Dogs are a highlight of market visits
Editor:
In response to Animals are animals, treat them that way if you want to keep them healthy”, Creemore Echo, Sept. 8, pg. 5).
I too might start by saying I love dogs and I love cats. I have kept both as pets most of my life. I have been bitten by both. Usually the biter is the innocent party.
When I go to the market, a highlight for me is to see the many varieties of dogs there. Amazing, you never see two alike.
The dogs I see are cared for, social and kept well in control by responsible dog owners. One must keep in mind that responsible dog owners usually work at full time jobs. This does not leave a lot of time for these outings, pleasurable for both man and dog, perhaps only a Saturday.
As for accidents with dogs, accidents are a part of life. One can have an accident with a coffee cup.
About dogs interacting with market food, I have never heard of a dog attacking a pierogi or running away with a loaf of bread. I think dogs at the market add to the bucolic charm and beauty of small town Creemore, I think the water provided by merchants can do the same, with one caveat – good, safe water and clean dishes. Surely this cannot be as harmful as the slurp or two your dog sneaks from the toilet bowl whenever he can.
If we ban dogs from the market, does the owner go too? If we ban dogs, what goes next? I think the old adage “it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie” is great advice for this situation.
As for cats, they make wonderful companions if they are given a chance. My pet cats, mostly rescues, followed me when I ambled outside. When I sat down, there was always a race to see which cat could get to my lap first. When I lay down ill, or for a rare nap, they were there too, with nary a can of food in sight.
Comments about cats eating humans do great harm to these animals. You know you can leave a pet cat at home for a day or two with ample food, water and toilet facilities, come back and find things much the same as you left. Try this with most dogs and they will eat all of the two-day rations of food at once then leave the results on your best rug.
Cats are not better than dogs. Dogs are not better than cats, though often dogs are held in higher esteem. There is no better here. There is simply different. Understand this difference. Celebrate this difference. Vive la différence.
Billie Power,
Mulmur.
