Hi, just wanted to post this to get it off my chest and as a potential warning to other dog walkers/cat owners in town.
I know it's very common in town now for people to maintain areas around their homes or in front of their property borders. Either it's done because they want to improve the look or environmental potential of the area or because they hope to claim this land at some point.
My girlfriend was walking her dogs recently along a main road near where she lives where many residents have done this along a tree planted 'nature strip' between a main road, pavement and some houses. The dogs urinated on this grass patch just after sticking their faces into a long patch of grass and seeming to nibble at something. She pulled them away and thought nothing of it. The following evening she went on the same route and her old dog needed to do her business on this same patch as she was walking by. As she was bagging up the poo a man came out of a property which bordered the patch and started yelling at her, gesturing and asking her why she would allow the dog to do it's business there, saying he'd watched her the night before walking by. He demanded to know where she lived and when she told him he said why couldn't she keep to her 'own area'! When she showed him she was cleaning up after the dog he said it didn't matter and that she was helping to destroy the patch by making other dogs attracted to the area. She was apologetic because she appreciates the fact that people like to maintain these areas but also felt like she'd really done nothing wrong as a responsible dog owner walking in a public space and also that the aggression this guy was showing and what he said to her was completely wrong.
Anyway, a day after she was verbally attacked like this the dogs became ill and she's concerned that this resident may have been putting some kind of deterrent down for cats and dogs. One dog has recovered but the other may need veterinary care. I don't want to make any accusations as dogs can fall sick for a number of reasons but I just wanted other dog walkers to be vigilant just in case. I also want to warn anyone who is vulnerable or perhaps whose kids walk the dogs to be careful because my girlfriend has been extremely anxious since being shouted at by this resident. It's not a nice thing to scream and point and tell people they shouldn't be in a particular area of town! Thing is, it's in an area leading towards the 20 acres so I imagine dozens of dog walkers pass this place every day. My girlfriend says if he'd come out and gently explained he was a bit protective of the land she would have just told him she'd do her best to avoid the area in future but his behaviour was bordering on being crazy and anti-social and now this with the dogs being ill...
