I (37M) have a very friendly german shepherd, Rocky, he is well trained and would not harm a fly. I have an invisible electric fence in my front yard. This morning we were hanging out on our front porch and a dad and 2 kids were walking by my house. Rocky trotted up to them and just wanted to say hi.
The dad yells at Rocky to go away. Dramatically picks up his kid that wasn’t in the stroller. In response Rocky barked twice. I called Rocky back and yell at the guy to calm down. I said literally nothing happened. He got mad at me that my dog was loose in his own yard. I said I had an invisible electric fence installed and my dog is safe. The guy kept going off on me. I told him to move along and stop setting a bad example for his kids. AITA? I’ve seen this guy a few times but this was our first interaction.
ETA: I added invisible to the post. Also I have a sign up indicating there is a fence. No idea if the dad saw the sign or not.
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I (37M) have a very friendly german shepherd, Rocky, he is well trained and would not harm a fly. I have an electric fence in my front yard. This morning we were hanging out on our front porch and a dad and 2 kids were walking by my house. Rocky trotted up to them and just wanted to say hi.
The dad yells at Rocky to go away. Dramatically picks up his kid that wasn’t in the stroller. In response Rocky barked twice. I called Rocky back and yell at the guy to calm down. I said literally nothing happened. He got mad at me that my dog was loose in his own yard. I said I had an electric fence installed and my dog is safe. The guy kept going off on me. I told him to move along and stop setting a bad example for his kids. AITA? I’ve seen this guy a few times but this was our first interaction.
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> AITA for letting my dog loose in our front yard? I might be the asshole because i had my dog unleashed in the front yard and he approached strangers.
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
Info: is the fence visible or is it an electric collar system that is buried?
YTA. You can have your dog in your yard. But I can’t blame a dad for freaking out when what appears to be a large unleashed and unfenced German Shepard approaches my young kids, and then barks at them. How was he supposed to know there’s an invisible fence, and that your dog is friendly with kids?
You telling him to “stop setting a bad example for his kids” really pushes this from NAH to YTA for me.
Surely if he can see the electric fence he would know that it’s keeping the dog in? Absolutely bonkers, heaven forbid a dog get Near A Fence lol
Edit: YTA. A strange dog came up to your child with no visible barriers to stop him from possibly biting your child. You know he’s friendly and held back, but he doesn’t. You’re allowed to enjoy your yard but having a notice of an invisible fence and not screaming a dude for reacting reasonably to a possibly dangerous situation is necessary.
NTA. If it’s an actual fence, I’m not sure what the guy was expecting. On the other hand, if it was one of those underground fences, that’s a different story.
YTA big time
>I called Rocky back and yell at the guy to calm down.
YTA because you took the intreaction in the wrong direction by initiating the yelling. Up to the point I quoted, everyone was doing exactly what they should have done in that situation. You and your dog are enjoying your yard. And, the dad was keeping his kids safe by putting distance between his kids and the potential threat.
How is a random passer-by supposed to know the fence works or there isn’t some unseen gap in it? With a German Shepard (behind a fence or not) they need to proceed with extreme caution – which is exactly what that Dad did. No need to yell at the guy for a potentially dangerous situation you created for people just using the sidewalk.
YTA It’s not a visible fence. It’s buried. There are a lot of irresponsible dog owners out there. This guy doesn’t know you or your dog.
Your invisible doggy fence also doesn’t prevent his child from running through it and getting to your dog.
ESH. He shouldn’t be mad that your dog is in your own yard, but you shouldn’t have yelled at him in the first place. Him picking up his kid is a totally normal reaction considering he had no way of knowing there was an invisible fence. You should have just let him go on his way after that. You’re the one who started the confrontation.
NTA.you have an electric fence. The dog won’t cross it.
“Electric fence” combined with the dad’s reaction sounds like an underground fence. In which case YTA.
There are plenty of people afraid of dogs. A GSD is a large dog and may be gentle around strangers or not. No way for random passer-bys to be able to tell the difference. Even a well trained calm dog approaching a stranger without permission is uncalled for.
