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?

For your dog's sake it would be best either to put them on a lead and/or get out of the car park pronto.

I expect you had a sleepless night because you were worrying what would have happened if he'd hit one of your dogs. Don't put them in that position again and you'll sleep better.

You're dicing with danger for your dogs, but also if you go around slapping cars and telling people to fuck off you might find yourself in trouble one of these days.

You have to be a troll mate!! He parked there because he wanted to and it was a legitimate space. You were completely in the wrong

My dog is a gundog breed, super well trained, knows absolutely loads of commands and is off lead most of the time. However, I would never leave him off lead in a car park or when street walking. It's just common sense!! That's with a larger dog that's easy to see as well, never mind a little thing. Why tempt fate?

Sorry OP (cross posted with you) I suspect you’re going to be in for a kicking here and I don’t want to pile on any more, but I do think you need to think about why you went straight to bashing someone else’s car. I get in middle-aged-lady rages quite frequently, but we don’t actually have a right to ruin other people’s days when they’re just doing entirely normal things.

You've made up 'he doesn't like them.'

You can disagree all you like. That doesn't make you any less wrong.

Yes, he could have parked further away, but he didn't want to, because he preferred the space that was closer. You did not own that space.

Learn to control your dogs properly, and learn to control your temper.

When I had a dog i always parked on one side of the car park assuming space so i didn’t have to cross the car park, perhaps this car did the same, i even had a preferred space, you be there wouldn’t have stopped me as I liked that spot. Yabvu

Clue is in the name car park. Not dog park.

If you are that worried about your dog being ran over have them on a lead and don’t mill around in a car park chit chatting with off lead dogs. Go into the field or sit at a bench.

yabu

Another entitled pet owner

This is wild.
Your off lead dog is 100% your problem. Very irresponsible to have it off lead in a car park

Plus if it was 50 yards from the next spot it wasn’t an empty car park was it

When I drive to the park with my dogs i don't let them off the lead until we are on the grass away from the car park.

No it was just random parking in a huge empty car park. He just rolled near us and reversed without looking. From the viewpoint of the posters here, I think it was deliberate- perhaps he was angry about dog shit in the park (I always clean it up) and wanted to make his feelings plain. For dog lovers, dogs are sometimes our most cherished company, which non-dog-lovers never understand.

Is it just me or does this poster have form for starting this kind of rage bait thread?

I wouldn't have my dogs unleashed in a car park for precisely this reason. Even if the dogs are well trained, it only takes a second for a driver who's perhaps going a little fast or not paying attention to hit them. It's not worth the risk imo.

I would have raised an eyebrow at a driver choosing to park next to me in an empty carpark and perhaps made a comment to my friend out of earshot. It wouldn't have occurred to me to confront the driver, as he has just as much right to park there as I have.

Not sure his reason to park there was
because he wanted to pretend to run over your dog or prove a point. Strange and annoying he parked right next to you when the carpets empty but really nothing to kick off about. He can park where he wants. And slapping his car roof is
obviously going to get a reaction. Odd behaviour over nothing

You are the problem. He can park where he wants. Keep your dog on a lead.

Do you genuinely think you were in the right to be chatting in a car park and allowing your dogs to wander around off lead and then get annoyed with another car driver for parking in an empty space then banging on the car roof?

Genuinely?

So you don't think YABU? Why ask then?!! Why are you making an assumption this person does not like dogs? How bizarre.

IMO YABVU it is a CAR PARK and you must've known a car may come along at any time and you know try and park. You banged his car and told him to fuck off in front of his DC? Classy. Get your dog on a lead FFS and hold your nasty tongue in future.

Even the best behaved dog in the world should be on a lead in the carpark. What use is blaming drivers for where they did or didn't park if your dog gets killed, when you could have them on a lead and hold them close in the case of emergency. You are unreasonable and irresponsible.

Yes I think you’ve been a bit extreme. Dogs to me are like children, they need love and attention in higher public places where they can potentially run off/get scared/get distracted. We all like to think we know we our kids and animals but you can just never know what they’ll do next. Protection (to me) is just a necessary stage of keeping everyone safe. I’ll always put my dog on a lead in a car park, at the exit of the car park, along the road etc. She is the most placid well behaved dog ever, she wouldn’t look any other human, dog , car whatever….but there’s always that chance that a loud noise will scare her, a car won’t see her, who knows…she could run off at the wrong time….as much as I think she wouldn’t. She can’t speak to me to tell me that’s she’s spooked or distracted or actually shut up talking and let’s go home…I have to have forward thinking of that. And my dog is still fairly young. In the past my older dogs would 100% be on a lead at that point. You know he got grumpy, he didn’t like people approaching him , he walked with some pain etc. even if your elderly dogs aren’t grumpy or in pain, if they’re small, it is safer in car parks etc as not everyone will see them.

i agree it’s a shame that the car park was empty by the sound of it and why park where you’re standing. It’s like when I park miles away from the store to “have a nice space “ where there’s no cars and I come back to my car after a bit shopping and someone has parked as close as they can next to me when there’s 50 others spaces free to park in!!!! But equally I don’t own the car park and can’t go round slapping every car with an owner I don’t agree with!

I think the slapping the car was unnecessary. If you had to show your displeasure at their actions, a roll eye would have been better if you really really had to say something. Maybe your actions of “standing in the way “ chatting was his way of saying that you were equally in the way. Whilst I don’t think you can compare a dog to a car, of course a dog is living thing with feelings and no one should ever slap a dog. Ever. Maybe his car was his pride and joy. Maybe he thought you had damaged it. Imagine him slappping your dog, you’d be outraged (rightly so!!!)

I think you’ve both been a bit caught up in the moment. You’ve both got equal access to the car park, you’ve both got a right to park where you like. I think you overstepped the mark by the slapping of the car. I’m not sure what reaction you’d thought you’d get by doing that. Not many people are going to take it well or ignore it. You don’t own the car park even if you take the dogs out of it. But what can you do? It’s done, no point worrying about it. Maybe next time park further away yourself to give you space, time to talk etc. by the sounds of it you too have parked in a popular part of the car park. You can’t be up all night worrying about it, it’s done , all you can do is learn from it 🫶

I am a huge dog lover. My husband and I adore our dog. How do you know this man didn’t have a dog at home? I can totally see my husband doing similar in the carpark with no real thought to it other than he wanted that space. Huge over reaction

Mmm subsequent posts by OP are suddenly giving off a very different impression of the man from the first post she made..

So keep your precious dogs safe by not letting them off lead in a car park, obviously.

Surely no one believes this is a genuine thread?