Dog owner takes only shady spot in park from woman with baby, she says 'really?'
On a hot day, a corner full of shade is a commodity.
And like all commodities, people will do anything they need to get it, even if it creates awkward conflict with strangers.
In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, a man asked if he was wrong for prioritizing his dog over someone's baby.
He wrote:
AITA for prioritizing my dog over someone else’s baby?
I (43M) was at the park with my 10lbs dog (4, Alaskan Klee Kai) on a sunny but hot (77F) day. An unfortunate feature of this small park is that it offers only one shaded area roughly 10ft by 10ft thanks to a lone tree. No surprise, when we arrived at the park, someone was in the shaded area already.
I have a small outdoor (ventilated, about 36” in diameter) crate that I use to try to offer some protection, so rather than crowd the people there too much, I set up my own stuff a few feet away, but put the crate with the dog away from me, closer to the people that were there. I didn’t want to encroach on their space myself, but in turn wanted to be clear that I was waiting to let the dog use the shade.
As a small northern breed from Alaska, heat is something that I pay particular attention to. Roughly 45 minutes later, the people there get ready to leave. I take my earbuds out and start getting ready to move the dog crate over. As the people are about to leave, a woman walks over with her baby and stands right next to them. I look at her a bit incredulously, but she’s ignoring me.
At this point, it becomes clear to me what she’s trying to do. Once the people leave, I proceed to move the crate over anyway, even though the woman is standing there. At that point, she finally acknowledges us, but all she says is “really?” with a very annoyed tone, as if to say “how dare you?” I explain to her that I’ve been waiting a long time. She cuts me off and says “but I have a baby!”
I responded by offering to share, but she clearly isn’t interested. At this point, she has waved her partner over as if to say come quickly. Her plan seems to involve me not being there at all. He comes over, they talk between each other again as if I don’t exist. He turns around, gives me one of those “you’re an a**hole” look, then they both walk away.
All in all, nothing incredibly serious, but it did make me wonder. Am I really the a**hole? Edit: Adding link to crate given the repeat questions
The dutiful AH aficionados of Reddit shared their assessments.
ADawg28 wrote:
INFO: How does it make sense to go to the park on a hot day and wait 45 minutes for the one shady area to free up? I’m confused about how this tracks with being conscious of heat.
Bulky-District-2757 wrote:
INFO: Why do you bring your dog to the park when you know it’s too hot out for them and there is limited shade? It sounds like they’re just in a crate next to you?
ChaoticChinchillas wrote:
YTA for sticking your dog in a crate and just sitting it at the park. Who does that?
squuidlees wrote:
YTA why not take your dog for a walk around the park instead of keeping them crated outside under a tree at the park??? Especially since it’s so close to your home…
FuckLuteOlson00 wrote:
YTA, what a weird post. Baby needs the shade more than a dog. Its not a dog park.
ThisisMad_ wrote:
ESH. The woman was an AH for being unnecessarily cold towards you, but you're TA because it's incredibly cruel keeping a husky out in the sun for 45 minutes. Please take better care of your dog.
PublicRedditor wrote:
YTA. It's a dog vs an infant human. Human always wins.
Clearly, the internet is not on OP's side for this one.