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Loose dogs revisited
Amy Hoffman of Vallemar took exception to my
column about loose dogs (letters 4/3). No problem. I take exception to
her letter. Just as I was in denial when my wonderful dog Bingo needed
better control, Ms. Hoffman appears in full denial when confronted with
the fact (repeat: FACT!!!) that loose dogs often endanger innocent human
beings who are pursuing legitimate goals. Did I react emotionally when
my ten year old son walked up a street in Sharp Park (as he had every
right to do) and was savagely attacked by a dog for no reason? You bet
your boots!
Ms. Hoffman believes my argument was just emotional, therefore not based
on fact. To the contrary: my son's pain was not imaginary. It was fact.
My son's fear of dogs, based on this incident, is not imaginary. It continues
to be fact, though the incident took place decades ago. Not every innocent
person reacts the same way to being attacked. James Brady, Ronald Reagan's
Press Secretary, was victimized by a handgun user. He reacted to being
shot by working diligently for handgun control. His boss (also shot) reacted
by continuing to kowtow to the NRA.
A more positive reaction to my column came from a northern Pacifica resident.
Her e mail was addressed to me personally, so I don't feel free to use
her name, but I appreciate her words. Here are some of her comments. "Hi
Paul, I was thrilled to read your column about unleashed dogs on the beaches.
I live at Land's End apartments, right at the beach, and I moved here
only because I wanted to be able to walk on the beach any time, every
day. Dogs were always a problem before the city made our beach the only
legal beach for unleashed dogs, but now it's unbelievably bad. I now have
to carry a stick with me every time I go for a walk. You wouldn't believe
how many people allow their dogs to run rampant, jump all over people,
chase people, etc.
I was told to buy something called Dog Off which mail carriers use. I
hope it works. I've been jumped on and scared by so many dogs I can't
count them now, but so far the stick has helped. The situation is not
much better up on Palmetto at the sand dunes, where I go running every
day. Two weeks ago I was absolutely terrorized by an unleashed pit bull.
That's what motivated me to always carry a stick.
Our beautiful beach is now littered with dog excrement as well as plastic
bags containing dog excrement which the dog owners are too lazy to carry
up the stairs and put in the two large trash cans at the top of the stairs.
It's hideous.
The steps down to our beach are steep and the last section is dangerous
since the so-called renovation since the storm, but still that does not
deter dog owners. Alas."
My correspondent ended with "Thank you so much for what you wrote." Her
letter is a serious indictment of a few self-centered, thoughtless dog
owners, who give all dog owners a bad name.
Ms. Hoffman claims, erroneously, that I said dog owners are a "small,
special interest group." Then she vigorously destroys her own straw man
by quoting statistics (from rather biased sources) to demonstrate that
43 million people keep 62 million dogs, some of which are loved.
I commend her diligent research, but those particular facts are irrelevant.
Dogs are often wonderful, often useful, often friendly and often can be
petted, thus relieving stress in some of the humans they don't bite. My
goal is to relieve Pacifica's human population of the stresses and fears
precipitated by nuisance dogs running loose, who often threaten or attack
both humans and other dogs.
Paul Azevedo's opinions are his own, and do not necessarily coincide
with those of this newspaper. He can be reached by e mail at Paul@thereactor.net.
Check his website at http://www.thereactor.net.
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