Living in an apartment complex with shared walking paths is great until one neighbor decides leash laws don’t apply to them.

This dog owner has been through that exact frustration with the same neighbor and the same massive untrained dog three times in a row.

The first time felt like a fluke. The second time he gave a polite reminder that clearly went in one ear and out the other. By the third time, his patience was completely gone and his small dog was traumatized all over again.

So when the dog charged at him for round three, the renter decided polite reminders weren’t doing the job. He turned the chase around and gave the out-of-shape owner a workout he won’t forget any time soon.

Read on to find out how this petty payback played out.

AITA for making my neighbor run after his off leash dog?

So to preface, I have a small-medium size dog named Ozzy and we live in an apartment complex that’s pretty decent size with walking paths throughout the place, great for dogs.

And as is for everywhere, you still have to keep your dog on a leash in the common areas (there’s even dog parks and other areas where we can let them off, but this story didn’t happen in one of those areas).

There’s one particular neighbor who feels the rules don’t apply to them.

In my complex I have a neighbor who has I believe a Bernese Mountain Dog (big dog) and even though the dog is very friendly there have been two incidents in the past in which the owner let his dog off leash in the common areas and it full on charged up to me and my dog.

I had to pick Ozzy up because he was freaked out at the giant dog running up to us and the owner had zero control over the dog. Once he got excited he stopped listening and just kept trying to jump up on us until the owner finally grabbed him and put his leash.

Even still, the renter tried to give their neighbor the benefit of the doubt.

After this happened the first time I was irritated for sure but I get accidents happen, so I was just keeping calm with the situation.

Second time it happened was a couple months after but I was honestly pretty ticked because Ozzy already gets anxious so it was just very annoying for it to happen twice with the same owner/dog.

So the renter decides to confront the neighbor, but it doesn’t seem to really work because the same thing happens yet again.

I reminded the owner to keep his dog on a leash but he really don’t seem to care and just grabbed his dog and walked off.

So fast forward to today I’m taking Ozzy on his night walk and low and behold this big dog ran up to us for a third time.

I saw him coming towards us and I turned to go the other way but it was too late. The dog caught up to us and I had to snatch up Ozzy again. My poor guy.

That’s when this renter decided to start fighting back.

I saw the owner walking up to us calling at his dog to no avail when I decided to teach him a lesson.

I turned and ran the other way knowing his dog would run with me and I ran past a couple buildings, made a quick turn and went another 50ft or so before stopping and waiting for the owner.

He’s a bigger guy so it took a sec but he came around the corner real out of breath calling his dog.

Things continued to heat up.

I kept telling him if he can’t control his dog it shouldn’t be off leash and he used some profanity which I gladly returned and then I kept running.

I ran past a few more buildings letting his dog chase after me honestly until my shorts started falling, so I finally stopped and let the owner catch back up and I just shooed the dog back to him.

Bro was clearly mad and honestly if he wasn’t out of breath he probably would’ve had more to say to me, but he just got his dog and left.

The rules apply to everyone, even you, crappy neighbor.

What did Reddit have to say?

It may be all fun and games right now, but what happens when this poorly behaved dog actually hurts someone?

The worst pet owners always seem to be the least self aware people.

It’s time to escalate this issue as high as it will go.

Picturing all this playing out gave this reader a big laugh.

This neighbor had three chances to follow basic leash rules and blew every single one.

Letting an untrained giant dog charge at someone’s anxious pet is not a friendly accident, especially after being warned so many times. The owner can complain all he wants, but he was the one who let his dog off leash in the first place.

Polite reminders only work when the person on the receiving end actually cares about following the rules. This guy clearly didn’t, and his behavior was only going to escalate the longer it went unchecked. The renter found a way to make the lesson stick without involving security, building management, or any kind of formal complaint.

Petty? Sure. Effective? Absolutely. The leash law exists for a reason, and now the neighbor has had a full sprint to think it over.

Hopefully the next walk involves a leash and a much shorter chase.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a dog-owner who is sick and tired of his neighbor following the letter of the (leash) law.