Who Let the Dogs Out?

I'm sure that poor Tea Time can attest to how inconvenient dogs can be to a good run. Don't get me wrong, I really adore and admire dogs, but since I'm cynical and believe that there are really bad people in the world, there must be some pretty mean dogs out there. Bad people => bad dogs (there are no such things as inherently bad dogs).

The other day, I was squeezing in a 17-miler at the park in the afternoon. I probably should have done this in the morning for a plethora of reasons, but I had woken up late feeling like crud. I guess "The Ukrainian" and I had too much fun on Valentine's Day window shopping, dancing, cooking, eating, and falling asleep in front of Charlie Brown cartoons.

Anyway, there are waaaaay more kids, bikes, and dogs out during the afternoon. Now, the park has explicit signs saying to keep all dogs on a leash, but just like weirdo people who have 14 children, people become selfish and do their biddings. So even though my run was already going badly due to crampy legs, I had to factor in time each time I had to slow/stop my running to not aggravate dogs running toward this running girl. At least none of them were exceptionally large or rabid-looking. They were small dogs that I could have kicked if I wished. I used to carry around pepper spray partially for this purpose, but I have since lost it (it was pretty beat up anyway, and people were giving me flack about carrying one without a license/training).

If you're a dog owner, please please please consider leashing your dog when you take them out, and keeping them securely behind a gate when they are in your yards. I already get peeved when dogs run up to the gate snarling/barking/baring their teeth, but all mini-heart attacks aside, I can deal with that better than the fear of being bitten by a dog that might be disease-ridden and irresponsible owners who won't own up to their bad ownership skills.