Instead of recalling your well trained dog, you screamed at the dad who is clearly afraid.
I think you both would have benefited from a chill pill. But it doesn’t mean either of you were a straight up A hole
YTA the dad had a reasonable response to what he thought was a loose German Shepherd. Be better. “Sorry my dog spooked you he just wants to say hi but we have an electric fence to keep him in” would have been the sane response
I’ll go with NAH. The guy didn’t know you had an invisible fence and needed to react quickly. You technically didn’t do anything wrong but you should be more mindful going forward. You’ve got a scary looking dog.
YTA – based on comments, the fence is invisible and there’s no sign alerting there is one. The news are full of stories where asshole dog owners did not control their unleashed dogs and some kid’s face was bitten off, I don’t blame the dad for taking no chances.
Can Rocky reach the sidewalk? If so YTA. It doesn’t matter if your dog is friendly and wouldn’t hurt a fly, your dog should not be going up strangers let alone very small children in a stroller.
If he cannot reach the sidewalk, still YTA. Neighbordad doesn’t know if the dog is contained / vaccinated / aggressive to wheels or small children. His reaction to protect his children was correct. All you had to do was say “sorry to startle you, we’ve got an electric fence, he won’t get too close” instead you yelled and escalated the situation.
YTA
YTA. Dogs can barrel right through the buried fences if they so please, just fyi
YTA – It’s an invisible underground electric fence. There is no way that guy could have (or should have) known that. All he sees is a strange dog run up to him and his kids. He’s protecting his kids from what for all appearances looks like a very dangerous situation.
I have been charged by too many ostensibly off leash, uncontrolled dogs over the last 16 years of running on sidewalks all over my city. YTA. You don’t want ppl to act protectively? Put up a sign.
YTA. You may know that your dog is harmless but how is a random stranger supposed to know. Not everyone even likes dogs.
Info: do you have a sign up saying that the dog is fenced in?
If not, YTA. Based on the man’s reaction, I’m going to assume there is no sign. Even if there is a sign, still going to with YTA – you can’t be sure if the man saw said sign.
The man and those kids don’t know that your dog “would not harm a fly”. All they saw was a large dog “trotting” (this is your way of putting it, with your owner perspective) towards them, unfettered.
You also said “he’s setting a bad example for his kids”. Double YTA – one of the kids is apparently young enough to be in a stroller, and you’re telling him he’s setting a bad example when you don’t know them? All we’re getting from your side is that he was trying to protect his kids, which I think is a good thing.
You mean an invisible electric fence?
If so, it sounds as if you’re most definitely YTA. Even worse, you appear to be doing it in a smug “ha ha, you idiot, there’s an underground fence” kind of way as well.
As if people can magically know that if you don’t have it we’ll marked.
Even if it is, people don’t know how well they work.
Oh… and I love dogs, I’ve had them all my life, so far, including a German shepherd when I was a teen.
YTA for a number of reasons.
Your fence is buried which you failed to mention in your original post. This changes the perspective that the father and his kids had when a large dog they don’t know runs up to “say hi.”
Fucking everyone that has a large breed that was bred for aggression and says “he is well trained and wouldn’t hurt a fly.” You’re the problem behind every dog attack and bite. How do I know this? Because I have been bitten by multiple dogs in my job due to people like you thinking because fluffy hasn’t hurt you yet that that means your weak “no fluffy” will overcome ten thousand years of human interference with their dna. You’re the same people who are surprised when your GS or pit mix dog end up putting someone in the hospital.
Everyone I’ve met that has a large breed who cares about their dog and their breed and well understands what their breed signifies has the same in common: they have a fenced in yard where the dog can’t see out and be upset/distracted, and they don’t downplay their dogs ability to cause damage.
When you have children, you have to assume that every dog could be aggressive and take precautions to protect your children until you know for certain the dog is tame and trained.
Maybe get a sign for your yard.
ESH – Why are we yelling??? I frequently take my kids outside and encounter dogs, we keep moving. Don’t interact with dogs if you don’t know them, especially big dogs. So that’s on the dad and he definitely sucks. But also yelling at each other is what makes everyone suck, if you hadn’t yelled back I would say nah.
