Take Responsibility

A posting on Facebook, sent me into a mini rant and brought back horrible memories from 32 years ago.  The posting was about dead dogs.  A sad subject under any circumstances. The poster had - had two full sized Boxers, beautiful dogs from the pictures.  She was not careful, her dogs got out, running loose in the neighborhood, frightening much smaller dogs including  a Yorkie who found himself surrounded by the two barking Boxers several times his size.  The owner of Yorkie, and I am not saying he did the right thing, came to the defense of his little dog with a shot gun, in the end the Yorkie is hiding under the bed and the two Boxers are both dead.  Very sad.  The owner of the Boxers is screaming for the head of the owner of the Yorkie on a platter, saying it is all his fault, and demanding that the police take action.  Ummm - mmmm, she is not taking an ounce of responsibility for her large and potentially intimidating dogs getting loose.  This takes me back 32 years ago, shortly after I built my first home.  I woke up one morning and there was a large dog lying on the ground in my back yard, I shouted and clapped and it didn't move.  It was dead, it had been hit by a car and crawled off into my yard to die. I was very upset by this, thinking about how horrible the dogs last minutes must have been (he was 75 feet from the nearest street.) I paid my lawn guy to bury the dog that afternoon.  The next day I get a screaming crying call from the owner of the dog, accusing me of depriving her of burying her dog, she let him out for a walk late at night, a walk he never came home from, and she tried to make his death sound like it was my fault.  She took no responsibility for opening the door and letting her sweet family dog out to run in front of a car. I was not kind to her on the phone - not my best moment.

There is a responsibility in owning a dog, cat or other pet.  A responsibility not just to provide a good home, feed it, love it and take care of it, but also to safeguard it.  Letting a dog run loose in an uncontrolled environment, is endangering the dog.  If you are not 100% sure of the fenced yard, don't leave the dogs unattended, never let them run free where there is a risk of them chasing a shadow into traffic or intimidating a stranger, some of strangers are armed.  I still think of how lonely and painful the last minutes of the dogs life must have been 32 years ago, I hope the woman never owned another dog.