Well, I Sure Feel Like a Jerk...

Cheetah

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#1
Well, I feel like an ass now cause a girl freaked out at the sight of Eevee when she got too close, and was jumping around, shrieking and trying to hit her away with her sandals. This has never happened to me and I didn't have time to think about what to say, so I was truthful, but a bit harsh and I think I offended her AND her mother. Sigh. But she was taking swings at my dog and I just kindof reacted. DX

This pre-teen girl and her mother were standing on the property talking to Blake and his dad, and I just happened to walk past because one of the kittens out here was too close to the road and I was getting her. Both my dogs were following me like they always do, and Eevee sniffed at the girl as we walked past, and the girl FREAKED OUT and started jumping around and waving her arms wildly and screaming "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM! MOOOOOMMMMM OMG GET IT AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

When she started swinging with her sandals and scaring the crap out of Eevee, who was already confused by her reaction, I got Eevee away from her and reacted in my own way by saying, "You know, if you react like that to a dog who IS mean, you will scare it and it might bite you. Just don't be afraid, they can sense that and it scares THEM." Both she and her mother looked at me like I had just slugged the little girl in the face or something, and then her mother said something along the lines of it being totally fine to react like that to a strange animal. >-.-<

I took the kitten and my dogs and walk away feeling defeated, and like a complete ass. Neither Blake nor his dad said anything to back me up. In fact, Blake told me how harsh I sounded, after I walked away.

I still feel like crap... I just reacted the only way I knew how and didn't have time to think about it because it happened so fast. I was trying to protect my dog. Sigh.
 

JacksonsMom

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#2
Ugh sorry. You said something perfectly logical, IMO. I understand some may have a fear of dogs/animals. But shrieking and screaming and flinging a flip flop? Ummm, yeah, won't help anything. You were doing her a favor by explaining what you did. Too bad she won't listen. Then one day she probably will get bit and the animal will of course get blamed.
 

JessLough

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#4
Ugh sorry. You said something perfectly logical, IMO. I understand some may have a fear of dogs/animals. But shrieking and screaming and flinging a flip flop? Ummm, yeah, won't help anything. You were doing her a favor by explaining what you did. Too bad she won't listen. Then one day she probably will get bit and the animal will of course get blamed.
Fear often takes away any logical thinking. You don Ren think about the reaction, fight or flight response ;)

Sorry Blake decided to be rude about it :(
 

Cheetah

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#7
On it. Like I said, they were standing on the property talking with Blake and his dad. This is out in the country so there is a lot of land. My dogs were not leashed, because we were on our property and they were just following me around like they always do, being well behaved and calm.

Had I known she was going to flip out like that, I would have put my dogs in a stay while I went to fetch the kitten. But holy hell. Never was expecting that.

Also, her freak-out attracted all of Blake's family's dogs, who came up to investigate, so she was still squealing and flapping and smacking when I was leaving with my own dogs.
 

Kilter

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#8
I don't think you're out of line. If she's a teen, she's OLD enough to learn to act better than that. If she's got a huge phobia of dogs, well she needs to work on it or never go somewhere that there might be a dog.

I have a rule that people who do not ask to pet my dogs do not get to pet them. If they barge up and start to pet them, I say 'no, sorry, you didn't ask first' and walk away. I think it's important that they learn to ask first, kids mostly. I even took one kid's arm and said 'no' to her when she decided one of the dogs should sit for her and when they didn't she proceeded to attempt to shove their butt down and force them to sit.

I'm very glad my dogs don't get spooked about that sort of thing but sheesh!
 

Southpaw

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#9
Yeah swinging shoes at my dog would not be okay. Fear or no fear, I don't care.... I would have had not-so-nice words. I think you handled it fine; you didn't start swinging back at least :p
 

Tazwell

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#10
I would have told the lady to keep her dog aggressive daughter on a leash and muzzle when out in public. :D
 

Grab

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#11
I also would not have been very polite. The mere sight of an animal should not reduce you to smacking at it, even if you're frightened. It's going to be a very sad life for her if this is how she plans on reacting life long to a very commonly seen animal
 

JessLough

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#12
I also would not have been very polite. The mere sight of an animal should not reduce you to smacking at it, even if you're frightened. It's going to be a very sad life for her if this is how she plans on reacting life long to a very commonly seen animal
Not saying that she was right at all, but it wasn't the mere sight. The dog went up and sniffed her, or that's how I understood it at least.
 
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#15
I think you handled it best you could in such a new situation, I can say that I don't think I would have been as nice, I'm quite a blunt person when it comes to my dogs.

I would have told the lady to keep her dog aggressive daughter on a leash and muzzle when out in public. :D
:rofl1:
:cheers:
 

Snark

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#16
I would have been a lot more blunt, especially with a kid who should be old enough to have SOME self control.

I'd expect (and have seen) little kids - 3 to 5 yrs. old - react like that and the one who did that with my dogs actually stood still and listened when I asked her to stop jumping around and squealing.
 

Doberluv

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#17
I would have told the lady to keep her dog aggressive daughter on a leash and muzzle when out in public. :D
:hail: For the win. :D


I don't think you were harsh at all. You told her what can happen with some dogs when acting like that around them. I think I would have said something similar. You had to interrupt that and you tried to educate. People can be really strange about animals.
 

maxfox426

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#18
I think what you said was perfectly reasonable. Harsh? Maybe. But that doesn't make it not the truth. And quite frankly, there are much, much harsher ways you could have conveyed your message. (Personally, I probably would have been tempted to take off my own shoes at that girl. "Seriously, how would YOU feel if you were window shopping at the mall and then were threatened/assaulted simply for getting too close to another shopper? IS THIS FUN FOR YOU???")

While I can't relate to fear of dogs, I can respect that... but there is a HUGE difference between removing yourself from the situation, or asking the dog to be removed, and ATTACKING the animal you're afraid of.

My husband has long said that stupidity should hurt. Perhaps now I'm being harsh, but this seems like a stellar example that may actually apply in the future. That kind of stupidity will in all likelihood get her hurt. It's not that I'm wishing ill upon anyone, but if she honestly thinks that is acceptable behavior... well... life will teach her soon enough.


ETA: TL;DR

I would have been pissed if anybody did that to Morgan, and they would have gotten much, much worse than a short earful.
 
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#19
If its a real deep fear, she probably could not control her reaction. However, since her mother was right there I would have expected her to step in and try to help.

I do not think you were harsh, you spoke the truth and a lot nicer than many others would have.
 
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#20
I hope this was a wake up call to her mother and her that while she may be very afraid and that's her first reaction she CAN"T do that. Not only is it not ok to hit someone eleses dog because you are afraid but she'll end up bitten or scratched.

She's old enough someone should have been working with her on how to deal with her fear or she should have been able to step back and try and control herself. And if nothing else her mother should have grabbed and stopped her.

ETA: And I think you were just the right amount of harsh. Coddling her or acting like you were int he wrong with your dogs would do no help. She and her mother have to get a handle on her fear or at least teach her how to react correctly.
 

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