P*it B*ulls

Sure. Like I don't have enough controversy going on.  Nevertheless, I am going to tackle this one. Folks are gonna get mad. Oh well, here goes anyway...

Let me say right up straight that I like dogs. My son and his wife have two, a pug and a beagle. (And I don't mean my grandsons!) My parents had a poodle and when we were growing up we had collies, pedigreed and everything. My sister and her hubby have a black lab and my neighbors have a chocolate lab named Brin. I like all these dogs.

This morning around seven (actually yesterday morning this having been written last night), I was outside planning to water my flowers when I heard dogs growling viciously. Within seconds, I heard a man yelling in a truly terrified voice, "Get outta here! Go away! Leave her alone!" Then I became aware of a smaller dog whimpering. I'm no Sherlock, but I was able to put it all together. My neighbor beyond the tree line was yelling at the p*it b*ulls who run the neighborhood...no leashes, no collars, no nothing. They must have attacked his poodle, which he often keeps on a run in his yard.

Brilliantly, I decided that the flowers were on their own and scampered inside. I was just telling John that the dogs that had charged him a few weeks ago must be up to something again when he saw them running down the street. "Yup," he acknowledged, "same dogs."

The dogs ran off where I could no longer see them and John left for the morning paper. Not long after he pulled out of the drive, I saw a police officer in his vehicle circling the neighborhood. When John returned, I told him and he said that obviously someone had called the incident in.

As we were drinking our morning coffee, we heard first one then another shot ring out. Some moments later, a third. I have no idea for certain, but I think that the p*it b*ulls are history.

As I was feeling a pang about that, John reminded me that he had been very afraid when they charged him and he reminded me that children play in this neighborhood, my own grandchildren included. What we had here were two p*it b*ulls running loose and wearing no tags. Obviously, their owners were not terribly concerned.

My sister has a new neighbor who owns two p*it b*ulls. They bark all day and night and when anyone goes to his/her car in my sister's drive, they lunge at the ends of their chains barking furiously or sometimes a low-throated growl that is most frightening. We've all worried what might happen if a chain breaks.

So the bottom line is, if owners are not going to take responsibility for their dogs, the dogs have no business running loose. Most communities have leash laws. I'm glad to see that our police department enforces ours. Yes, I am glad. No more pangs for me.