I have opinions about other people's dogs

Pictured: the 1986 Oscars were also not
Burning Man, but we're not discussing that.

Hey, I'm back and I'll even spare you the embarrassment of not even noticing that I was gone. I was not at Burning Man, which is to say I was in the desert, in the place where Burning Man usually happens, doing Burning Man stuff, but I was instead at an event that was similar to, but legally distinct for liability purposes from, Burning Man. The actual event was cancelled because people are dumb and think there are microchips in the vaccine, so where we are. Or were, not at Burning Man for a week. And now I'm going to talk about it.

Evidently EDM is a strong organizational
motivator. That or people just really love
doing drugs in the desert. 

The unofficial event was unofficially called Renegade Burn and it was pretty good. It lacked the organization, art, and infrastructure of the real thing, but we managed. A group on Facebook materialized after the announcement that it was canceled and self organized a rough approximation of the city layout that I think people more or less stuck to. And, while not anything anyone had any control over, the weather was decent, which, in the sun-blasted wastes of northern Nevada, is never a given. All in all it was a good year, and no, I didn't take any pictures, so you can relax. I'm not going force you to sit through my vacation slides this year.

But I am going to make you sit through my opinions about dogs. Or, more precisely, dog owners. There were dogs out there this year, which is something that's not been allowed at Burning Man for years, but this being an unofficial thing, all bets were off and a lot of people brought their damn dogs. And you know I'm not a pet person, but let me be clear that my issue is with the people and not the dogs. I am dog indifferent. Dognostic, if you will (you shouldn't). But I certainly don't want to see them come to harm and come to harm they did.

I look at this and feel nothing. I know, I'm the worst.

First timers are invited to roll around in it,
but they're, you know, sentient and can
make their own terrible decisions. 

Renegade Burn happened in a dry lake bed in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The ground is made up of a sometimes compacted, sometimes not, dry, powdery dust that's like super alkali and awful on the skin. People can wear shoes, but dogs can't. And did I mention how hot it can get? Because it can get hot. It was in the upper 90's a lot of the time and dogs have, you know, fur. Or hair. Or both? I don't know, I'm not a vet, the point is dogs didn't evolve for this climate so what is with these people who thought their dogs would like to spend a week panting and limping around on dry, cracked foot pads?

What's worse is that people are now finding dogs wandering the desert because the asshats that brought them couldn't see their way clear to keeping an eye on them. So now they're lost. Awesome. Again, I don't care about dogs, but I do care that people take care of their dogs. I mean, I'm not a monster. Cold and unfeeling, sure, but not a monster.

Pictured: Somebody's dog. Is this your dog? If so, what were you thinking?