I’m sure you already know this, but it’s never a good idea to try to pet a dog you’re not familiar with…because things can get ugly and scary in a hurry.

So you best believe that it’s definitely not a good idea for kids to do something like that, which is why the woman who wrote this story did what she did.

But was she out of line?

Let’s see what’s going on here…

AITA for telling a woman to control her children at the dog park?

“Where I (23f) live there is a massive off leash dog park with a large trail system.

It is constantly packed. I go everyday with my 3 dogs.

The other day, there was a woman there with her two children, around ages 3 and 6 from what I could tell.

These kids were running around, screaming, going up to random dogs and trying to pet them without asking the owners etc.

Basically just being loud unruly children.

Stay away!

Personally, one of my dogs does not like children, and it is pretty common for some dogs to not like children. Some dogs won’t even be adopted out to families with young kids because of this.

Now, my dog isn’t aggressive towards them, but he will bark at them when approached quickly.

My dog did not have a problem with these kids, he just ignored them, but I was worried the kids behavior would result in a bite from another dog who doesn’t like being grabbed by kids.

At this dog park, it is recommended on the rules board to not bring young children, and if you do, to have them controlled.

Frankly, it’s just a safety issue.

After watching the 6 year old go up to the 5th dog in a row and try to grab its tail to pet it, I went up to the mother.

She finally had enough.

I said something along the lines of “hey there, could you try controlling your kids a little more?

Not every dog likes children and it’s a safety issue for them to be running around, screaming, and approaching dogs they don’t know without the owners permission”.

This lady BLEW UP at me. She said something like “how dare you tell me how to parent my children, they’ve been fine every time we come here, this park is for everyone and I should be allowed to bring my kids to exercise my dog etc.”

Listen, lady…

I responded that while this park is for everyone, it is first and foremost for the dogs. If she wanted to let her kids run around and scream she could go to other parks and keep her dog on leash.

It only takes one dog for the kids not to be fine every time they come here. Every dog has a different history, and it’s literally on the rules board to control your kids.

She continued to yell at me and accused me of “gatekeeping the dog park” (???) and I just walked away.

My mom was with me and she thought I was kind of an ******* for going up to the woman, and that I should’ve just let sleeping dogs lie (lol).

To me it’s a safety issue, and I would not like for the kids to get bitten and for an owner to feel guilt over their dog biting in reaction to being grabbed by a strange child!

But now I’m wondering, am I the ******* and was I “gatekeeping the dog park”?”

Now let’s see how Reddit users responded.

This reader said she’s NTA.

Another reader made some good points.

This individual chimed in.

Another Reddit user didn’t hold back.

And this person also said she’s NTA.

Sounds like an accident waiting to happen…

Dog parks are a lot of taking the bad with the good.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.