our neighborhood web site has recently erupted with the annual “please pick up after your dog” complaints. it’s actually quite fortunate that its only about once a year that someone complains because the problem of dogs soiling everything but the owner’s yard exists all year round.

in the house we’re renting over summer there is a school across from us with a wonderful green lawn. doubly wonderful that it is so close and its a green lawn in the middle of the desert. at every entrance there are large signs prohibiting dogs. want to guess how many times a day we see dog owners inside the fence?

even better is the constant barking and howling from all the neighborhood dogs. when i say constant, i’m not exaggerating. the dogs bark all day and night long. i contend that nothing i have thought of doing to these dogs as they either wake me up at night or distract me during the day is anything worse that what their owners are doing to them (evidenced by their constant barking and howling).

i could go on about how dog owners don’t seem to mind letting their wild animal jump up in my kid’s face or how i’ve been bitten riding my bike in the woods by loose dogs (never mind the posted signs requiring a leash) – but the owners always make it right by telling us how friendly their dogs are and that they “just want to play”

i wonder if they’ll be as cheerful about it, when i respond “oh, i thought he was running up to get a blast of mace in the face”

but truthfully, i don’t want to mace the dogs, its the owners who deserve it.