Status Dogs

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a tattooed face is rarely the mark of a lofty intellect.

I saw a bloke today who did nothing to dispel this belief. his neanderthal gait (made worse by the jeans that hung around his knees), his murderous scowl, and his extravagantly aggressive dog only served to make matters worse.

If anything, these factors only served to heighten the overall impression that here was a man who had tattooed his face because - well - he couldn't imagine why this might be a bad idea.

I didn't manage to make out what the tattoo actually was because staring at a man with a tattooed face and a dog that looks like a Tazmanian devil on steroids, is actually an even worse idea than having a tattoo on your face in the first place.

Anyway the point is actually not the tattoo but the dog. Which is why there is a picture of a dog on this blog. And not a tattoo.

Lately there seems to be more and more young blokes walking around with big, scary, intimidating dogs. They are brandished like weapons.

The press have started calling them "status dogs", because the are used by gang members to confer status on the owner. But what about the status of the dog? I should imagine that having to walk around chained to a man with a tattooed face doesn't do anything for the dog's self-esteem. It's cruel. That's what it is. Someone should call the RSPCA.

One thing that I will say for Mr Tattoo-Face though. At least he picked up his dog's crap. So good on him for that. And he didn't kill me. So that's good too.

Instead he just waddled on down the street, his scowling tattooed face staring straight ahead, a rottweiler on a lead in one hand and a Lidl bag full of dogshit in the other.