Memo to: dog owners

[misslynx]

1. Some dogs handle being tied up outside while you go into a store (or, in this case, the farmer's market) better than others.
   
   
2. In particular, if it is a fairly nippy day, a long-haired dog of a northern breed (huskies and variants thereof, etc.) will probably be fine as long as they're not out there for too long, but a short-haired dog may be really unhappy about it.
   
   
3. And temperament-wise, a mellow dog will just relax and enjoy the sunshine, while a high-strung/dependent dog will get incredibly agitated and bark and whine constantly until its humans come back. The latter should really not be left tied up outside if you can possibly help it. They will (a) be very unhappy, and (b) drive everyone else around them, canine and human, crazy.
   
   
4. Similarly, a very young, energetic dog that can't hold still for more than 30 seconds is perhaps also not the best candidate for being tied outside for any length of time.
   
   
5. There is more than one post/handle/railing/etc. that dogs can be tied to outside the Wychwood Barns farmers' market. Seriously. Look around.
   
   
6. So, given all of the above, was it really fucking necessary to tie three other dogs, all of whom were varying degrees of short-haired, high-strung, unhappy, cold, over-energetic and constantly barking, to the same post Kiska was tied to, with all of them on short leashes so that they couldn't get away from each other?

FFS, people. By the time I got out there (and I wasn't even inside for very long), their leashes were tangled together into a near-impenetrable knot that took me probably longer to untangle than it had taken me to buy my veggies in the first place. I'm just thankful it hadn't yet degenerated into a full-on fight. Maybe you were thinking the dogs would enjoy each other's company and help keep each other warm. But it certainly didn't look like that was how it was working out.

On the bright side, I have rarely seen Kiska quite as happy as she was when I finally got her leash free so that she could get away from the other dogs...