Why are people so inconsiderate?!

[coticsouledout]

I'm sat in the back garden with doggo giving her a massage and enjoying the sun. She can see the road from where we are but it is fenced off and there is a front garden. A neighbour who is passing by starts talking to me from the gate. She starts barking and I shake my head, drop eye contact and try to indicate I can't hear and please be on your way.
Two other neighbours appear and the three of them start chatting right outside my front gate. Dog is barking and clearly wants them to leave. It's a public road but if they'd just walk a couple of yards up the street, all would be fine.
I go in and get her her treat dispenser, they carry on chatting completely oblivious (allegedly - not sure how they missed my dirty looks).
The couple move on and the male neighbour comes in to my front garden, right up to the fence, dog jumps up barking, he asks me a question, I tell him my dog is stressed and I need to look after her.
Happily he goes away but ffs! Are people oblivious, do they just not give a shit, obtuse? Or is it that I have every right to stand wherever I like on a public road type mentality?
The couple in question don't have their own dog but sometimes walk their adult kids' dogs. I call them the bulldozers because they just walk. Don't stop for the dogs to sniff, are totally unaware what is around them. The other day we were walking up a lane and they were behind and i was keeping my dog moving. A woman with two reactive terriers was coming towards us. I took my dog down a side lane a little to let her pass. There was loads of room, it is a wide lane. They bulldozed right into her causing all three dogs to react. Why? Why be so fucking inconsiderate?
I'm moving and can't fucking wait!

oh for goodness’ sake, if you live on a street (don’t most people?) and have a dog that you want to let into the front garden bordering that street, train it not to bark at people. It’s not hard.
or sit in the back garden, if you have one.

My neighbour's dog jumps on the wall and barks at me IN MY OWN GARDEN. Now, THAT'S inconsiderate.

@CourtneeLuv are you the op and name changed 😂😂😂? Distressed dog because people have the audacity to talk near it 🤣🤣🤣 I know people can be ridiculously precious about their children, but this thread wins the award for most bat shit crazy precious dog owners

Welcome back op!

Your dog is picking up on your stress.

I'm not the op, but my dog is a rescue and has issues that are being worked on.

I don't think it's very neighbourly to stand outside a house where you are obviously distressing a dog 🤷‍♀️

Get your dog in the house. Pretty simple.

As a non-dog owner, I'm intrigued by what "massaging" means here. I have a wonderful mental image of the OP doing that palm-edge chopping thing along the back of a prostrate dog with a towel draped over its hindquarters.

I would definitely move along- I don't like the sound of dogs barking so I wouldn't stand nearby if it was barking at me and other neighbours. I don't like to see or hear distressed animals, so why aggravate it?

No one cares about your dog good god

You giving the treats while shes barking like she was is a reward to her. She'll keep doing it cause maybe she's scared, etc but also cause shes being rewarded for that behaviour if youre happy with her barking at any moving thing then carry on but its not on anyone else to worry about your dog barking especially when it seems youre reinforcing it. Yabu

What a lot of drama! Your dog shouldn't be barking at people outside the property, it's pretty antisocial to be making such a racket. She probably picks up on you being so stressed and it makes her barky.

First World problems...geez, you're very precious! Surely, you'd want to acclimatise your dog to these situations? And like other people have said, these people are not mind readers. I think you sound very uptight and this is probably rubbing off in your dog and making it react.

I don't think it's very neighbourly to stand outside a house where you are obviously distressing a dog 🤷‍♀️

I think the crucial word is here is 'obviously'

There was no obviously. The passers by didn't realise what was going on. The OP didn't communicate to them or explain.
There is no indication they knew what was going on other than a dog was barking.

I have a very nervous rescue too, and he doesn’t like people coming IN the garden so I have high fences and signs on the gate asking people to please not open it. However, if he barks when strangers walk past (rarely, as we live in the middle of nowhere and he knows the neighbours well enough not to bark at them), I simply take him inside to calm him down. People are allowed to walk and talk in public wherever they like, not where my dog thinks they should be!

If I let him just continue to bark, it would just reinforce the idea that he is allowed to do that. He isn’t. He goes indoors for quiet time.

You sound very highly strung and your dog is definitely taking cues from you in that respect. If you are calm, they are calm.

They aren't deaf, from the sounds of it. Pun intended.

Are you the m&s woman 🤣 I was giving my dog a massage!

They aren't deaf, from the sounds of it. Pun intended.

But dogs bark. Right?

If I hear a dog barking as I pass by I don't instantly presume I caused it. This dog was having a massage at the time with its owner.

Why she would do that in the front garden when her dog is so reactive is anybody's guess.

OP - I'll give you a clue, the inconsiderate part of this story is expecting the world to tiptoe round your garden to avoid upsetting your dog. Get a grip, you sound as nutty as your pet.

You need to get training for your dog. It is not acceptable to allow a dog to bark like this just because some people are talking nearby! Please note dog barking is a nuisance and if persistent the council can take action under environmental health.

I would have said, sorry let me put the dog in the house so I can hear you! Job done. If your dog is that stressed from someone stopping for a quick chat, then the dog is the problem.

Re the walk, how were they to know the terriers were reactive?

Is it only me who couldn’t get further than “I was massaging my dog” ?