I took my dog Barney with me to the local shops ( South Shields, UK ) last weekend, firstly to take Barney for his walk and Secondly to buy some Alcohol for the following day because we were having some friends visiting us.
I have never had any trouble with the Teenagers who usually hang around the shops because i know most of them . But this night was different.
It was about 9 pm and the kids had obviously already been drinking. I said Hi to the ones that i knew. And i got some sort of a mumble back which i could not understand. So i tied Barney up outside the shop and went inside to make my purchase.
When i came out the gang of about Eight lads, male and female had untied Barney and were running around with him. One of the girls then turned to me and said ” you can have your mut back, if you give us some booze “. I told them their was no chance that was going to happen, and unless i got my Barney back unhurt i would call the Police.
The reply i got was ” call them, they can’t do anything, and we know all the Cops anyway. We are always talking to them, and if you touch one of us, you will be the one getting arrested ”. I have since checked this out and would have been me in trouble with the Police. I would have been arrested for Assault.
Anyway, the night was saved when One of the kids Fathers came around the corner. As luck would have it, i knew him and told him what was going on. To the fathers credit he gave his Son a slap and told him to get home. The rest of them just walked off quietly.
The lad who had hold of Barney gave him back to me and said he only did it to stay with the gang. I did report it to the Police and all they said was, they knew about them and would keep an eye on them. That really filled me with confidence. ( NOT )