Ruff Shopping in the Goodland

I was in Anna’s Bakery at El Camino Real this morning. A bulging-eyed mutt sat his fecal ass in the middle of the restaurant floor, which I had wrongfully assumed was for humans, where stood his two thirty-something, white owners. I went to Trader Joe’s off Calle Real, and a white man in his forties had a black, French bulldog in the meat aisle. I went to Albertson’s, and a white guy I knew vaguely from work had a puppy in his backpack while he shopped for produce.

I think, due to the demographic of public pet owners in this area, that shop owners cannot say anything to this poopbag population as they rebuild their clientele after the pandemic, but I can.

I don’t want your filthy animals near my food. Not at restaurants and not in the grocery stores. Sure, all the contractors, handymen, and construction workers need their emotional support dogs or they can’t shop at Home Depot, but why should I have to put up with two dogs fighting and their mommies and daddies screaming while having coffee outside Starbucks?

Leave your animals at home, or get doggy daycare, because you’re not emotionally equipped for a child, and when you are, you will bring that child to the restaurant and sit a cartooned screen in front of it, because you’re a responsible child-owner considerate of others.

I’m not saying you don’t love your pet — or your screen-addicted child — I’m saying that I don’t.

I love all animals, but not while I’m dining out and not while I’m shopping.