Author: D. L. Keur

Out of the blue…quite literally…sunshine and clear skies turned swiftly and suddenly to broiling storm.  The squall line was a visible chaos, and the wind hit in gusts that were stronger than ones I remember ever experiencing during North Idaho’s summer season. 

Trees bent double — big trees.  Branches snapped.  But, around me, anyway, the giants — some of them over a century old, stayed rooted and whole.  Not so lucky the ones used forest surrounding them stood as solitary lone remnants of woods that had been.  Lacking the protective buffering that trees in a group provide for one anther, they went down.  And they took the power with them.

For four and a half hours, no-one in North Idaho had power.  (Some on Pack River still don’t, I understand.)  Street lights were off, the hospital and banks’ emergency generators kicked in, and we all waited…until well after dark.

My mother lives outside of town.  She’s 84 years young and spry as a teen.  Feisty too.  But she lives in forest — big trees.  I went out to check on her since she wasn’t answering her phone.  To do that, I had to negotiate town, and Sandpoint is NOTORIOUS for asshole drivers.

To my amazement, everyone, and I mean even the teenage, testosterone-driven, souped up 4×4 truck-driving ones, were courteous and polite, each waiting their turn, and even letting others go first when it was clearly their turn at the intersection with its dusty, faded, very cobbled together four-way stop signs nailed to barrels.  (Somebody was quick thinking make them and to set them out that fast — congrats all you public works employees.)

Not only that, but no traffic snarls.  Traffic ran smoothly, without long delays.  Wonderful for a town and county infamous for GRID LOCK.

It just goes to show, when things get nasty, people get nice. Thank you, everyone.  Now, that’s American!

There is a leash law in Bonner County, Idaho.  I believe there is also a separate leash law doubling Bonner County’s in both Sandpoint and Ponderay.  Despite this, people blatantly let their dogs off leash, especially while walking them up and down the residential streets and alleys.  While many of these dogs are pleasant, wonderful, well-socialized animals, many are not.  Many are, in fact, dangerous to both humans and pets. 

Aggressive dogs like Pitbulls, Pitbull crosses, and Rottweilers bite me without provocation.  (German shepherds don’t for some reason.) I believe this behavior from natively aggressive dogs is because they dislike that I am what is classified as an alpha personality, even though I take care not to look them in the eye, not to approach them, not to acknowledge them.  Regardless of the fact I am an alpha personality, I shouldn’t have to be in fear of being bitten, or, worse, dying, as a result of a dog attack.  And I shouldn’t have to fear that my cat will wind up dead in the jaws of these dogs either. 

Dog owners — pet owners in general — have an obligation and a responsibility to maintain complete control of their animals.  They do not have a right to perpetrate fear or danger to other people and their pets.  Yet there is this consistent disregard, flagrant disregard, in fact, for the safety and comfort of others.

When asked to leash their dogs, and even when their dogs threaten a person or their pet right before their eyes, these owners scoff, ridicule, or shrug.  “Too bad, so sad.”  Okay.  So when you have lost your house, your boat, your cars, your bank account because your dog attacked me without provocation in my own back yard or on the street, “Too bad, so sad,” right?

If your dog is aggressive, for everybody’s sake, LEASH IT. And keep it well under control at all times.  Muzzle your dog when out in public if it is a biter or dangerous to other’s pets.  Neither I nor my pets want to suffer the consequences of your flagrant disregard for the law, nor your blatant disregard for the health, welfare, and safety of others and those creatures precious to them…or any creature for that matter, never mind the sanctity of one’s property.  (My plants, tires, fence posts, car paint, do not need digging, scratching, the application of dog urine, or paw prints.)

And while we’re on the subject, do NOT point your dog onto my grass, purposely urging it to take a dump on my lawn — this to the young woman who owns the bloodhound.