You may be a bad neighbour... (warning - dog content)

Yes, this debate drags on, and I'm certainly not helping. I can't stop myself, though, because the very dog that darted in front of my car up on Washington and 5th (way up up in upper Rossland) was ripping into garbage bags on Spokane (way down down in lower Rossland) today. This time I have pictures in the event someone recognizes this guy and can arrange an intervention for its people.

If this is your dog, you may be a bad neighbour. And you may be a bad owner. For those that disagree, here are some analogies that I think may be difficult to refute.

1) If you walked outside to see your neighbour frolicking in your shredded glad bag, chucking old lettuce and eggshells all up and down your driveway, you would think they were a bad, bad neighbour.

It follows that if your neighbour knows his/her dog is outside doing this but doesn't care, they are probably a bad neighbour. (And if they didn't know, they should shortly).

2) If you allowed your children to skip school and stay home unsupervised, it is possible that they would just watch sesame street, nap and read books. It is also possible they would eat raw sugar by the spoonful, play GTA5 and experiment with matches. Would they be really happy? Absolutely. Would your parenting skills be called into question? Most likely.

Similarly, your roaming dog is likely really happy, happier than they would be waiting at home for you to come back from work. But in reality you have no idea what they're up to while they're outside, and there is a reason most of us keep our miserable (but safe and loved) pooches indoors.

3) You probably wouldn't leave your drunk husband unsupervised in a room full of hookers and blow. Again, he might have the time of his life, but you can also imagine some unpleasant consequences that would complicate his or your ability to be happy down the road.

Along that vein, if this dog gets into chicken bones it could choke to death, develop bloat, or at the very least end up with extremely painful poops. If it continues to dart into traffic, well... Rosslanders are pretty smart and can probably follow this stream of logic to its conclusion.