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?

Damn. I would have ripped you a new one. The height of self-entitled arrogance, no manners, disgusting and embarrassing behaviour. You've made yourself look really small. You sound unhinged. Your dogs should be on a leash - I say this as an experienced dog handler. It doesn't matter how old they are. Your dogs are senile and could therefore be experiencing pain you are unaware of - Dogs in pain can bite people, especially small children. Your dog would then be at fault and put to sleep because of your sheer, selfish ignorance. People like you make my blood boil.

He likely has a ‘big car’ as he has kids who like to go the skate park.

He can park wherever he wants in that car park. He wanted to park close to the skate park - that’s completely reasonable

Hes done nothing wrong - at all

Yet op becomes violent and aggressive in front of this poor guys children.

"Everybody is entitled" - well you certainly are. "No one has responsibility" - actually you have responsibility to keep your dogs on a lead in public. This has to be rage bait, surely.

Heavens forbid he parked in an empty space in the carpark!

She can't hear cars approaching so obviously the thing to do is to let her wander around off- lead, in a car park.

You know you are in the wrong. You can't justify your behaviour here. Learn and move on.

You say in your original post that you was up last night worrying about what you did and said to the driver so that and the fact that nearly 100% have voted you were unreasonable
I can understand you were annoyed that the guy drove his car near your much loved old dog when in your view there was no need but as most posters have pointed out he did nothing wrong if there is an empty space he is entitled to use it and in a car park common sense says you should have you dog on a lead
Trying to justify your actions doesn’t make you come across very well at all
better just chalk it up to experience and not have your dog off lead in a car park

You park close to the park cos your dog is old. Grand. Good on you. He parked close to the park cos maybe he's got a dodgy back or is as lazy as sin or well actually no, none of your business he did nothing wrong and you should have been slapped as hard as you slapped his card.
It shouldn't have kept you awake all night wondering if you were wrong, you should have worked it out in about 2 seconds and dropped off to sleep.

But no, he chose to park his big car as close to the skatepark as he could get

Well yes, he wanted to take his kids to skatepark. Considering the elderly dog was probably not using the skatepark, OP is the one that could have chosen to park somewhere else.

Yes & i wouldn’t have been as nice if you hit my car AND swore because you were standing chatting with your dogs not safely on a lead!

Agree. He may also have parked as near to the skate park as he could because he didn’t want his children to have to walk across the car park where cars are moving and reversing. So in actual fact he’s shown more concern for his kids safety than OP did for her dog.

OP very unkindly said if the children were capable of using the skate park they were capable of walking to it. That doesn’t take into account the safety angle, or the fact that one or more of the children may have SEN that’s not immediately discernible. So much assumption, lack of concern for others and breathtaking entitlement.

This isn’t another Liz Jones thread is it?

It’s been well observed that in near empty car parks, people tend to park near the only cars. Probably something very psychological. Your responsibility to keep your dogs safe in a known risky environment. Attacking the car is weird.

Oh dear. You are getting a lot of flack here, but rightly so I'm afraid. Look at it from this man's perspective. He parks up perfectly innocently and someone hits his car - the car that his young children are travelling in. This person then proceeds to verbally abuse him and his children. You seem to think that he should have taken far more care of your dog than you did of his children (or your dog, for that matter) - bearing in mind that you had chosen not to put the dog on a lead and he did absolutely nothing wrong. I think you should perhaps seek some help as you seem terribly angry - it is time for a bit of self-reflection when you are attacking strangers with children in carparks, then proceeding to post about them online in extremely derogatory terms.

Why are your dogs not on a lead in a public area?

You are very lucky the man didn’t give you a bop to the nose, you need to start thinking about your personal safety before hitting someone’s property. Next time you might not get off lightly, the world is full of nutters.

Indeed. I bet she's got no interest in thinking about personal space when she lets her dogs wander up to people that do not want to be approached by strange dogs.

And made up ‘run over a dog’!

It actually doesn't matter why he chose to park in that spot. It was an empty space in a car park and he's perfectly entitled to park there.

You, on the other hand, don't think any of the normal rules apply to you. You think it's ok to have your dog off a lead - ok you have your excuses but they are just that, excuses. None of which mke sense. It doesn't matter if your dog is old. He should still be on a lead in a car park.

You think it's ok to bang on someone's car because they parked in a legitimate space but you think they other people shouldn't park near you.

You say he wasn't looking but there's no evidence for that. He didn't hit anything. Presumably parked in the one space without incident apart from some mad woman banging his roof.

The height of self absorbed entitlement. I find it hard to believe this is actually true and someone is quite that deluded but since you insist it is I'll go with it.

Get your dog on a lead when you are anywhere near a children's park.

You are totally unreasonable. Said SUV can park where they chose.

If you would have hit my car with your hand id be fuming.

If I hit your dog with my car when its not under your control thats your fault.

Isn't it just. OP maybe you should post when and where you are going to be with your dog in future so the rest of the world can be sure to revolve around you, and you won't have to put up with outrageous impositions like people wanting to park their car in a car park. Don't worry about putting it on a lead or any of that nonsense, we'll just shut whatever roads and car parks are necessary such that you don't need to take the most basic safety measures.

I actually get it, it is insensitive and a bit aggressive to drive right up and park what is essentially your tank right next to some people. It’s a physically intimidating machine and careless action with it. However, clearly not everyone would get this and if you look around you you’ll see that people are oblivious and that carelessness is everywhere all day, every day. You’ve just become sensitive to it.

If you are intimidated by cars driving up to you then maybe don't stand in a car park!

Talk about stating the blooming obvious...

Nope. None of this. People shouldn’t be standing around chatting in the car park with dogs off the lead. That’s what the park is for. And it’s not just for the exclusive use of dog owners. If there’s a kids skatepark there he’s just as entitled to park as close to it as he can for his kids’ safety as OP is to park close to the park entrance to ensure her elderly deaf dog is safe. OP is the unreasonable and entitled one here, not the driver. Not to mention rude, controlling and foul mouthed.

As a dog owner I am one hundred percent on the side of the other man. You hit his fucking car? How rude. I would go berserk. I would have instantly panicked and assumed I had hit someone. What a stupid thing to do because you didn’t like the parking space you he had chosen.

It was an SUV not a tank. And one minute OP says he speeded into position and screeched to a halt, and the next he rolled into the space. So l’m inclined to take all of this with a pinch of salt. If it appended at all.