What a downer. We know Koomi likes to lunge at moving feet, especially those of strangers', which is why it's been hard for us to take him out while we eat. Having him on the floor is a risk for those passing by. And even in the elevator when someone's coming out he would randomly lunge at someone's feet. At first we thought it was cute. We were even joking that he has a type when it comes to slippers. It's usually crocs or something expensive. We laugh it off most of the time. Not realizing it was a growing problem. He's been this way for so long. We couldn't control it, or at least haven't tried seriously looking into correcting it.
Until today. He lunged at someone's sandals while we're walking out of the elevator. I only saw his mouth graze the woman's footwear. I said sorry then left. Later on, the guards issued us a ticket with a 5000 peso fine. Apparently the woman reported us to PMO because her sandals got bitten through and almost tore the skin under. We were found through the CCTV. We were appalled. I didn't think it was that serious. It happened so fast. We should've checked on her to make sure before exiting the elevator. We got in contact with the neighbor apologized. We found out through a facebook post in the community. We offered to compensate for whatever medication she may need and replace her slippers too. I'm just glad they were nice and understanding. Everything is fine now, all things considered. But I can't shake this certain feeling off. Is it disappointment? That we have to spend 5k for a lesson learned? That we're such irresponsible owners for letting it happen 3 times***? Fear? That it might happen again, at a worse time, here in the condo, get a second violation, eventually get kicked off the property? Maybe both.
*** First major time it happened was at Longhorn. Dinner with the family. We were seated outside cos we had dogs. Koomi was on the floor. A waitress arrived. He lunged at her jelly shoes. The waitress got scared but brushed it off. We apologized. Later on the guard at Shang came to us with an incident report, asking for vaccination records, showing us he reported a dog bite incident because he witnessed it. We thought the waitress didn't care. Looks like somebody else did. We were bummed out but eventually accepted the situation. He's just doing his job. And between customers like us and mall employees, there should be no discrimination if someone got hurt.
Next major incident was at Taiwan Kitchen. Same thing. We were eating. Koomi's on the floor. Someone from the other table stood up and immediately Koomi was on his feet. Reached the guy's calves. He wasn't let loose but his leash wasn't short enough. We apologized profusely. Guy seemed to brush it off at first, says it's fine, he has dogs too, but later on inquired about Koomi's vaccination records. We also gave him Koomi's Instagram in case he wanted to reach out for anything. It was a casual conversation. We went home feeling normal. We would always scold Koomi when it happens, but always playfully. We never thought it was a big deal.
Until now.
This is truly a wake up call. To be more responsible. Always check the people he might have hurt. To take accountability and ensure everything's fine. I'd like to think we got off easy, even at this point. And that 5k is a small price to pay for the all the trouble this bad behavior has caused. A behavior we tolerated and normalized and even found cute, at the expense of others. We were lucky none of them got seriously hurt. But what if it gets to that?
I think I know what I feel now.
Shame.