In Montrose Park there exists a self-regulating society of dog walkers. Sit there for a little while, and you’ll see the society part: dozens of dog owners who all seem to know each other as “the owner of so-and-so.” Stay a little longer and chances are you’ll see the self-regulating part.
When a dog gets a little out of hand, the other dog owners are normally pretty quick with a harsh reprimand along the lines of “you need to control your damn dog!” It seems to work. But even the stern hand of peer pressure isn’t always enough.
And one of those times happened on February 11th. A neighbor was out in Montrose Park taking photographs of the snow when another neighbor’s dogs started threatening him (GM was told who their names, but couldn’t confirm it yet). He asked the other neighbor to control his dogs. Harsh words were exchanged and the dog owner ended up assaulting the photographer.
As a result of the assault, a federal warrant was issued for the dog walker. GM spoke with a representative of the Park Police who confirmed the basic details of the occurrence and added that the dog walker has not been arrested yet, but that he is aware of the warrant.
Like the dog owners who fail to pick up their pets’ poop, it only takes a couple bad apples to give all dog owners a bad reputation. It’s illegal to let your dog off the leash in Montrose Park, but most of the time that doesn’t cause a problem. However, beating up a neighbor who’s complaining about your dogs is an perfect way to ruin it for everyone.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
Once, a dog off his leash in Montrose walked over to my backpack on peed on it. The owner was standing on R Street sidewalk, letting his dog walk himself.
Moral of the story: Don’t put your backpack where dogs can pee on it.
Alternative moral: be a good neighbor and obey the law.