I'm being reported to the RSPCA, apparently...

Tropez

Well, probably not really, I just find it quite funny.

When my dogs want to go out to do their business depending where I am they will go to either the front door or the back door (well except Millie who thinks she's a special case but she's not part of this story...).

Anyway, Zoe and Sandy go to the front door. It's raining outside and Zoe isn't fond of the rain, so to actually get her to go, I have to shut the door on her otherwise she'll jump out, realise she's getting wet and jump back in. If she's shut outside she will actually go.

Now this isn't a problem. Postman has been, gate is shut and I can see them both from the kitchen anyway.

They're out there for about 3 minutes when I can see they want to come back in and Zoe, the impatient sod, paws at the door when she wants to come in.

So I open the door to let them back in and they both jump back in and just as I'm about to close up I hear a very gruff "Excuse me!" coming from some woman on the pavement outside the house. I asked her how could I help and then she started moaning about how it was inconsiderate of me to leave two dogs in my front drive area because they could have attacked her. I pointed out, politely at this point, that a) they won't attack her and b) they can't get out due to the fact the gate is shut and the whole area is enclosed.

At this point she argues that she was about to come to my house so what I said wasn't true so I asked what her business was and she informed me she was a charity collector for some local church, at which I couldn't help but facetiously suggest that had she learned to read she would have seen the sign that is clear from where she stood that politely tells cold callers (specifically stating religious and charity collectors) to rack off and thus would have never had cause to approach my house.

Then, in what I assume was a defensive reaction, she accused me of mistreating my dogs because they had been out in the rain for "a long time" and they could "catch their deaths" and that she would, as the title of this post suggests, report me to the RSPCA for animal cruelty. I didn't really wish to indulge her further, so I told her that rather than stand here arguing with me, she could do herself a favour and finish her begging route so as not to catch her death in the rain...

At this point, she placed some sort of curse on me (or told me something about being damned anyway, I didn't quite catch the first part) and wandered off to the next house on the road mumbling.

So, when do we reckon I'll get my visit from the RSPCA? I'm guessing quarter to never.

lisawood78

The only thing that would concern me is that if she did open the gate and ignore your sign, as many do then she may have left the gate open and your dogs could have made it out on to the road/ran away/been stolen.

Tropez

lisawood78 wrote: »

The only thing that would concern me is that if she did open the gate and ignore your sign, as many do then she may have left the gate open and your dogs could have made it out on to the road/ran away/been stolen.

I'm not too concerned. I could see them the whole time. The gate sounds a buzzer when opened and is on a spring lock to keep it shut (since too many people out there are too stupid to realise that gates are probably shut for a reason). I can actually lock the gate from anywhere with 100m anyway.

Notsosharp

Hell will freeze over before you get a visit from the RSPCA so I wouldn't really worry about being dammed or the RSPCA :rotfl:

andyf3050

This made me chuckle...! It doesn't matter how many signs you put up or how clear they are about wanting no 'cold callers' for whatever reason, god-botherers think it doesn't apply to them and will knock anyway.

I keep a few clothes pegs on the radiator behind the door and if anyone unwanted knocks I open it and immediately start asking them if they want to 'buy some pegs' before they have chance to even introduce themselves. They soon get the message and leave...!

murphydog999

Sorry, nothing to do with your dogs, but if there is one thing that gets my goat, it is 'visitors' that leave the gate open. A removal company guy came round the other day to do a quote, and I saw he'd not shut the gate when he came in - not a good start! When he left he just walked straight out, when I said can you get the gate please, he looked at like I was stupid. Flippin' heck, it doesn't take much!! Guess who's not getting my business:mad:

Tropez

murphydog999 wrote: »

Sorry, nothing to do with your dogs, but if there is one thing that gets my goat, it is 'visitors' that leave the gate open. A removal company guy came round the other day to do a quote, and I saw he'd not shut the gate when he came in - not a good start! When he left he just walked straight out, when I said can you get the gate please, he looked at like I was stupid. Flippin' heck, it doesn't take much!! Guess who's not getting my business:mad:

I have to agree, it really annoys me that people seem averse to shutting gates. Do they not ask themselves when they approach a dwelling whether there may be a reason the gate is shut in the first place?

This is probably hard to believe, I couldn't believe it myself, but one day when visiting my mum I discovered that her gate had been physically lifted off the two bars holding it in place and left lying against the other part of the gate. When I questioned my mum she knew nothing about it and I knew she couldn't have removed it herself. There had been a heavy snowfall so it would have taken more effort to open the gate than normal and all that I could conclude is that someone delivering pointless leaflets for a local takeaway had actually taken the gate off so that they could post it through the letter box!

I had the remote opening, closing and locking function installed on my gate as soon as I moved in. When it become apparent that people can't be bothered to close a gate I had the spring installed so that it shuts itself. I really shouldn't have had to but sadly that's the way.

Froglet

That has made me smile,Tropez.i think the RSPCA have a lot worse cases to worry about than this,even if the silly woman did report you.For what exactly!

Anyway i thought it was against the law to knock on your door and ask for money? I also think i read that charity collectors who stand outside shops and the like can ,if they have a permit,do so,but not actually approach you and ask,or pester you in any way.So knocking on your door is to me,exactly the same,worse in fact
.
Coming to your door is an invasion of your privacy,worse than phone calls in my book.I NEVER answer the door unless i can see who it is,and want to open it.Even my Mum has to shout through the letterbox ,as i keep the door locked all the time!

Tropez

Froglet wrote: »

That has made me smile,Tropez.i think the RSPCA have a lot worse cases to worry about than this,even if the silly woman did report you.For what exactly!

Anyway i thought it was against the law to knock on your door and ask for money? I also think i read that charity collectors who stand outside shops and the like can ,if they have a permit,do so,but not actually approach you and ask,or pester you in any way.So knocking on your door is to me,exactly the same,worse in fact
.
Coming to your door is an invasion of your privacy,worse than phone calls in my book.I NEVER answer the door unless i can see who it is,and want to open it.Even my Mum has to shout through the letterbox ,as i keep the door locked all the time!

As far as I'm aware, both charity collectors and religious cold callers are fine under law, even in no cold calling zones (which this isn't anyway) although you do have the right to ignore them, tell them to leave etc. However, thinking about it, I do suspect that this church hasn't registered itself as a legitimate charity, in which case they are not permitted to identify themselves as one, which the lady did. If I could be bothered, I might actually pull the church up on it... but I'm pretty lazy.

I do find cold callers annoying. I work from home and sometimes I work odd hours so sleep later than normal and being woken up by some chucklehead trying to tout their nonsense is very annoying, especially when there are two signs, one easily seen before you even open the gate, and the other on the door itself, telling all such callers that I'm not interested.

I have CCTV so I can see who is at the door anyway and if it isn't someone I recognise then most of the time I just ignore them.

Person_one

Oh dear, I took my two out on a long walk in the rain the other day, maybe I should expect a knock on the door!

My parents' dog is like yours Tropez, he'll hold on till he's literally bursting before going out in the rain, yet he happily flings himself into a freezing river in the depths of winter. Dogs are weird.

cavework

At this point, she placed some sort of curse on me (or told me something about being damned anyway, I didn't quite catch the first part) and wandered off to the next house on the road mumbling.
Quote

Was she selling hand crafted lace doillies?
Had one of these on my doorstep .. sat down on the doorstep, refused to move and demanded five quid or would curse my household
I was in a REALLY bad mood at the time .. so told her to exit sharply or I would CURSE her as my ancestors where real Romany travellers at the turn of the century and had passed on the 'knowledge' to me..
She shot off never to be seen again