Have you ever been part of an online conversation with strangers with a common interest and someone posts something so offensive you think that maybe you really don’t have a common interest after all?
Yeah, that happened today.
There are several dog sports I really enjoy watching, learning about, and training for, even though I’m not trialing any of the dogs in them. I’m part of online communities for most of them. It’s a way to get to know people across the country involved in the sport and to learn.
In one of the groups, over the past couple of days there’s been healthy, spirited discussion about how to deal small groups of dog/handler teams who have to wait in a small, blocked off space for each of their turns to run. Lots of ideas tossed about, some better than others.
Until one really bad, really offensive comment.
Someone suggested keeping a bottle of lemon juice in a squirt bottle in this small space, and to spray a dog in the face if the dog barked constantly and would not calm down.
Lemon juice.
In the face.
Really?
And this is someone who trains dogs?
I’ve been to several dog events in several venues. Dogs bark. Cram strange dogs in a small, enclosed space and they may get a little uptight. Especially high drive dogs.
I hope I’m never at an event with this person, or anyone like her. It really made me reconsider my desire to get into this particular sport.
Oh, and I don’t even want to think of how I would react to someone squirting lemon juice, or anything else, in my dog’s face.
Colletts on the Move 