Here’s my opinion on the matter – I’m not going to get into the politics of it nor will I defend my position beyond the explanation that I give.

When I’m in an unfamiliar part of town, especially late at night or when I’m with my girlfriend, I become much more aware of my surroundings and take careful notice to what’s around me. If I have to cross a street two ways to get to my car (straight first, then turn, or turn then straight), I make a decision on what’s a “smarter” choice. If one choice will make me walk right in front of a group of teenagers sitting around on the street and another choice takes me in front of a group of tourists wearing fanny packs and have street maps in their hands, I’m going to walk by the tourists. If I have to hop on public transportation and the whole train is empty and I see someone who is dressed in a trench coat, wearing makeup, has piercings and jewelry everywhere, etc. I’m going to choose to sit by myself or next to a little old lady.

Now each of those individuals may be the nicest, smartest, well intentioned people on the planet. But they also might not be. I would rather not find out because I would rather reduce my chances of any sort of confrontation, especially when I am with a woman or a child. Likewise, if I’m driving down the road and I see a 25 year old clunker car with expired tags, body damage all over the place, with six occupants in a car made for two, guess what? I’m going to either stay behind them or drive quickly pass them. Is that discrimination? Absolutely not – it’s just assessing a situation and choosing an option that, in my opinion, is the less “risky” choice. I don’t care what anyone says about this, but in the SW part of this country, there are a LOT of people that drive without insurance and I would rather drive down the road next to a Bentley than a Yugo.

Now, to equate this to the question at hand. I have a 15 year old Sheltie who is terrified of anything that moves that’s not a person. If I was out walking her, not only would I avoid you and your dog, I would most likely pick my dog up and carry her until you were out of sight. Discrimination? Not a chance – that’s just again assessing a situation that in my opinion carries risk and mitigating that risk. You cannot judge a person who avoids dogs or people they find intimidating because you have absolutely no idea what that person has experienced in their life that may cause a certain type of behavior or other factors at play. For you to assume anything on your part about that person’s behavior is naïve and a much greater transgression in my opinion.

Frankly, I find it very peculiar that you have such an avid paranoia about your dog’s collar that you seek so many opinions on forums about BMWs. It seems more than anything that you’re seeking to start arguments to bring up ancillary issues that you want to talk about. For what it’s worth, if I was out jogging by myself midday at the park and a dog like yours came up to me and I could clearly see that it was a friendly dog, I would probably stop and pet him and give him water (it’s hot here!). However, that totally changes when there are other variables involved.

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2001 X5 4.4i
2002 Honda S2000