Covid :Off lease mentality

There are two types of dog owners- those who are responsible and those who are not. The irresponsible dog owners show up in an off leash area, and then announce that their dog will bite if other dogs try to play with it, or it doesn’t interact well with dogs. I was jogging on Dallas road waterfront years ago and an off leash dog broadsided me going full speed. I was knocked hard onto the concrete, cut my knee open with a large gash and was not assisted by the owner of the dog, who just walked away.

There are many parallels between this analogy and Covid- those who comply with restrictions in the hope of having a speedy recovery for everyone and those who refuse to help the situation and run off leash. While I sympathize to an extent with international truck drivers- the sudden requirement to be vaccinated after years of doing their job seems rather arbitrary. The government, however, has a difficult task of managing unruly packs of dogs and trying to find a way to make the dog park safe for everyone.

I believe we’ve all hit our wall of off leash syndrome tolerance- even I am feeling the wear and tear of over two years, nearly three now, of restrictions I feel the collar around my neck and the leash manifesting as a world which has become tinier and tinier. Still, I’ve played fair in the dog park in order to avoid dangerous consequences for others who don’t- in this case illness or death. We have to remember that making small sacrifices for ourselves is protecting the public at large, and more importantly the burned out doctors and nurses who have died in record numbers dealing with the fallout in hospitals.

I’d like to see an end to the us and them polarity , and a greater sense of pulling through as a community and planet to arrive, unscathed in a bigger, better dog park . If you have a high risk dog- keep it on a leash with a muzzle and don’t expose other innocent creatures to it. Be responsible.

I have nothing against people choosing not to be vaccinated- I only ask that you sign a waiver that you will no longer use hospitals or doctors if you contract Covid. You can’t have it both ways.