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When you take a dog to the park, it is important that you are respectful of others and that you always clean up after the animal.
What would you do if you were just taking your dog for a walk in the park and someone claiming to work for the city said that dogs weren’t allowed, even though there were no signs or other indications that this was the case?
That is what happened to the dog owner in this story, so after getting harassed twice by this person, she told him that she would be filing a complaint with the city. She wonders, however, whether that would be the right thing to do or not.
AITA?; Dog on baseball field
My neighbors dogs will immediately lose their mind when my dog even steps foot out of the house.
Every dog is different, especially when given different levels of training.
My dog ignores them- but their dogs have had multiple slipping out of their collar accidents.
Because of this I take my dog to the park directly across the street from me.
This person seems like a very thoughtful dog owner.
It doesn’t have a ton of grassy area, and tends to be very crowded as it’s small. I don’t want to nuisance anyone, so I keep my dog in the baseball field.
She goes potty before we step foot on it, and if she does go potty in the actual field area I pick it up.
So, this is a well-behaved dog that isn’t causing anyone any trouble.
She’s not a digger, so she’s not leaving any holes in the turf. I go at times when it’s obviously not in use, I also keep her long-line on so I can recall and grab her quickly if needed even when on the field.
The other day, we went to the field and did some training for about 10 minutes before a man (he works for the city as later stated) approached me.
She had no idea that dogs weren’t allowed in that area.
He explained to me that dogs were not allowed there, and to read the sign.
I was confused as there was no signs anywhere about dogs at all, and I’m not a sports girl, so I was unsure if this was a widespread thing that didn’t necessarily need a sign but was just known.
Is it that he doesn’t like the dog there, or that they actually aren’t allowed? There is a big difference between the two.
I kindly explained that there was no signs stating this, and that multiple other parks keepers have seen us do this. He gets upset, and says that “no one wants that mutts waste on the diamond.”
I explain that she also does not go to the restroom in the diamond, and that if she does I clean it. He gets more mad and tells me to just leave. I agree and go about my day.
Even though she is under no real obligation to keep the dog off the baseball field, she is still making an attempt to comply.
Skip to today- I take my dog back to the park. We walk the trails, kinda scope out an area with not as many people. We find an area with fewer people. Unfortunately behind the ballpark.
We were playing with her frisbee (she was on her long-line) when her frisbee went over the ballpark fence. We were about to leave anyway, so I allowed her to walk with me to get her toy and go to the car, which was a straight shot from the ballpark.
Once again, there aren’t any signs there.
As I’m going to my car, a woman is exiting her car and comes up to me. She immediately is snarky saying “my husband just told you yesterday keep that thing off the diamond, you can’t read signs?”
I explain what happened and that we were just getting her toy and leaving- and again, that there were no signs. She is adamant that there are signs, and says that her husband works for the city and can get me fined.
She is being more than reasonable about this. I don’t know why this lady is so upset.
I nod and just say that there is really no fineable thing- there’s no signs ANYWHERE in the park stating no dogs, no waste was left, and she was always leashed.
She gets upset and I begin putting my dog in the car. She has her husband park me in as they take pictures of my plate and me.
Now she needs to stand up for herself against these people.
After that, I explain I will be calling the parks department to make a report on her husband, as parking someone in is unprofessional, even in this situation.
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She gets mad and tells me it was entirely valid.
AITA?
No, that couple is harassing her. Even if they don’t like dogs or don’t want them at the park, they aren’t allowed to just try to enforce their own rules. Honestly, even if there were signs and this lady was breaking the rules (which she wasn’t), they still have no right to block her in. It is time to file a complaint and get this stopped.
Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about the story.
I think this commenter is right. Blocking someone in is almost never legal.
Here is a little league coach who suggests that dogs shouldn’t go on ball diamonds.
This commenter makes a good point. Keeping the dogs off the sports field is a good idea.
Documenting the situation is going to be important whether she reports them or not.
This commenter thinks the couple is on a power trip. They likely have no real authority here.
Even if this guy does work for the city, he can’t block her in and harass her. She should document the interaction and report it to the city right away.
