Stoutpup

I know you love your dog. I see you in the park throwing your tennis ball to and fro — your adorable and smart puppy chasing and retrieving every time. I see the way that you look lovingly at that beautiful sloppy mouthed mutt. He’s a good dog! I can see that. You may even think it unfair to leash such a well-behaved creature on such a sunny day as today – even though signs explicitly indicating dogs must be leashed are clearly posted at my park and majority of Public Parks In Seattle.

I love dogs. In fact I love dogs so much I have two of my own. You may have spotted me walking them in the park trying to get them to do their business before and after work and on my lunch hour. I’m sure you saw me, because your dog came lumbering towards me and stuck its nose up my dog’s butt to get a good sniff. Lucy didn’t like that. She was at the park for a purpose – to do her business. But your dog was so distracting – so interested in playing “off leash” with my leashed dog, Lucy forgot what her original reason was for being out at the park at that time. You caused such chaos during my 5-minute window of time to get my dogs to do their thing, that my 5 minutes became 15 minutes.

“Is your dog friendly?” You ask. Why, yes, she is. But THAT’S NOT THE POINT. Leash laws are there for a reason. I found an article that you might like to read in the archives of The Seattle Times. I just had to look it up because I saw a printout of it posted in Seward Park this past weekend. Here it is >>

Dogs are unpredictable. They are animals. Why don’t you get it? What if your dog bites my dog in the park because yours is doing something illegal like BEING OFF LEASH? I will sue your ass and your dog’s ass too. Hey is that your dog wandering off near the play area – dogs don’t like their tails pulled by curious children!

It amazes me that when I am at the park across the street and someone’s loose dog comes up and starts acting aggressive with one of my leashed dogs, the owner will say, “Oh, it’s the leash thing.” You’re damn right it is. Off Leash Dog in combination with On Leash Dog causes tension in the form of aggression and dominance. Read some Cesar, people, and kindly put your lovely dog on a leash.

Be responsible. Don’t ruin it for us all. We like our parks where we are free to walk our dogs or sit and read a book with our canine companions by our side. And we don’t want that privilege taken away because of your silly sense of entitlement and penchant for breaking the rules. Go to the Off Leash dog park. We may even see you there, we like it there too. We can watch our dogs can play together.

PS. Don’t forget to pick up your dog’s poop. I know you’re really busy chatting with the other Off Leash dog mommies and daddies while your canines run around out of your eyesight and shit everywhere, but I’m really tired of picking up after you and your Off Leash dog in my on leash park. Have a nice day!