Cat people

In the small little enclave where Mrs S and I have set up home there is little to complain about, yet there are always those who will find something to stir up unrest. Two nights ago I was checking our mailbox to find a plastic encapsulated printed missive regarding 'dog problems' in the area which made certain vague and unspecified, yet sweeping allegations. It signed off as 'concerned citizens'. A term which always raises my hackles as it often contains a sub set of humanity who will not actually make specific complaints or address a problem directly. They're the curtain twitching cowards who can't deal with stuff because no matter the source of complaint, it's always someone else's problem to fix.

By contrast, it's generally expected over here that if you see someone doing something anti-social, you confront and get the offender to fix the problem there and then; For example "Hey! Get your damn mutt outta my yard buddy!" or more often a polite "Would you mind?" with a head tilt to the offending odoriferous pile. It's not a federal matter.

This area, and perhaps the majority of Canada, is amazing. Last year I saw a junkie who had just shot up being given a right royal tongue lashing for dropping his used needle in a bush by a female student. The guy just muttered an apology, picked up the used hypodermic, and then slouched off to the nearest safe disposal point. I couldn't help smiling and thinking; "At last! I've found civilisation."

Meanwhile, back on the subject. To précis, the allegations were as follows; Someone, allegedly had been 'seriously' bitten by a dog.

Okay, this is a problem, so call the wildlife officer and make a specific complaint against the dog in question. Deal with it.

It made unspecified allegations about people being 'frightened' by 'large' dogs on the loose and the beach.

This is news to me, as I walk my dog around this area quite a lot, and the only 'nasty' dogs are three little Bichons that yap aggressively at people as they pass a specific house.

The typewritten note made further allegations about 'aggressive' dogs left to defecate all about and, horror of horrors, not being on the leash at all times.

Okay, I'll partially put my hands up on this one; my dog doesn't like being on the leash at all times but he is obedient and stays close, even if the sneaky little so and so sometimes takes a dump while I'm not looking. Yet there's not an aggressive bone in his body. A sweeter natured animal I've never known.

My strong suspicion is those who dub themselves 'concerned citizens' are Cat people. You know, the owners of small but efficient domestic predators that indiscriminately dig holes in your flower beds and poison the plants with their droppings, kill small birds and other animals up to the size of Jackrabbits, occasionally leaving half eaten carcases on the doormat for an unsuspecting householder to tread on first thing in the morning. And they have the chutzpah to complain about dogs? Sheesh. This sort of stuff is so anal.

Now I grew up with both dogs and cats in the household, and think that a house is not a home without one, the other, or better still, both. Yet I must posit the following; do you see dog owners leaving anonymous messages up by the mailboxes? No? Do most Dog owners deliberately let their pets roam at will? No, definitely not round here, I'm too concerned my precious mutt would get run over by some kid in a Pickup. My dog is immunised, legal, clean, and well cared for, as are (in my observation at least) all the other dogs around here, so what is that litany of complaints about? If anyone has a problem with my dogs behaviour they should come and see me directly, and as a responsible person I'll take reasonable remedial action if my dog is at fault, but I'm buggered if anonymous postings by the mailbox will cause me to change the way I treat my dog.

Update: Driving past said posting by the mailbox this morning I saw that some person, no doubt equally offended as myself at the 'concerned citizens' signature, had used a black permanent marker to scrawl 'Also cats' in large unfriendly script upon the offending notice. Arf.