Runners, what are we afraid of?  Bad weather, calf cramps, muggers, our GPS watches dying, and dogs.

And I hate to be annoying and preach, but some of you guys need a stern talking-to.

I am the biggest dog person in the world.  One of my favorite things to do is to go on Petfinder.com, and look in the local areas for rescues.  I would love to adopt a dog now, but I want to do right by the dog, and I don’t have a yard, and my apartment space isn’t big enough to house a dog.  

However, there is one instance where my dog love falls a little short.

I was running the other morning, and I ran directly into a Mastiff mix.  If you’re not familiar with the breed, they’re huge.  If I’m not mistaken, they were originally bred to guard South African farms from lions and things, so they’re a pretty formidable dog.  So anyhoo, I run directly into this dog, wandering around on no leash.  So I stopped, hung out for a second, and tried to figure out where this dog belonged, and I was overjoyed that the dog, who quite possibly outweighed me, didn’t eat me.

All joking aside, we have something called leash laws in this country, and it’s inconsiderate not to adhere to them.  I’ve heard countless stories of runners being bitten, mauled, and in more than a few cases, killed.  In the worse cases, a dog has killed a child who was not physically strong enough to fight it off.  “Oh but my dog is so nice!  He/she would never, so I don’t need to leash him/her.” That’s idiotic.  Dogs are like humans beings in that sometimes they have bad days.  Sometimes things set them off.  Sometimes they don’t like the way someone smells, or the way a shirt looks on someone.  And unfortunately for anyone who’s around when they have a bad day, some breeds are ridiculously powerful.  They may not intend to rip a patch of skin off of someone, but the fact is that they’re powerful, muscular, and can do a lot of damage, even when they don’t intend to rough someone up.  So leave them on the leash, especially on sidewalks, outside of bars, at parks, and anywhere where folks may be walking by.

(As a total side note, runners, if you happen upon a dog you’d really like to pet, ask the owner if it’s okay for you to pet their dog! It is rude to just reach down and shove your stinky paw in a strange dog’s face!  I am on your side, but you have to act right around people’s pets.)

That’s enough of my rant.  I’m being totally serious though, that dog I met the other day was big enough to ride.  Yeesh!