Not every person wants to be besties with their neighbor.
But it’s always a nice idea to try and find common ground or activities to participate in.
However, not all activities lead to peaceful interaction.
Especially when pets are involved.
Case in point…
Redditor Puppy_Problems23 wanted to discuss their experience and get some feedback. So naturally, they came to visit the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subReddit.
They asked:
“AITA for getting our neighborhood dog Olympics canceled instead of bending the rules for a neighbor?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“I understand that this is a silly issue to have, but it’s an issue we have and I need advice.”
“5-6 years ago my H[ome] O[wner] A[ssociation] decided our neighborhood is boring and encouraged people to come up with ideas/activities to liven things up.”
“Thus, my Pup Olympics was born.”
“It’s just the neighborhood dogs competing (poorly) in different silly events for two days and being rewarded with treats.”
“Early on, there would be prizes for the owners of whichever dog won each event, and it really was all fun and games.”
“After a couple of years, we started doing a paid entry for each event, and the money went toward cash prizes and a donation to a really great local animal shelter (where lots of us got our pups).”
“Might be worth it to note that most people in the neighborhood choose to donate their cash prize toward the shelter fund, so we usually come up with a pretty great donation.”
“People look forward to the Olympics every year, it’s ridiculous but it’s fun and we all love it.”
“18 months ago a new neighbor moved in and she has a Poodle who frequently competes in (and wins) dog competitions.”
“This dog has a million followers on Instagram.”
“We all follow the page and obviously root for this dog in the competitions.”
‘No issue with the dog itself.”
“However, it ruined pup Olympics last year.”
“This dog swept every single competition.”
“There is literally one event for senior dogs that it didn’t qualify for, and that’s the only one that this Poodle didn’t win.”
“We all just kind of stood there for two days and gave cash prizes to the same woman for every event.”
“To make matters worse, she also didn’t donate a single extra penny to the shelter fund (bonus AITA for if I’m wrong for being judgey here).”
“This has taken an event for families and kids and turned it into something it was never meant to be.”
“It’s like having a professional athlete compete at a high school field day.”
“So, Pup Olympics are happening soon, but this year my committee decided on ‘No Competition Dogs’ rule, to make it more fair for the other owners/families.”
“The Poodle owner got notice of this and has gone ballistic.”
“Our HOA had a committee meeting and decided in her favor that we couldn’t exclude her or her dog if we wanted to have the competition in the neighborhood.”
“I thought about it and then just went ahead and sent a cancelation notice out.”
“Somebody from the HOA board tried to pull it back together but just isn’t getting much interest.”
“Now the Poodle owner has sent me multiple vindictive messages implying that I did this to hurt her personally, and the neighborhood is split 50/50 on who was in the wrong.”
The OP was left to wonder,
“So, am I the a**hole?”
Redditors shared their thoughts on this matter and weighed some options to the question AITA:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Many Redditors declared OP was NOT the A**hole.
“NTA. If you had a race for neighborhood kids and an Olympic gold medalist runner showed up to enter, that’d be an AH move.”
“This is no different, and the fact that the owner can’t understand why her precious shouldn’t be allowed to dominate the amateur competitions shows a huge lack of awareness.” ~ 7hr0wn
“Prize money goes to an animal shelter/charity group of winner’s choice from a list of organizations.”
“That way they don’t keep the funds selfishly and safely give participation money to local shelters and animal charities/organizations (i.e. animal rescue flights, transportation from kill shelters due to overcrowding, medical organizations for animal care, and owners who can’t afford it).”
“Instead give out metals, toys, and treats as prizes.” ~ AtDawnsEnd502
“And one of those events is the SENIOR DOG EVENT so really it’s just one event they aren’t able to participate in since they were already ruled out by age on that one last year.”
“I don’t even get why the woman would want to compete in this amateur event.”
“In golf, if you become a pro, you can’t just play in amateur tournaments.”
“I have a family member that happened to, and he hated it cause he’s an amazing amateur golfer but a horrible pro, but he had to register to get this $10k prize in a tournament he played, and it made it so he couldn’t play tournaments for a year.”
“At the very least, there could be a handicap system like golf that evens the playing field.”
