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Entitled Family In Park Thinks They Can Just Snatch Up Dog They Like, Owner Horrified
While we’re not sure who first said “Don’t get between a man and his dog,” the proverb would be a wise one to put into action. Dogs and their owners are typically fiercely loyal to one another, and it’s a bond that’s stood the test of time.
One dog owner’s peaceful trip to the park with his couple of canines was turned on its head when some kids tried to hijack one of his pups. In his attempt to stop them, though, the parents threatened him. He shared his story with an online community.
More info: Reddit
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It’s never a good idea to test the bond between a dog and its owner, as this guy was quick to demonstrate
Image credits: wirestock / Freepik (not the actual photo)
While he was taking his dogs for a walk at the local park, one of his pups ran off towards a family that was about to leave
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
To his absolute horror, he then saw the family trying to pack up his dog and drive away with it
Image credits: rawpixel.com / Freepik (not the actual photo)
When he caught up with them, two men got out of the car and started threatening him with violence, and then the kids’ mother said the kid “deserved it”
Image credits: SugarySpaceSprinkles
Much to the guy’s relief, two women who’d seen everything stepped in and laid down the facts, leaving the family to get in their car and make a hasty getaway without the doggo
The story begins when OP took his two pups—a 14-year-old Chihuahua and a 4-year-old Cheagle—for a fun park day and a bit of exercise. The weather was perfect, the dogs were excited, but things turned tense when one of his dogs, the playful (but unruly) Cheagle, ran off toward a nearby family loading into their van.
This little Cheagle, affectionately nicknamed “Fish Butt” for her wiggly hips, just wanted to join the fun. While OP tried calling her back, one of the kids began petting her, but their mom did the unthinkable: she picked up the dog and put her in the kid’s arms. Then, she tried to leave with her.
OP hobbled over with his cane, yelling that the dog was his. But instead of apologizing, the dad got out of the car and blocked him, a second man got aggressive, and the mom shouted, “You already have a dog!” as if that justified dognapping someone else’s pet. The second man even claimed, “We adopted him. Legally.” Except, no—they didn’t.
Just as things got dangerously heated, two women nearby stepped in. They’d seen everything and stood up for OP. Under pressure, the father handed the dog back. The child sadly waved goodbye to the pup they almost stole, and the dog ran back to OP, tail wagging furiously and dognapping narrowly avoided.
OP had quite the close call—the family clearly felt entitled to his beloved Cheagle and were even ready to fight for it. Just how much of a problem is dognapping, though? We went looking for answers.
Image credits: EyeEm / Freepik (not the actual photo)
In her article for The Guardian, Hannah Al-Othman writes that pet theft is increasing across the UK. Data from the insurer Direct Line suggested dog thefts had increased by 6% between 2022 and 2023, with English and French bulldogs—regularly sold for about £3,000—among the most frequently targeted breeds.
According to Al-Othman, last year the previous government introduced the Pet Abduction Act, creating specific offenses of dog and cat abduction and introducing compulsory microchipping.
Pet theft is primarily a commercial crime, says Sadie Cornelius, a writer for CanineJournal.
“Most dogs are stolen by dog flippers: people who realize the high monetary value of specific breeds and can re-sell them as pets for a significant profit,” says Cornelius.
According to the Four Paws website, there are a number of ways to keep your pets safe from theft. Some of these include not leaving your pet unattended in public, securing outdoor areas, installing a security system, hiring trusted dog walkers, and microchipping your pet as soon as possible.
Perhaps OP would do well to heed netizens’ advice and use a gated dog park for his cheeky Cheagle. It would’ve saved him a lot of fuss and bother and kept the rambunctious pup safe, something it seems to have a bit of a problem doing by itself.
What would you have done if you’d found yourself in OP’s shoes? Do you think the situation would’ve escalated if the two witnesses hadn’t stepped in? Let us know your opinion in the comments!
In the comments, readers were divided, with some taking the guy’s side and others saying dogs that can’t behave should be kept on a leash
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What do you think ?
Tabitha 10 months ago (edited)
Two letters and a number, along with a description of the car and occupants, is a really good start to find these attempted dognappers. If they tried it with OP, they’ll try it again with someone else. I seriously doubt the kids had anything to do with it. They saw a dog that’s cute, and is one of those designer breed mixes, and thought they could steal it and sell it along to some unsuspecting person for an inflated price. I’m 64, and I was raised to leave other people’s stuff alone, and that includes their dogs. If it isn’t yours, you have NO rights to it no matter how much you like it, so do NOT touch it. How f*****g hard is that to understand?
