Many dog owners do not understand that while they may love their pets, others find them nuisances who bark and leave messes, chase wildlife and frighten people. Last summer I was playing with my 7-year-old daughter in Lindsey Gardens in the Avenues area of Salt Lake City. We were not in the off-leash area but no fence contained the dogs that were. A Rhodesian ridgeback, a large dog bred originally to hunt lions, came bounding at us with what looked like aggressive intent. I was afraid and my daughter beside herself with terror. I yelled to the owner to call off her dog but rather than do so she yelled back, “Watch out, he jumps.”

I managed to get my daughter and myself up on the baseball backstop until the dog went away. We would have been relieved if an animal control officer had shot that dog. People who cannot manage a dog, keep it quiet and clean up after it should not have one.

Harris Sondak

Salt Lake City