And I, as a runner, don’t want to stop. It takes enough to get me out there running, unnecessary stops are most unwelcome.
If someone yelled at me to stop while I’m running I would stop, because it could be anything. Once she explained the reason, I would tell her it’s an unreasonable request for someone on a public street. I would only accomodate her request by staying on the opposite side of the street if I saw her in the future, the rest was on her.
In reality, I would stop running if the dog broke free to try to calm it down. I’d never want to hurt a dog unless it was the last resort.
This is my response. And i probably wouldn’t be faking it. I mean, I’d probably notice the woman and the dog. But I am slow to respond to unexpected inputs when I’m concentrating. So i probably don’t entirely process her demand until I’m past the dog.
I think if the lady is yelling “Stop, stop!”, her adrenaline is already up, the runner might get some nasty push back if he confronts and protests. No matter how calm the runner is.
But that’s just me. Never want confrontation of any kind.
I wasn’t thinking of confronting and protecting so much as starting off asking, is the dog a rescue? did you just get them? is the dog frightened or playful or belligerent? and so on.
We are trying hard to reduce the casual misogyny on the board. Using the term, “bitch,” to describe a woman is the sort of casual misogyny we are targeting.
Please refrain from using this term in this way. I am sure you are creative enough to make your point without employing gender punching-down to do it. Thanks.
You probably don’t want to give them a piece of your mind. An ill-intentioned person might release the dog to see what your top running speed is.
A dog named Muggs featured in a Thurber story would bite members of his family reaching towards the floor, so they had to put his food bowl on a chair. Thurber’s Uncle Horatio, who’d fought in the Civil War and claimed to be the third man up Missionary Ridge was outraged at their cowardice, and insisted he would feed the dog by placing his bowl on the floor. Thurber’s brother suggested that if Uncle Horatio had tried to feed Muggs on the floor before the battle, he would’ve been the first man up Missionary Ridge.