LakotaWolf (she/her) 10 months ago
Did these dogs not have collars with ID tags on them? OP mentions they had their harnesses on, but did they have collars/ID tags? Did the harnesses have an ID tag on them? If not, OP is irresponsible for letting them off-leash without ID tags. OP could have raised his voice and yelled "HELP, THEY ARE STEALING MY DOG, CHECK HER ID TAG" or something similar if so. If the dogs were just wearing harnesses with ZERO identification tags/etc., that is just not good at all. Obviously the thieves were in the absolute one billion percent wrong, but I'm also mad at OP *if* his doggos didn't have collars/ID tags. I noticed that OP didn't mention collars or ID tags one way or the other in their post, which is a little noteworthy.
Earonn - 10 months ago
Yes, guys, we heard the "the dog shouldn't be off the leash" often enough now. Can we now discuss about how f****d up a society is where someone can try to steal a dog from a person with a disability? And only two people speaking up? That b*****d thief should have been get his face rearranged by three big people around, instead he feels he can act like that and get away - which he nearly did. THAT is the issue here, FFS!
Sera 10 months ago
Sorry, no, it bears repeating. If you cannot control your dog off-leash, it does not get to be off-leash. None of this would have happened if OP was a responsible owner.
Load More Replies...
Lee Gilliland 10 months ago (edited)
Number one, don't you chip pets where you live? I know that in most urban areas, and some suburban ones, it's now a requirement, because of the number of petnappings. When you get the chip, you also get a tag showing that the pet is chipped so there's a warning to would-be petnappers.. Even if you don't have control over the dog, yelling, "Hey, that's my dog. It's chipped! I can prove you stole it!" is a lot more powerful than "Hey! That's my dog!", especially as if you have a partial tag and a description to go along with the chip number, it is undeniable proof of whose pet it is. Most shelters do chipping for a minimal fee.
Beak Hookage 10 months ago (edited)
Bullying and threatening a disabled guy while trying to abduct his dog. I bet you felt like a real big man that day, you pathetic POS. With that said, if your dog has a tendency to run off and ignore you when you call them back, definitely don't let them off leash. I made that mistake once and wound up literally scarred for life. (Dog was fine but I definitely wasn't).
SheamusFanFrom1987 10 months ago
OP should've at least IDed the doggos or had some sort of tracker collar since they aren't 100 recallable. Would've saved them at least 1/2 the drama. Nonetheless, anyone tries that stunt on my pooch and I would absolutely go to town on them with a cane (I happen to have inherited an old bedpost-converted cane from my late grandpa, Chengal wood, pretty darn hard to snap or break). Good thing the kids and adults in my area know better and just gave my late pooch a pat or a gentle scratch or two. Can't say the same about a cousin who tried to steal it once but froze when I blocked her patch waving said heirloom cane in the air (Never visited again, I wonder why...? /s).
Cheese Man 10 months ago (edited)
Edit: realizing I should've thought about this before I typed it. I have issues properly expressing emotion in exaggerations sometimes. My statement was basically "you f around, you find out" when it comes to pets. Nobody touches my pupper. My apologies if this was viewed as extreme or over the top /srs
Laure Miller 8 months ago
Collar. Leash. Training. Microchip. None of these things are unattainable.
Panda Cat 8 months ago
I used to take my elderly neighbor‘s dog W to the dog park. The poor guy was healthy, but his fur was matted terribly, so I’d clean up a bit every time I could. I couldn't do it all at once because my neighbor could have lost it and prevented me from taking him out. The dog park is pretty big, and W sometimes hung out by the main entrance to greet newcomers, as many dogs do, and I’d fetch him to rejoin my friends and. One day, I went to get him, and he was gone. I don't know if someone told me he’d been picked up to get him groomed or if that came later. I called the Humane Society, so they were watching for him. Finally, around closing, they called me and told me the busybody wanted to get him groomed but didn't have proof of vaccinations, and nobody would do it. Bear in mind, I’d been trying to figure out how to get his human to get him groomed, and after a long talk with animal control, stressing that my name be left out of it, he was finally taken care of. It was terrifying.
roepi 9 months ago
From the moment that finger would have touched my chest, that dude would be eating through a straw.
Mark Childers 10 months ago
My sister has a dog like this. She started taking her to training as a puppy. Our mother ruined the dog by spoiling her and giving her everything she wanted. We're both lucky we never had kids, or she would have ruined the kids, too.
Crystalwitch60 9 months ago
Please DO NOT LET A DOG WITH NO RECALL OFF A LEAD , it’s not safe end off!
Tabitha 10 months ago (edited)
Two letters and a number, along with a description of the car and occupants, is a really good start to find these attempted dognappers. If they tried it with OP, they’ll try it again with someone else. I seriously doubt the kids had anything to do with it. They saw a dog that’s cute, and is one of those designer breed mixes, and thought they could steal it and sell it along to some unsuspecting person for an inflated price. I’m 64, and I was raised to leave other people’s stuff alone, and that includes their dogs. If it isn’t yours, you have NO rights to it no matter how much you like it, so do NOT touch it. How f*****g hard is that to understand?
