Not to help catch a stray/escaped dog! Now it’s my fault it’s been injured apparently!

[notmyproblems]

Someone’s dog keeps escaping and for some reason it kept making its way into my garden. It had been dodging cars apparently and being a nuisance. Regularly have people knocking asking is it mine.

Two weeks ago someone saw it run into my garden and they were banging on the door . I answered (I was WFH and busy) and they were demanding to be allowed into the garden to keep hold of the dog till the warden could get there. I said no. Wait till it goes back out again (I didn’t want someone I don’t know in my house / garden) then catch it and secure it .

Ive since got the gap fixed and the dog can’t get in anymore. Haven’t seen it

Had a knock on the door today (same person) saying the dog had been hit by a car and they’d had to take it to a vet and how it all could have been avoided had I allowed them access and they hoped I was happy with having it on my conscience. So i just closed the door as they were still talking which made them shout and bang on the door???

Im not the irresponsible dog owner so it’s not my fault !

For someone that says she wouldn't help a dog because she couldn't spare time yes sure fits

@notmyproblems well it obviously ran out again and if they had stayed near where the dog went in then they would have caught it!! not your fault. totally the fault of the owner for not having a secure garden! why did it take them so long to come back and tell you about the supposed accident?

@qualifiedazure

she didn't want him sitting in her garden. What's the problem with sitting in her garden??

So do we spend are lives living in fear and not helping anyone out ever again ?

Or do we use a bit of initiative, maybe check the garden to see if the person knocking is telling the truth.

Why has has the op not asked the person knocking to put the dog on a lead when they retrieve it, instead of waiting hours for a dog warden. In fact why are they even waiting for a dog warden, when the neighbour knows who the dog belongs to. Its not lost.

If the dog is getting in through a broken fence panel, surely the op and the 'neighbour' between could have come up with a solution to get the dog out the garden the way it got in, with the neighbour waiting the other side of the fence to catch it and put it on lead.

Such a big pile of steaming 💩.

Same. YABVU and v v awkward, as well as uncaring.

Omg love yiyr answer that's my thoughts to

Because he could have been aggressive and she didn't want to be alone in her house or garden with someone who could harm her?

If I was alone in my house and someone wanted to sit in my garden with an escaped dog I would be worried

So I'm guessing by your own description that you're not a pleasant person then?

The OP was working and no one should be expected to help contain an animal that might cause them harm, which for a scared loose dog is very likely. It doesn't make you a better person just because you act like a doormat and let everyone take advantage of you.

Why did he have to sit in her garden though? Why couldn't he wait next to the gap in the fence and wait for the dog to come back out?

I don't think like you do i am no doormat i love animals better than people I eoukd help a dog sorry but I would

It isnt your fault, it is the owners fault for letting the dog escape.

That said, I dont know why you keep insisting this man had to traipse through your house. I would have just gone in the garden myself, apprehended the dog (presumably it wasnt visibly aggressive or some huge XL bully type) and lead it out of my garden and gave it to the man on the door step. Then he could have taken it away and the warden could have picked it up from his house.

That would have taken 2 minutes max, not hours and hours of your time.

I would have spent 2 minutes helping a dog, yes. I suspect most people would do this.

I once found a dog in our front garden (we have the downs behind our house where people walk dogs). I kept hold of it, rung the number on its collar and a very grateful owner came to get it 10 mins later. I have never regretted helping that owner, she was distraught and so happy to have her dog back- it had chased a squirrel and got away from her.

You don't have to live in fear, but basic precautions like not letting strange men into your house help keep you safe.
Have you never warned your kids because you don't want to live in fear?

Even if the story is true and there's a dog in the garden, it doesn't make being alone in your house with a random less risky.

He could have waited by the fence for the dog. Being insistent on coming into the house when he realised she's a lone woman isn't a good sign.

But the only access to the backdoor is through the house OP has said. So that would man having a dog come through your home. That I certainly wouldn't be having. Also certainly wouldn't be touching someone else's dog.

I think its a bit sus he wanted to stay in her garden until the dog warden came tbh.

The op’s conduct was selfish and unpleasant
OP was working and didn’t want a random man in her garden for an unknown amount of time.
She offered a very simple solution, for the person to wait next to the only way out.
For some reason this random man was happy to wait in her garden but not outside. Not OP’s fault!

Yep! Especially with an easily available alternative.

Exactly. If this person was so desperate to help, he could have done it without demanding that the OP give him access to her home and garden for a couple of hours. If women, or men for that matter, do not want to let strangers into their home, that is their prerogative.

I feel sorry for the dog being hurt but that is not down to the OP. It is down to its owners who seem to have done nothing to stop their dog escaping. I have an escape artist, it was a constant chore at one stage to find and block all her ways out (she is only little) but we managed it. I certainly would not blame anyone lese if she had been injured or killed while on one of her jaunts and I certainly would not have demanded access to people's homes to grab her when she could be coaxed out through the fence with a bit of chicken!

I wouldn’t do this, a crazy dog that’s always on the run. Nah thanks

She did but not the way he wanted. He could have waited on the other side of the fence for the dog to come out instead of trying to wait in her home for the dog warden while she was working.

The dog doesn’t know him and OP hasn’t said if she has approached the dog herself only that it goes in and out through a gap
in her fence that she fixed, stopping the dog from doing so.

Neither them or us know how the dog would have handled being approached and it could have easily run away from them both and back through the gap considering it has form for running allover the place enough for people to come to OP’s door to question if she’s its owner.

It’s easy to say just grab the dog, but if not used to dogs, most aren’t going to be comfortable trying to grab them.

YABU if you'd done this and the dog warden took the dog the owner would have had to pay a fine to get it back, and the dog wouldn't have been injured. it could have been worse it could have caused an accident and people could have been hurt.

I fail to see how OP not letting a random man into her house causes a dog to be run over 2 weeks later. That makes no sense. He’s a loon OP just ignore him.

Wait - I don't get the two week gap. The person asked two weeks ago, you said no, it left, you fixed the hole and now, AFTER you fixed the hole it's got run over and it's your fault? That's just nuts. How has it got anything to do with you this time?

And no, I wouldn't have let them in at the time either, they could have waited outside.

I don't think OP sounds deeply unpleasant as someone said.
She's literally just stating facts.

For one, she was busy working.
It's interesting that some people don't count WFH as real work.
They think you can just leave the work at the drop of a hat.

And two, she didn't want strangers hanging about in her home and garden.
That's understandable.

The fault completely lies with the dog owner.

YANBU, don't even think about it any more OP.

Yep.I despair about human nature these days!