Kind of hard to make a dog hold pee when you are walking it…we’d already been through our own yard and walked for 15 minutes before this happened.
Have it pee in the street or in some scrub area. You can also train your dog to pee on command. We had a certain spot in our yard for our dog to pee. Bottom line is that many people put time and money into cultivating a nice lawn and your dog’s peeing needs are not their problem.
We had some new neighbors that let their dog come into our yard to pee (instead of their own). Yes, it did cause lawn issues. Yes, we did talk to them about it.
My neighbor is a very successful doctor. His wife teachers at the most prestigious school where their children attend. A few years ago they got a dog the they adore. Now they walk their dog to everyone’s mailboxes to do his business and to the shared common green space. I shake my head. I’ve even stared right at them as their dog is lingering at my mailbox or at the edges of my lawn. They don’t even feel the slightest bit uncomfortable. I just don’t get it. The only thing I can assume is that they seem to feel entitled to “stretch out” and use space for their dog that does not belong to them.
I agree about letting your dog pee on someone else’s yard. If your dog can’t be relied on to hold it until you get to a spot where it won’t matter, like a road verge or wooded lot, you should let your dog out in your own yard until they relieve themselves, then take them for their walk.
I live very close to a public multi-use park where a lot of people walk their dogs. Although there is no town regulation requiring owners to pick up after their dogs it is a community norm and other dog owners help to enforce that norm. If someone doesn’t immediately pick up their dog’s poop someone will invariably offer them a bag. If the dog owner has let their dog poop at some distance and kept going someone will pick up the excrement and people will let the owner know.
In 15 years of walking there I’ve only seen someone refuse to take proper responsibility once, and they were told by another dog walker that if they weren’t willing to clean up after their dog they wouldn’t be welcomed back. We never saw them again. It may sound heavy-handed but this is a place where young kids play and families picnic. Besides, what dog owner wants to step in poo when exercising their own dog?
I would have taken a picture and shown it to a security guard.
Regarding Empireapple’s situation, I would also take a pic and post it to social media. Perhaps to your neighborhood NextDoor? The problem with that is that you can’t be anonymous, but maybe that doesn’t matter to you.
Or maybe you can get together with the neighbors and take pictures to post.
Has anyone ever spoken to the family?
Another WWYD situation I experienced recently: I was sitting in the waiting room of a Dr. office. The receptionist was not at her desk at the moment. There was only myself, and another family. It appeared to be a grandmother, and 2 children (guessing ages 13, 11?). The grandmother was talking on her cell phone the entire time. They were doing what siblings often do, with minor verbal scuffling, but in no way bothersome. She got up and hit the older child numerous times, and not lightly. The first time I was aghast. The second time, I said something, and was told to mind my own business. I answered that if I see abuse, it IS my business to say something. She stopped, but I was actually concerned that because I said something, she might be even more abusive after leaving, accusing them of behavior that got a stranger involved.
Wow @kjofkw - that’s shocking! Did she slap them with an open hand or something? Did the kids react like this was a normal thing?
Doctors are mandatory reporters - if I thought quickly, I might have tried to say something to the doctor. Of course if it was not a pediatrician I am not sure how familiar they would be with that kind of thing.
I don’t know what else you could have done, short of physically restraining her which I would NOT do.
Comedian Steve Hofstetter observed this exact situation, and here is what he did:
If you are offended by salty language, you may not appreciate. It didn’t bother me a bit.
That’s a funny story! I hope it’s true. ^^
OMGosh @kjofkw !!! Years ago, as I was picking up my kids from elementary school, I encountered a very similar situation to yours. Walking to our car, I heard a child’s cries (not unusual near a school!), as we got closer, I could not believe my eyes…a very large woman was whipping her child with a belt!!! Bear in mind, my kids were about 6 or 7 years old and they were witnessing this - I had to make a split decision what to do - carry on walking or intervene. I approached the woman and told her to STOP - she brought herself up to her full height and full weight, placed her hands on her hips and asked me ‘what are you going to do about it?’ - I was SCARED!!! I had my kids hiding behind me, I said “I’ll tell you what I am going to do - just wait a minute, I’m going to call the police” She hot-tailed it out of the car park, but not before I grabbed a snap of her license plate. IDK if the police ever tracked her down, but that call salved my conscience.
@greenwitch My story? Yes, it’s true, but I didn’t see anything funny!
@momo2x2018, I think @greenwitch was referring to the comedian’s revenge story @Nrdsb4 posted in #27. It is actually very funny.
Yes, the comedian’s story. He gets revenge on the bad dog owner, and it is sweet!
@momo2x2018–I think the comment was about the comedy revenge video on #27, rather than the upsetting things folks have witnessed.
It is very tough to know what to do about abuse and poor public behavior. Glad that folks are thinking of responses.
@Sue22 @greenwitch @HImom - Oops! I missed that link; sorry!
Here’s another WWYD - some of you have kids entering college this Fall; some of those kids (18yo) may decide to experiment with alcohol or drugs (let’s say Pot). Would you permit said kid to smoke Pot or drink alcohol in your home on their visits home? What would you do or say if 18yo kid poured himself a beer/glass of wine or lit up a joint in the backyard?
I’d say no way of it was illegal in my state.
We would not condone any behavior illegal in our state. We have no way of knowing what our kids did while outside our presence. We have let our kids have sips of our alcohol at family gatherings as desired, and that’s it. After they were above legal age, we do offer to pay for any adult beverages on the menu or offer them whatever is being served. They are light social drinkers.
To my knowledge, neither child has had any interest in smoking or ingesting any chemicals as both are very sensitive and asthmatic. As one kid said, they don’t even like taking the Rx they’re supposed to take—why take more?
And maybe this really needs a thread of its own… it isn’t really in the same spirit as the original post, and is a sort of “rabbit hole” topic.
Sorry—was just responding.
I agree that sticking to how to respond to inappropriate public conduct is the very important topic of this thread.
Violence and abuse is much more urgent than irresponsible pet owners, imho.