Yeah, the suburban scene is very different. It takes a different mindset to want to live in the suburbs. And the proximity to more active enforcement of laws and ordinances encourages better behavior.

A few folks in my older working class neighborhood occasionally let their dogs roam loose, including a couple of pit bulls. The dogs are just annoying, not an overt threat. But the same potential dangers I described earlier still exist -- if I'd fallen instead of running across the haunches of the dog trying to lead a parade, things might have turned ugly very quickly.

The most overtly aggressive dog I've encountered occurred on voting day back in November. I was walking back home from the polling place that night, in the rain, video recording myself ranting about the lousy choices voters were offered across the board, from national to local elections. Coincidentally a neighbor's large dog (looked like a yellow lab retriever mix, hard to tell in the dim light) -- apparently out in the yard for a pee and poop -- charged at me, barking furiously, snapping at me, and body slamming me repeatedly. I just stood absolutely still while the woman ineffectually tried to calm the dog and pull it away from me. I kept recording in case it escalated. Eventually she wrestled the dog away.

She was apologetic but obviously had absolutely no notion of responsible dog ownership. She wasn't a dog owner. She was a dog feeder. A dog lived in her home and she fed it and let it crap in her yard. That's about it.

That describes 99% of my elderly neighbors with dogs in this apartment complex. Many of them have the obligatory tiny dog -- chihuahuas, terriers, etc. -- and their relationship with the dog consists of stuffing said dogs like chorizo and andouille until they burst out of their sausage casings and expire of heart disease at age 5-8; taking said four-legged sausages out to crap on the sidewalk a couple of times a day; and allowing said future cholesterol and stroke victims yap and snap at everyone else within reach. I can't even wash my bicycle in the yard without these free-range mini-sausage links trying to piss on my bike. In 10 years I've seen maybe two dogs that were actually trained and restrained responsibly.

But it's not the same as the overtly mean, ignorant rednecks we dealt with for many years in our former rural home. Rural areas tend to attract people seeking to escape the confines of city ordinances and building codes, who don't want any busybodies telling them they can't build a guest house out of 55 gallon drums reclaimed from hazardous waste disposal sites. Even if they aren't cooking meth or living on a diet of Cheetos, Mountain Dew and oxycontin, they don't like any busybodies telling them they can't target shoot toward your house using a cardboard box filled with empty beer cans or an old TV as a backstop for their .44 magnum. Dogs tend to mirror their behaviors on their owners/feeders, so it's not surprising to find Cujo slobbering around the neighborhood with bits of unidentifiable gore and bone dangling from it's maw.

That's a refreshingly positive outcome. Gives one a bit of hope.