Lol, you’re so desperate for your narrative to fit.
I also live in a condo. Something like 80% of the people in my building are pet owners, and pretty much everyone is a friend to animals. We don’t leave doors propped open. There is the slightest of chances that all three doors between my dog and the outside fail, nobody is around to stop him, and he suddenly develops a lust for adventure. That, however, is an incredibly unreasonable situation. If I was worried about something that unlikely then I would probably also have agoraphobia or something. There’s no way on earth I’d use a vending machine, that’s for sure. Those things can kill you!
There is an acceptable level of risk for everything. If we only engaged in 0-risk activities then we wouldn’t ride in automobiles, own kitchen knives, shower, or even eat. I think the most responsible thing people can do is assess their own risk and act accordingly. There is effectively a 0% chance my dog is able to reach the outside without supervision, so I have decided to not leave his harness on 24/7. Your circumstances may be different, and I respect that. I’m not going to try to shame you into my way of life. Because that would be silly.
I believe I’ve been misunderstood. I don’t think they’re extremists in a political sense or anything. I think their stance on the harness discussion is on the extreme end of things. Many of the arguments were “Your dog must wear a collar or harness 24/7 or you are an irresponsible owner”, and they left no room for alternative views. That falls under the definition of extremism in my books.
I agree 100% with that practice. In my opinion the only time dogs should ever be off their leash in public is when they are in designated off-leash areas. When I have my dog in off-leash areas I leave his harness (with contact info) on too. We weren’t talking about dogs outside though. It was mainly about dogs whether dogs should be required to wear their collar/harness inside the home.
Anybody who said they took their dogs collar/harness off would face the wrath of the “you’re an irresponsible owner” crowd. No counter arguments would be considered either. One user made the outlandish argument that an apartment dog could escape into a common hallway, get into the fire stairs through a propped-open door, go down 5 stories, open the emergency exit via a crash bar, and get outside. To me that is an absurd scenario to use for an argument, and definitely something that only a person with extreme views on the topic would stand behind.