u/L0ud_Typer

Looking for ULPT to make a nut job at the dog park stop showing up when I’m there because he is insane.

We go to the dog park every morning before work, and have a nice group of dog and people friends. My dog is super sweet, and I’m very mindful of unknown people and dogs- we will just leave if there’s a new element we don’t feel comfortable with, no big deal.

We started to try going on a weekend morning and encountered a terrible older man with a group of mid20s guys who loudly talked about their recent crimes (check washing and tax fraud) as well as how “women don’t want a man anymore, who is going to cook for me”. Whatever, we just go to the other side of the park. Also, his dog is very sweet. It did get creepy and we ended up leaving.

I saw him a couple more random weekend days, and it’s obvious he is nuts -losing his mind over other people’s dogs playing with his dog or the dogs ball (it’s a dog park). The dog doesn’t care, and honestly is a good dog, but he is so nuts we just leave when we see him there and avoid going on the weekends.

Everything changed today, he showed up with his dog (no group) during my regular weekday morning visits (we go 3x a week). I shared my concerned with the group we regularly play with, and we moved to the other side of the park. The crazy man proceeded to throw his precious ball across the park into our group. He started hollering, so I got it from my dog once and brought it to him (it’s not like she stole it, she gave it right back), and made a joke about everyone wanting to play together. He said something snarky and I suggested he throw it to another side of the park. He threw it to our group again, and our dogs played with the ball and his dog politely. He lost his mind, yelling to “get his ball away from that dog”. After trying to ignore him, I finally threw his ball back and said it’s not a good idea to bring a ball to a dog park if you don’t want other dogs playing too.

He lost it on me (F) calling me every name in the book and stating he wasn’t afraid of going back to jail. “You don’t want to mess with me, you don’t know who you are messing with you ********”. Anyway, you get the gist. I said he was being inappropriate and went back the far end of the park. Then he did it AGAIN. It was so bad I said he needed to leave me alone or I was calling the police. I ended up leaving and calling the police.

I waited for them at the entrance of the main park (way away from this dude) and they said they couldn’t do anything because it’s a public park and he didn’t show a gun or physically hurt anyone. I am planning to avoid this dude, but he isn’t going to ruin my pre-work park mornings. He can have the weekends there. I just want my weekday mornings.

I can get his license plate number easily, know he was in jail, and know of a bunch of crimes his group was bragging about. I don’t want to get myself involved with wackadoodles who will take this too far. I just want this guy to not visit the park before 9am on weekday mornings (or at all but whatever). The other people I meet with there also hate him, but many are elderly and just leave when they see him.

Open to suggestions!

Update: Seriously all, thank you immensely for your comments. I was so angry and upset about this today, and reading your comments somehow helps me feel seen and acknowledged.

Starting rally training with my 1.5yo ACD. We have done CGCA and ATT, and are in novice agility classes (no where close to competing).

I feel like she would be great at Rally, but there are no classes near me… so we will train at home! There is a Novice trial in 6 weeks, and I thought - why not give it a shot.

What do you wish you knew as a beginner? And do you have any tips for getting started?