‘Missing Dog, Please Do Not Call, Chase or Try To Grab Her!! She Will Run!!’
This notice, featuring the face of a cavalier spaniel, is once again pinned around the village where I live and all the neighbouring villages, country lanes and roadsides. I say again, because about six months ago an identical message was pinned up everywhere, but featuring another missing dog incident.
Is there a template for these missing dog notices, because they all seem to say the same daft thing, in Surrey anyway? ‘Do not call, chase or try to grab.’ Yes, that’s kind of why you lost your dog in the first place. I think you’ll find it was the lack of calling, chasing or trying to grab that led to your poor pooch becoming destitute.
What is wrong with dog owners nowadays? They have this new fangled idea that even calling a dog is wrong, because you are raising your voice. Not only must you never use any form of force, including pulling on its lead to steer it out of the way of a car, for instance. You must never shout at it either.
Let the dog make its own decisions is what this new breed of dog owners seem to think
If the dog, therefore, decides to run away while out on a walk in the park, they simply let it run and run in the wrong direction, because to shout at it would be cruel in their view. Let the dog make its own decisions is what this new breed of dog owners seem to think. Let it go its own way, and express itself by running into the blue yonder, because to call the dog back would be aggressive.
Needless to say, a lot of dogs have gone missing since this new generation of owners came on stream after lockdown and home working made dog ownership way too accessible for townie woolly liberals with their ridiculously wet, passive ideas.

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