Once again I have read a horror story of a runner being attacked while running by a dog in someone’s yard while the owner was there and did nothing. The runner knew what to do and took an offensive posture and kicked and screamed at the lunging dog until finally the owner called the dog. No apology from the owner. This is absolutely ridiculous. However I can tell you that it happens regularly to runners and cyclists. And NOTHING is done to punish the irresponsible pet owner. This has also happened to me on my own street and I no longer feel safe to run past a certain point due to those dogs. I was told by a police officer that there was nothing they could do if the dog chases me and barks at me, only if I am actually injured. And if I choose to take action myself, I could get in trouble. In some states and cities there may be more restrictive laws and consequences but based on the stories in my running groups, there are plenty of places where there are not.

Here is the meat of this little tirade. EVERY time someone posts a story about being attacked, MANY people jump to defend the dog as I’m sure some of my readers will want to do now. I don’t really care about ‘judging’ a dog unfairly as I do not consider them to have the mental ability to know that they have been the victim of prejudice. My concern is that these dog defenders have very little to say about the rights of the VICTIM. We now live in a world where animals have become more important than humans. You can abuse, rape,molest, abort humans, but don’t harm a dog or else!! People are choosing more and more to have so called ‘fur babies’ than human babies. Something is wrong with this picture. If it was just a small subset of people doing this, and there has always been a small subset like that, I would not be worried. But I am worried about so many people saying things like they love their dog more than people, etc. This is just one result of the increasingly isolated lives people consider to be normal. Humans are meant to interact with other humans, even if they are introverts. People need people as the song goes. The more that people attach to animals while neglecting to seek fulfilling human relationships, the less they value human needs, feelings and life. It’s really weird! I do have my theories on what is causing this situation and there are many factors. Do I think that things will improve any time soon? Sadly, I don’t . I see it getting worse as fewer people seek out  marriage, children and even friendships. Everything is temporary, disposable and replaceable, even human life.

Dog kills runner? Too bad. On to the next story.