ESH.
Your reaction unnecessarily escalated the situation.
If you wanted that guy to think you’re an asshole and have a grudge, you did a great job. If you wanted him to walk away with the mindset that he was wrong to jump to conclusions, you failed.
“Sorry if he spooked your son! He was just saying hi. You can’t see the invisible fence, but he’s never left the yard. If your kids would like to say hi some time, I’m happy to introduce them. My dog lives kiddos.”
That would have left the guy feeling like an asshole. Right now he just feels like he clocked you and your dog accurately.
I’m sorry, but I’ll break it to you: Rocky is not that well trained. I’ve seen in real life really well trained German Shepherds. They do not approach strangers under any circumstance, let alone bark at them. They will first look at the owner. If the owner gives them a signal, they will approach. Otherwise, they will not leave the owner’s side, especially when strangers are in the vicinity. This is a guard dog. His main role is to guard you. If he approaches a stranger, he can be poisoned and you can be the victim of a burglary. Take him to a professional trainer, preferably one that trains police dogs as well. You’ll understand the difference afterwards. I had a friend that used to have an extremely well trained GS. That dog would not even move unless the owner gave it the signal to do so. He barked at me once. My friend just said the dog’s name, the dog calmed down instantly and my friend told me to pet him, he will not bite me, nor will he move. I’ll be damned if that dog did as much as raise its ears while I was petting him.
NTA for havingt your dog in your own yard. Yelling at him to calm down is what makes you the AH.
Electric fences mean nothing!! Dog charges thru the electric fence in excitement – will not return to the yard because they will be shocked. Ask me how I know. lol
YTA – the dad has no idea the fence is there. More importantly the kid has no idea the fence is there. It just knows that a big scary dog is barking at it with no visible barrier.
Invisible electric fences can cause increased aggression in dogs – someone walks past the yard, they go over to say hi, and they get a shock (they can’t see the barrier either). They associate the shock with a person walking by, not the invisible demarcation. They can still get out, your invisible shock barrier hasn’t actually contained them. Over time people walking by becomes more and more dangerous as they react more and more assertively, and eventually you wind up with 40kg of frightened muscle and teeth pushing through the pain to deal with the threat once and for all. Get a fence dude.
YTA. No one knows about the fence. And they don’t always work. You’re asking for trouble.
“Rocky Trotted up to them and just wanted to say hi”…. YTA.
You own a Guardian breed of dog, there is zero chance that all he was doing was “saying hi” as dogs are not human and don’t possess human communication skills or traits.
Your dog was assessing if they were friend or foe to determine his next actions because that is what he was bred to do.
If you want to avoid this issue, put up a real fence that is visible. Much like your dog’s job is to defend your home, a parents job is to protect their child. You dog is not trained to not approach passerby. Either train it to not do that or get a visible fence…
ESH but I honestly think he’s more of an asshole and here’s why; he clearly cared more to stand there and argue with you than he did to get away from the perceived threat.
If he was actually scared of your dog attacking, why is he standing there in front of it still and not taking his kids and leaving?
Dog owners fail to realize the have dogs and not everyone likes dogs. Dogs sometimes listen, sometimes not. Nobody knows your dog would not hurt a fly and a Father is going to protect his child. Further, nobody know you have an invisible fence. If your dog is outside, it needs to be under your control at all times unless it’s fenced in.
So, your dog ran up to them and started barking at them, YTA.
You did nothing wrong your dog on your property and the dog did not leave your property. I understand that the dad was upset and agitated, so he lashed out being protective of his kids. But you didn’t do anything wrong
YTA. He didn’t know or didn’t feel comfortable dog wouldn’t keep going. Train dog not to approach people walking by.
YTA. Every single dog owner in the world describes their dog like you do. Reality: they are rarely as described. Here’s the shocking part: not everyone likes dogs.
NTA. Your dog is on your property and is in a controlled environment. The other guy had no legitimate reason to go off and you had every right to verbally defend yourself at that point.