Why can't neighbors be NEIGHBORLY!?

SO here's the scoop guys.....I always ALWAYS try to keep it positive on this blog....but sometimes.....SOMETIMES....I GET MAD and FRUSTRATED....and these kind of things just need to be expressed. So I apologize ahead of time if its something you are offended by rant...

I wanted to make this quick but its just not possible. I live in a complex I have a FIVE POUND DOG....that does NOT BITE OR BARK....She is every bit of a house dog. I take her out ONLY to do her business and we both come back inside. NO I do NOT use a leash UNLESS there are others present. Where I live has a small courtyard where EVERYONE walks their dog at one time or another throughout the day.

Thats one statement, here's the other....I just walked my girl, and a woman sitting outside with her baby on a raised patio no where near my dog gets up and stares at me and my dog, as if I am letting a rabid rottweiler loose!!  My dog does her first order of business and comes to me for praise. After I give her a treat and praise her,  I let her go to conduct her second order of business. As we are strolling in our ITTY BITTY courtyard I hear her yell (apparently to me) "STATE LAW SAYS LEASH YOUR DOG!" (by the way there is no statewide leash law) so being that I AM from PERTH AMBOY BUT RAISED WITH MANNERS I REPLY....."HI, I'm your neighbor, I would have appreciated a lot MORE class from you, maybe along the lines of an introduction as we have never met and I find that YOU ARE WHOLLY INAPPROPRIATE IN THE WAY THAT YOU JUST ADDRESSED ME!"

And I keep moving, so she brings her hubby out as if I am some kid who's afraid to be seen as if its going to send me away, no....I actually am a homeowner in this neighborhood SO I WILL DO AS I PLEASE...then later mumbles something else I find unintelligible but it's about her having told me to leash my dog over and over again and I reply "I do not know you, we have never met, I have never been approached by ANYONE here, and surely if they had any issue with it they would have confronted me in a more mature manner than you have today stranger."

SO then she goes...GET THIS...."HONEY HOLD THIS! (She's talking about her newborn!!!) I"M GOING TO CALL ANIMAL CONTROL!!!

I couldn't help but laugh!!! MY dog is a tiny little havanese...of the bichon family...HARMLESS....and besides the woman was FOUR feet off the ground...what exactly are you going to say to animal control?????

Anyhow, I manage to find out that there is more behind this woman, she happens to be married to someone who managed to sneakily and illegally get votes from residents door to door for the association of the complex....he is wholly untrustworthy and the reason why there is such great disunity within our community when it comes to rights as homeowners...He sides with the developer which leaves us in the cold in the winters and shoddy construction with HIGH association fees all the rest of the year....I am guessing since she THINKS she has married up that she can talk to the residents as as if she is their boss. OH NO MAAM you will not....

This place is a facade for peaceful and comfortable living as well as a money pit and I wouldn't dare think that you want to flaunt that you are in anyway associate with the betterment of our community just because of who you are married too. And on that...who you marry and procreate with will not instantly give you the right to speak to people the way you did....rude, immature, and tacky.

OK RANT OVER....

All I can share from this is that if she had ONLY KINDLY confronted em with a "HELLO" or a "HI My name is so and so, and I don't want to be rude but I would appreciate it if ...." Then maybe we might have been able to come to a sort of compromise. Instead, she single-handedly made me feel like this awful criminal and completely ruined what could have been a decent neighbor relationship.

For any of you out there that are against unleashed dogs please hear me out here. Our courtyard is very secluded, and well off the main sidewalk, it is not a throughway and the other neighbors with pets also walk them in this courtyard and we are all sure to pick up after them.  Our courtyard is our substitution for a backyard.  My girl never leave my immediate side, only but a few feet while doing her business, then clings right back to me....this is why this breed is called a Velcro Dog.

On the other hand I respect those who dislike or are insecure or have a certain fear with any animals, so whenever and thats every time I see another person, I immediately leash her up, and again she is as docile as ever.  Sometimes I will immediately go back inside.

Was I wrong? Did I somehow handle that badly? I really dislike how I feel, I'm angry, I'm angry that I was treated that way, as if I was someone abusing my pet that she felt the need to shout that she was calling animal control for a 5 lb. dog, I'm angry that I feel somehow guilty for letting my dog loose even though she was NOWHERE near the courtyard and was on a patio that was FOUR feet above the ground...

Help me out here....Im just boiling with thoughts....

Thanks for listening and for those that aren't happy with this post, I hope we can agree to disagree....