D is for Dogs

R.a.n.t. of day 04/04/15

I realize this r.a.n.t. will be disagreed upon by many people. Most people know I'm not a big dog person. But the truth is, I've had a love/hate relationship with dogs for a long time. I have many friends who have dogs and when I stop by their house, I'm willing to pet and play with their dog. My sister has a dog, and when the dogs dies, I'll likely cry too. So, I don't hate dogs. This isn't a dog hating rant. I do know I'll never have one for myself. Essentially, I hate dogs owned by certain neighbours. Most recently there was a dog in the apartment above me. All hours of the night the dog was running back and forth. Sometimes I thought the dog was practising his tap dancing routine because the clack-clack-clack never seemed to stop. It was maddening.


When I was a child, I was chased down by a mean, vicious dog on two separate occasions. I did not appreciate that on either occasion. Even today, walking past certain houses will yield a wild and crazy dog running up to the fence and barking it's bloody head off. PASS!

Jeffrey Scott's Story Time:
  Once upon a time, I was running a 5K when I passed a neighbour and his dog. The dog decided to follow me instead of stick around with his owner. (The r.a.n.t. photo of the day is the same dog.) I was on a tight schedule, so what do I do? I keep running. Dogs eventually give up and return to their owner. Right? Wrong! it was soon apparent he wanted to run the 5K with me. So I had to stop my stopwatch and address the dog.
  "Go Home!" I told the dog. "Go, your master wants you." The dog just looked at me like I was crazy.
  "Ruff, rufff rrrrrrruf ruff ruff ruff rruufff" (Translation - You are my new owner, I like you). Long story short, the neighbour eventually decided to come collect his dog.
  "Hey, where you going with my dog?" he asked.
  "I was taking him to the pound," I said. I was upset his stupidity was taking away from my time. Though I was joking, he didn't find the comment humorous and he started chasing me. So my 5K continued with new-found motivation. He huffed to a stop after about ten steps and collapsed on the grass. His dog took off running the other way. Most likely home. I hope to lock the dumb jerk out of his own house. Some people just shouldn't have pets.

Some questions for discussion:
Do you own a pet? If so, what kind?
How do you deal with irritating neighbours?
What's the worst experience you've had with an animal?