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Tell me if I'm Being Unreasonable...(long-ish)
Moments ago I was outside playing with Dakota and Jasper. In our yard - minding our own business. Playing ball. Our fenced yard is adjacent to our neighbors fenced yards, and at least one has a dog (small pug, I think. Smaller than both of ours).
Anyway - I tend to let the dogs out/have play time when the other dog isn't out side. Dakota can get very vocal and seem mean when she's not and then gets Jasper riled up. Well, so we're outside, and all of a sudden the neighbor lets her dog out and says "I wanted to let her out so the dogs could get to know each other!". I'm more or less thinking "WTF, and Holy sh!t"
I gather up our two and was going to head inside, but no sooner than I'm able to get a hold of their collars they're already going nuts and Dakota has her "mean face" on (which is harmless, but still scary if you don't know her). At that point lady neighbor asked if they were "ok" I just said "yeah - they get excited". i didn't know what to say!
I felt bad because the neighbor meant well - but why would you let your dog out (no leash) to meet two other dogs both at least twice the size of yours (with no leash) and only a fence to separate them? Am I being slightly unreasonable about this - that I"m a little annoyed?
We rent and if we have any complaints about our dogs barking (excessively) leaving them alone outside etc etc we can be asked to remove the dog(s) or leave the house. So I'm of course worried that this lady will call our landlords and tell them we have "vicious" animals (LL's have met both dogs)
I was apologetic and was going to take them in (and did) - but she took her dog in first. Is there something I should say/do if this happens again? Or something I should do now? She seems like a nice person - and her dog seemed very friendly, too but...yeah...what to do?
TIA!
Re: Tell me if I'm Being Unreasonable...(long-ish)
UGH. Gloria does this too. Sometimes she'll bark at the neighbors because they aren't stopping to pet her. If they stop to pet her she sits on their feet wagging her nub, but who wants to stop a pet a dog that sounds like it's mean barking? Conterproductive much? We haven't been kicked out yet if it makes you feel better? I totally feel your pain, it's so embarassing.
That said, I think you're overreacting, not irrational. It sounds like she understands and I doubt she'll call your landlord on you. I'm sure someone with experience with introducing dogs can help you better, but I like pp's suggestion of having them meet on leash somewhere away from their "turf." This is how G met all the nieghbor dogs and after some sniffing everyone became friends.
I follow the blog of a woman in Australia and her Great Dane, and that might be a good resource for some talking points in discussing why dogs meeting through the fence is not a good idea (it's called barrier reactivity).
http://bighoneydog.com/2012/01/neighbour-apology/
http://bighoneydog.com/page/22/?attachment_id=jfplwptfxcxgzx
http://bighoneydog.com/2010/07/molly-rats-dailylife/
http://bighoneydog.com/2010/12/kitty-tv/
(Ignore the parts about outdoor kitties -- apparently, it's acceptable down there among responsible owners to let your cats outside)
A lot of people just don't know any better.
I'd just go over and talk to her and tell her your dogs do better meeting dogs (insert the best way for them). For example, my dog does much better with new dogs if we go on a walk together first.
This is a really good idea. The next time I see her I'll mention this (we just started our lease, so I'm sure I'll see her again! and she was nice!)
I think unreasonable in the title was a poor choice of words and as NotJennay mention - I was overreacting a bit. I just didn't know what to do and panicked! I just didn't want one of our dogs to accidentally hurt hers kinda thing. I feel awful, I think the dogs scared her!