I was walking my well behaved dog on the park today, with my nearly 70 year old dad, who walks with a stick.
A dog bounded up to us and jumped up at my dad quite enthusiastically. My dad had paw marks all over the back of his coat. My dad waved his stick at the dog and told it to go away.
Anyway, walking back to the car I saw the owner of this dog, now on the lead. I told her what had happened and she said she hadn't seen the incident. I said my dad struggles a bit with his balance, so he was worried about her dog jumping up. I asked her how old the dog was but by now she'd stuck her head into her car and was obviously ignoring me. Her son answered that the dog was six months. I wasn't going to be ignored so, I carried on talking. I suggested, very politely, that she should put the dog on a long lead, which would give her more control over it.
By this time, her friend had caught up and she waded in with the conversation. I started telling her what happened, but she spoke over me, saying they'd all seen what had happened and that my dad had hit the dog. I explained that this was far from the truth and anyway they were so far away they couldn't have seen properly what happened. I feel pretty sure that the owner would have mentioned me hitting her dog, if this had actually happened. As it was, she'd already denied seeing anything.
The friend went on to say that it was fine for the dog to behave like a puppy, because it's a puppy. I explained about my dad and she said that my dad shouldn't be on the park then.
I said that the park is for everyone not just dogs. I repeated the idea that a long lead would give more control over the dog but she said she didn't agree and I'd made a mountain out of a molehill.
The owner of the dog told me I'd been rude to her and slammed her car door and drove off. I really wasn't rude. I was extremely careful to be polite.
Thoughts?