I love dogs, but...

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been address canvassing for the 2010 Census for the last few weeks. I am not supposed to say where, but let's just say that we canvass near our homes and you can kinda figure out what town I live in from this blog. Anyway, as a Realtor I have always been careful about looking for loose dogs when I am out previewing properties. You never know when a neighbor's unleashed dog will get a little territorial. Well, the Census work has given me a whole new view on the serious nature of this problem. The area I have been canvassing is both rural and suburban and I am astonished at the number of dogs just running around. (And every SINGLE one has barked at me.) It was cute for about 2 days and now it's just plain frightening. I have been growled at, snipped at and plain old threatened by a large number of dogs. My theory is that the book bag and hand held computer I carry must somehow look threatening. A golden retriever even growled at me.

The real (and serious) reason I am writing this is after being growled at and followed in a threatening manner by a pit bull today I realized how little county law enforcement is doing to protect people. After the pit bull threatened me, I happened across a neighbor and mentioned the dog. The neighbor told me that the dog is always loose and a danger to children. It bit someone and they called law enforcement (I am assuming either animal control or the sheriff) and they were told that there were too many loose running dogs for them to handle so they wouldn't do anything about it. Does a child have to be mauled to death before someone gets the message? I love dogs. But, dogs need need to be fenced in or leashed. Invisible fences are a great invention. I would love to hear what people think about this. Am I over-reacting? I don't think so.

By the way, I have a whole new respect for the mailman I had growing up. He didn't have the luxury of delivering mail from his Jeep. He had to walk it, dogs and all!