Ed. note – Here’s the latest from contributor Sarah Heath. Sarah, a real estate broker with Matrix Real Estate, writes about North Seattle life on her personal blog, North Seattle Sarah. Every Saturday, Sarah brings us her musings on life in Green Lake.
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My dog Lola is very understanding of how much I have to work, and she usually sits and lets me write my blog and send emails in peace. So when she asked me this morning if she could write a post, I had to say yes. Here is an open letter from North Seattle Lola to the dogs around the neighborhood:
Ahem.
I like to think I have a great personality. Take me to an off-leash park and I’ll be everyone’s best friend. But when I’m on a leash, and running with my mom, I’m on a mission.
This letter goes out to two types of dog owners out there – first, the ones at Green Lake who think they get the automatic right to come up and sniff me. Usually their parent thinks they are “so cool,” so they shove you into the face of the rest of us there. I don’t like it. So, when you see me avoiding you, that shouldn’t be your cue to run up to me. Just walk by and let me do my thing. I like to think that most of us dogs at Green Lake have a “you don’t bug me, I won’t bug you” kind of attitude. But when you bug me, you really bug me.
This morning after looping the lake, mom and I walked up through Tangletown and then over to Ravenna. Twice during that walk, big dogs, bigger than me, ran up off-leash behind us. One of them came out of a yard, and the other was on a walk but his mom was a whole block behind him! Like I said, I’m a friendly girl, but I didn’t see them coming and it scared me. I have to defend my mom and I don’t know if you’re good or bad.
So please, dogs of Green Lake, stick close by your parents, ask them to leash you, and leave me alone!!
Lola, Agreed!
I think that she probably forgot to mention that people running with dogs should remember that their dogs probably poo at one time or another going around the lake and that their owners should pick it up. (both doggies and owners don’t like stepping in the mess).
Amen to that! My name is Dominic and I am a sensitive Italian Greyhound. I, too, couldn’t agree with you more about uninvited dogs coming over to greet me. Yuck! as far as I’m concerned. Thanks so much for your post!
Fantastic!
On the other end of the spectrum, my dog would love to have every other dog out there come over and visit – on leash, off leash, whatever. Not every dog or owner has the same viewpoint on random greetings.
However, since I know that not all dogs appreciate random greetings, I try to be sensitive about this and if I don’t see any welcoming signs from the dog or smiles from the owner (or if we are ourselves on some kind of mission), we’ll go on by.
Greenlake is a terrible place to walk your dog off leash. There are plenty of better places where off leash dogs can have fun without endangering themselves and others.