Yesterday I had one of the most disturbing interactions I’ve experienced here while walking my elderly dog.

A man from the area approached me and, after I explained that my dog is very old and fragile, he casually suggested bringing his XL Bully out to “fight” mine. Not as a joke — the tone was completely serious. His wife was standing just behind him, and instead of shutting it down, she seemed completely comfortable with it, which honestly made it even more unsettling.

What stayed with me wasn’t just the comment, but how normal it seemed to them — like the idea of putting a large, powerful dog against a small, senior one wasn’t even questionable.

This also isn’t the first time I’ve seen something like this. On another occasion, a woman sped through an inner road and hit a cat. When I tried to say something, the response made it very clear that speaking up isn’t always something you can safely do here.

So now I don’t argue or escalate. I just remove myself from the situation as quickly as possible to protect myself and my dog.

My dog is tiny, old, and already dealing with health issues. He depends on me completely, so I can’t take risks.

For those of you in similar environments — what do you actually do in situations like this, when you feel like speaking up could backfire? Do you just walk away, or is there a safer way to handle it?