Is a cup of coffee worth jeopardizing your dog's safety?

So here I am standing on my soap box, yet again.  This time though, I must say I believe it's quite justified.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, right?  So picture this.  I'm walking Max this morning and come upon my local Starbucks.  As I'm coming down the sidewalk, I notice a woman is tying her dog up outside so she can run in to get a cup of coffee (very commonplace in my hood).  While I don't advocate tying your dog up in any fashion, what concerned me was that rather than fasten her dog to something secure she simply slipped the end of his leash under the leg of a chair.  Even more concerning is that said chair is plastic; you know, the kind that becomes airborne with even a small gust of wind.  You see where I'm going with this? 

As I approach, I see that the dog is quite anxious and getting more upset by the moment.  Then along comes a woman with a small child who proceeds to dote on the dog (from afar) which only gets the little guy even more excited.  What was most baffling (besides the fact this dog was tethered to this chair in the first place) was this woman didn't seem to get the situation she was creating.  Either that, or she was simply too self absorbed to care.  The next thing I know, the little dog is dragging the chair across the sidewalk and all the while this woman just keeps on going like a little Energizer bunny.  I race to the chair - with Max in tow - grabbing both it and the dog just before they reach the street. 

While there's a whole crew of people watching this little dramasode unfold, one very nice woman offers to go inside and find the dog's owner who subsequently comes running outside to her dog.  As she was clearly upset, I chose to put on my nice, but concerned hat and let her know that many dogs get loose and some lost or injured as a result of this type of situation.  She was grateful and my guess is she'll be more careful next time.  Hopefully a lesson learned. 

Unfortunately, the story doesn't end here. 

Max and I take off walking again only to come upon two other small dogs tied to yet another chair in similar fashion.  They see Max, starting barking incessantly and lunge towards us with great fervor.  This time, the lightweight chair actually tips over and the two pups begin dragging it across the sidewalk, again, towards the very busy street.  And again, I go running - with Max in tow -- grabbing the chair just before they reach the street.  Am I have deja vu or what? 

This is where the story takes a different twist.  While another woman again came to my aid, the owner of these two dogs comes running out of Starbucks, grabs her dogs and scowls at me.  In this particular case I leave my nice hat at home and choose to wear the concerned and mildly scolding hat instead.  I simply said, "that's really not a good idea."  To which she responded, "it was the best idea I had at the time.  Clearly it wasn't a good one."  And as she said this, she looks up at me like I've just attempted to either steal or harm her dogs, rather than keeping them from potential injury, or worse.  I ask myself . . . what is wrong with this picture?   

What's wrong is that you cannot force ungrateful people to be grateful; however, one would hope you might be able to teach them to be more careful when it comes to the safety of their dogs.  I know Starbucks has good coffee and that some people absolutely must have that morning caffeine boost, but come on people . . . is it really worth jeopardizing your pet's safety?  I think we all know the answer to that.  

So for all you coffee lovers out there, please think twice before tying your dog up outside your local coffee joint (or drug store or supermarket).  No matter how good it is, that cup of coffee will never wake you up with a big wet kiss, greet you at the door as if they can't live without you or forgive you, regardless of what you do or say. 

You know who loves you baby!