05/27/2025
Iāve unfortunately had this on my mind for a few days. I decided to post about it to hopefully urge people to think before speaking and to have empathy for reactive animals, especially ones that arenāt in any way endangering or bothering you.
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To the woman that felt the need to tell me āOh, you donāt need to worry about MY dog because MY dog is TRAINEDā (yes, with some rather ridiculous emphasis on the capitalized words, and a lovely scoff at the end over her shoulder) when I stepped to the side of the street with a dog that I was walking the other day, please consider that this is part of training.
Consider that reactive dogs deserve to go outside and get used to the world. To be given a chance to get better.
Not every dog you see in public has gone through training. Every dog is at different stages.
Next time, please appreciate that I was concerned for your comfort and that I didnāt want to make you or your dog nervous if the dog I was walking decided to lunge or bark.
Consider that I didnāt want to stress out the dog I was walking unnecessarily by getting too close to you.
Consider that on that same block, Iāve had three (3) separate dogs rush at me and a different reactive dog, one of which was still attached to the leash the owner had been holding.
An incident like that can set reactivity training back a mile.
The dog I was walking did wonderfully, by the way. She sat still and didnāt react, just waited patiently. I didnāt force her to get too close, or to endure another dog potentially being reactive to her.
I had been expecting a pleasant āgood morning!ā or āthe weather is lovelyā, not a judgemental and mean comment meant to tear others down. I wish I had had the mind to say something then, but I was so shocked I chose not to speak.