Almost got into a fight in my neighborhood over my dog

Post Reply New Topic

Ok it's 5:30 eastern time in Florida. I'm walking my dog and in my neighborhood there is a field on the corner that I always let my dog run in. My dog is a harmless poodle. Anyway I let my dog off the leash (keep in mind all my neighbors are friendly with me and I always pick up my dogs crap but this is irrelevant). I'm talking to my neighbor on the corner house and all of a sudden I hear this guy scream " hey you need to put this dog on a leash before I f**k it up" and he holds a baseball bat above his head right in front of my dog.

The problem was is that my dog had ran and chased a softball that one of his little girls had hit but my dog didn't even touch the ball.. And even if it did it wasn't right to hold a bat like that above his head and threaten my dog or any animal. Unless it attacked or charged his kids.

So I yelled " oh yeah?" And walked over and said " why don't you put that bat down and f**k me up bro"

The guy called the cops and lit up a cigarette and tryed to provoke me until the minute that the cops got there. I wanted to beat him up in front of his daughters so bad.

It's messed up how this loser got away with threatening my dog and trying to provoke me as much as he did and didn't even get a warning.

I just thought I would vent here because I'm calming down now. And I wanted to get other peoples take on it. What would you do? Keep walking if someone raised a bat at your dog and said that they would f**k it up?

you have to learn to keep your cool. Even when someone is completely in the wrong, it Never Ever gives you the right to be anything other than calm and polite back. Besides, as you said, some people will try and provoke you because they know some people are their own worst enemy.

you should have just calmly apologised and pointed out that your dog is harmless and not to be worried about. (although some people will have a fit anyway)

I hope your dog is all right. Poor sweetie.

Good work not getting into a fight, and maybe ending up in trouble with cops. How big is your dog and was he barking at the girls or man?

My dog is about 55 pounds. And it wasn't barking at anybody, just ran in the field and chased the ball.

[img][800:600]http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr139/JUPBOY561/image_zpsacfed121.jpg[/img]

The cops even had the audacity to compare my dog to a pit bull. It's a damn poodle. Relax.

It's a pit poodle!

Well, the guy was out of line, and it's good that you are alright.

You never know - perhaps this guy was just terrified of dogs. But probably he was just getting off on winding you up. That's really sad. But it didn't work, because you're not on an assault charge.

What would I have done? Probably shaken my head, and walked off with the dog. Who's to say?

I live in a nice neighborhood and that guy doesn't live there. He thought I was just some suburban white boy that was going to be scared and not react to him. I definately caught him by surprise because if he wanted to fight he had the chance. He was my height had tattoos and a shaved head and lit up a cigarette after I provoked him. But he only provoked me when he knew he knew the cops were coming... Like while he was on the phone. Pathetic.

I just don't get how you can look at my dog and think there is a threat. And the way the guy handled the situation raising the baseball bat above his head was totally out of line.

When's all said, you can't control some random idiot with a bat. Everything ended well. It sounds like a weird situation, and just one of those WTF events. Logically, it shouldn't have ended the way it did, but hey.

Hope you're 100% good now - I wonder if your dog was a rabid rottweiler how quickly he would have took off.

Well, I'm not going to defend the idiot with the bat - that guy was looking for trouble. And imagine the poor little girl seeing her dad threaten a dog. That would be horrible for her.

And your dog is adorable.

But . . . I have to come down on the side of always keeping a dog on a leash when in a neighbourhood. It may not be necessary for safety (as your dog is not a threat,) but I think it's an etiquette thing - some people are very scared of dogs. And sometimes people have their own dogs that may be aggressive - for example, I have a particularly contrary chihuahua and if a dog came up to her she would bite it.

Anyway, I think you handled the situation well.

That sounds rough. Now that you know a new thing or 2 about crazy, something that will prevent an incident like this again, or something worse happening to your little buddy: dogs are attracted to moving things, especially small ones they perceive as a bird or a mouse. They're also startled by sounds and larger moving things. A leash is for the animal's own safety as much as it is for others' - even in nice neighborhoods the friendliest dog can dart directly into the path of an oncoming vehicle, nobody wants that kind of heartbreak, especially when it could have been avoided. Not to harsh you, just maybe something to ponder

you have to be able to let your dog run free Somewhere!

I had this problem with my mum's Doberman (who thought she was a cat because she grew up with bossy cats), so people would react in fear when they saw me walking her, and to be fair, she would go for other dogs which is why she was always on leash on the street walks, but then we'd take her up to the park where it was allowed to let your dogs off the leash so she could run freely. It was a 20 minute drive, mind, so not always possible. I really feel sympathy for OP on this particular issue. The other guy was clearly a hobo and I am just really glad the dog is ok - adorable poodle!

Cute Puppy!

Guy was probably hoping you'd throw the first punch so he could justify putting you down. It is Florida and they have stand your ground laws. He could have legally murdered your ass and your dog's if you had taken a swing at him so it's good you didn't.

WHAT? That extreme? Wow.

Simply go to a dog school, and train with your dog, upon what he is allowed to do and what he is not allowed to do, when not being on the lash. Interacting with other peoples objects or interacting with other people is not allowed.

The guy DID overreact, absolutely. But he is as well right, that if you let your dog run free, without you paying attention on him, then the dog is supposed to be well enough trained, to ignore other people and objects.

Its as well in your dogs interest, the better he is trained, in the more places he can be allowed to run free.

I think the problem u had is that u let him provoke you and even though he started it you ended up being the aggressor.

Next time, under your breath but loud enough for him to hear, give it a "dickhead" as you walk away.

Not that I'm particularly aggressive but u really need to keep control of the situation.

Personally, got a huge Rottweiler myself but that poodle of yours would have been chasing him around because he's so soft. I don't agree with keeping dogs on leads at all, mine spends 95% of his twice daily hour long walks off the lead and has done since he was 12 weeks old, and he's so friendly because of it. He's child and dog mad and he treats every living thing as something to play with, even when we've met nasty dogs he's running back over and over trying to be their friend. He was licking a Jack Russel he took a liking to earlier today, so embarrassing...

But then, I guess the US is a rougher country than the uk and u guys still very much need things like guard dogs so it's a different situation. You probably get the occasional dog that's really nasty where in the uk people who buy dogs purely for locking up and keeping in the backyard is something that's becoming rarer and rarer.

It's possible the parent felt that the dog was a threat to his child. A parent who is reacting to a threatened child, even if only perceived, can be extremely irrational.

His reaction was excessive, but you have to remember he doesn't know if your dog is gentle or vicious.

Best bet is to observe the leash laws when there are other people around.

Yeah my dog is trained very well. I was just talking to my friend when it happened at first and didn't see. I called my dog right over and my dog listened. I trained my dog with discipline and it listens to me.