Caution When Training in my Neighbourhood: Dogs are Angry Between 7pm and 8pm

I've taken many pictures of dogs while at inline skating races. I usually enjoy these personable animals. In fact, there’s a few websites with information about inline skating with your dog. [Blading Central]


In good company at the Northshore Inline Marathon
I was running today between 7:00pm and 8:00pm as part of my training regimen. I noticed there were a lot of people walking their dogs along the route that I was using. I passed someone with this tiny little dog and the dog suddenly became enraged...at me. I couldn’t figure out what I did to make the dog angry, so I darted out of its way. I could hear the dog’s owner’s voice over the music from my mp3 player, calling off her dog.

I also heard these clicks coming from one of those extendible leashes that are supposed to stop the dog from running any further. I heard click after click- which to me meant the dog was succesfully getting closer in its pursuit of me and the owner was making the leash 'longer' so the dog's range of attack, it's radius of rage if you will, could increased. I managed to get away.

I'm the kind of person who sees humour in many situations, but after the 2nd and 3rd encounter with angry and pissed off dogs within a few minutes, my good humour was replaced with an 'I want to punch out that dog' attitude.

I guess dogs- especially those tiny little dogs that would stand NO chance in a fight with one of the local squirrels that inhabit my neighbourhood- have an angry hour, and I think that when I was running today, I was right smack in the middle of dog angry hour.

Perhaps when I decide to run in my neighbourhood next time, before 7pm or after 8pm, I will not be a dog’s moving target, but rather a friendly 'running by' object that the dogs could calmly ignore.