Caution: Rant Ahead

To the girl at the track last night who thought it was ok to bring her dog, shut the gate and let it loose while I was running,

This is a middle school track.  It is not a dog park, nor is it a play pen for your oversized baby.  There are people here who are serious about their health, who are being seriously disturbed by your badly behaved dog. It's not the dog's fault that it wants to play.  It's just being a dog. Barking, chasing, and darting around runners' feet, some who are very unsteady, sluggish, or clumsy to begin with, is not the dog's fault.  It's yours, for allowing the dog's behavior to continue; for not immediately releashing your dog when you saw that it was causing problems.  For some of these runners and walkers, it has taken every single thing they have to get out there and make that workout count, and the amount of angst and discouragement they feel at this unwelcome interruption may just be enough to completely derail their efforts and cause them not to come back at all.

But you don't care.  You're too busy doing your own thing on the far side of the track to notice.

This is not exclusively your track.  You do not have the right to commandeer it for your own personal use, simply because you want to do a two-fer and get your lunges in while walking your dog.  You do not have the right to close the big, rolling, rusted gate that will not freely open, thereby denying egress to others just because you want your dog to be able to run free while you swing your arms.  It's not safe to anyone to be caught behind a fence with no easy way out....what if your dog should cause an unsteady runner to trip on the asphalt and get severe road rash, sprain or strain something, or worse, break a bone? 

But you don't care.  You're too busy checking the fit of your shorts.

This is a track that is used by children.  Children who, because of the nature of football, soccer, track and field events, or simple physical fitness, are constantly falling in, dropping down on, or rolling around in the grass on the infield....where your dog may or may not have been peeing while you ran the bleachers.  Or worse.

But you don't care.  You're not the one who will have to go home in disgrace after being ridiculed by the whole class for having dog shit smeared all over them.

This is a track that has been graciously left open for public use. How long do you think that will last, if people start complaining about you bringing your dog?  Probably not long.  People who are not so far along on their journey to better health depend on the security and privacy of being able to work out in a safe place away from public scrutiny.  To them, this place is their sanctuary....a place where they can be alone with their selves for a little while to concentrate on the one person they most often neglect.

But you don't care.  To you, it's just a stupid track.  There are plenty of other places.

But sister, you need to understand that it's MY track as much as it is yours.  I know you saw how furious I was when I left, and I hope you realize how lucky you were that I chose to leave instead of confronting you in anger.  Your actions may have run me off last night, but you will not run me off again, I assure you.  And next time,  IF there is a next time, I'll be making a phone call to animal control.  Maybe if you have to pay a healthy fine to get your precious back, you'll think twice about how your actions affect other people.

Maybe.  But I doubt it.

Sincerely,

Older, More Experienced, and Much, Much Wiser