Dog Owning Karen Takes Dog For A Stroll In The Park Off Leash, Thoughtful Bystander Interjects

Advertisement
  • 01
    Font - Posted by u/Whisperlee Partassipant [3] 2 days ago AITA for telling a woman to leash her dog
  • 02
    Font - To understand this story I have to describe the lay of the land first. Picture a medium-sized, open playground for kids. Then a row of benches. Then a small calisthenics park, with a row of bushes separating it from the low-traffic road. Then across the road a fenced dog park. It's designed to be a shared space, so it's common to have parents working out in the calisthenics area while (older) kids hang out in the playground, or have parents let the dog run in the dog park while kids play,
  • 03
    Font - Fwiw I've seen dogs both on and off leash approach the dog park, so I have no idea what the local leashing laws are. There's a regular lady whose dog is just bad behaved. It's not dangerous (thankfully!) but it 'loves kids' and expresses this by running and jumping up on them. I've seen this (unleashed) dog terrify kids and sent them running (not dangerous, but that's impossible to tell when it's racing towards you), straight up knock them over including a toddler on a training bike, and
  • 04
    Font - I was sitting on the benches enjoying the sun, when the dog races up to another child who screams for their mom to pick them up. Dog lady comes up after the dog, apologizing and saying 'he just loooooooves kids so much!' I usually don't say anything because not my circus, not my monkey. I was in an off mood today tho, so I snap 'You need to socialize your f*cking dog, or leash it.' The lady was clearly taken aback, and she says 'I *am* socializing it! What do you think I'm doing here?' to
  • 05
    Font - I think I'm in the right that this dog needs to be leashed around kids. I don't know anything about dogs, but I'm highly skeptical that letting it run free to bowl kids over is 'socializing' it. HOWEVER it's literally the first time ever I talked to this woman & I think snapping, cursing, and giving her the bitch stare may make me the asshole. Also, again--not my circus so I could have just minded my business.
  • 06
    Font - chocolate_teapot 2 days ago Partassipant [1] ΝΤΑ she's clearly aware how her dog is and it might be potentially dangerous for smaller children. that lady is eventually going to get into trouble and the "he just loves kids!" excuse won't work anymore.
  • 07
    Font - Kiruna235 5 days ago Partassipant [1] That dog may love kids now, but not all kids love dogs, and not all of them know how to deal with dogs. For that matter, not all parents know how to deal with dogs, much less seemingly aggressive/hyperactive dogs. I have seen scenarios like that where the things that could go wrong did, and someone (human and/or pup) ended up injured. It was heartbreaking because it could have been prevented if the dog owner had been less of an enabler.
  • 08
    Font - jammy913 5 days ago Pooperintendant [55] NTA. Sure you could have done it slightly differently, like not cursing in front of the kid, but one of these days she was gonna get a whole lot worse from a parent her dog accidentally hurt, so I think it needed to be said, and she needed to be confronted. Just because it wasn't your kid, doesn't mean it didn't fully disturb you to witness that.
  • 09
    Font - SavagePancakess. 5 days ago Partassipant [3] NTA. I'm a firm believer that 99% of dogs should be leashed in public, even when there are no leash laws. Very few dogs have a 100% recall rate, and I belive your dog has no business off-leash unless it does and you have 100% control over the dog at all times. A dog barreling over kids in excitement is not a dog who is under control, and should be leashed until they learn how to behave around kids. Yeah, you could have been nicer, but judging b
  • 10
    Font - Daniellewithadhd81 5 days ago . Partassipant [3] Knocking kids over IS dangerous This woman needs to get her dog under control You could have been nicer but NTA
  • 11
    Font - Whisperlee OP. 5 days ago Partassipant [3] I'm a firm believer that 99% of dogs should be leashed in public, even when there are no leash laws. Very few dogs have a 100% recall rate, and I belive your dog has no business off-leash unless it does and you have 100% control over the dog at all times I agree with that. Regardless of actual laws, a dog that runs off and knocks over kids should be on a leash.

Tags

Scroll Down For The Next Article