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The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/throwaway_197803 on 2023-08-22 15:29:04.

okay so i (21m) have been helping my brother out by walking his 2 year old akita Bear while he’s on vacation. bear is generally well trained, but he’s still reactive to other dogs due to an incident with an aggressive dog so he has to wear one of those head pulling harnesses and he has a thick collar so we can hold onto it if needed.

the other day, i was walking him down a long road when a woman turned the corner with her dog (idk breed but it was a smaller dog, think italian greyhound size but not as slender). i made bear sit and held his collar, but when i looked back up i noticed the dog was off leash (not allowed in this area). she was still a little while away but her dog was running up to us so i shouted “my dogs not friendly, please get your dog”. she shouted for her dog to come back but it ignored her and kept coming at us. she didnt speed up or anything though

now, bear is usually pretty good with other leashed dogs. he’ll be alert and might pull once or twice but he’s more curious than anything and making him sit is so everyone is more comfortable since he’s a big dog. unleashed dogs freak him out and put him majorly on the defence so he was growling and trying to get in between me and this dog. i was trying to shoo it away but it wasnt leaving so at this point i just full body hugged bear to try calm him down and i shouted “get your fucking dog”

when she got her dog, she said i didnt need to shout and that “he’s harmless” and “he just wants to be friends” so i said “yeah well mine’s not harmless and he doesnt like dogs” she said i didnt need to be rude about it n i asked “would you rather i be rude or having a dead dog? because he saw your dog as a threat and it wasnt going to end well if you didnt come get him”. this pissed her off (fair) and she said “well maybe he shouldnt be in public if he cant play nice” and i just said “or maybe you could follow the rules and keep yours on a fucking lead. not everyone wants to be best friends with your dog”. she called me some words worse than AH and stormed off with her (still off leash) dog.

important context. the incident with the aggressive dog was my brother being attacked by an off leash dog, they both were okay but it was traumatic for both of them, so when a dog runs up to us or jumps on us it freaks bear out and he tries to protect us. the little dog kept jumping up on me no matter how many times i said no or gently pushed it away. we also specifically walk this route since there’s lots of signs posted about keeping your dog on leash. we’re also working to make bear less reactive, but he just isnt there with off leash dogs yet