Dog woman - Possible Dementia?

[KrangTheBrain]

Really not sure what to do about this.

A few months back a woman almost caused a dog fight by forcing herself and her dog on me and my reactive dog. She ignored several warnings from me and approached us anyway. She then looked scared and confused when the inevitable happened.

Anyway, last week I saw her walking towards us. No dog. She asked if she could stroke the dog. I said “she isn’t very friendly as I told you last time” … she stroked her anyway and my dog totally ignored her. To be friendly I asked how her dog was and she burst into tears saying he had died as he had something wrong with his brain. This is where it gets odd … the story made no sense. She said the dog was taken to vets and she wasn’t allowed to see him and she doesn’t know what happened but the family thought it would be too upsetting for her to see him …

Anyway she then started walking alongside me. I asked her if she would be getting another dog … another odd confusing story starts about her having something wrong with her brain but nobody will tell her what but she’s not allowed to keep dogs and she wants to get one but she will have to use someone else’s name as she’s banned etc etc - I’m so confused at this point and ask her what the doctors have said about her brain - she said “they just said that he had something wrong with him and he was fine one minute and then they took him to vets and I don’t know what happened” … so I realised she was confusing her own health with the dog.

Anyway, she followed me all the way home, I didn’t want her to know my address so had to be quite blunt when I was nearly home. I felt guilty as she hinted at coming home with me. I asked her if she knew her way home from here as she’d walked miles away from her home. She assured me she did and described the route.

Now … to the point … yesterday I was driving out of my street and a collie dog suddenly shot across the road in front of my car, I slammed on - dog was on a fully extended retractable lead and was followed by this woman running along behind him. If I’d been going any faster I would have gone into either the dog or her. I then saw her walk towards a busy road with this dog still running riot on a retractable lead.

AIBU to report her for her own good as well as the dog she’s managed to acquire?? Who would I even report her to?

I'd raise it with the police as a concern for her welfare, however you'll need her address at the very least.

I’m not sure how you can report it if you don’t know where she lives, but I would try to. It sounds like her family took the last dog away and she’s managed to get another one. It does sound like she needs some help

Would suggest you engage with her next time you see her and walk to her home if possible? She sounds like a friend of mine who suffered a brain injury and is still in recovery. At least you would have something to go on.

Adult safeguarding x

If you know the area she frequents, could you maybe snap a photo and alert adult safeguarding or your local PSCO? Normally I absolutely wouldn't advise taking photos of anyone even in public but if there's no other way to track her down or her address then it might be a solution. Alternatively, do you have a local neighbourhood maven? You know the type who are usually involved in a local group and know everyone and everything for the last 40 years - they might know who she is. Poor woman seems very confused.

Yanbu. If you see her out next time without her dog could you offer to walk her home? Then report to 101 with address?

What, the same dog that she said had died or a different dog?

You can't report things like this to the police it isn't even a safeguarding issue she's just maybe a bit eccentric. If you see her doing something dangerous then yes, but stroking your dog and having a boisterous dog on a fully extended retractable lead doesn't seem alarming.

I see odd dog walkers all the time, always the ones with out of control dogs that have those stupid extendable leads. They end up tying themselves in knots and tripping everyone else up.

'If you know the area she frequents, could you maybe snap a photo and alert adult safeguarding or your local PSCO? Normally I absolutely wouldn't advise taking photos'

Please don't do this. How inappropriate.

I'd report to your local councils dog warden/animal welfare warden. They are trained to assess whether someone is vulnerable and will then either check in regularly to make sure any pets are in good health and being looked after and if they aren't, they'll gently try to convince her to voluntarily surrender the pets and will keep an eye to make sure she doesn't take any more on. There's a whole range of issues could be working in the background here and she does seem vulnerable herself so they'd be my first port of call since she does seem to have family etc around.

Report to the police, chances are if she's this far off base then they might know who you're talking about from description without an address or name