“Crazy to think they have a right to win all the competitions, and the f**kin’ cash prize like that’s definitely inappropriate.”
“I would take away the cash prize and the winner gets the money donated to the shelter in their name.”
“This story is ridiculous, but I would be in this lady’s (or her dog’s) Insta calling her out for competing in amateur events pretty much as a ringer.” ~ Moist_Confusion
“The H[ome] O[wner] A[ssociation] didn’t want to get sued over something so stupid.”
“The same rules that prevent discrimination can also be used for crud like this.”
“I agree the poodle patty shouldn’t have the last say.”
“I think that OP should have a dog fundraiser for more than their neighborhood (that way preventing the HOA rules from applying).”
“And have ridiculous games that are more random to win.”
“That way, it would be harder to win.” ~ blueavole
“I think the poodle owner does understand, and she does know it’s not in the spirit of the event.”
“She just wants the prizes, and that’s why she’s being so demanding.”
“I’d cancel, too OP, with the way the HOA blocked you from any reasonable/equitable solution. NTA.” ~ Forsaken_Dig1277
“Absolutely NTA.”
“The poodle owner lacks total self-awareness or is just a raging a**hole overall.”
“There’s a reason her dog is a professional.”
“What satisfaction does she get just absolutely clobbering her amateur neighbors?”
“OP even tried to compromise, but the other owner was completely unwilling to let anyone else have any fun at all if she couldn’t completely dominate the competition.” ~ AllDawgsGoToDevin
“This person honestly sounds like the majority of people who participate in competition dog stuff of all forms.”
“I have a show dog.”
“He did the show circuits, and dealing with the people was hands down the worst part of it.”
“While it wasn’t every single person, the vast majority of them were atrocious.”
“The backstabbing was rampant, constant stories about this person or that person, the awful things one person or another did… the worst part was that while a lot of it was made up, an uncomfortable amount of it was absolutely true.”
“At the dog shows, the stuff people did to the dogs was awful.”
“Someone shoe polished a white dog at one, another one in Texas had someone going around unplugging a couple of the RVs with dogs in them to knock out their air conditioners, and throughout it, an unusual number of dogs just kept getting sick.”
“My little guy was poisoned at least twice at dog shows.”
“The first time he got the runs for a couple of days, the second time was so bad I had to take him to the vet… who is the one who clued me into him probably having been fed laxatives.”
“It just wasn’t something I would ever have expected.”
“I watched him like a hawk until he met his requirements at the shows.”
“He still does competitive stuff, there are awards, but I just do it with him because he enjoys it.”
“Most of the people are still awful, but I’ve been lucky to find enough people in different groups who actually like dogs.”
“I cannot imagine trying to deal with a fun thing and having one of the bad ones show up.”
“It would absolutely ruin it, and I agree with you canceling it. NTA.” ~ shawslate
“Good grief, this woman is unreasonable.”
“2-3 event limit is reasonable. Not 8.”
“I guess you could change the entry fee to an official donation to the animal shelter and keep prizes to a minimum (something like a ribbon or small token gift).”
“You’re definitely NTA, though.” ~ Antisirch
“Dang, I was going to suggest the rule should have been changed just to limit the number of events they could enter to like one or two.”
“But you already tried that, and she wanted 8! So greedy.”
“You’re definitely NTA.” ~ RealRealGood
OP came back for more info…
“I didn’t have space in the post, but to clarify, deciding to cancel was more of a long story short after 4 days of meetings with this woman to try to come up with something agreeable.”
“Changed the rules of our neighbor pup Olympics to exclude a professional show dog, which put the neighborhood in shambles.”
“First, I offered to do a couple of categories for more serious competition dogs, but was told by the HOA that I’m not allowed to host any kind of events that make it seem like any part of this is a ‘real’ dog competition.”
“Then I tried to restrict how many events each dog can enter, and she wanted that number to be 8.”
“Out of 10 events, she wanted 8.”
“That was the number she got the HOA board to agree with her on, and they basically told me that if I couldn’t let that happen, then I couldn’t host the competition.”
Well, OP, Reddit is with you.
This isn’t the world’s stage. It’s a small-time community event.
There has got to be a way for everyone just to have fun.
Thanks for all the work you’re doing for your local shelter!