Rant of the week

I have a HUGE pet peeve. Literally. When I see people doing it I can't control myself. I have to say something, OK, if I'm being honest, I yell at perfect strangers. I try to be polite as I call the people to repentance but it always end with me being angry and yelling at random people.

So what is this issue that turns me into a crazed maniac you ask? Well, I hate, hate, hate dog owners that walk their dogs off leash.

There is a sports field that separates my house from the school that my kids attend and several times a week I see dog owners walking their dogs off leash. Me and my kids have been chased down several times by strange dogs and the lovely dog owners will yell from across the field as my daughter is screaming and crying in fear "Don't worry, he's very friendly". Yeah, that's going to dry her tears in an instant. Then they call the dog, but almost always, the dog is not well trained enough to actually listen. When I try to politely remind the dog owner that this is not an off leash area and could they please keep their dog on a leash. These awesome people either blow me off with a "Oh, he wouldn't hurt a fly." comment or they get very angry with me for censoring their behavior in the first place.

I don't want my kids to be afraid of dogs and if there is a friendly responsible dog owner with a dog safely on a leash, I will let my kids play with the dog. I want to know how to keep them from being afraid when almost every week they are being chased down by strange dogs that don't obey commands to sit or heel.

The city bylaw states that the dogs should not even be in the sports fields at all. Probably to keep the poop to a minimum (which by the way there is massive amounts of). But no one follows this rule and the city certainly doesn't enforce it so I am left to either police the park myself or ignore the dangers of the untrained dogs making my daughter cry as they invade her personal space.

I hope you all enjoyed my rant.