Dog's Worst Friend

As I mentioned yesterday, decisions, decisions.  There are so many to make.  Do I work on my next book, that probably no one will be interested in, or do I type out another one of these?  This one I feel is somewhat important, which is why I'm currently ignoring the book.  Writing, for me, is a way to reinforce a thought.  I've got a thought, or something to do, that I want to remember.  Just writing it down is a way to help remember it, even if I don't read it again.  I want to remind myself of something in particular. 
The title here is, of course, a flip on "man's best friend," which is what dogs are, and that's correct.  I love dogs.  They are fantastic.  I believe I mentioned that dogs are allowed to be in the store where I work, and that is, by far, the best thing about my job.  It is my goal to pet a dog every workday.  I recently petted 5 dogs in 1 day.  I think that was a personal record. 
I attached Michael Vick's photo to this, because he is infamous for being involved with dog fighting, which is an obvious example of dog cruelty.  By the way, he's an example of how "important" pro football is.  His crimes didn't stop him from playing again.  What other crimes haven't prevented players from playing pro football?  Assault (against men and women) and rape.  All animal cruelty is heinous and wrong, but when it is directed at pet animals, there is an additional problem.  Pet animals (dogs, cats, etc.) have learned to trust humans.  I've seen medieval paintings that depicted humans with dogs.  So these animals have had a relationship with people for hundreds, or even thousands, of years.  That's quite a long time to establish trust.  So the dog or cat trusts people, lets his or her defenses down with someone, and the person abuses that trust by maliciously harming the animal: horribly heinous.   
Humans are cruel to dogs in all sorts of ways.  They starve them.  They chain them to a small spot that they never get to leave.  They leave them outside in the cold.  They breed dogs.  No one should be bringing dogs, or cats, into the world.  There are tons of unwanted dogs and cats languishing in shelters.  Breeders betray these animals by bringing more dogs and cats into a world where they are not wanted.  The breeders ensure that shelter animals will have a harder time finding homes.  Puppies are cute, but I usually feel a tinge of sadness when I see one, because someone brought that puppy into a world that is already populated with many unwanted dogs.  Some people are only interested in puppies and not non-puppies.  These people are like biological parents: cruel and selfish. 
Unfortunately, I have witnessed dog cruelty in the store where I work.  Some people control the dogs that are with them extremely closely.  They are constantly watching, criticizing, and scolding them.  This is a form of cruelty.  I think it's possible these people have a fetish that has them needing to control living beings.  Perhaps they'd rather closely control people like that, but they can't find someone who'd submit to their control.  I've also seen people choking their dogs.  I saw a man walking a dog at my workplace, and he choke, choke, choked the dog repeatedly while walking him or her.  That's why I feel it's important for me to write this.  I wanted to say something to him, but I didn't.  I didn't want to get into trouble at work.  I let that dog down.  I'm hereby challenging myself to say something if I see something like that in the future.  I have confronted strangers while not at work, to protect animals, at least a few times.  I've told myself that I'm willing to get into fistfights over animal cruelty.  If that is what is required to protect an animal, then it is the right thing to do.  Fuck the law.  Laws were established to protect people: not animals.  There are a few laws that exist to protect pets, but not nearly enough.  "Food" animals, like pigs, cows, and chickens, have extremely little protection from laws, because many people have decided that their lives don't matter to them.  My life, certainly my job, is nothing compared to the massive issue of animal cruelty.  Animals can't call the police if they are the victims of cruelty.  They need people to help them. 
I hate animal abusers.  I only saw him do this one particular day, but I'll probably never forget it.  He was at the store where I work with a woman and a puppy.  The puppy was in a shopping cart.  He pulled the leash, which was attached to a collar around the puppy's neck, repeatedly.  Perhaps he enjoyed choking the puppy.  He has since returned to the store a number of times, but that's the only time I saw him bring the puppy.  The last time I saw him, he had a few kids with him: not surprising.  Animal cruelty, which includes purchasing meat, goes with biological parenthood (It's cruel to bring people into a fucked-up world.) like peanut butter and jelly.