"Haters gonna Hate!"

If there is one thing that seems to be a constant, it's that there will always be people who do not like dogs - and I always seem to find them. I have two Labrador retrievers who need a great deal of exercise. Additionally, Labs have been bred to love the water and to have a strong retrieving instinct.

Since our dogs have joined me on Prince Edward Island, they have loved spending time at the local beach. Just on the other side of the river from where I live, there is a fantastic, private beach about 1 km from end to end. There are two access points to this beach, one at the Eastern end of the beach where it meets the harbor and the other is located a mere 200 m west of the harbor.

Since it has been tourist season, I have worked hard to be a responsible pet owner and have limited my time at the beach to between 6-8 am and 7-9 pm. Now that the tourists have left and the cottagers have closed up for the season, I have been enjoying the beach with the dogs after work. Normally, the dogs and I are the only ones on the beach during this time. On a few occasions however, there has been a couple who appear to be in their late 60s who have also been enjoying the beach during my evening walks. When I have seen this couple before, I have made sure to give them plenty of space and stayed at least 200m or more away from them.

This trip to the beach was different. This time when I arrived at the beach, I found that the couple was walking East on the beach towards the harbor where I was playing with the dogs. I gave them a quick look and assumed (correctly) that they would be departing using the other access point. As such, I decided to remain where I was so as not to disturb their walk with two boisterous dogs.

As I stood in the tidal zone throwing sticks for our to Labs to retrieve from the waves, I noticed that the couple walked past the additional beach access and continued walking towards me. Based on this behavior, I assumed (incorrectly) that they were not bothered by dogs, because hey, why else would they knowingly put themselves in a position that would make them uncomfortable?

I directly my attention towards Riker and Bones once again as a threw two more sticks. Just as the boys were swimming out to retrieve these sticks, I was startled by a noise directly behind me. It was screaming, loud, high-pitched screaming. I turn around immediately to find a woman screaming, squealing, jumping and waving her arms. She was saying, "I'm deathly terrified of dogs, oh my god, oh my god, TERRIFIED!"

Now I am no expert in canine behavior, but I am pretty sure that rapid movements coupled with loud noises draw the attention of the average canine. At least, that is exactly what happened with Riker and Bones. One minute they are super focused on retrieving the stick I threw in the water and the next, they are bounding quickly back to shore to meet this new arrival.

Although energetic, our dogs are not horrible when it comes to listening to commands. So I yelled to get their attention, told them to sit and they did just that. Meanwhile, I am getting an earful from this woman who is still jumping and screaming that she is "terrified of dogs".

I tried to be as polite as possible when I told her that I understand and respect her fear of dogs but I wanted to let her know that our dogs have no malicious intent. This statement was criticized to the point of lunacy (in my opinion). The woman responded with "What do you mean no malicious intent? They were coming right for me, they were going to attack!"

Again, I tried to reassure her that Riker and Bones are not aggressive dogs and that they simply cannot understand that  some people do not want to meet them. I was just about to leave it at that and walk away when the woman replied "You and your filthy dogs should be on a leash! You shouldn't be allowed out in public with monsters!" And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the point where you could say that I lost my shit!

Still keeping my voice calm and even, I said to the woman, "Just a word of advice for the future whether you meet my dogs again or any other - If you feel uncomfortable in the presence of dogs, then the best thing to do would be avoidance and to be discrete. When you squeal and wave your hands in the presence dogs, this tells them that you want to play. So in the future, you may want to just quietly keep walking. If you had done that today, my dogs would have ignored you and kept chasing their stick."

My suggestions did not seem to sit well with her. I was then scolded for suggesting that she should change her behavior to accommodate my "filthy monsters" and that the beach was no place for dogs. That she was entitled to walk the full length of the beach when she wanted to and that she should not have to alter her walk just because I was there with my dogs. Apparently, I should have left my dogs at home for her safety. She even threatened to call the police to deal with me.

I finally looked at her and said, "Ma'am, you made the decision to walk to this end of the beach and you made the decision to draw attention to yourself with your behavior. My dogs have done nothing but sit here by my side and look at you. So I am sorry that you are uncomfortable around dogs but this could have been avoided if you had made different choices. I live here and I am just as entitled to use this beach as you are." With that, I turned and began walking away with Riker and Bones only to hear her reply, "Well, you are just a saucy little bitch, aren't you?!".

Yes, saucy little bitch indeed. How dare I walk on the beach. Thankfully, this has been the only negative experience I have encountered since moving to PEI. Prior to this event, I have only met friendly, dog loving people or those who simply do not show interest and are therefore not interesting to my Labs! So I am pretty confident that this couple was not local, I believe that they are - as the locals say - "on Island from away"!