Dogs in Condos

Last night, from our porch, I watched a woman from our complex with two large dogs walk them past a neighbor's porch where another large dog started barking and growling. The woman with the leashed dogs, with great effort, was able to tug and pull her dogs toward the parking lot and continue on their walk.

We live in a complex of townhouse condominiums that have railed decks, but just a tiny, unfenced square of grass that is liberally referred to as a yard. As I watched the short canine display of machismo, I realized just how many large dogs live in our complex. There's some pits, huskies, a boxer and some other mutts of indeterminable origin. There's a big, black dog that barks from a unit's upper deck whenever someone enters its view.

I bring this up because I find it strange...and rather unfair to these pups. Our units are two-story and not particularly large and don't have fenced yards. Even if there were fenced yards, the rules state that animals cannot be outside without a leash and are forbidden to pee and poo on condo property. If poo is found near a unit, they will be fined...EVEN IF THEY DON'T OWN A DOG. I also have quite a few snitches and complainers as neighbors. So, people take their mutts across the street to crap on another housing building's yard and those folks, in turn, bring their dogs to our lot.

Now, I'm talking about big dogs here, not pugs or chihuahuas. These poor guys and gals have nowhere to exercise and run around near their own house. Which begs the question...why move into a condo like ours if you have big dogs? Or get a large pooch when you already live here?

Now that I have kids who want to run and play all of the time, I find our housing situation inadequate. A parking lot is no place for kids to play, but at least I don't have to keep them on a leash.

That's my ramble for today. Meanwhile, here's a pic of our cat lounging in the dryer: