Parent gets in yelling match with dog owner letting unleashed dog on kids' playground.

There are no two forces more unstoppable than a mad parent and a mad dog parent.

When they cross paths and engage in battle, the conflict will not diminish until one is declared a winner. Or at least, until they wear themselves out arguing.

In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, a parent asked if they were wrong for getting angry at a dog owner who wouldn't leave the playground.

They wrote:

AITA for getting angry at a dog owner who wouldn't leave the playground?

I take my 3-year-old son to the playground a few times a week. He loves the swings and the slides. Today there was a dog owner with a 10-15 pound dog at the playground. Never seen this guy before. He was letting him play on all the equipment. I don't think he had a kid with him. There were a few kids using the equipment including my son. Some of the kids were playing with the dog.

My son is scared of dogs, we don't have one and he isn't used to being around them. Its just not something he is used to. He tried to go play but anytime it would get close to him, he was running back to me. I asked the owner to keep his dog away from the playground. He immediately gets defensive. He says no, you are the only one with an issue, and my dog deserves to have fun too.

I respond by saying playgrounds aren't for dogs, you shouldn't be here. He says to leave me alone and that I'm an a**hole. His dog is still running around and even approached my son looking to play. Of course, my son runs back. We pack up to prematurely leave. We start arguing again and words are exchanged. Am I wrong here?

People quickly weighed in.

Binge_Gaming had a crucial clarifying question.

Info: was the dog on a leash?

If not, that’s against the law in most places. Agreed, if he doesn’t have a kid, it’s a playground, not a dog park. He seems like an AH.

And OP answered:

No leash.

mrcloseupman wrote:

NTA. If it's a playground for children, there are playgrounds just for dogs...they're called dog parks. The fact that the dog was unleashed makes it much worse.

Turbulent-Coast-2303 wrote:

NTA. The dog wasn’t even on a leash which I highly doubt is legal.

But also, I don’t love when people bring kids (with no dog) to my apartment's dog complex and let them play on the dog stuff. When they’re there with their own dog and parents it’s totally chill, but when they don’t have a dog…they’re playing on stuff that the dogs pee all over and chasing the dogs (that they don’t know) around which isn’t safe for the same reason unleashed dogs on a kids playground is not safe.

Not all kids are familiar with dogs and not all dogs are familiar with kids. Idc how well trained the dog is, kids can’t be super unpredictable and if they’re not used to dogs and haven't been taught how to interact, could do something that sets the dog off and causes a bite.

In a kids' playground of all places would most likely lead to the dog having to be put down and a child injured (and potentially traumatized because they didn’t get the opportunity to meet dogs in an appropriate way with adult guidance because dogs presence was forced on them in a space meant for children). That dog owner is an AH. You 100% are NTA and good on you for saying something.

Cherry_clafoutis wrote:

NTA. Dogs must be leashed around children's playground and bbq areas by law in my country. It is rarely signed though because it is also pretty common sense. Just like it is common sense I take my kids to the children's playground and not the dog park closer to where I live. Laws aside, I hate AH who let their dogs off the leash in kids' playground.

I don't care how good-natured your dog is. You don't know if kids are allergic. Dogs knock kids over unintentionally because they don't know their own size. And finally, in my experience, the people who are usually the most entitled with their dogs being in public spaces are the ones who don't train them or have any control over them.

People who make the effort to properly obedience train their dog never let them bother other people. It is the AH who are too lazy to properly train their dog, have 50/50 chance of the dog listening to their commands at best who think it is cool to let their dog run around unleashed in a kids playground.

Clearly OP is NTA, and they're dealing with a deeply irresponsible dog owner.