Message from Confirmed Hater of Dog Owners

I have become a confirmed dog-owner hater. Barring the rare, considerate individual among them, they are a breed of gross and thoughtless persons who think because they have an animal “with papers” and more often than not a better bloodline than they themselves can boast, that this and their “love” of animals (usually only their own, however), gives them the right to turn our public parks into dog lavatories.

Why is it you won’t find one in a hundred, if that, who will train the dog to do it in the gutter?

Why do so few of them think enough of their fellow humans to carry a scooper and a sack?

Why do they allow their animals to run where they will, to defecate where they will in these parks where people of all ages come to sit, to picnic, to play?

Have they never seen, or are they so obtuse they cannot imagine, what I witnessed one day recently in a North Hollywood park? A little girl, 5 or so, with a group of other children who had been brought there by a young instructor, sat down as daintily as could be, leaned back and placed her hand in a pile of fresh you-know-what. She was horrified and in a reflex move, immediately tried to wipe it off on her dress which, as soon as it was done, compounded her horror. To say she cried is an understatement and be assured, the loathsome experience was shared by the other youngsters present.

It is understandable that these dog owners should want to give their adored creatures a romp in the park. Fine. But isn’t it their job, supposedly possessing an intelligence superior to the dog, to condition the animals to pass their waste in the gutter before they get a romp?

I’ve had dogs and have never had the slightest trouble instilling this habit.

Hey, if you must disregard the law concerning the leashing of your dog, at least have the decency to clean up after it. Bending might send some blood to your brain.

B. ANDERSON

North Hollywood