Dateline: 2015, Q2. I was on a jog, a couple miles from home, which back then was Minneapolis, before it became the crime laden hellscape it is today. Specifically, I was on the east side of Lake Harriet, Bryant Ave, which is also a major bicycling street.
Whilst jogging on that street a giant Pitbull closely passed me, pulling a 10 year old girl who had it leashed. Basically the dog was walking her; or dragging her more accurately. They both passed so close I could touch them. Didn't think twice about it other than the dog was the same size as the girl.
About a minute later, the dog is circling me, no girl in sight. Wasn't seemingly aggressive, but wasn't letting me get away either. I look down the block, and there's the girl, about 10 houses away. Not sure why I did this next, but I did. When I want to, I can yell extremely loud. And that's what I did.
My exact words were: "get your dog off me RIGHT! FUCKING! NOW!"
The latter part was at maximum volume. How loud? Several people from different houses began immediately streaming out to see what the yelling was about. I must have scared the dog, or maybe all the people distracted it as he trotted off. And I was super pissed. I've taken two of my own dogs to obedience school. Are you a dog owner? Then fucking train them, at least to be walked aka 'heel.' And if you own a giant Pitbull, don't have a 10 yr old girl be dragged behind it. Moreover, in Minneapolis, there's a leash ordinance. Moreover, we're on a major bicycling artery, ergo steady flow of cyclists.
So what did I do? Took out my phone, snapped a pic of dog, now 50 ft away, and called 911. Police arrive with their dog specialist, in maybe, 10 minutes. Wasn't long. So she's interviewing me whilst 2 officers try to locate the owner. They start knocking on doors. About 5 doors down, they're knocking, and several big dogs start barking from inside. Nobody comes to door but they keep banging as it's obvious that's the dog's house. A young Mexican woman eventually opens and claims ownership.
She says she's just the housekeeper or something & that was her daughter trying to walk the dog. So the officers come back and relay this to the dog officer I'm talking to. She looks up the address and the dog is already on a dangerous dog list the city keeps, when there has already been another incident with them. At that point, it's a zero tolerance policy.
She asks me if I wish to pursue a complaint. I say yes definitely. She fills out a report. I show her the pic of the dog, which automatically triggers a 2nd flag as they're 'off-leash.' She says that two flags means the dog is confiscated.
So that happened.