Pepper Spray Should Never Be Used As A First Resort

Last week, my family adopted a dog from the Spokane County shelter. Two days later, we were in our neighborhood park, Corbin Park. Arlo was off the leash and we were training him to come retrieve his stick and to stay.

At one point in the training, he saw another dog his size and pranced over to see it. Not charged, but pranced. Without stopping, the elderly woman owner of the other dog sprayed our dog in the face with pepper spray. She apparently felt no fear, as she never even broke her stride and her only comments were that he should have been on a leash. When we explained that we were trying to train him, she reiterated that the law says it must be on a leash.

Now, if this had happened outside the city limits or if my dog had been on a leash and she had sprayed him, I could have pressed cruelty charges.

If it is cruel outside the city limits, why is it tolerated inside?

And cruelty it was. Arlo rubbed his face into the snow and dirt. He’d take a couple of steps and then rub some more. He whined in pain. I immediately tried to wash my suffering dog with snow to no avail. Meanwhile, my partner, Kelly, kept trying to talk to the woman and ask her why. She rationalized her actions by saying that we were the ones who were cruel, for having him off the leash.

I then ran home and washed Arlo’s swollen eyes out with no effect. Finally in desperation, I called a grooming shop, Laundrapet, where they helped me irrigate his eyes for 15 minutes and we spent two hours washing him.

In the process of doing this, my hands and arms were burnt up to the elbows, the whole shop was coughing, my pants and gloves were ruined (as was Arlo’s new collar) and I now have to get my carpets cleaned because he was rubbing his face on the carpets while I called the shop.

Laundrapet’s owner told me that if I had not gotten this spray out, it could have damaged his eyesight. He coughed and snorted for days afterward. So did I.

Cruelty is cruelty, regardless of the law. Pepper sprays should only be used as a last resort, not a first one. It seems an extreme action for an honest mistake by a dog and his owner. It would be like beating your child black and blue with a stick for going into the street.

I wish the woman had given me a chance to get my dog. She, unfortunately, may have been legally correct. But ethically and morally, she was intolerant and dead wrong.