After spending a good part of the day at the Allentown Art Festival yesterday, and thoroughly enjoying myself, I couldn’t help but be upset about all of the dogs that were in attendance. Not only was there barely a cloud in the sky, there was little wind, and the street asphalt was hot. I put my hand on the surface of the road at one point, to see how hot the surface was – as I expected, it was too hot to have dogs walking around.
It’s a complete mystery to me why anyone would bring their dog to a street festival. These street festivals are for people, not dogs who have to tough it out with the uncomfortable conditions. I had to wonder how someone could think that this is a suitable environment for dogs – most of the dogs looked miserable, while their owners were pretty much clueless about their conditions.
There was only one dog owner who appeared to care about her pooch. The dog was wearing protective booties so that the pup’s feet would not get hot while walking the streets of Allentown (lead image). I commended the owner for thinking about the comfort of her dog, and so did others that saw the pup wearing the booties. To me, bringing a dog to a hot street art festival is selfish. Dogs’ feet get hot when walking on a sun-scorched street, it’s a fact. Let’s see how long the dog owners could walk on the hot surface without shoes. So why bother exposing your four-legged friend to discomforts such as this?
In the future, I would hope that all summer street festival organizers disallow pet owners from bringing their dogs along. Yes, we all know that some people love the social aspect of having their pooches by their sides, but the dogs that I encountered were not getting any positive or playful attention from passersby – instead they were getting passive sympathy from dog lovers who thankfully left their four-legged friends at home.