted a policy of don’t consume any products in the store…
As far as the dog on the leash thing, we’re about 99% in favor of that, only exception being when we take our dog out to our city park, where we adopted him from as abandoned.
Brownie knows every inch of the park and I feel it would be wrong to not let him roam free occasionally when there’s not many people or other animals around. Those sort of days are few and far between though, so 99% of the time he’s on the leash.
If it’s an off leash park it’s fine. If it’s on lead have them on lead. It isn’t about your dog it’s about everyone else’s dogs. Dogs on leash are significantly more reactive when another dog runs up to them, so it’s important to have control of the dog, lest one of the dogs gets badly hurt.
Our park is mostly a water park for kids at the front, with a couple pavilions, and a boat ramp and senior citizen center in the back. So yes, it’s not an official dog park, but unofficial its accepted as one by pretty much everyone.
We keep him on the leash when there’s lots of people or other dogs around, but on days when the park is practically empty, we let him roam free and burn his calories.
He was abandoned for like 5 months out at the park before we decided to adopt him, so most regular park visitors already know him. Police officers approve, they even helped us adopt him.
He’s a medium size dog, and mostly chill, just sometimes playful. He’s never hurt anyone.
Of course that’s not true for all dogs though, hence why we’re very careful regarding what sort of days we might let him roam around off the leash.
Fair enough, as long as there’s respect to other dogs and dog owners. Many dog owners near where I live who selfilishly let their dogs off lead in busy on lead areas and obviously causes problems.