Organizer Trying To Ban Neighbor's Poodle From Local Dog Competition Backed

A woman has become embroiled in an angry dispute with her neighbor after entering a show poodle into the "dog Olympics" organized for all the canines living on their street.

It's a decision that has drawn the ire of the internet after being posted to Reddit by the unhappy neighbor, writing under the handle u/Puppy_Problems23.

Many on social media sided with the disgruntled resident, while one licensed counselor told Newsweek "better communication strategies" were needed to avoid a repeat of the situation.

These days, there appears to be little in the way of love for thy neighbor. A 2021 survey of 2,000 U.S. adults conducted by OnePoll on behalf of homes.com found 36 percent had been involved in full-blown arguments with their neighbor while 25 percent remained in a long-running feud with someone living next to them.

Pets were found to be at the heart of a significant number of these issues with the study ranking "animal noise" as the second-most common reason for an argument between neighbors.

However, in this instance, two local residents ended up at loggerheads over an entirely different reason related to animals.

It all started six years ago with the first inaugural "Pup Olympics" created by the neighbor behind the Reddit post. "It's just the neighborhood dogs competing (poorly), in different silly events for two days and being rewarded with treats," they said.

"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 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."

However, the event took a turn 18 months ago when a woman with a poodle who "frequently competes in and wins dog competitions" moved in the neighborhood.

"It ruined Pup Olympics last year," the Redditor said. "This dog swept every single competition. 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."

As a result, this year the Housing Association attempted to introduce a strict "no competition dogs" rule. However, the woman got wind of it and went "ballistic." She was eventually able to overturn the decision.

Now the neighbor has decided to cancel the event entirely, prompting yet more uproar with local residents taking sides.

Commenting on the dilemma, Alexandra Cromer, who is a licensed professional counselor at Thriveworks, a nationwide provider of in-person and online therapy services, acknowledged it was an issue of "some complexity" but felt the event could return in the future.

"A way to move forward that could have better-preserved boundaries and reduced conflicts for all could have been to make the show not only equal but equitable," Cromer told Newsweek. "For example, since the dog is a poodle, maybe make some of the classes for dogs that belong to the herding dog group, for example. In others, maybe a requirement is that the dog must have been adopted from a shelter, or maybe the dog must be 'ugly.'"

Cromer noted that it would be impossible to prevent the woman from entering her dog, so the focus should be on creating "more equity for other dogs that would like to compete" and therefore create "more seats at the table" for all interested dogs.

"Better communication strategies could have involved having people submit classes and drawing approximately 3-4 at random or perhaps inviting the show dog owner to a meeting prior to the event to make sure her wants and needs are met as well as making sure she understands how her participation potentially limits equity," she said.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many on Reddit were simply unwilling to discuss the idea of a compromise. "If you had a race for neighborhood kids and an olympic gold medalist runner showed up to enter, that'd be an a****** move," one wrote. "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."

A second wrote: "I would be ashamed to compete against amateurs. When you've honed your skills for so long, the countless hours I've worked to become this stupid I would feel a deep sense of shame stooping to that level." A third added: "It's an ego thing. I guarantee you that there are professional sports players out there who would enter into an amateur competition just for the ego boost."

Newsweek has contacted u/Puppy_Problems23 for comment.

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