Made a new unfriend in the 'hood last night because Max had to pee in the wrong yard at the wrong time.
We were taking our evening walk, a little after 9 p.m. My neighborhood doesn't have sidewalks, so if a car approaches – especially at night – I step up on the curb and out of the street, taking the dog with me. As I did this last night, Max decided he had to pee, and the coming car happened to be the owner of the yard we were in. We passed the driveway, but it wasn't over then.
The guy pulled back out and drove up behind us.
"What the hell were you doing in my yard?"
I calmly told him, honestly, that my dog was peeing.
He muttered something, and then told me it was private property and that I needed to stay out of it.
I told him that my dog's pee wasn't going to hurt anybody's yard, and I pulled out the plastic bag I always carry just in case Max has to poop and showed it to him as Exhibit A (evidence of responsible dog-walkingship). I respect others' yards and always clean up after him; few others in our neighborhood do that.
I told him, remaining as calm as I could considering he had pulled his rather large truck toward us, that I was on a public street and he needed to stop harrassing me.
"You son of a bitch, you need to stay out of my yard," he said.
I replied, "That was pleasant," following it up with an "I'll do my very best."
And that was that. I chose not to escalate the situation by pointing out that a) he cared way too much about his lawn and needed to get a life and b) there is at least a five-foot public utility/right-of-way easement that runs along the front of all our houses. His "ownership" where Max peed is not the case. The city can either pour a sidewalk or dig it up at any time, without his permission and with only cursory notice. I could have reiterated a c) a little dog pee won't do harm to grass unless the same spot was used repeatedly, something neither I nor my dog was about to do. In fact, my dog's pee was too good for his ugly yard, but it was prolly good I didn't say that, either.
Pee happens. It's impossible to clean up. Poo happens, and I always bag it and carry it back to my own trash can (well, unless I'm near the church Dumpster on the edge of the subdivision, then I make a deposit there).
I slept on it, and promised that if the guy's threatening manner bothered me that I would file a police report. I slept. I went to work. I rode my bicycle at lunch. It's all good. Still bothers me, but I'm choosing to let this episode roll like water off a duck's back. Unless this jerk does something again.
A co-worker who walks her dog says she always carries a cell phone. Though mine doesn't feature a camera, I should have pulled it out and pretended to take a photo of him. You know, something to add to the police report.
What do you think? Am I over-reacting? Did he over-react? I'd love to hear especially from anyone who walks their dogs among neighbors.
Maybe we should just get a cat.
It seems that there will always be people like that. I used to walk my dog (on the sidewalk) past an elderly lady's house, and she always hollered out that I'd better not let that dog do anyhing in her yard. When my mother went with me, she'd holler back that she was on public property!
I think that was the highlight of her.
evening - hollering at me.
Cas
Hey - I think I might post about that.
coming from someone who used to own the biggest dog on the block, I ALWAYS picked up after my dog. I remember walking him in a similar situation that you were in, but a guy yelled from nearly a block away that I'd better be picking up after him. I screamed back, "IT'S PEE!!" Good lord. I hate that nonsense.
I say ya let it go until he says something again and then explain common property to him and tell him he can file a complaint with the township if he needs to. Hold your head high, walk away and drop the poop in his bushes. Okay, maybe not that last part.
i would have gotten so ugly with that man that he would have been scared of me. what i have found though, is when people like that complain.... and complain to the police, the police laugh at them. they deserve being laughed at.
i had such a funnier comment and it said i was "questionable content." =0( i question my content as well but to go so far as to call me questionable... makes me... want... to... cry...
Good for you - picking up after Max. I know we should do a better job of it in our own backyard. Pet wastes that get washed down the street sewer contribute to pollution big time, especially in suburbia.
You must live next door to a missing link...let me guess, he had a heavy protruding brow and deep set eyes...
Going from living in the middle of the country where my dog can run all over the place and pee wherever she pleases to a neighborhood where everyone has a dog and the houses are in close proximity to one another has been a bit of an adjustment. I when I go running with Kendall, i feel bad if she pees on anyones lawn, and I'm always looking around to see if anyone saw it. I know it's only pee, but I try to avoid it as much as I can. She knows better than to do anything else on someone elses lawn- she needs a little shrubbery or something in front of her, so I typically don't have to worry about cleaning up after her.
My neighbors are not as responsible. They let their dogs run all over the 'hood unsupervised, and I've had to dodge some little surprises while mowing my front lawn.
But anyway- the guy sounded like a jack ass. Maybe he had a bad day. I yelled at a couple of kids once for standing too close to my car...
I wouldn't worry about it too much- unless it happens again...
ok enough out of me for now...
The things people get pissed about......
I think that guy was out of line, escalating it like that. I'm glad you didn't take the bait, and stayed pleasant. I always respond to nastiness with pleasantness!
Who knows..he was probably in a bad mood over something else. I'm sure that a nimrod like him has already let the incident slip out of his pea-sized brain.
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