A horrible start to the morning yesterday . On our way back off the beach with Alice , as we steam up the one hundred and so steps we notice the fifty something man who is often at the top with his two dogs having some kind of incident with them . The dogs are an elderly labrador and a younger staffordshire bull terrier type dog . The man is usually at the top of the steps , he doesn't walk onto the beach with the dogs but sits on the seat overlooking the sea and throws a ball down the steep slope so the dogs get their exercise running down the slope of scrubland and back up to him having retrieved the ball . Each to his own . However the younger dog is yelping and we see he has it held up by the neck dangling in mid air and he is laying into the pup with his fists , the dog swinging from his blows . He curses the dog angrily as he bashes it and this goes on for some time . The labrador watches anxiously from the sidelines . We continue up the steps trying to reach the top ( never easy ) and trying to make sense of what is happening . I am trying to control my emotions at the same time . When we reach the top the man has thrown the dog to the ground and then tries to tie it by its rope to the railings . He then throws the ball down the slope and as the dog scrabbles and whines trying to run after the ball he shouts again , cursing it for doing what it was trained to do . But obviously this was part of the punishment . The labrador was to chase the ball and the bad pup was to look on .
I stood for a couple of minutes then without thinking walk towards the man . The pathway took me above where he was standing and I stand above him just staring down at him wondering what was going through his mind and how come he thought this was an ok thing to do to a young defenceless animal . I had no idea what I was going to do or what I wanted to say . I didn't know whether it would be better to do or say nothing . But somehow to say nothing would be to collude and I couldn't bear that . After a couple of minutes of my staring , the guy turns and glances back at me then realises I am doing nothing other than just looking at him and his dogs .
" What's the matter with you " he says . Hostile , obviously .
" I don't think that's any way for anyone to treat an animal " . I say . Not the most brilliant thing I could have said , but .... that's what came out .
" It bit me " he said then , with a sneer " mind your own business anyway " perhaps feeling he had given away too much .
I stood and looked at him for a while longer . By this time D had walked along to see what was happening , and I said to him I did not know what else there was to be done , so we left and walked home . I felt sick . D pointed out that maybe by my intervention he would take it out later on the dog ...... I hope not . Both dogs look well cared for , well fed . I guess he lost his temper and he thinks this is the right way to manage bad behaviour .
But I have a sneaking suspicion that his dog is going to bite him again .

The day passed in a haze , writing a court report in the office , attending a parents evening about Options ( no not hot chocolate options ) at key stage 4 . Everything is key stage this and IC that . I feel a little old . As I look at the powerpoint presentation I have to remind myself that both my spelling and grammar are rather more accurate than the presenter's , even if I know nothing of what they're trying to teach me . Luckily Nat knows exactly what she wants to do and has her options form already completed . My attendance and understanding is a formality really .
I head for home , to start painting the wood window and door frames at 8pm .
This is not a good time of day for me to be taking up a new task . My head thumps and I think roll on tomorrow ......