Last weekend, I introduced you to some of the dogs in my building.
Now, it is time for me to defend those dogs against an assault on their freedom.
While cleaning out some emails, I happened upon this, from the managers of the building. I’m not supposed to post emails from the landlords, according to the fine print at the bottom of them, so instead of doing that I’m going to post a few altered quotes from it. They didn’t say anything about not doing that.
It began with a simple greeting, a nod to the building’s love of pets, and the boast that “as you might already know we take pride in being one of the few communities with no breed or weight restrictions for dogs.”
We get it, you guys don’t fat-shame dogs.
They then said that all pets need to be on a leash at “ALL TIMES (No Exceptions),” which sounds like a rule that should only apply outside of the apartment, but maybe they’re gonna call in the Gestapo and watch dogs and cats and fish in the privacy of their homes. Who knows.
There are things about this that are annoying, but relatively harmless. And yeah, if presented differently, I could probably understand why dogs should be on a leash in the hallway and down by the pool (yes, no big deal, I live somewhere with a pool—although evidently that’s pretty common in Texas and does not necessarily mean I’m living the lavish lifestyle you’d expect my blogging to finance). Liability and all that.
But the third paragraph was upsetting.
We expect all resident(s) (even non-pet owners) who witness a resident with their pet not on a leash or not following our pet policies to take a photo, take note of the area/time of the occurrence, and contact the leasing office immediately so that we can take further action.
They expect me to narc on dogs? Of all the things to narc on, dogs?? And on a more practical note, they think I’m going to take a picture of the dog right in front of its person?
“Hello, authorities who are very bad at keeping elevators working, this is Stu. The very excited mutt without a tail is racing ahead of her person and then pausing and looking back and waiting for him. Causing quite a bit of harm here. Look here’s a picture: *blurry image taken directly in front of the dog and person*”
And to say that they “expect” me to do it too…it isn’t a request, it’s an expectation? The oppressors might have snuck a clause into the lease fining dogs off the leash, but there’s no clause in there about having to be a tattle tale. If these people think I’m going to turn on my favorite species inhabiting this building, they’ve got another thing coming.
And that thing is civil disobedience.
That’s right. If my leasing agency wants to crack down on cute little furry dogs, they need to set up their own surveillance network, ’cause I’m not doing their dirty work for them.
Now, I won’t compare myself to Rosa Parks, except to say that what she did was much more important than what I’m doing, though like her, I’m not following orders here.
I see a dog off a leash? Not taking a picture.
I see a dog off a leash? Not reporting it.
I see a dog off a leash? Might give it a treat. Fight the power, little buddy.
Momma didn’t raise no snitch.
