This might be a good place to tell about something that still bothers me.

I was cutting through a park where there was a small family playing. The mother had the two little girls over by the swings maybe 20 feet from where their dog, an Australian shepherd, was tied.

The older boy- maybe 7 - was hitting the dog with a stick, not hard but persistently and enough so that the dog cowered.

I stopped by the boy and said, Oh, no, don't hit the dog. Don't hit the dog.

He mumbled, It's my dog.

I said, If you hit the dog, it won't trust people, and it's important to trust people.

I stood there a moment longer. The mother said and did nothing, and I finally went on.

What would you say?