Hi everyone. I just want advice on a pretty frustrating situation.
I was going on my afternoon walk with my dog earlier in our neighbourhood area. He is a big sniffer and likes to stay at one spot to sniff if he find something interesting. He was sniffing under a tree when we were on our walk and I notice this small black object next to him. This was around 5pm ish where the sun is quite bright and we are directly under the tree’s shades, so I couldn’t exactly identify what the object is. From the size of it tho, I just assumed it was an acorn or oat.
My dog finished sniffing and we started walking again. As we start walking again, a man call us from behind the back and said,” excuse me, you did not pick up your dog’s poop.” I was confused and went back to look to find out that the object was actually a small piece of poop. Since it wasn’t my dog’s poop (I was watching him the entire time he was sniffing and can confirm this), my first reaction was just said “oh, this is not our poop.”. The man replied with an annoyed tone saying “well then why was he sniffing here?”. I responded saying I understand what you’re saying but I can confirm this is not his poop. I have extra poop bags tho so I will just pick it up anyway. The man keep insisting that I lied and said that the sign for dog poop fines are right there and I could have been charged $200 dollars if I didn’t pick it up. I make myself clear again that this is not our dog poop and I follow the rules every time I walk my dog. He actually just pooped a block down before he hit this corner and I already throw the poop away at a bin nearby. The poop that I picked up was also cold and slightly harden, meaning it has been there for a while because fresh poop is warm and soft (sorry for the image lol). The man then said well come on just follow the rules, I could have film you and report you to the police. I’m furious at this point because he is just accusing me for something that isn’t our fault. I repeat again that this is not our dog poop one last time then we both walked away.
I agree that I should have just picked up the poop when I notice it and not argue with him then maybe the situation wouldn’t escalate like that, but at the same time it genuinely wasn’t our fault that the poop is there and I don’t like that I’m being accused for being a bad dog owner when I really wasn’t. I’m not sure if this guy lives in this neighbourhood but we walk the same route every day and I would hate to bump into him and have the same conversation again. What would you do in this situation and how would you have handled it? Any advice will be appreciated. Thank you.
I was going on my afternoon walk with my dog earlier in our neighbourhood area. He is a big sniffer and likes to stay at one spot to sniff if he find something interesting. He was sniffing under a tree when we were on our walk and I notice this small black object next to him. This was around 5pm ish where the sun is quite bright and we are directly under the tree’s shades, so I couldn’t exactly identify what the object is. From the size of it tho, I just assumed it was an acorn or oat.
My dog finished sniffing and we started walking again. As we start walking again, a man call us from behind the back and said,” excuse me, you did not pick up your dog’s poop.” I was confused and went back to look to find out that the object was actually a small piece of poop. Since it wasn’t my dog’s poop (I was watching him the entire time he was sniffing and can confirm this), my first reaction was just said “oh, this is not our poop.”. The man replied with an annoyed tone saying “well then why was he sniffing here?”. I responded saying I understand what you’re saying but I can confirm this is not his poop. I have extra poop bags tho so I will just pick it up anyway. The man keep insisting that I lied and said that the sign for dog poop fines are right there and I could have been charged $200 dollars if I didn’t pick it up. I make myself clear again that this is not our dog poop and I follow the rules every time I walk my dog. He actually just pooped a block down before he hit this corner and I already throw the poop away at a bin nearby. The poop that I picked up was also cold and slightly harden, meaning it has been there for a while because fresh poop is warm and soft (sorry for the image lol). The man then said well come on just follow the rules, I could have film you and report you to the police. I’m furious at this point because he is just accusing me for something that isn’t our fault. I repeat again that this is not our dog poop one last time then we both walked away.
I agree that I should have just picked up the poop when I notice it and not argue with him then maybe the situation wouldn’t escalate like that, but at the same time it genuinely wasn’t our fault that the poop is there and I don’t like that I’m being accused for being a bad dog owner when I really wasn’t. I’m not sure if this guy lives in this neighbourhood but we walk the same route every day and I would hate to bump into him and have the same conversation again. What would you do in this situation and how would you have handled it? Any advice will be appreciated. Thank you.
Thank you. I honestly have been so mad and angry for the rest of the evening because of how things have went down. Even a bit scared to go take my dog out for a walk tomorrow morning, but you’re right in that we know the truth here and I should not feel discouraged just because someone is being an asshole.