Neighbors will narc you out for not walking your dog

Yesterday I thought people were ridiculous. Today I'm more convinced than ever. Because today I read the results of some hack survey conducted by MyPetNeedsThat.com. Now keep in mind this is a website dedicated to pet lovers but the results of this survey were still alarming.

When asked if walking your dog daily ought to be a law, 38% of New Jersey folks said yes. Compare that to the national average of 28%, indicating pet people here are more looney than average.

Sure, pass a law that your dog MUST be taken on a long walk for exercise at least once daily. Never mind that perhaps you have a particularly busy day, you have an elderly parent in the hospital, you have an assignment due at work, and your special needs child was just put on a new medication that you have to keep an eye on.

God forbid you only take your dog out briefly a few times a day to relieve itself, and get around to the longer walk tomorrow. No. Let's call animal control on you.

Are these people insane?

There's more. Same survey finds 34% of New Jerseyans would report you to the authorities if they saw you never take your dog on long walks or some other form of exercise. If you're even paying that much attention to what your neighbors are doing then you should be reported to the mental health authorities.

For God's sake, mind your business!

Then there's this. 43% of people overall believe if you don't walk your dog enough you should be banned for life from ever owning pets. And 15% of these loonies think if you don't walk your dog enough you shouldn't be subject to civil law but criminal law. As in lock you up in prison because you only walked your dog 3 days a week and not 7.

New Jersey already has some pretty zany animal protection laws. Just a few years ago it became illegal to let your dog outside in temperatures above 90 or below 32 for more than 30 minutes without proper shelter. What's proper shelter? An air-conditioned dog house with Netflix for Animal Planet and an indoor swimming pool? So if it's 91 and your dog wants to be in the yard for 40 minutes you're a criminal.

The same politicians who passed laws like this might see this survey and eye it up for yet another law. Because anything to still get your name out there while avoiding real problems like property tax reform, right?

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.