Leash Your Dogs!

Over and over again in the last month, I’ve been out running and have been chased and nipped at by different dogs in my neighborhood. On two of those occasions, the owners were right by their dogs, and chased after them — though this didn’t prevent me from being bitten. Because dogs are fast, and unleashed dogs aren’t human. They don’t understand what real threats are and aren’t. And even good dogs react in unpredictable ways. That’s why dogs should always be leashed if they aren’t behind a fence.

Yes, your dog, too. Yes, even your old dog you think can’t possibly be a threat to anyone. Even the dog you’re sure would never hurt a fly. Even if your dog never does chase me and nip me, as someone who is out running or walking multiple times a day, I don’t want to have to worry every two minutes as I pass a dog, whether or not this one is going to bite me or not.

I used to be a dog lover. As a child, we had a lovely family dog named Laddie. I wasn’t afraid of dogs at all back then. The fear only came when I was a teenager and started delivering newspapers. I can’t tell you how many times dogs chased me. I was only bitten a couple of times, but I was terrified and weeping many, many times.

If you’re going to tell me that I must exude some kind of “fear” of dogs that causes dogs to choose me as a target, just stop. Right now. This is called victim blaming. It’s your way of saying that it’s not your problem to deal with this, that it’s just my problem. If I get chased and bitten more often than most people, let me suggest that it’s for two…