My Encounter With a Dog Today Almost Ended in Tragedy

I saw a dog with its owner on the side of the street as I was driving home from work and immediately thought that there could be trouble. Turns out I was right. 

I was driving through downtown Portland and approached a light and stopped. Over to my left I saw a dog and its owner walking along a patch of grass on the side of the road near the intersection. The dog was not on a leash but was close to its owner. I thought briefly that this could be a bad scene if this dog got away.

I didn't think anything else of it as the light turned green and I started to turn left and hit the brakes fast as the dog darted out in front of me and stood about 15 feet from my front bumper in the middle of the road. The owner was running toward the dog but of course it did what it wanted to, which at the moment was to stand in two lanes of traffic.

Once the owner reached the dog, he walked with him to the other side of the two lanes of traffic, giving a wave to me. I assume it was his way of thanking me for not hitting his dog.

Lucky for him, I was an attentive driver and was able to stop in time to prevent a horrific accident. If the dog was on a leash, as required by law in Portland, this would have never happened.

According to the City of Portland website, dogs must be on an eight foot maximum leash on all streets and publicly owned property. You may think you have voice control of your dog, but do you really? I've heard people say that they're dog is under total voice control, but I call BS. A dog will still rush off to anything that catches its eye with the right motivation.

Leash your dog. It's the law.