The Fun Bunch and "Leash Your Dog" II

 

This evening I went for a run with the two other members of The Fun Bunch (TFB),  rescue pups - Delilah

and Jackson.  During these pandemic times we tend to stay close to home.  Five to seven times a week

we run at a park/wildlife reserve called Crown Hill.

Crown Hill has a long-standing and well-signed requirement that all dogs be leashed, also in accordance with the laws of Jefferson County where Crown Hill is located.  The “leash law” not only addresses the need to respect the personal  space and safety of everybody at the park, but also protects the dogs and less tame residents (deer, coyotes, geese, ducks) from one another.

TFB begins our run tonight and about 200 yards into it we see two loose dogs ahead of us.  One of them is closer and looks to be taking some menacing steps towards us.  Both of my dogs are leashed and under my control (Jackson is also muzzled as he sometimes gets protective when he runs with his sister), but a loose dog coming at you is always a reason to be alert, as any dog owner knows.  In a few seconds I see the owner round some trees and she grabs the collar of the more advanced dog.  Her other dog is still walking loose and giving us a bit of a stare, but following her in a well behaved fashion.

Loose dogs are a pet peeve of mine because of the safety risk they present.  It doesn’t matter how well behaved your dog is (or you think it is), you never know how two dogs will react when they come together, especially when an unleashed dog approaches a leashed dog. Or in this case, two unleashed dogs potentially confront two leashed dogs. All four being of a respectable size.

“Excuse me” I say, “but dogs are required to be leashed at this park”.  Now, I have been castigated numerous times for reminding people at Crown Hill of the leash law. I have  been called many things (most of them unflattering) and threatened with bodily harm.  I honestly don’t know what brings this reaction out in people when you point out a rule they should be following out of respect for others and the safety of their pets.  Still, I was surprised by the response of this young lady.

"Have a nice day, you Satan, Black lives matter.”

My response as I moved away from her in the opposite direction - “Everybody needs to leash their dogs. Leash your dogs.”

Her response: “You Satan, you Satan, you Satan." 

I thought about the episode as I ran.  It was kind of the flip flop of the famous Central Park episode earlier this year when a Black Man asked a White woman to leash her dog as required by the park’s rules.  She in turn called the police on him and said she felt threatened, escalating a reasonable request into a potentially dangerous situation. In this case a White (Hispanic) guy asked a young  Black lady to leash her dogs to comply with park rules and she called him “Satan” while invoking Black Lives Matter.

I didn’t feel threatened or think much about being called a Satan. As I noted previously, I have been called worse, at least it seemed worse, by other owners of free-ranging dogs at this park.  No, the part that interested/puzzled me was her playing of the BLM card in this situation.  It didn’t make me feel bad personally, I will stack up my pro diversity words, writings, deeds, financial support with anybody (witness two of the recent posts to this blog).  No, what bothered me is that our interaction was an inconsequential but yet very consequential example of the behaviors that make it hard to have an open dialogue about important aspects of race/diversity/equality. If one person can’t ask another person (regardless of either's race, age, sex, shoe size, etc) something simple like to leash their dogs in a public setting without that turning into a moratorium on race worthy of invoking BLM, how in the world will we have legitimate conversations and respectful debate on important matters in the advance of diversity?  I am not afraid to have those open dialogues, but this episode reminded me why many people are.

As a matter of verification I counted the number of other dogs I saw while TFB ran its 5 miles on the trail. 

I counted 41, owned by people of all sexes, colors and ages, all leashed.  I didn’t think about the young

lady’s color when I reminded her (as I remind every person when I see free roaming dogs that may

create an unwanted encounter) of the leash law.  If I had and then consciously avoided mentioning the

leash rule because she is Black, that would have been an act of discrimination. Right?  Why do we

make this so hard?