Model Citizenship

This morning, I ran into a neighbor who was walking his dog. He’s a nice guy, and I enjoy chatting with him. In regards to his dog, though, he is certainly not a model citizen.

Now, before I get started on my little rant, let me get my biases out of the way (so at least you know I’m fair-minded): Basically, I’m not an animal person. There, I said it. Now, before you send me hate mail, realize that I don’t hate animals. I just don’t love them enough to make the necessary sacrifices of time, expense, and cleanliness to have one. Plus, everyone has their thing, right? So, bottom line: no hate mail from the animal crowd, OK? So, now that my disclosure is out, let me get back to my rant.

My neighbor is a model citizen in that he keeps the dog on a leash. Good for him. What I saw today, though, was shocking. The dog has about 15ft. on his leash. He walks out 12ft onto someone’s front lawn and urinates on the grass and the brick planter. Yup, he lifted his leg and let it fly. My neighbor sees what his dog is doing, and does nothing about it. In fact, he encourages the dog to finish his business.

That 8 oz of urine is going to produce a nasty brown patch of dead grass in a few days, plus a stain on the bricks. That was pretty inconsiderate of my neighbor, and not an example of model citizenship (on his, or the mutt’s part). Don’t you agree?

Call me strange, and perhaps anachronistic in this modern age of “It’s all about me”, but I was taught to respect people’s property, and to respect property rights in general. I was always told that if you wouldn’t want it done to you, don’t do it to other people. It’s a simple way of living, really. It’s Hobbesonian in elegance…we live within the social contract. And part of the social contract is not having your dog piss on your neighbor’s lawn. Otherwise, we’re all just a bunch of animals, and we descend into a chaotic abyss.

Model Citizen? Not my neighbor and his Fido.

Woof Woof.

-Michael

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