Excuse moi. I don’t go out of my way to find things I don’t like about France. The country provides many things I could never aspire to or afford in the US like medication and rent below $1000 a month, and I am very grateful for that. It makes it much easier to deal with the bureaucracy and the boring food and streets littered with dog shit.
But for the love of all things sacred and holy in this world, STOP HITTING YOUR DOGS.
I almost want to compromise, to implore you to simply stop abusing your dogs IN FRONT OF ME. My dog doesn’t need to be a part of your abusive outbursts, and I don’t need to carry the trauma of simply witnessing it with me for what will probably be indefinitely. But of course, I actually care about your dog in a way you never will and I just want you to not be an abusive shit regardless of your proximity to me.
I have complained about this before. It continues. It’s now worse because my dog inevitably interacts with/is a target for untrained dogs with shitty owners. We’ve been rushed by an off-lead bully breed whose owner then proceeded to punch it after pulling it away from us. We’ve been lept at by off-lead giant something-or-other, the owner proceeds to punch it in the head. My dog was playing with a dog she has played with before, the other dog got a little rowdy, the dogs were fine but the owner hit the already clearly scared and guilty dog. We walk by a yard with a barky dog, we hear a *smack*.
This shit is fucking with me on a psychic level.
For one, people are okay with abusing their dogs. But also, this is what they’re okay with doing IN PUBLIC. In front of people. In front of strangers. This is an iceberg tip.
It eats at me because I know there’s very little I can do. I know it’s a culture issue. I know it’s an education issue. I can’t fight every dog owner in France. I can’t even fight the ones I run into. I can try to put efforts into animal rescue and welfare, and try to feel like I’m nudging the scales a bit, but how much does that matter to the animals being punched directly in front of me?
So. France.
STOP HITTING DOGS. There is no reason to hit a dog unless the dog is doing something equally dangerous. And even then, hitting the dog is probably going to be ineffective for whatever your goal is. Unless your goal is to advertise that you are AN ENORMOUS PIECE OF SHIT. In which case, well done?? And also fuck you?
Don’t abuse animals. Doubly so in front of me.
Sincerely,
Not An Enormous Piece Of Shit
