In this neighbourhood, the mean dogs come out at 4:00pm.
Generally I walk the dog either around 11:00am, or 3:00pm, depending on my schedule for the day.
The other day I had to go out at 5:00, and in an effort to avoid the wearing of pants as long as possible (one of the very few perks of being at home more often than not these days), I delayed the mid-day walking of the dog until 4:00.
Oh my.
In our 2-ish kilometer jaunt, we encountered no fewer than four completely awful, aggressive dogs. These dogs are the reason leash laws are in place.
Poor Sasha was accosted for crimes such as:
-> Chasing her own ball
-> Walking through the park
-> Walking away from having her bits sniffed
-> Existing.
I was admittedly lucky that my dog chose that day to actually remember her “Canine Good Neighbour” training, and actually broke away from the dog-fights when I told her to “leave it” and “come.”
And I really wonder at the mental facilities of the woman who had her dog off leash when she knew it was going to try fighting my dog for ownership of her own ball (not when chasing, but when returning), or the guy who had his behemoth on a regular collar lead, and couldn’t control it when it lunged at Sasha for being so offensive as to be heeling beside me as we waited to cross the street.
These are the people who give dog owners in the city a bad name. I bet they don’t scoop their poop either.
So, you’ve been warned: if you want to avoid the mean dogs, stay away from the Cornwall/Macdonald area on weekdays (or at least Mondays) around 4:00pm.
I seriously thought that read “the mean dogs come out at 4am” and wondered what on earth you’d been up to… then I reread it, and it was still amusing.