Pet owners leaving contact information on their animals' collars is a fairly common safety protocol.
But using the phone number to harass the pet owner is an unusual and downright creepy occurrence that befell one dog owner.
A stranger who happened to come across the dog took the number from its collar and flirtatiously messaged the owner, saying:
"Thanks for letting me pet her. We should hang out. :)"
The person likely misunderstood that pet owners leave their information on a tag so they can be contacted if their pet goes missing.
As any normal person would have done under the circumstance, the dog owner chose not to engage with the creepy stranger and ignored the invitation.
But it didn't end there.
A screenshot of the unsettling one-sided conversation was shared on the "Trashy" subReddit and it went viral.
@AvocadoDemon/Reddit
Feeling snubbed by the silence, the person texted again, this time with a hostile tone.
"Hello?" they wrote, asking:
"Why do you even have your number on her collar if you don't want people to text you?"
"What the f'k? Such a tease."
Redditors were disturbed by the messages.
Although the genders of the people involved were unspecified, Redditors expressed their horror, assuming the dog owner was a woman and the stranger was a man.
@AvocadoDemon/Reddit
@AvocadoDemon/Reddit
@AvocadoDemon/Reddit
@AvocadoDemon/Reddit
@AvocadoDemon/Reddit
Microchipping your pet is always a good idea, but perhaps people should think twice before sharing their phone numbers.
@jaketapoer/Bluesky
@BillAckman/Twitter