Owners Give Dogs A Bad Name | The Source Weekly - Bend, Oregon

Owners Give Dogs A Bad Name

I adopted a dog in 1997, the year I moved to Oregon. I've seen Bend change from an extremely dog-friendly town to an ambivalently dog-tolerant

I adopted a dog in 1997, the year I moved to Oregon. I've seen Bend change from an extremely dog-friendly town to an ambivalently dog-tolerant city. I like dogs, and generally like people who own dogs. I also understand that there has to be limits on where dogs can be as the population gets denser.

But last Saturday as I participated in the Pole Pedal Paddle event, I was incredulous and angry to see a group of dog owners sitting on the riverbank along the boat course, allowing their dogs to swim in the water in the path of paddlers competing in the race! Standing on the Columbia Street bridge, I saw these dogs swim out on the race course multiple times - in fact, at least one time, they were after a tennis ball thrown by one of their owners.

The people who participate in PPP have worked too hard and invested too much to have their efforts thwarted by a bunch of careless dog owners. This kind of behavior gives all dog owners a bad reputation and will undoubtedly lead to further restrictions on dogs in the future.

Come on, people - THINK!!

Lia Vella, Dayvill


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