The One With the Unhappy Customer

Last night before my dog class started, with nine dogs coming to their first class, an off-leash Rottweiler came running into my class. Let me just say that I have no breed discriminations. I love Rotties. I had one as a childhood pet, and I have a mix right now. I was not scared of the dog. But prey drive can kick in at any time, and I have three white fluffy dogs in my class. Everyone was uncomfortable.

Seeing the dog and not the owner, I took the dog by the collar when it ran up to greet me. It was clearly friendly. The guy came around the corner and said, "Don't panic."

I said, "I'm not panicking, but I have a class right now, so we need to get this dog on a leash." I said this in my most friendly, Midwestern voice.

He said, clearly upset, "Well, I didn't KNOW that."

I said, "It's OK. Let's just get him on a leash."

He's quite agitated now and says, "I never keep him on a leash. He doesn't need a leash."

I said, "Well, sir, it's store policy, so I would appreciate it if you would comply."

He said, "Well, why don't I just leave."

I said, still very sweetly, "That's fine, sir, thank you."

He said, "I hope no one's married to you because you're a horrible person. I don't know why you're acting like this." (You should have heard my boss start to screech when I told her about this on the phone.)

I said, "I think I'm handling this quite nicely. I'm not upset with you, but I need you to take your dog out of my training area."

He said, "You can't tell me to keep my dog on a leash."

I said, because I am just incapable of backing down to men who are trying to push me around, "Well, sir, it is the law."

He was so mad now. "You can take that law and shove it up your ass." (More screeching from my boss.)

I said, still unable to let it go, "I hope you don't say that to the police officer who decides to cite you for breaking that law."

At this point, everyone in my class started laughing and he stormed off. Um, hello!! Keep your dog on a leash. I don't care if it needs it or not. It's a pet store. You don't know what type of dog your dog will run up to. If it's a dangerous dog, you have an injured dog, maybe a dead one. It doesn't matter that the other dog was dangerous. It's your fault for not protecting your dog. In addition, if the dog runs up to people who aren't soliciting a greeting and runs ahead where the owner can't see it, it's not well-trained enough to be off-leash. What if it sees a rabbit across PCH and darts across six lanes of traffic? Is that a risk you're willing to take?

AND if you walk in the middle of a dog class where the trainer is asking you politely not to distract the class, just apologize and leave. My boss thought he was reacting out of embarrassment, but that's not an excuse. He was trying to push me around because I was half his age and look like someone who would be easy to push around.

I wish I could handle situations like that better. I wish I could just ignore it and not keep talking back. I argue with people in traffic, too, and I don't know why. Well, I mean I know why, but I wish I could outgrow it. Sigh.