LakotaWolf (she/her) 10 months ago
Did these dogs not have collars with ID tags on them? OP mentions they had their harnesses on, but did they have collars/ID tags? Did the harnesses have an ID tag on them? If not, OP is irresponsible for letting them off-leash without ID tags. OP could have raised his voice and yelled "HELP, THEY ARE STEALING MY DOG, CHECK HER ID TAG" or something similar if so. If the dogs were just wearing harnesses with ZERO identification tags/etc., that is just not good at all. Obviously the thieves were in the absolute one billion percent wrong, but I'm also mad at OP *if* his doggos didn't have collars/ID tags. I noticed that OP didn't mention collars or ID tags one way or the other in their post, which is a little noteworthy.
Earonn - 10 months ago
Yes, guys, we heard the "the dog shouldn't be off the leash" often enough now. Can we now discuss about how f****d up a society is where someone can try to steal a dog from a person with a disability? And only two people speaking up? That b*****d thief should have been get his face rearranged by three big people around, instead he feels he can act like that and get away - which he nearly did. THAT is the issue here, FFS!
Sera 10 months ago
Sorry, no, it bears repeating. If you cannot control your dog off-leash, it does not get to be off-leash. None of this would have happened if OP was a responsible owner.
Load More Replies... Lee Gilliland 10 months ago (edited)
Number one, don't you chip pets where you live? I know that in most urban areas, and some suburban ones, it's now a requirement, because of the number of petnappings. When you get the chip, you also get a tag showing that the pet is chipped so there's a warning to would-be petnappers.. Even if you don't have control over the dog, yelling, "Hey, that's my dog. It's chipped! I can prove you stole it!" is a lot more powerful than "Hey! That's my dog!", especially as if you have a partial tag and a description to go along with the chip number, it is undeniable proof of whose pet it is. Most shelters do chipping for a minimal fee.
Beak Hookage 10 months ago (edited)
Bullying and threatening a disabled guy while trying to abduct his dog. I bet you felt like a real big man that day, you pathetic POS. With that said, if your dog has a tendency to run off and ignore you when you call them back, definitely don't let them off leash. I made that mistake once and wound up literally scarred for life. (Dog was fine but I definitely wasn't).
SheamusFanFrom1987 10 months ago
OP should've at least IDed the doggos or had some sort of tracker collar since they aren't 100 recallable. Would've saved them at least 1/2 the drama. Nonetheless, anyone tries that stunt on my pooch and I would absolutely go to town on them with a cane (I happen to have inherited an old bedpost-converted cane from my late grandpa, Chengal wood, pretty darn hard to snap or break). Good thing the kids and adults in my area know better and just gave my late pooch a pat or a gentle scratch or two. Can't say the same about a cousin who tried to steal it once but froze when I blocked her patch waving said heirloom cane in the air (Never visited again, I wonder why...? /s).
Cheese Man 10 months ago (edited)
Edit: realizing I should've thought about this before I typed it. I have issues properly expressing emotion in exaggerations sometimes. My statement was basically "you f around, you find out" when it comes to pets. Nobody touches my pupper. My apologies if this was viewed as extreme or over the top /srs
Laure Miller 8 months ago
Collar. Leash. Training. Microchip. None of these things are unattainable.
Panda Cat 8 months ago
I used to take my elderly neighbor‘s dog W to the dog park. The poor guy was healthy, but his fur was matted terribly, so I’d clean up a bit every time I could. I couldn't do it all at once because my neighbor could have lost it and prevented me from taking him out. The dog park is pretty big, and W sometimes hung out by the main entrance to greet newcomers, as many dogs do, and I’d fetch him to rejoin my friends and. One day, I went to get him, and he was gone. I don't know if someone told me he’d been picked up to get him groomed or if that came later. I called the Humane Society, so they were watching for him. Finally, around closing, they called me and told me the busybody wanted to get him groomed but didn't have proof of vaccinations, and nobody would do it. Bear in mind, I’d been trying to figure out how to get his human to get him groomed, and after a long talk with animal control, stressing that my name be left out of it, he was finally taken care of. It was terrifying.
roepi 9 months ago
From the moment that finger would have touched my chest, that dude would be eating through a straw.
Mark Childers 10 months ago
My sister has a dog like this. She started taking her to training as a puppy. Our mother ruined the dog by spoiling her and giving her everything she wanted. We're both lucky we never had kids, or she would have ruined the kids, too.
Crystalwitch60 9 months ago
Please DO NOT LET A DOG WITH NO RECALL OFF A LEAD , it’s not safe end off!
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