I like dogs. I really do.

But I must confess that I like smaller dogs better than bigger ones. I associate a dog’s size with its aggressiveness and its ability to bite humans. The smaller the dog, the nicer it probably is.

It was a beautiful four-day weekend, so I took advantage of the unusual 70-degree February weather. I decided to go for a walk with my dad in Forest Park. On the way back home, we ran into a man and his dog – or rather, his dog ran into us.

This dog was huge, one of those huge Great Danes – and unleashed. It decided to follow us a short distance before ramming its rather ugly face into my knee. Keep in mind that the owner found nothing wrong with this and “took offense” – a nice euphemism for what was actually said – when my dad told him to leash his dog.

Needless to say, I was decidedly frightened of the weirdo and his dog.

Yes, both my dad and I reached home safely, and all was well after my jeans were washed, removing any physical trace of the dog and symbolically removing the danger of the dog. But the entire walk home I was afraid that the dog would come rushing back, baring its teeth, ready to bite.

What really scared me though about this experience was the owner did not seem to care his dog was unleashed, scaring innocent people such as myself.

There is, in fact, a St. Louis City law that, according to stcin.missouri.org, “Dogs must be on a leash whenever they are on a city street, sidewalk, park, or any public area.”

When the owner of the dog “took offense,” he clearly thought he was in the right. Whether he was aware of the leash law is uncertain. I really can’t say.

Regardless, this man was breaking the law. He could not care less about rules and certainly could not care less about others and their safety, or their state of mind for that matter. Maybe his dog is the friendliest dog in the world, but other people have no way of knowing that.

My own rule about the size of a dog and its corresponding unfriendliness still upholds (sorry, owners of big dogs). However, I have realized that size is not what really matters in situations like these. No matter the size of a dog, if the owner lets his dog run unleashed, it is against the law and a threat to safety – or, at the very least, a threat to my state of mind.

I like dogs. I really do. I just like them better when they are leashed in public.