Parking when there are dogs around

[TheQuirkyMaker]

I was in our local park yesterday, talking to another dog owner, when an SUV swept in right beside us, halted, and reversed into a parking space. As it reversed, I slapped it on the roof. The driver jumped out, angry, and I think was ready to give me a slap. I said the car park was empty (it was, it serves about 200 cars) and he had no need to park next to us and potentially hit a dog. He said he was parking near the skate park for his children, and our dogs should be on a lead (they weren't). They are elderly, obedient little dogs, and don't need to be on a leash but they are little and could be hit by a car.
I told him to "F--- Off" and felt okay at the time but couldn't sleep last night for worrying who was in the right.
Was I the unreasonable one?

Neither can I - unless you’re super tall you would have had to really stretch to tap the roof of a Range Rover. I have a Land Rover and can barely reach the roof.

I'm a dog lover, so I normally start reading these threads with a certain innate sympathy for the dog owner.

Not today, lady.

The driver's behaviour might have been mildly inconsiderate, but with your aggressive and foul mouthed response you completely overreacted and raised the bar to a whole new level. So yes, you were unreasonable. Massively so.

Nice touch swearing in front of his children too.

Don't be surprised if your fellow dog walkers aren't quite so keen to hang out with you going forward.

Calling him a cunt is beyond unreasonable.

It's often easier to line up next to parked cars.

It’s sad and very emotional witnessing the aging of your pet dog. I’m sorry.

But equally, the father in the car could have had his own sad and emotional problems which made him choose that same easy familiar spot….. and hence drive too close to you and your little dog.

It’s a rotten world we live in sometimes, even at the park.
In the end though OP, it’s your job to keep your ageing pet absolutely safe. Especially in an empty car park which can soon fill up.

It’s not the job of the stranger who chose to quickly park in the next spot to you, in such a way as to alarm you, to understand your concerns about your pet, especially when your pet should have been on a lead.

You were unreasonable to escalate the situation by banging on his car in shock and anger as you did. It would have been better to just pick up your dog and walk away as quickly as possible.
Put space between you, even though he didn’t !

For goodness sake, yes he was annoying having to park right next to you but in a car park, you put your dog on the lead, doesn't matter how old, small or well behaved it is, it's common sense. You were in the wrong

You can’t know he didn’t look. My car has 360 cameras and sensors so no need to turn your head.

😂😂😂😂

Ok OP.

I am with you, OP!

In a car park full of spaces, why be reversing close to an area where people are standing with dogs? The fact that the dogs were off or on their leads is irrelevant.

The guys was driving an SUV so of course the lazy, entitled man believes that he can park wherever he likes and obviously that MUST be as close to the intended destination as possible. I see this all al time at our local school, SUV's parking as close to the school gates as they can get, dangerously maneuvering. Many of these people live well within walking distance of the school. People will retort with all kinds of excuses but some shame needs to be attached to this kind of behavior for it to change.

The guy behaved like an entitled idiot.

All the more reason to keep it on a lead in a car park! The driver doesn't know any of this (plus its not relevant)

my little collie is dying of old age, she can't climb stairs, jump into cars, chase balls, hear cars approaching

Then you are so incredibly unreasonably to not have her on a lead. You owe her a duty of care.

It's very hard when a dog starts to slow down as it gets older.

You do what you can to make life easier for it.

Don't dwell on what it can't do, think about what it still can do.

I have two dogs and always keep them on their leads if they’re anywhere near cars. They are my responsibility, not anyone else’s.

Slapping someone’s car and telling them to eff off is pretty bad. I once had a horse rider kick my car. I wasn’t overly impressed either.

its likely he had a camera and could see the space was clear

It could be the same person who thought farmers should stop keeping livestock in their fields because they weren't considering the needs of dog walkers. She felt she had the right to walk her dog off lead and was quite cross about it.

Oh my, so he parked in a space in a car park?! Alert the church elders at once😂

You were in the wrong and dreadfully rude! And as for hitting his car?! You sound unhinged.

Put your manky dogs on leads and take some responsibility.

This is either top trolling or if it's not you're nucking futs...

"It wasn't through longing for our company."

Of course not, nobody would want to be near someone who behaves in a very irrational & unpredictable manner.

My DH always parks in between two nice cars. His logic is that if someone has a nice car they’re going to be a lot more careful opening doors / driving it so they won’t damage ours. I have no idea if that’s sustained but it works for him 😂

Why did you park near the skate park when there were 200 other spaces? You were totally in the wrong but I am sorry about your dog.

Yes. Standing around chatting in a car park. Then swearing at the man, presumably in front of his children?! 🦇

Nope. You were totally unreasonable. Put your dog on a lead in the carpark (or anywhere where they could be injured/run off if startled) or put them in the car.

We walk our dogs off lead in a local forestry site as they are dreadful on leads, but they always go back on the lead as we near the carpark. Their safety is OUR responsibility, not that of people parking - who can reasonably expect other people to take care of their children and dogs in that area.

Oh, give over. Why on earth is it entitled to think you can park your car in an empty car parking space? Who cares if it's close to someone or their dog? It's pretty entitled of the OP to demand a 10ft buffer around her and her dog at all times. She should find somewhere else to have a chat.

And I'll bite re. the car and the kids - I drive a (small) SUV and I park as close to the park gates as I can - because I'm managing three young kids on my own and it's far safer for me to not have them walk across the car park if I don't have to. Yes it was empty when they arrived but presumably it wouldn't have been when they were leaving.

So not even a "little" dog then.
And shame on you for not protecting your poor dog, who can't hear what's going on around her and isn't agile enough to move quckly out of the way of danger, by not having her wandering around in a car park. I also think this blatant attempt to garner sympathy is disgusting.

Oh well, at least, as she's deaf, she didn't hear you yelling "fuck off" in a public space, in front of children.

This has to be a wind up😂. If your dog is elderly and deaf (as you say in a later post) they should absolutely be on a lead in the car park. It’s a public car park, other users can park in any legitimate space. I’m afraid your use of (foul) language in another post definitely implies you are not the most pleasant individual…. Your dog may be the centre of your world but that does not put its requirements over anyone else’s!

I always park beside the most expensive car I can on the principle that if someone's going to steal/rob a car they're going to pick that over my rust bucket.