Why some people don't need dogs

I'm really upset about some man-on-dog behavior I witnessed on my walk this morning.

These people who moved in a few months ago have two smallish dogs that are often (not always) tied outside. And today, which is rather warm, they were tied on the front porch, sheltered from the hot sun. Good.

They bark when we walk by. Almost every dog in the neighborhood barks when somebody walks by. That's what dogs do. They serve as an early warning system for their owners.

And we usually hear "SHUT UP!" yelled from inside the house.

Today the guy came out on the porch and was screaming at the top of his lungs out of control at them for barking. And then, I think he hit one of them. I had turned the corner and didn't see it, but I heard a yelp. And then he screamed (at the other dog, I assume, hopefully not his wife), "YOU WANT SOME TOO?"

I think I'm mostly upset with myself for not walking right up there and offering, "If you don't want to deal with these dogs, I'll take them off your hands right now."

But he was a scary, screaming dude. What the hell, maybe he's protecting an illegal home enterprise. And what right do I have to intervene anyway?  Do dogs have the same rights as kids? And aren't people allowed to yell at and spank their kids?  Back in my days of adventures in social volunteering, I wasn't sure that children's rights were anything but words on a piece of paper. I knew a mom whose toddler helped herself to garbage from last night's dinner plates in the roach-infested kitchen while Mom slept in. The same mom sold her 15-yr-old's virginity to a crack dealer for the price of the monthly washer/dryer rent. And I remember the overwhelmed caseworker telling me, the kids are clean and clothed, there's food in the house, there's nothing I can do.

I'll keep an eye on those dogs when I walk past that house. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'm watching.