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 !

Yes, a man who knocks on to berate a woman he doesn't know and then shouts at her when she closes the door is clearly the sort of person who could provide all sorts of useful help, and who could always be trusted to behave reasonably.

Some of you are absolutely batshit, honestly.

She had never seen that man before except for the time two weeks ago. There’s no proof he is a neighbour to begin with.

It's not even that. It got run over two weeks later I think.

The crazy man was blaming OP because he thought if he'd been able to give the dog to the dog warden, it wouldn't have been injured.
I'm not sure that's a reasonable belief, as the dog warden would probably have returned the dog and the shit owner would have continued being shit.

Don't be so utterly ridiculous. Of course it isn't the OP's fault. Her garden isn't a sanctuary for stray animals.

This isn’t about liking dogs. This is about recognising an animal is a sentient being and trying to avoid it suffering unnecessarily. Which the op had an opportunity to do.

There were a lot of options open to them that weren’t “no”. They didn’t have to allow a person to wait in their garden for a dog warden. But they could have engaged and tried to help. They didn’t. Their actions culminated in a dog being injured. Most people would want to avoid this and find the outcome upsetting. The op is instead indignant.

Most people recognise a basic principle of being respectful to animals. This includes helping them in times of need. The op’s conduct was selfish and unpleasant.

I WFH and would have done the same as the OP. It’s one thing to let a random man in your garden when it’s accessible from the road. Quite another when it’s only accessible through your house. I’d have considered the former, and said no to the latter.

Why did he have to wait in your garden though? Why couldn't he just wait by the hole in the fence until the dog warden came?

Some of you are absolutely batshit, honestly.

I'll second that statement. Honestly there was zero reason he needed to be in the garden.

Absolute nonsense. If he was that desperately worried about the dog, he could have waited by the gap. He was, however, being shitty by getting arsey about it.

Yanbu I wouldn't be happy with a stranger waiting potentially hours in my garden while I WFH. The dog escaping isn't your fault, you aren't the owner so containing the dog isn't your responsibility

That’s just weird and suspicious.

I’ve seen this crap play out on Facebook more than once. Someone posts “there’s a random dog running on the road, I nearly hit it, couldn’t stop because I’m going to work” and there is a pile on. How could you not help etc etc.

Usually by do-gooders who don’t work very much…

He could have waited by the fence for the dog warden. But he didn't. I can't see any reason why the op should feel guilty because she didn't want a strange guy into her house when he could have just stood by the hole. Honestly, you mention a dog on the place and people are unhinged.

Has everyone who’s blaming OP missed the point here?

• This dog regularly escapes and roams free (bad owners).
• The time OP said no to a stranger in their garden was because they were working. The key word is working. Not dog sitting. The dog was clearly safe in their garden, and it got in through the gap just fine.
• OP secured their boundaries to prevent a repeat (very sensible)
• The same dog escaped yet again (bad owners), and this time was hit by a car, and it’s somehow OP’s fault for not helping out a few weeks prior!?

Very odd. Perhaps if the dog owner secured their property and looked after their pet, none of this would’ve happened. I’m with OP on this one, random stranger sounds a bit crazy.

He sounds like the sort of bloke who needs his hard drive checking.

Pretty sure OP needs her job and doubt they would have been so keen to excuse her stepping away because a dog was in her yard that could let itself out.

I'm just wondering how long the MN statute of liability is for dog injury 🤔

Some people are utterly batshit about dogs. Doesn't matter if you're working, doesn't matter if the human invovled is shouty and aggressive, doesn't matter if you don't want people in your house - all that matters is the poor little darling doggy. 🙄

Did you miss that the OP was at work?
Most people can't interrupt their work day to run around after someone else's dog.
If the stranger was so concerned, he could have waited by the fence for the dog warden to show up.

Either way, the OP can't be held responsible for the dog being hit by a car two weeks later.

We often have to let strangers into our home. Police, workmen, etc. It wasn't totally random - it was to get the dog.

Was it run over on that same day, or later?

If you’d let the random in your garden, the dog probably would have just slipped out through the gap again to evade them anyway.

I'm hoping so, because otherwise there are multiple people on here who think women unnecessarily letting randoms into their homes based on spurious claims of animal welfare is a reasonable expectation, even when they later learn that the random is an aggressive weirdo. And some of the posters who think this are bound to have kids of their own. Worrying.

And he could have still waited at the gap at the fence outside of her home.

You're really comparing a workman and a fucking police officer to a random bloke off the street??

Are you saying he’s been waiting for the opportune moment to get onto the ops house under the guise of helping the dog ?