Come get your dog, Karen

This was about 10 years ago, but I remembered it today, as this event always stuck out in my memory as significant.

I was in my old neighborhood on a walk and found a small dog running around yards / in the street. We had a leash law and people didn't really let their dogs out like that, so it was clear he was lost.

I tried to catch him, but he lead me on a 30 minute chase. He was very skittish, dirty, and thin, but otherwise looked to be some kind of small, designer breed.

At home, I jumped on the internet and quickly found a post for this missing dog.

Stupidly, I called the number to tell the owner where he was, so she could come get him. I didn't have the dog, but I had a location where he was still running around and the approximate area where she could find him.

The woman was pissed off I called her while not in possession of her dog. She was angry.

I told her where he was continually running around and when, and she argued with me the value of this information. It's not like I called her two weeks after the fact -- her dog had been missing for over a week.

She would say: "You don't have him?"

and I would say: "No, but he's running around just down the street at [area]. If you or one of your family members comes down to [specific area of gigantic neighborhood] you can probably get him."

and she just got angrier, asking why I couldn't capture him and why I would call her if I didn't have him... and I explained how I tried for at least 30 minutes, with the help of some of my neighbors. She got defensive to boot, while I couldn't understand her unwillingness to come get him off of the street. I offered to meet her outside, in the daylight, and I asked for nothing in return.

She did not live close by -- she was on the other end of the neighborhood -- it's not like he lived on that block he was running around on.

If it were my dog and someone saw him in a certain area, that's where I would search. It's just logical.

But clearly, even slightly valuable information wasn't good enough.

I got shitty with her in the end and said "Well, I guess I won't give you a call if I see him again."

and she said, "Well, thanks for nothing!"

We hung up. I saw that dog hanging around my part of the neighborhood a few more days and then he must have continued his travels. Who knows if animal control got him or if he got hit by a car.

I assume this woman didn't really value her dog and maybe that's how and why he got out in the first place. She also didn't have any attachment to the responsibility of his safety and well-being.

The reason think she was Karen-like was because no matter how nice and mitigating I tried to be on the phone, she just got more pissed off that I called her to say where I saw him instead of that I had him. By the end of it, I was emotional that she drew me into a hostile, confusing discussion, instead of giving a normal response, which would have sounded like "thank you" at the very least.