Piles of dog doo and abandoned cats and judgment, oh my

Hi. I judge you.  Don’t worry too much, because I judge myself in ways that would destroy most mortals.

Let’s talk about bringing your pets on vacation, shall we? I’m not even going to talk about hearing a goat bleating in the site next to us last night. Not talking about it.

Fido and Spot are awesome, aren’t they?  Yes, yes they are awesome. OWNERS are the problem.  When Fido takes a dump and you don’t pick it up, you are the problem. When Fido barks and barks and barks, you are the problem. I hear you barking, not Fido. I want to put you in a crate, not Fido.

What brought about this rant is that our site in Anastasia State Park has dog crap everywhere on the outskirts of the site.  And I mean everywhere. Lazy, lazy people do this, annnnnd I judge you.

Ok, first of all let’s face it: There are going to be times when we don’t pick up after our dogs.  It happens. No one is perfect. There is no ‘always.’ Always simply does not exist. Shit happens, literally.

But, it’s careless and disgusting that people think it’s ok to leave dog crap in public areas for someone else to step in, smell, and deal with. There is no excuse for not cleaning it up.  You shouldn’t have a dog if you can’t pick up after it.  And, please don’t have the follower mentality of, “Well, someone else left it, so I can, too.”  You are not a robot.  Think for yourself and take responsibility. 

Now let’s talk about cats. There are abandoned cats here at Anastasia. We’ve seen two so far, and it’s sad and infuriating.  Cats should not be allowed at campgrounds.  I think it’s silly and selfish of any owner to think otherwise. Your cat doesn’t want to vacation with you; it probably wants a vacation from you. Get a cat sitter.

We named this abandoned cat Curio. 

Here’s the scenario: Fluffy the Cat escapes. Then you pack up and drive home?! I hope you don’t have children.  Would you leave your child at the campground too?  I assume you would since it’s kind of the same thing.

Pets are members of our family. We all say it, but who means it?  You don’t leave your pet behind.  I don’t care what deadline you have waiting for you at home.  Responsible people don’t abandon their family members hundreds or thousands of miles from home.  Figure it out.

Wait a second. Let’s negotiate.  You really, really, really want to bring Fluffy, because Fluffy IS a totally great cat.  Best. Cat. Ever. I propose the following: the campground takes a picture of Fluffy to have on file. You pay a refundable $200 security deposit, which you get back when the campground confirms that Fluffy leaves with you. Yes, I like it.  In fact, I’m going to write it up and send it out to some campgrounds.  Or, better yet, leave your cat at home.

Hey, don’t get all defensive on me, because when you do you’re just confirming that my judgment is indeed correct.  If it pushes a button, there’s some hard truth under it.

-Leah

A note from Amelia:  Even though our sunny campsite smells like dog poop roasting in an Easy Bake Oven, Anastasia State Park is pretty amazing overall. It’s peaceful and quiet and the bathrooms are clean, and there’s an absence of children here. Or at least if there are children here, we don’t hear them, so they are being pretty quiet in their crates.