mljt wrote:
I take my dog to the same park every day for his walk. You get to know dogs from the local area as it's usually the same people depending on what time of day you go. There's one dog (and her owner) who I don't mind talking to. Our dogs love each other and I know a bit about the owners, so I can cope with making chit chat with them, and we usually just watch the dogs play.
But there's this woman who I've seen a few times (I recognise people by their dogs though, not by the people themselves) who has a dog which is the same breed as mine. She keeps trying to talk to me because our dogs are the same breed. That's about all we have in common. She's about 55-65 and we've spoken about the dogs in the park before. As far as I'm concerned there's nothing left to talk about.
Just now, in the park, I walked past a group of other dog owners who were standing round chatting. She was in the group, and I heard them say my dog's name and discuss what sub-breed within the breed he was. I carried on walking because I had my headphones on, which I use to avoid people talking to me. The woman kept looking at me and I think she wanted to ask me about my dog. Then later on, I saw her walking across the park towards me. I changed course and she did as well. I ended up walking near her but didn't look at her in case she tried to talk to me. She said something to my dog, but I couldn't hear it because I had my headphones on and music playing.
How do I say to her "I don't care about your ugly dog and I don't want to talk to you." (what I'm actually thinking) in a more polite way? People not wanting to talk to you is very offensive to most people I think.
Dog parks are a social experience---for both the dogs and their owners.
Don't want to exchange small talk with people who see themselves as like minded? Don't take your dog to a dog park.
It's that simple.
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AQ 34
Your Aspie score: 104 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 116 of 200
You seem to have both Aspie and neurotypical traits