A bad neighbour

Some months ago I was walking my dog in the woods off David Street and came across a man and woman walking their dog in the opposite direction along the heavily traveled pathway. For a reason still unknown to me, the man panicked and lifted his mid-sized dog off the ground and started swinging the poor thing around as my dog attempted to play. I’ve walked my dog along the pathway for years and he did what any dog does when it meets another, sniffs and runs around to incite play. I assume the other dogs owner has had ‘issues’ with his poor suffering mutt and he thought a dust-up was imminent. Even as I yelled at him to calm down, explained the dogs were only playing and he needed to release his dog he continued to yell and scream (which obviously panicked his wife/girlfriend/friend too and she started to scream and yell too which added to the confusion) and eventually fell over which released his poor dog which ran into the woods with my dog. Neither of the dogs showed any signs of aggression and proceeded to happily bark and play. I ran into the woods to retrieve my dog with the male owner close behind. Only after he realized that the dogs were simply playing did he stop yelling and swearing but that’s when I noticed he had a knife in his hand. Why the hell would anyone living in this quiet and peaceful community need to carry a knife while walking his dog much less use it against another neighbour or an innocent pet? Good question. I still don’t have the answer.
After seeing the knife my first response was to pick up something to defend myself but a cooler head prevailed. I quietly suggested he leash his dog and leave which he did without uttering a word to me or apologizing for the 3 or 4 minutes of absolute anarchy he had caused or for pulling a knife.
What’s happening to our neighbourhood? Why do we have a Bacon brother and his partners living amongst us? Why is a quiet Sunday morning walk with my dog turned into a nightmare by a knife wielding ‘neighbour’? I’m not sure if the two are related in any way but I invite any and all to comment on the above, especially the man with the knife.

  6Comments

  1. Francis Lemieux   •  

    Were you in an off leash area?

    • admin   •     Author

      No.

  2. Francis Lemieux   •  

    In answer to your questions;
    Why do we have gansters living in Port Moody? One of the reasons could be that they enjoy the 24 hour free police protection they receive here.
    Why did your Sunday morning dog walk turn into a nightmare? I doubt that the two things are connected. From reading your story, it seems that the main reason the dog walk went bad is because you were not obeying the law by allowing your dog to run free, off leash. This bylaw exists to prevent these types of situations.
    I use the Inlet bike trail to commute and have run into this kind of thing on numerous occasions. In one case a family was walking with a stroller and a small dog on a leash. They met a guy coming the other way with a large dog, off leash. The large dog went after the small leashed dog. The small dog, trying to escape the large one was running in circles around its owner tying her up with the leash. The dogs ended up directly in the path of my bike. This all transpired within seconds. I hit the brakes and lost control of the bike. Thank God I didn’t hit the stroller.
    In the end the guy with the big dog simply carried on with his walk. No apology, no leash.
    As for the guy with the knife, sounds like he was carrying it for self defense. Also sounds like the whole unfortunate encounter would have been avoided if the dog owners followed the rules.

    • admin   •     Author

      It sounds like you’re more concerned about the leash law than someone carrying and brandishing a concealed weapon. Carrying a concealed knife that isn’t a large Bowie-type or doesn’t extend automatically (switchblade, flick-blade) isn’t against the law but pulling a knife on an unarmed person certainly is. Don’t you find that the least bit frightening that one of your neighbours will pull a knife if he perceives HIS off-leash dog may start fighting with another dog (why do you assume MY dog was not leashed)? Perhaps you’ll run into him while bicycling and he’ll think you’re about to run over his pet. Let’s see how you react when he pulls his knife on you. Will it have to come to this or this before you’re more concerned about idiots stabbing your neighbours than the off-leash bylaws? Would my point be a bit clearer if I or my dog had been stabbed and you could read about it in the newspaper?

  3. Francis Lemieux   •  

    I don’t think all knives are illegal. In fact I have a swiss army knife in my bicycling gear. My canoe instructor at Rocky Point carries a concealed knife. You don’t suggest anywhere in your post that the knife was of a type that would be illegal, or that you were threatened with it. It is possible that the guy was preparing to defend his small dog against your larger dog and had no intention of hurting you. Some people carry bear spray to protect themselves from unleashed dogs, or for that matter bears. Its hard to say. What I gather from your story is that the whole thing could have been avoided had you followed the leash rule. Did you report this incident to the Police?

    • admin   •     Author

      >I don’t think all knives are illegal.
      You’re right, not all knives are illegal.

      >In fact I have a swiss army knife in my bicycling gear.
      You must feel very safe and secure.

      >My canoe instructor at Rocky Point carries a concealed knife.
      I’m guessing that your canoe instructor will be thrilled when he/she learns you’ve posted your message regarding their concealed knife.

      >You don’t suggest anywhere in your post that the knife was of a type that would be illegal, or that you were threatened with it.
      Let me know the next time you’re interacting with a complete stranger and you notice a knife in their hand. I’d be curious if you felt at all threatened. I’m guessing you would.

      >It is possible that the guy was preparing to defend his small dog against your larger dog and had no intention of hurting you.
      Why do you assume his dog is smaller and my dog is larger. You’re wrong.

      >What I gather from your story is that the whole thing could have been avoided had you followed the leash rule.
      Why do you assume my dog was not leashed? You’re wrong.

      >Did you report this incident to the Police?
      No.

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