Having a trained dog feels like a blessing. They can be your protectors and your best friend, all at the same time.

But what happens when people start calling your pet a threat?

In this story, this lady struggles with a stranger who tries grabbing her dog and then creates a scene on the community app.

Let’s see what happened next.

AITA for “threatening” my new neighbors with my dog?

For some context, I (F28) just moved from my city to my first house in a suburban neighborhood about six months ago. Just me and my dog Oaken, a Dutch Shepherd.

My dog is trained as a Personal Protection Dog (PPD).

I’m a runner and Oaken runs with me.

We were running in our neighborhood’s park and pond area, I had my AirPods in, it was just getting dark.

I’d noticed in passing a guy on his bike on the same trails, and as we were coming around the pond he was stopped on our path.

That’s a little shady, anyone would get creeped out by a stranger blocking someone’s path.

He waved us down and said he had dropped his keys, asked if I had seen them on the path, asked if I had a light on me because he thinks he dropped them in the grass.

He wanted to know if I lived in the neighborhood, which house was mine, if I was nearby because he didn’t see any cars in the parking area that he didn’t recognize, basically anything to keep us there and keep talking.

This woman’s instinct knew she didn’t want to hangout with the stranger any longer.

Not scary, but annoying with a definite hint of creepy.

After he forgot his initial story and said “I’m gonna be so angry at myself if I lost another earbud, that’s my third pair and they’re nearly 300 bucks a pop” I moved to leave and he stood in the path and started asking about Oaken.

Oaken wasn’t doing anything aggressive at this point, no hair raised no growling or barking, he was doing exactly what he was trained to do.

Every time the guy would move to get closer to us he would just stand between me and him.

That’s the best part about dogs that are trained to protect, you can always count on them!

The guy asked if he was friendly, asked to pet him, and I said I’d rather he not.

He kept saying dogs loved him, blah blah, I again said no and we started to walk around the guy to go.

That’s when he decided it would be a good idea to try to grab Oaken’s leash. (I have no idea why, your guess is as good as mine.)

Oaken backed us up, low growl, showed his teeth. Didn’t snap, didn’t bite. We left.

The dog clearly did what he was trained to but it wasn’t received very well.

The encounter was strange enough I posted in the Neighborhood app.

Nothing accusing the guy of attacking us or anything over the top like that, just that my dog and I had gotten stopped by a stranger out running and a reminder not to grab at a person’s dog or dog leash without permission.

Apparently, Park Guy’s wife read the post and recognized her husband immediately, because since then she’s been telling every neighbor who will listen about my “aggressive attack dog.”

This is where the twist in the story comes in..

I’ve now gotten a letter from the HOA and apparently the next homeowner’s meeting has breed specific bans on the agenda.

While I believe Oaken’s response was appropriate and controlled, I’m feeling sad and disappointed that my new community has the wrong impression.

I’m not out to terrify people.

AITA for posting what I posted to the Neighborhood app and apparently starting a feud with my new neighbor?

Was I wrong for calling out Park Guy publicly?

It’s true when they say first impression is the last impression.

Let’s see how commentators on Reddit responded to her questions.

This person thinks that the lady who commented was being unreasonable.

This person has an immediate call to action plan.

This person knows that the stranger was wrong!

This person praises the Oaken and believes he saved the girl.

Some people will do anything to create drama for no reason at all.

This woman just wanted herself and her dog safe from a stranger.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.