Am I wrong?

What the hell is wrong with people? (Warning: This is going to be a profanity-laced, very pissed off blog...) This morning, I take Kazak out to walk him. I have him, law-abidingly, on a leash--even all the way through my yard, because of the neighbors' dogs (but that's another story). I open my gate, and across the street there is this lady with her dog OFF THE FUCKING LEASH. I did not notice this until the gate had closed. The dog across the street runs up to us to visit with Kazak (nearly getting hit by a car in the process). I'm just like, "God dammit..." I'm trying to fish my keys out now, to back away into the yard, but I didn't get them out quickly enough...so the dogs are standing there, psuedo-sniffing each other. At this point, I decide to forget about the keys and keep a very close eye on my dog. I just say to the lady, "Could you please get your dog away from mine, since yours is NOT on a leash?" She basically ignores me or doesn't hear me (or doesn't speak English, who knows?). She has NO CONTROL over the dog, and she's barely even trying to grab her dog and keep it away from Kazak. I'm about ready to push the damn thing away and get between Kazak and the dog, which, up to now, there was no problem. HOWEVER, Kazak is NOT wagging his tail, and the hair on the back of his neck is not flat. At this point, Kazak barks at the dog, and the dog runs away to a tree to pee (I think it was a puppy, whatever)...the owner is completely oblivious to anything, and is trying to get her dog to stop running around and not listen. At some point, she gets the dog to follow her across the street, and I yell, "Put the DAMN DOG on a leash...it's a LAW, you know? I'm tired of this shit." We then walk away while the woman continues to basically ignore or not understand me.

So then I get to work and I ask my coworker who lives nearby and walks his dog if there's a number or something I can call--because obviously, the cops are not going to come to ticket some person with a dog off a leash--it's a non-emergency, clearly. And I wouldn't call 911 for that, for Christ's sake. So I'm going to track down my alderman and call them and ask them to crack down on these idiots. I'm tired of it. But the kicker is, one of my coworkers then tells me (not joking), that I must be a dickhead to live around. And I said, what? You're gonna call the cops because someone has their dog off the leash? That's pretty shitty dude. Well, I damn near went off on this guy, and I'm still pretty fucking pissed. I said, well, No. 1, I'm NOT calling the cops, but something has to be done about this, because, No. 2, my dog has been attacked by a dog off the leash while my dog was abiding by the rules by being ON a leash, and I'm NOT going through that bullshit again.

Man, am I hot right now. There isn't much that pisses me off, but this is certainly one thing...

This is not to mention that I need to write out a letter to my neighbors laying down some ground rules for all of us as far as dogs are concerned. I don't want any trouble with these other dogs...but I know I'm going to come across as a dick. So I need to pick and choose things carefully when it comes to that.

Back to your regularly scheduled program.