"That's not--" Sirius stamps down quick when he noticed his voice rising again, the urge to get defensive nearly getting the better of him.

He takes a breath.

"What would you have done had that dog actually attacked you? What's to have stopped you from being seriously harmed? Or worse? Kieren, I'm not-- it's not as though I'm forbidding you from the leaving the house without me. What's the matter with carrying a bit of protection?"