We were almost finished our afternoon amble in the ravine yesterday afternoon, just climbing up the last of the long hills to get to our street when we came across a neighbour, someone who fairly recently moved into a house down at the very corner-end of the street.

He was with his companion-dog, a Harlequin-coated pit-bull. This is a breed that, under a provincial by-law must be muzzled in public. For want of a more precise 'protection' for the public from the potential for dog bites, pit-bulls and pit-bull-like dogs have been targeted. This cannot be unknown to our new neighbour, but his dog wore no muzzle.

It's true enough that many people who opt to own pit-bulls encourage an inborn proclivity to aggressiveness. On the other hand, not all members of a particular breed share the negative characteristics of the breed. This one certainly does not. A more placid, sweet-tempered dog would be hard to find.

Coming across our own badly-behaved, yappy little pig-headed dog, this pit-bull simply exhibits mild curiosity and obvious concern at the socially ill-bred little yapper. He looks on for a moment, then distracts himself with following squirrels. He's a beautiful animal, wonderfully well-proportioned, elegance in motion, is that pit-bull.

But I could see quite obviously, when he came over to be petted, that he had pink eye, both eyes affected, and I made that observation to his owner. Who acknowledged that fact, and said that since the colouration is the only symptom, and the dog doesn't seem to be irritated by it, and his eyes aren't running, he'll just let it run its course.

Which laissez-faire attitude did not endear the man to my estimation; a quick trip to the vet would result in medication that would clear the infection up speedily. And halt his beautiful dog from posing an infection danger to other pets.