I've never been a dog person. I've never been a cat person either, for that matter. In fact, I'm basically just not really a pet person (and don't get me started on plants). I mean, dogs can be perfectly nice and all, but they can also be smelly, messy, loud, obnoxious and often dangerous. Of course, the same could be said about certain people, but to each their own. I also think that owning a dog – or at least a big one – in New York City is a fairly cruel thing to do, unless of course you have an inordinately wicked huge courtyard to runaround in.
At the end of the day, though, it's not really the dogs I have a problem with but rather the dog-owners. I mean, dogs are going to do what dogs do. There's no stopping them. Sure, you can train them not to leap and slobber on people or bite the mailman or jump on the couch, but they're still dogs. One thing you cannot train them to do, crucially, is poop. All the discipline in the world won't alter the fact that your pooch is going to defecate. This is where dog owners come in.
Sure, I can overlook dog owners who let their dogs off their leashes or allow them to beg at the dinner table or even let them chase cars. I wouldn't allow that stuff myself, but I'm uptight like that. But when it comes to poop-scooping, there is no gray area. If a dog is in your care, it's up to you to clean up after it. Don't like it? Well, tough SHIT! That's what you signed-up for. If you're not prepared for it, perhaps you should re-think the commitment you made to owning a dog in the first place. And the mere fact that New York City is caked in a brown, viscous and pungent icing of dogshit is ample evidence that a whole nation of dog-owners weren't prepared for it. And EVERYone suffers for that.
This particular rant was prompted by this article today detailing the neighborhoods of the city that are hit the worst by this problem. Ring any bells?
Stop giving dog-owners a bad name. Clean up after your damn pet!
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