New dog cops?

For at least the last six months, Portland's been operating with one animal control officer, down from two. Today the report comes that $882,000 of federal stimulus money is going to put six more cops on the street. How about a dog cop?

Off Leash Dogs are Like Graffiti

Walking the dog on the Eastern Prom trail, I've noticed that spray-painted graffiti tags have started to creep out of the designated areas by the water treatment plant, so it now appears on the asphalt, on signs and benches, on the way to the Old Port. The graffiti doesn't creep, of course; creeps put the tags there, to mark a territory as theirs. It's entry-level gang activity, is what it is.

It's occurred to me that disobeying leash laws is the entry-level white collar crime. I'm speculating here, but I wouldn't be surprised if the off leashers move up from there to tax fraud and embezzling. These are victimless crimes that one engages in because everyone does it, because no one will notice, and because the rules are obviously for the stupid people -- never for oneself.

There's a white haired gent who walks his black poodle out of the Portland House over to the Prom, leashless every step of the way. I've got a picture of him on my phone which I'll post. He's probably a tax cheat and an embezzler, too.

I can't keep up with posting pictures, though -- every time I go out, I see some other dumb cluck, tagging the commons with their behavior. It's about time to open this blog up and take submissions from people out there. I'll post pictures of off-leash dog walkers and graffiti artists alike.

A Dog Blog Manifesto

Maybe it's time to for some introductions; why this blog, now? Two things I'd like you to keep in mind as you read along:

1. I love my dog.
2. I used to be a dog anarchist who treated the rules as inventions of dog haters who only wanted to stand in the way of my love for my dog.

A recent experience has catalyzed some things, hence this blog (and more on this in a later post). To put it briefly, I like dogs, and I love my dog, and I've worked hard and thoughtfully to be a responsible dog-owning citizen. My wife and I have also actively worked to make our dog a better dog-citizen than she used to be. That's a part of the way we love her. But I'm tired of dealing with and hearing about humans who don't care how their dogs behave, especially when it impacts how I love my dog.



How did I go from being a dog anarchist to a dog citizen? How was I able to see that dog lovers are part of the problem? I'll have to save that for a later post, but let me relate the catalyzing experience my wife had this past May.

On Wednesday, May 6, she was walking our dog, a 40-lb. catahoula mix, on the lower Eastern Prom trail, by Portland Yacht Services. A pit bull, off leash, approached them; the owner, a 30 year old or so woman with short blonde hair, followed several hundred feet behind, so was unable to intervene when her dog began attacking our dog. She didn't even start running; she just walked. My wife attempted to pull our dog away from the fight, but the collar and leash came off, and when she tried to pull the pit bull back by the leash, it was able to wrench itself away.

Let me interrupt here: I don't hate pit bulls. I don't hate any breed of dog (okay, I find chihuahuas highly annoying). So don't take this story as an anti-pit bull screed. I'll repeat that: This story isn't an anti-pit bull screed. I'm not anti-pit bull. If the attacker had been Bo, the presidential dog, I'd be writing about Bo.

But it wasn't Bo. It was a dog that had my dog pinned down by the neck for so long that people began to gather; people who were working on their nearby boats climbed down because the fracas was so loud and had gone on so long. Finally the woman -- who had feebly been calling the dog's name -- walked up. Did she apologize? No. Did she ask about our dog? No. One of the shocked bystanders told her that her dog should be put down (and in the state of Maine that can actually happen after only one such incident), which motivated the woman to actually do something: she ran away. I need to talk to you, my wife called. No, the woman shouted. Someone followed her, but she disappeared up Franklin. The pursuer was told by police dispatch that there wasn't a car available to intercept.

An officer did come down to the trail, as did Debi Estrella, Portland Police animal control -- who was a bit late because she had been dealing with another situation where a dog (again a pit bull, alas -- just reporting the facts here) had mauled a dachshund, though a pregnant woman tried to get between them and was badly bitten. (This is fourth-hand; I should try to get the police report on that, too.) The attacking dog was in her vehicle, about to be shipped off.

I'm not going to quote what the cop or Estrella said -- I hope to find the time to talk to them myself. But if you want to know why my wife now carries a field hockey stick on dog walks, here's your answer. I had to hear about this incident while stuck in the Newark airport, and I was pissed. This blog is how I'm going to channel that anger productively. I'm going to take pictures of dog owners who have their dogs off leash in the wrong area. I'll publish your photos of the same. I'll print stories about dog incidents that occur. And I'll publish other relevant dog news as I see fit.