Dog Walkers

Everyone loves their pet dogs and what better way to exercise both you and your dog than to take a walk down the street? People walk their dogs in every town and city around the world, especially when it is really nice outside. There are some international differences though between dog-walkers in Italy and those back home in the United States.

Many of the dogs in parks and on the streets of Rome are not on leashes. Weird? Back home there are little things we like to call lawsuits that happen all over from unleashed dogs biting passer-byers, especially little children. It just is not safe back home to have a dog off the leash. Here is a map of rabies across Europe though. I do not see one speck of green on that map to show rabies in Italy. Maybe that is why people allow their dogs off the leash. I know that I was quite frightened as I took a run through a park when a dog came chasing after me. It was not until I completely stopped running that the owner did anything to make the dog get away from me. Seems strange, but it did happen.

The weirdness did not end there. Usually when I walk down the sidewalk I avoid one of two things, puddles or sticky gum. In Italy I have added a new avoidance to my list-- dog feces. The dogs of Rome are allowed to take dumps on the street without any punishment to their owners if the owners do not clean it up. I know for a fact that this is not the case back home in America. There are fines against leaving dog feces on the sidewalk. It perplexes me why leaving it on the sidewalk is not a problem. I guarantee thousands of people walk the streets in Rome every day, and the poop is usually smeared so I know people are stepping in it. Is there a complaint box somewhere? If so, where can I file a complaint??