lo Squaderno (Dec 2016)
The Pet Keeping Industry in the American City
Abstract
When I run, I don’t particularly like to be interrupted. After immigrating to the United States from Israel some ten years ago I was rather abruptly made aware of what felt like the arrogant behavior of American dog owners, with whom I shared the public parks.1 Many times they blithely let their dogs off leash and allowed – encouraged even – their running after joggers like me. “Don’t worry, she’s a friendly dog,” one pet owner shouted after me as I was attempting to escape the dog’s ardent fascination with my ankles. I’ll spare the readers the details of how that encounter ended, except to mention that the police were involved, as well as a bloody ankle. Another such “friendly” dog, a huge Rottweiler, knocked my then four-year-old daughter down. Despite my daughter’s visible distress, the owner insisted that the dog loved kids and was just playing around. My daughter was traumatized for years to come.
