[Knute]

Has anyone else witnessed or experienced this trend?

I have witnessed and experienced the fog of Cell Phone Walkers (CPW). These CPWs are readily identified by the dog tugging on the end of the leash like a freight train pulling 1000 fully laden grain cars with the CPW on the other end of the leash resisting the relentless pull and enthralled by the world in the cell phone.

The CPW is most often completely unaware of anything, anyone or any situation around them. They suddenly stop between elevator doors unaware they are blocking access to or from the lift. They become angry when you ask or persuade them to step aside. This blockage can occur at any door way or entrance or escalator or cross-walk......

Another frequent occurrence happens when the dog is creating a sidewalk treasure. The CPW is oblivious to the dog or the newly created mountain treasure. The CPW will blissfully walk off without a glance or concern about the disposal of the mess. The sidewalk treasure is left for some other person to discover with their shoe. I'd like to say Thank You, but I just can't find the words.

Encounters with other animals is outside of the CPW world. A full blown aggressive encounter can be staging without any awareness on the CPW part. When the encounter gets out of control the CPW will momentarily be aroused from the cell phone to shout at the other person and assign blame to them.

In my experience, the CPW generally fall into a specific age group.......basically less than 30 yo. When walking with my Shadow or by myself, I keep a sharp eye watching for CPW because most often a poor situation will soon follow. I take early avoidance steps to give CPW a wide berth.

There is a mobile version of the CPW usually found driving a car. These folks present a whole new level of terror and hazard on the road.

 

[Knute]

ewwww.......I have discovered an evil streak in me......

Over the past weekend, I came across a variant of the CPW. The variant is immersed in their cell phone world while the dog is running around off leash.

Their dog will run up behind us for a sneak meeting. I will look at the dog to see the condition, collar, grooming......general assessment to determine street or pet dog. If a pet dog, I allow a brief greeting. Then the command, "Shadow, Come." with firm leash tension to break off and continue our walk. Frequently, the other dog will become a tag along with us. After a short distance, the owner joins the real world to begin shouting and running to catch up with us. This is when I attempt to educate them on the use of a leash. I have even given a leash to a person who we encountered on a regular basis. We still meet them, but they still are without leash. Now, we just keep walking. The owner can chase us down to retrieve their dog. I'm not stopping.

This past weekend, we had one dog follow us across a very busy street. We crossed at a traffic light controlled intersection with a cross-walk. The other dog tagged along. The CPW owner was delayed by the light and heavy traffic. I didn't want to inflame the situation, so I waited for the owner to cross the street and retrieve their dog.