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 !

Am I the only one who wonders of the owner of the dog wasn’t the angry man himself?

If that nonsense was aimed at me, try reading what I wrote instead of that pile of nonsense

It wasn't actually, perhaps it is your reading comprehension that needs to be brushed up on? Although, you do seem on that side of the argument.

@krustykittens

something doesn't have to be our 'responsibility' for us to do the decent thing.

would you stop a toddler running across the road?

would you help some who had fallen over?

or not, because it's not your responsibity??

Sadly the dog may have been easier to catch once injured....

To be clear I am very much a dog lover and would have wanted to help. That said it was most definitely not the OP's responsibility to do anything and I think the strategy to let Random Man camp out in her garden was very unlikely to be useful.

I do hope that the dog's owners are able to ensure it gets the veterinary care it now needs and the motorist who hit it is not feeling responsible.

I would have helped.
The whole tone of your post is off, including your user name (presumably selected in relation to this dead dog?)

@AutumnTimeForCosy24

Stopping a toddler from running across the road or helping up someone who has fallen do not require access to my home by a demanding stranger, so are straw man arguments. I wouldn't even stop to think to help in those situations.

The OP was totally in the right not to allow this man access and it is the owners fault that is has, on numerous occasions, been running loose on the streets.

Apols injured dog.

I have to agree you could have locked the doors behind them and carried on working, that poor dog.
I get it's not your responsibility, but they weren't asking much other than to stand in your garden to deal with the issue.

Random Man camp out in her garden was very unlikely to be useful

exactly and random man turned out to be angry and vengeful random man two weeks later when he should have been mad at the owners, not some woman with a mended fence whose house he demanded entry to.

Nope!

Although if so why didn't he just wait for the dog & put a lead on it.

Why would he need the dog warden?

well, lots of potential scenarios why he didn’t need the dog warden. He may have wanted to check who was home at what time. Check if OP was gullible, elderly or vulnerable. Photos of other people who may have lived in the house. To see if valuables are left in the house. Check out entry routes from the back. Look for ring door bells.

Is there proof the dog was even hit?

Two dogs appeared in my back garden once, terrifying my elderly cat and breaking the cover of my DCs sandpit. I phoned the council dog people who said they wouldn't come out. I said I had no idea whose dogs they were (I'd asked around 2 streets) and if they weren't coming I was going to open the side gate so they could get out and hopefully find their way home. The council man said if I did that I'd be liable if the dogs were injured or stolen .

They eventually found their way back through the fence (presumably how they'd got in), turned out to live 3 streets away and have form for escaping through multiple people's gardens and the owner would just wait til someone recognised them and brought them back. YANBU OP.

We had put rabbit netting halfway up the stock fencing in our garden (we live in rurally). We discovered our little escape artist was actually climbing the stock fencing to get to the bit that was not double netted and squeezing through! We couldn't figure it out as she would not do it when we were watching but managed to escape every time we took our eyes off her. Once, she ended up in a neighbouring town when a good samaritan picked her up at the bottom of our drive and handed her in to our vet, who popped her in his car and brought her straight back out! I am sure our names were mud around here for awhile. Escape artists can be very determined but we lived in fear of her being hit by a car or just getting lost in the countryside around us and dying of exposure. If you can't be bothered to stop your dog getting out, you really do not care at all about the poor thing. I was also terrified she could cause an accident if someone swerved to avoid her and then people would be hurt.

Yeah, I feel for the car driver too.

i hope the dog makes a good recovery & the owner improve their fence/doircentry/exit or whatever other escape routes the dog is using!!

Damn right!

Also - should stop work at his say so because a poor lil doggie might need you. Wimmin and your silly little WFH fake jobs, that’s nothing to worry about 🙄

I think you were perfectly reasonable not to let this man in your garden because he needs to access the house to get in and out. I'm not paranoid by any means but I would be very wary of a strange man in my house especially if I was alone but also you were working.

You had already stopped to answer the door thinking all hell was breaking loose, more time out would potentially make you behind/look bad on you because you would have to take time out to show him into the garden. You could lock the door behind you but he could also be banging on the door after 5 minutes because the dog had escaped again. More time out of your working hours not to mention extra time letting the dog warden in and out. All the while being alert waiting for the above to happen.

You could have gone to get the dog but I also would be wary of a dog I didn't know. Even a tiny dog can do damage if it bites which is the last thing you need especially when you are supposed to be working. It's just extra time you don't want to be spending not working/might not be able to stop working for something that doesn't present as an emergency.

If you had had side/back access to the garden I would suggest giving him that and letting him crack on but not having that changes everything completely.

At the end of the day it's the dog owners responsibility to keep the dog safe and if they can't do that then they need to accept the risk of them getting hurt/killed.

Why is this man so hot and bothered about a dog that isn't his anyway? I'm one of the first to help an animal in need when I can but somebody else's pet isn't my business and I wouldn't be getting involved after the event, only during if I had nothing else going on and didn't mind trying to get it back for said owner.

the dog must be top priority at all times

These days, yes. Also during life-threatening hurricanes, apparently.

Also - should stop work at his say so because a poor lil doggie might need you. Wimmin and your silly little WFH fake jobs, that’s nothing to worry about 🙄

Naturally

I've tried to glean this from the YABUers, but I'm afraid I still don't get it.

Why is the OP more unreasonable than the random man who was so very concerned about this dog that he didn't want to wait by the hole? And what is the causal relationship between OP's cold-hearted unkindness resulting in the failure of the so-very-concerned hero to wait by the hole, and the dog's injury two weeks later?

Helloooo.....

1.OP was in the middle of WORK.
2.She had no idea who the man was.
3.She would have had a stranger sitting in 4.her garden and house for up to 2 hours.
5.She had no idea if the dog was dangerous due to it being scared.
6.OP can fix her fence whenever she bloody well likes, not just to suit other people.

1. The "poor good citizen" turned out to be aggressive and threatening.
2. She hasn't done anything "officially wrong" whatsoever.
3. OP was extremely reasonable and sensible.

10. You should take your own safeguarding much more seriously by the sound of it.

YANBU. It's not the WFH issue for me, it's letting a stranger into your house.
I have a similar set up to the OP and I live alone so as much as I love dogs I'm afraid I wouldn't have let them in.

They're different scenarios though?
OP was indoors and working..

I'm shocked to see how many people would let a stranger into their home and garden.
Worrying...

Obviously not your fault that the dog was roaming around. But its really selfish to not help out in your situation. I dont think i could have been that cold. And you definitely played your part in the dog getting injured.

Don't be so ridiculous.
OP played no part at all in the dog getting injured 2 weeks later.

How on earth do you figure that one out?

Oh, unless you're another poster who thinks she should have stopped her work and allowed a complete stranger to hang around for hours in her house and garden?

The mind boggles. Is this thread an indication of why so many women get attacked in their own homes?