Dog bit our neighbor’s sleeve and she’s threatening to report us
I have an 80 lb pit mix with a history of abuse and trauma. He’s come a long, long way and is beyond loving with people but dogs are still really difficult for him and he’s super reactive to them on our (short) walks. That said, today we had a horrible interaction with a girl who lives in our building. For context, she’s never been particularly friendly (bordering on unfriendly) and our interactions are extremely limited. The only time I’ve spoken to her in the 2+ years we’ve both lived here is when I was chatting with her partner (who’s lovely and who my dog loves seeing). The girl has two very loud yippy dogs who are my dog’s nemeses on a daily basis (because they pass by our door barking and carrying on multiple times a day to go outside.
Anyway, we saw her today on our walk. She was walking towards us from the opposite direction and I was talking to my mom on speakerphone while casually walking him. And then…she turned toward him and said hi to him and reached down and towards his head to pet him.
He grabbed her sleeve. It was her sleeve, not her arm, to be clear. But he wouldn’t let go and kept pulling. I got behind him and tried to pry his mouth open but he’s strong and I couldn’t get him to open his mouth. Throughout, she’s screaming at me about replacing her jacket, yelling that my dog is dangerous, etc. and all the while pulling against him as hard as she can. I tried to tell her over and over to stop pulling and to stop screaming because they were both escalating the situation but she just wouldn’t stop. I also suggested that she slip the jacket off so he would release it. It was the pulling that was causing him to continue to latch on. Of course, after 5 minutes of her screaming and pulling, she finally stopped and he released it immediately.
Now, please don’t get me wrong. I know that this is my fault. Even if she’s the one who approached him, it doesn’t matter. It’s my responsibility.
But I am at a loss here. She’s threatening to report me to the landlord and to animal control. Saying he’s a danger and he’s totally out of control. He’s not totally out of control. On the contrary, he was on a very short leash and should not have been able to have any contact with her. It was her reaching into his space that triggered the reaction.
I’m just so upset. I’m afraid I’m going to lose my apartment. I’m afraid he’s going to have to be put down. I’m afraid I’m a terrible person and I made a huge mistake adopting him. We are training every day and he’s made so much progress but there’s a lot of trauma there. I hate that this happened and I don’t know what to do.
This is a vent but I’m also open to advice.
Yes, we are working on drop it and release. We’re trying. He’s just not there yet. I feel so ashamed that I let this happen. Want to curl up in a ball and die.