Annoying dogs at the park

[Dodgyddd]

My dog is around 18kgs and aged eleven. She likes to play fetch with her ball but gets tired much more quickly these days. Yesterday at the park, a big, bouncy Labrador was there. His owner was sitting on a bench, busy on his phone, ignoring his dog. The dog was very persistent in getting in my dog’s face and eventually stole the ball. My dog barked a good few times, to try and get rid of the unwanted pest. The dog was big and I thought it was going to knock me over.

The owner came over and got the ball back for us but it was game over for our dog. The Labrador worked out that it was much more fun bothering us, than it was over by his owner. We gave up and left the park.

When it finally stopped raining today, we went to the same park and the same dog and owner were there. In the end my DH called over for the guy to come and get his dog. We had stood patiently, thinking he would notice the problem but you know how it is with phones.

The guy proceeded to get very annoyed with us, at this point. He said my dog was badly behaved because it was barking at his dog. My DH suggested he put his phone down and play with his dog. The guy said it was a dog park, his dog just wanted to play and if we didn’t like it we shouldn’t be there.

I have a similar problem with a dog near us, my dog is very intimidated by this dog. I walk in the opposite direction and try to avoid popular times. I'm not sure there's anything else you could do tbh. Unfortunately there's always one that spoils it for the rest.

@vivainsomnia

The drama is how you made a big deal of the situation, well you and OH. You stood at a place when you knew the dog was annoying yours. The dog wasn’t aggressive, just annoying to your dog. You could have just moved a bit further rather than letting it happen and waiting for the guy to react when it might not have been obvious your dog was bothered by his.

You could have acted as soon as the dog first showed up by going a bit further away or going to the man right away and asking him to call his dog explaining yours was old and uncomfortable with that level of interaction.

In the end my DH called over for the guy to come and get his dog. We had stood patiently, thinking he would notice the problem but you know how it is with phones

The guy proceeded to get very annoyed with us, at this point

We waited patiently but then my DH called over for the guy to get his dog. We were both concerned that his dog would knock one of us over at this point. It seemed perfectly reasonable to allow someone time to notice what was going on and then, when he didn’t, to ask politely for him to get his dog.

The guy got annoyed, we didn’t. We did not make a big deal, the badly behaved man with a badly behaved dog got annoyed.

Why, as we behaved with civility and had the well behaved dog, are you implying we were in the wrong?

He got annoyed because he would rather faff on his phone than deal with the behaviour of his rude dog!
I can be really annoying too OP. Shall we sit either side of him and each bore an ear off?!

@vivainsomnia

The drama is how you made a big deal of the situation, well you and OH. You stood at a place when you knew the dog was annoying yours. The dog wasn’t aggressive, just annoying to your dog. You could have just moved a bit further rather than letting it happen and waiting for the guy to react when it might not have been obvious your dog was bothered by his.

You could have acted as soon as the dog first showed up by going a bit further away or going to the man right away and asking him to call his dog explaining yours was old and uncomfortable with that level of interaction.

The dog was having heaps more fun bothering us, than it was having with its owner, who was ignoring him. You say we should have moved a bit further. As I was there at the time, I can report with some accuracy, that if we’d moved the Labrador would have followed us.

The problem wasn’t us. The problem was a large, adolescent, boisterous Labrador and an owner who just couldn’t be bothered with him. It’s sad really, as the poor dog just wanted his owner to play with him. The dog clearly had masses of energy, which was not surprising if that’s how he gets walked.