Donkeys and Dogs

The following article has been seen in a local village news sheet, and I must say I sympathise with the writer. What do you think??

Like many others, I have had to walk the gauntlet of dog poo along most of my road when going to school to collect my grandchildren. I know you have championed this cause before, but I believe there to be two animals involved. The dog who has poor bowel control, and the donkey who walks the dog, who has no brain control. I am not sure which is worse! Actually I do. The donkey or ass is worse because he or she knows full well the effect their animal has on the pavement, and also that children will walk through it, and carry the mess, the smell, and the disease home. These people don't need a poop scoop, they need a navvies shovel and a brain replacement. 

I am sick and tired of seeing the end result (pun intended) but never clapping eyes on the beasts who walk the dogs. My conclusion is this: there are worse animals in our village than the dogs! Even worse still, these animals will not take any responsibility, or care what their dog does, so it will continue. Are we prepared to live in a place with more than our share of 'village idiots'?

In the unlikely event that one of these animals (not the dog) is reading this, then 'get your act together'!!

Submitted by 'Pavement Dancer'.

Strange isn't it that dog owners don't really see themselves as culprits? How many of this kind of dog owner do you know, who do not pick up after their dog? Answer, none, because they are all very careful with their pets. It's a bit like an obese person saying they don't really eat much, or a chain smoker who says they don't really spend a whole lot on cigarettes, or an alcoholic who could stop drinking anytime! As our Scottish bard said so well, 'ah wid some power the Giftie gie us, to see oorselves as ithers see us'!

On another point, I was walking down the street recently, and an adult man took a run at a stranger and stood in front of him shouting abuse in a very agitated way. He then ran round the very frightened victim, up close and yelling all the while. The adult man's elderly mum stepped in and said to the now shaking man, 'don't worry, he won't touch you. He's really a big softy'!! Wow...

Sound familiar? What about the dog owner who lets their 'wee pet' run up to an unsuspecting stranger, bark wildly at him or her, maybe a child, almost causing a coronary visit, and says in a very unsympathetic manner, 'he'll no touch you, you know. He's a big softy'. All as if to say, that it was your own fault he did that. You obviously did something to agitate him. Oh dear, tell that to the gran in NE England who lost their grandchild to a wild family pet, who never did anything like that before. Or how about the family pet on the Isle of Wight who mauled a young baby to death in the family home? Do dog owners not know about these things, or do they just ignore them? After all, isn't their dog just like their own child, or maybe even more important than their own children?

The obvious exceptions to this kind of problem are professionally trained dogs, like dogs for the blind or deaf, or police rescue dogs. To me, a dog is a dog, so the difference obviously isn't in the animal, it's in the owner, or as the writer of the article above says, if there is a problem, it lies with 'the donkey'. Aptly said!!