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A Dog-Walking Altercation

Thank you all for your kind replies. I also posted this question on Pets Forum, and you wouldn't believe the number of conceited and downright rude replies I received.

The reason you got called out and your post edited was because of your comments about the other owner being black etc were deemed racist which you omitted to mention on this forum.
 
Really old thread, and I doubt the OP will back, but it reminds me a little of a potential incident I had yesterday, on my way to work (the reason I say "potential" will hopefully become clear).

I'm a domiciliary carer, and last night, I cut through the park on my way to my next client. This was at 6:15-6:20pm and I could see it was heavily populated with dog owners/walkers - most of which were off-leash. That's not unusual, nor is it against the park/council rules, and I'm not berating the owners. The dogs were relaxed, and playing nicely with each other.

Now, whenever I'm walking through a group of dogs without my own I have a tendency to put my hands in my pockets. Don't know why, perhaps to make me seem less threatening, or to "protect" them from being bitten - I don't know, but I do, and I did this as I walked towards the main group of dogs.

Next thing I know, a large fluffy dog was shoving its nose against the back of my thigh. I stopped. Owner recalled his dog - it ignored owner. And suddenly, I was surrounded by dogs, all checking me out - and only the one owner even trying to get his dog back (tbf, he did grab his dog's harness and pull his dog away).

Now, if that had have been someone who was afraid of dogs - indeed, if that had have been me, 16+ years ago, the situation could have been very different. Not everyone would have been able to read the body language of the dogs, or know that they were just checking out the interesting human who smells of dogs, and when that initial dog was pulled away by its owner (I hate referring to dogs as "it", but I've no idea if this dog was a male or female) the rest lost interest and went back to their game, and I was able to carry on to my call.

I suppose we'll never know for certain, unless OP returns, but I wonder if, in this case, he and/or others like him would say that it was my fault for choosing to walk through a popular dog walking area.
 
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