I can’t believe I’m back in the Pit for the second time in a week. Grr. I can’t believe for the second time in a week, I’ve had to call 911 on some nutbag. Am I wearing a psycho magnet somewhere that I can’t see?
Mr. tlw, Baby tlw, Spunky the Wonder Dog and I spent the day in Connecticut. I had a little business to attend to, and we visited with some friends. In the afternoon, we decided to stop at a park, walk the dog and enjoy some sunshine and fresh air before heading back into the city. We stopped and got some snacks and had a lovely time playing and feeding popcorn to some birds. Baby tlw got to enjoy watching little kids trying to play tennis.
We were getting ready to leave when a couple of women arrived with three large Weimeraner dogs. Spunky immediately started barking because one of the weimeraners was making a beeline for me and baby tlw – we had our backs turned at the time.
I turned around to see what had doggie tlw so alarmed, and saw the weimeraners and saw that they were not leashed. This was a public park. In addition to baby tlw, there were at least half a dozen small children around, and numerous adults. There were no paths, just some grassy areas around the tennis courts.
The two dog owners were moseying along behind the dogs, who were all over the place. Spunky was barking his head off, and one of the weimeraners kept veering toward us, letting out single, deep-throated barks. Baby tlw got scared and started to bawl. Mr. tlw picked Spunky up (he’s just a little Bichon Frise) and took a long circle around the Weimeraner, making his way to the parking lot.
I was trying to follow suit, but the Weimeraner was still close for comfort, and the other two were nearby – too nearby for me to feel anything but cornered. People who were on nearby benches started gathering their things and moving elsewhere. Other people with dogs, who were also responding to the off-leash animals with either excitement or trepidation, were trying to pull their dogs in to heel, or started leaving the area in the opposite direction or walking around as far from the roaming animals as possible. But baby tlw and I were kind of stuck, and I was getting a little freaked out.
Mr. tlw had, by now, gotten to the car and pulled it up as close to where we were as possible. He got out, but couldn’t really come close because of the dogs.
Finally, one of the owners got near enough for me to call out to them. “Will you please get your dog and leash him? He’s frightening my baby.”
The owner continued to take her good sweet time, oblivious to the fact that everyone around was clearly alarmed.
“There’s nothing wrong, he won’t do anything.”
“I don’t know that. He’s a strange dog and he needs to be on a leash. All of your dogs need to be on a leash.”
“They’re tame dogs. I’m being responsible.” I noted that this response was given at a much louder tone than necessary, and this trend continued.
“You cannot have dogs off leash in a public park. Your dog keeps coming over here, he’s making my baby cry, get him under control!”
“If you’d stop screaming he’d leave you alone.”
“All the more reason that you need to get him under control. Neither of us know what he’s going to do.”
“We’re responsible with our dogs!” (At this point, the screaming owner’s companion came around and grabbed the dog who was closest to me, but the other two were still wandering free.)
As I began walking toward the car, the woman started yelling at me, very aggressively and nastily. “Just because you don’t like big dogs, what the hell gives you the right to start yelling at me about my animals? I have every right to be here with my dogs…”
Now I had moved from freaked out to angry.
“Look,” I said, “this has nothing to do with my like or dislike of large dogs. Your rights end when you break the law. Responsible dog owners follow the law and leash their dogs in public places. Especially public places full of children! It’s not only required, it’s safer for the animals and for everyone around. You cannot be sure what your animals will do when they are not under your control.”
“My dogs are always under my control.”
“So you were perfectly fine with your dog running up here while you were still in the parking lot, barking at my family, frightening my dog and my child and making us all feel so unsafe that we’re leaving the park, along with everyone else around us?” I gestured back to point out to the woman that there was no longer anyone on that side of the park except the people were safely enclosed in the fences surrounding the tennis courts.
At that point the woman went ballistic. Every other word out of her mouth after that was “fuck” with a few “bitch” and “bullshit” type words thrown in for good measure. Then she went off on some tangent about there being a war and how I needed to “chill the fuck out.”
Excuse me? I’m wrong? I’m the one who needs to chill out? The one who was menaced by a 75 lb. strange animal while holding my infant in my arms?
Oh no, I don’t think so!
I got in the car, but I was red hot with anger. Baby tlw was still completely freaked out – she really didn’t like that big barking dog, and of course, her mother being screamed at by some out of control psycho didn’t help matters at all.
The woman, her friend and the three dogs, still unleashed, went over and started playing in a grassy area adjacent to the tennis courts. Having done so, anyone in the tennis courts who didn’t want to get near the dogs wasn’t going to leave until the dogs did – there was no other way out.
So I pulled out my phone, and called 911. The police showed up, and I told the officers that I had just had a screaming confrontation with the woman because she refused to leash her animals, one of which was dangerously close to myself and my child and barking at us.
The woman was fined and ejected from the park, and told that if she was ever found with her animals unleashed in public again in the city, they animals would be confiscated and she’d face criminal charges.
Score!
As far as I’m concerned, the police are batting 1000 these days.
But really, what’s the deal? This woman was not young nor dumb. When she pulled up and saw dozens of people around, why on earth would she leave her dogs unleashed? This was not a suburban kind of park with walking trails and wooded areas where a dog could ostensibly roam without ever encountering people. We were within a stone’s throw of a childrens’ playground, for pete’s sake! And there was nothing to prevent the dogs from running out onto a very busy roadway.
I hate to imagine what the response would be if one of the animals – as fine and supposedly well-trained as they are – had bitten a child? Would the inevitable destruction of the dogs and lawsuit that would follow be worth it?
It just made no sense, especially coupled with the filthy-mouthed, irrelevant tirade. I just don’t get why someone would or could be so ignorant, confrontational or completely lacking in common sense.
As for me, I really need a week without anything more that’s 911 call-worthy, police action-worthy or Pit-worthy. I’ve had enough!
And the WryGuy has been informed that he WILL fence our yard in.