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 !

Same.

The ridiculous and infuriating thing is if OP had let him in and he did something to her, the same people would probably be blaming her for letting a stranger into her house 🙄

I won't have anything to do with unknown men or dogs. Both are too dangerous these days.

Same, especially ones who think they should be able to come in my home and wait for a dog warden for hours.

I wouldn’t want to even go in a stranger’s home to begin with tbh.

This is exactly what I was thinking. It's good to help out where you can, but I don't think it's unreasonable to keep in mind that some people will make any excuse to pressure you into letting them onto your property for unsavoury reasons. I'm not saying that was the case in this specific circumstance, but it doesn't hurt to be too careful.

If the man came back two weeks later, then there's no guarantee that the dog was injured as a direct consequence of not being collected from the OP's property. Unless it had been in recovery for those two weeks?

At one point when I worked from home and I was in our front room so all the cold callers could see me, I had a sign on the door saying "I am working so unless you have a parcel for me, I won't be opening the door".

I've still had people knock on the door when they can see I am on the phone though. At which point, I open the door, say " you can see I am on the phone" and close it again. Now though we use Teams so I can't walk away with the laptop, so I close the curtains.

I definitely wouldn't be opening the door because a dog was in my garden, though we have side access so in extremis a neighbour could go in themselves to retrieve their pet.

Not the dog's fault they have a crap owner.

I'd have helped the dog out in that situation. You surely could have negotiated with the man that you'd rather he took the dog away with him to wait for dog warden, or spent 5 minutes with him in your garden fixing the way the dog got in so that the dog would be contained until dog warden got there, no need for man to wait. I'm sure the man had better things to be doing too. No employer I would want to work for would mind if that happened during a work day.

You're not responsible for the dog getting injured but you could have prevented it. You could have helped and you chose not to.

I can't imagine not helping in this scenario, and yes I work from home too. Put the dog on a lead, hand it over to the people who were looking for it, job done.

You do you, I guess. Glad you're not my neighbour though.

What a good thing everyone keeps spare dog leads in the house to deal with other people's wandering pets.

For all those advising to put the dog on a lead, it sounds as if the OP is not a dog owner, so highly unlikely to have a dog's lead in the first place. She gave a sensible suggestion to the man. At no point did she need to do any more.

How were they supposed to know it wasn't a distraction burglary? Would you just let a stranger into your house/garden while you are working in another room?

Presumably the person banging on the door could have waited by the gap the dog went in by until it came out again.

What a good thing everyone keeps spare dog leads in the house to deal with other people's wandering pets.

Isn't it just!

Who cares if a stranger and warden come through your house!!

Honestly I'm starting to think that some of you are just on a wind up now.

Because am pretty sure OP said the dog does it all the time so not likely to be a burglary!!

That doesn't follow. The dog doing it all the time and it being well known in the area means it's an excellent excuse for anyone round there who might want to see inside someone's house for nefarious purposes.

The choices in this scenario weren't limited to letting the random man through her house and to stay in her garden for hours while missing her dsl duties and becoming a victim of crime or just saying no.

Lots of options in-between. They may have worked or may not have. But she didn't even try to help.

You've made the claim about multiple choices before, but they generally involve you making assumptions. You still don't know what state the dog was in, how capable OP is, whether she had a lead or anything suitable available, what the consequences of her stopping work would be. It's bullshitting.

No-one knows as OP didn't check or attempt anything.

The choices in this scenario weren't limited to letting the random man through her house and to stay in her garden for hours while missing her dsl duties and becoming a victim of crime or just saying no.

The most sensible suggestion of all, the random man staying by hole in hedge to stop mad dog escaping was proposed by the OP and instantly dismissed by random man. God knows why like I said thick as pig shit.

Well she may have checked but she's not mentioned.

However, the fact that nobody knows is why you can't claim there were lots of other options available. You don't have the necessary information.

Not being s dog owner or lover, I don’t have spare dogs leads lying around the house and I wouldn’t feel comfortable approaching and leashing a dog that I don’t know

You do you they ey!

Every option involved OP letting an unknown man into her house, except the option of him waiting the other side of the gap for the dog to come back - which the man rejected. If he was that bothered he could have done that but no, only OP letting him in her house would do. Red flag. She did try to help, she made an alternative suggestion he didn't want to do.

None of this was her fault, and not letting an unknown man into her house was sensible.

SHE WAS WORKING!

I’ve been sucked into helping a baby hedgehog by someone who knocked on my door leading to one of those 1980s style adventure movie scenarios like flight of the navigator or adventures in baby sitting, leading me to wish that I’d never answered the door, and agree it’s kind to help. BUT OP could have been in a very dangerous situation letting a random guy into the house, I’ve read stories or even know some real ones where people are duped, so lay off her, she did the correct thing. I would always help anyone knocking if I can, but would never let them in even if it was an innocent looking girl, but would gladly call for help. He could have waited for the dog to emerge then followed it, but nobody should let strangers in whoever you are or whatever sex you are.

I absolutely agree. It would have taken nothing for you to let someone else sit in your garden with an obviously terrified animal.

So you just let random strangers into your home?

The amount of posters who would do that on this thread is honestly terrifying!

It would have taken nothing for him to have waited on the other side of the gate like OP suggested and waited for the dog warden who didn’t show up!