Oh my... I so needed to read this thread to see I'm not the only one.
I have a fear reactive rescue dog. Yesterday I specifically took him to a popular dog walking area & sat out of the way, under a tree, far from everyone, minding our business and letting him see dogs at a distance.
A lady walking her off-leash dog in a specifically on-leash area let her dog bound up to us & all hell broke loose. I asked her to put her dog on a leash as it should be. She told me to **** off and mind my own f**** business......
I explained he is a rescue dog (a Chi X) I am trying to rehabilitate & it's not helpful when people have no control over their dogs off leash. She said her dog was just trying to be friendly & had every right to do whatever it liked because it was friendly but mine wasn't so neither I nor my dog had a place in the (on-leash) park.
All my hard work over the last 2 weeks now down the drain.
This lady, in her eyes, was in the right because her dog was friendly. She said she could do whatever she wanted because her dog was friendly & mine wasn't and we were the problem.