Woman hit her service dog for peeing at the airport — but enraged passengers hatched a plan to make her pay before the plane even landed
Passengers on a United Airlines flight staged a quiet comeback when a troubling situation unfolded before takeoff. A large black Labrador wearing a pink "service dog" harness and a choke chain was reportedly being mistreated by its owner at the airport terminal. The details of the dog allegedly being hit and dragged emerged immediately and were shared on Reddit on December 6, 2025, by one of the passengers. This sparked a flurry of posts, calls, and careful coordination that ensured the dog’s safety before the flight even touched down in Denver.
As reported by View From The Wing on Sunday, December 7, 2025, at the gate before Flight 297 from San Francisco to Denver, the woman in pigtails traveling with the dog reportedly allowed it to urinate on the terminal carpet. Rather than stopping, she hit and dragged the dog along. Reddit user u/M_Le_Canard, one of the passengers, recalled in their story, “About 20 paces later, she bent down and hit the dog on the top of its head.” They posted an image of the woman and shared the lack of responsibility of the female, "Of course, she didn't inform anyone of the accident.” The incident quickly reached fellow passengers, who revealed the details in the comment section of the post. They called the flight attendants and contacted Denver airport police while the plane was still in the air. A user on the flight, u/Pale_Natural9272, confirmed in the comments, “OP is on the same flight, has let the flight attendants know, and she will be contacting airport police as soon as she gets off the plane.”
Updates by the Reddit user after landing also indicated that they had “called DEN airport police dispatch” and, “thanks to the efforts of u/Pale_Natural9272, the dispatcher was aware of the situation.” They added that authorities said they would send an officer to check on the dog and confirmed that the “dispatcher has the post from Pale, and my contact information.”
Other users continued sharing their concern about the incident, to which the Reddit user replied with, “I am with you about the heartbreaking nature. The poor dog just kept trying so hard, and had no idea why it was being hit and dragged along.” Others suggested filing complaints with United Airlines or speaking to a complaint resolution official handling disability issues. Comments also questioned whether the dog was a legitimate service animal. One user, u/Visible_Device7187, wrote, "That's not a service dog, and that's animal abuse. The very least you should do is show this to an employee and ask for them to check on the animal when it lands." Another user remarked that they would have confronted the woman directly, questioning her behavior and pointing out that hitting a supposed service dog in public is unacceptable, while also wondering what kind of treatment the dog might face when no one is watching.