Ruby's encounter with the law

Sometimes the dog park is a bummer. We walked in yesterday and there was all kinds of mayhem. That dog whisperer dude on TV would have said there was a lot of "unstable energy." My pals Artie and Snuffy went off and played ball, oblivious to other goings-on. Ruby got in a couple of minor scuffles right off the bat (two of them with dogs she knew, none of them escalating into anything, but there was a weird lady who started kicking Ruby and trying to get her to leave Tigger alone, and telling me my dog was out of line. I tried to explain that she and Tigger knew each other well and played like that all the time.

She told me to control my dog, and kicked at her again. Then another dog charged Ruby, and that dog's owner was nowhere around so I pulled Ruby away and kept her and Tigger occupied a while until these three unruly, poorly controlled (but quite sweet) Dobermans left. Things calmed down a bit, pack behavior-wise, but then another lady, who (I think) had been talking to the weird lady who'd already kicked Ruby, appeared out of nowhere, about four feet away from me, holding a snarling, angry poodle aloft.

Ruby got very excited and tried to jump up (is it a squirrel? a treat? why is she waving it around like that??), scaring the poor woman (who was not exactly frail and elderly, but she wasn't young & spry either) and making the poodle angrier. Very bad case of fear aggression in the poodle. The lady kicked Ruby a couple of times in the few seconds it took me to grab her and put her on the leash. I apologized to her and left the park immediately.

I'm not one to argue with people about whose dog was at fault, or whether the owner's behavior was perhaps the problem, but I don't like it when people kick my dog. And yeah, she's boisterous. She was not going to give up on the squirrel poodle as long as it was being waved in her face.

On my way out, I ran into a friend (a dog rescue person, who is very experienced with dogs) in the parking lot. She hadn't seen what had happened, but had had words with the poodle lady already, apparently. My friend was leaving on account of the chaos, and we talked a little about how sometimes the vibe is just bad and it's better for the dogs if you just leave.

As we chatted, the poodle lady walked up and started screaming at me that my dog needed to be put down and how I should be arrested if I couldn't control my dog and how somebody coulda been hurt and her poor little precious poodle blah blah blah and how she was going to call the police as soon as she got home and I should get the hell out of the park if I knew what was good for me. They impound dogs like mine.

Or something. I couldn't follow her arguments, and I'm not sure she was making any sense.

I pointed out to her that there was a squad car at the other end of the park, and she could save time by just going over there and reporting me. I told her I wasn't leaving right away, as my friend was still in the park with his dogs, and that I'd be happy to talk with the police about my bad dog.

I just wanted her to go away, but of course she marched over to the cop car and reported me. So then the two cops came walking towards us, smiling. My friend stopped and talked to them briefly on her way out. Then Ruby and I walked over to meet them, and Ruby obligingly sat when told and was utterly charming.

We chatted for a bit, and they told me that a couple of people had complained to them about the lady and the poodle, but that there was only the one complaint about Ruby. And me. No charges were being filed, however. They patted Ruby on the head and went off to fight some crimes or something.

Neither of us was arrested or impounded.