I love animals.
I don't, of course, mean that in any sort of weird way. Like I don't have a living room full of cat knickknacks or do unlicensed taxidermy in my basement or anything.
But I truly have always appreciated and respected our little critter brethren.
OK, maybe "little critter brethren" is laying it on a bit thick - makes me sound like a hippie preacher for raccoons or something - but the point I've taken all this time and thought making, and possibly re-making, is how much I like animals.
And like most animal-lovers, I've owned a number of pets over the years ranging from fish to reptiles, hamsters, birds and of course, a few cats and dogs.
For the past eight or so years I can say I've been the proud and frequently amused owner of a Boston Terrier named Rufus who, thanks to the breed's scrunched-in snout, snores like a buzz saw and passes gas like well something that passes a lot of gas, let me tell you!
But he's my dog, I love him, and like most every other dog-owner out there, I think I'm a freakin' great dog owner.
But, and this is the part where we get to the actual subject of the column (which is not dog gas by the way), I have noticed there are a whole lot of bad dog owners out there in our fair little town.
I read in The Chief last week where some visitors had an altercation with a dog off leash at a campground in Paradise Valley.
Maybe this will cause a lot of people to just roll their eyes and turn the page but if you have your dog off leash - you are a bad dog owner.
Oh I've heard the excuses from friends, my neighbours, people on the trails: "Oh, he's a good dog."
Want to know what I say?
Hey, that's awesome you have a good dog so why are you such a bad dog owner?
I'm sorry but I don't care if your dog can juggle chainsaws while barking Aristotle's poetics - your dog should be on a leash when around other people, other dogs, cars and other animals unless it is an appropriate place.
On second thought, if you do have a dog that can actually juggle chainsaws and bark Aristotle's poetics, let it do what it wants.
At first I let Rufus run free on the trails thinking, "He's a good dog, and this is what dogs do." Then he got in the way of a biker and I realized I was not only impeding other people's enjoyment of the trails but also possibly endangering my dog.
He stays leashed now.
Leashing your dog and picking up its poo are not only polite things to do for other people but are marks of a good pet owner.
I love animals.
It's just the people I can do without sometimes.
