Hi, so I’m tired of being attacked when I walk my dog. For more context: I have an extremely gentle greyhound that walks nicely next to me and on a leash, I always clean up after him, but I don’t think there’s a week when someone doesn’t verbally assault me and start threatening me. Any mess left on the street by another animal is obviously made by my dog, I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but I’m tired of going out for a walk peacefully and being attacked by people who start swearing at me. In the complex where I live, the administrator called me to threaten me because my Labrador peed on the stairs. I explained that I have a greyhound and he didn’t do that. Yesterday I was visiting my brother and a tenant, seeing me with my dog on a leash, didn’t want to allow me access to the building. I know there’s no solution to what I wrote, I just wanted to vent 😔
I’m tired of being attacked by people when I walk my dog
r/Advice
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You’re doing everything right. It’s not fair that people are blaming you for stuff you didn’t do, and it’s okay to feel exhausted by it.
Sounds like the problem is the area you live.
This is what happens when MAGA takes over the country
Where do you live?
Don’t tolerate this kinda crap from people.
I think there is a solution. Find a dog friendly area to walk in. We stopped walking our dog in our neighborhood for example. Our neighbors were being petty so we just hop in the care and go a mile away to walk on county property.
Are you able to move out?
If it was me I’d send a flyer to everyone in the complex with a picture of my dog and a picture of the breeds he’s not. Then I’d state that you’ll be recording every interaction going forward because of the constant abuse you receive from fellow neighbors. I would even include how many dogs in total live at your complex (if you had this information) so it’s not only your dog living there. They make you uncomfortable why not make them uncomfortable as well.
I’ve suggested in the past in other threads the use of a go-pro on your dog so that they can record everything. Then when people start approaching you just make them aware that everything is being recorded for you and your dog’s safety. This way you have proof in case you ever need it.
Move out of your liberal area.
If the housing you are in allows pets then this can be a form of discrimination. If you have clearly given proof or demonstrated that your pet is not the offending party and management is still harassing you then you are being discriminated against. Residents are a bit more complex to deal with as they are not employees of the management company, however if the management company is aware or even contributing to the environment for residents to target and harass an individual resident thats again discrimination. On Site management answer, usually, to a higher power above them in the company. I would try to find out who that is and submit documentation of this harassment and ask for a resolution or assistance in resolution. Do not bring up or even imply legal action until is necessary as most companies have a policy that implied or direct legal threats will result in the immediate termination of communication between you and them unless through legal counsels.
I wish you good luck cause no one deserves to go through what you’re going through.
Change route up. Gotta be one or two more routes you could take and just rotate them all
Try walking in a different area. I walk my dog every day and this never happens to me
My dad has a massive greyhound who is the most well behaved, gentle giant of a dog. He does everything right but people can be funny around him because of his size. He is like four times a normal greyhound in size and was a prize winning racing dog.
My dad actually drives his dog to a fenced off park area to let him run (rehabilitated former racing greyhounds can’t be off leesh in open parks where we live). The park here goes to is about 10 minutes drive away but he goes there almost daily, so has made friends with other owners with greyhounds or other dogs who need a run.
In the evening when there’s less people on the streets, my dad tends to walk the dog around the block, but the dog is happiest at the park where he can run, or just wander a round and pee on every fence post.
Just move to the countryside, people understand this way better. We have got four dogs. They behave very well except one that has been traumatized by some cruel monsters. He does not trust strangers and is very scared, when people want to touch them, he will bite. But our people in the community are understanding. I would never want to live in a city or suburbs.
In which country is this?
Ignore them
Get a lanyard and attach it to your poop bags. Whenever someone starts up, just show them your lanyard and walk away.
Your area is having a lot of problems with irresponsible people not picking up after their dogs and people are very tired of it. This is not your problem. Just walking away is the best thing to do but if you prefer to respond back and engage further, tell them to take it up with the apartment complex if there are people who are not picking up after their dogs. ( because you have a poop bag and you showed it to them, clearly you are not in that demographic)
People suck dogs don’t
My sense is you are giving people unfriendly nonverbal ques. Smile and say hi. Make little comments like “he’s just a big puppy”. Unless your dog is acting aggressive, it’s likely more about you than the dog. Or you live in a neighborhood of dog hating dicks.
Find somewhere friendly to take your dog and invest maybe in a bodycam
Man, I’ve had this issue lately too, and it’s started encompassing the nearby neighborhoods I go to just to avoid being in my neighborhood where it would happen the most.
I live in an area where there’s a walking pathway a lot of people like to use, but because a lot of people don’t clean after their pets, the walking path often smells or isn’t so nice to walk through anymore. Now what’s happening is that people are taking a detour through our neighborhood that enters into and exits out the same path, but a lot of these same people aren’t cleaning up after their pets.
I’ve had neighbors like 10 doors down popping off about my dogs despite not being on their lawn and carrying their poop bags visibly on their leash. It’s wild.
I find that I have to find more secluded areas to get away from it because I’m getting karens flipping out for absolutely no reason.
Haha big headphones. Like wat? No English, Balkan
Ask them if they have any evidence to support their claims, as you do everything correctly they don’t have a leg to stand on, people are toxic and should mind their own business.
Bear spray. They’ll leave you alone. You don’t even have to use it. Just carry the big can so it’s visible.
It seems like the general attitude towards pets is negative where you live. I’m not sure if you can do much about people’s collective attitude.
In pdx they leave water bowls outside of businesses and keep treats behind the counters. Dogs are welcome virtually everywhere, big old signs that say so.
But there are also leash laws that are just not enforced and a lot lot lot of people with dogs off. It drives me crazy, but that’s the collective attitude here.
Edit: one thing people do here is always walk around with a plastic bag for poop and always keep it out so people know they have it and they intend to clean up poop.
show them your bag that clearly shows you have picked up after you dog and say “that’s awful someone is doing that–but it is not me”. sounds like your building has some horrible dog hater stirring up anger about dogs and they see you as a target. I hope you can move .
Have your husband talk to them and set it straight . I would for my wife
Are you the local nonce?
Where do you live where people treat dogs this way?
What area is this? This would be super weird for anywhere in the US
That blows. People are terrible. When someone takes an issue with me I tell them to piss off or glare at them. It is hard to let go of terrible people, they haunt you. If you can give them no power, hopefully they will just bugger off.
Yeah, like the other people have said, simply walk your dog somewhere else. A park would be the best place to do so. It sucks, but, if you don’t want to be attacked, you have to make the decision to completely avoid the place it happens..