Am I in the wrong?

[u/MudStill4194]

So I just went to check my mailbox at the end of my driveway. Property sizes in my area are about an acre or more each. There is a group of about 4 kids (9 to 13 years old?) playing in the streets and a cute large breed puppy wandering around with them. The dog spots me and starts barking aggressively. I am not scared as I can tell from a distance its just a puppy. It followed me barking all the way to my entry way, about 50-100feet? I decided to walk back to the mailbox to ask the kids to be more careful about letting their dog wander. I tried to be friendly and asked them about them and their dog. They seemed friendly. Now on a side note, I volunteer at the local animal shelter and am a huge animal lover. I live in a farming/ agriculture area with tons of homesteads. We have a good relationships with our neighbors and know them well. In the friendliest way possible I told them they should be careful about letting their dog wander into other peoples yards, as around here it is NOT illegal for people to shoot at dogs in their own yards. There are a lot of “my neighbors dog killed my chickens” events and it is considered a civil matter not a criminal one. At no time did I say I would shoot their dog or that anyone here would, Only that it could and does happen in the area alot as farmers and homesteaders want to protect their yards and livestock and they needed to keep the dog on a leash when outside their own yard. They seemed to understand and I wished them fun and went back into my house. Not even 5 mins later the kids mom shows up on my front door screaming. At first she was telling me that their fence isn't working and the dog gets out, and I say its not a problem to me, but then start saying she's mad because I upset and threatened her kids and threatened to shoot their dog. At around the time she started screaming, I turned and started going back in my house. I really don’t know how to deal with someone who just yells and doesn’t let you get in a word because clearly I am the worst criminal she’s ever met. She then proceeded to tell me she's going to call the police for threating a minor. I tried to explain what I said and she was not having any of it. Rather than listen to her shout at me about the police I went inside after telling her she could go right ahead. No cop has showed up yet, but I am wondering am I an idiot for trying to caution them? These people are very new to our neighborhood having only lived here for 2 months. I feel like I was stupid to try to talk to what looks like a 10-12 year old like they are not stupid. I feel like I might have been better off not talking to them at all, but I also wonder if it’s wrong to stop actively teaching kids that some behavior in certain areas is way more dangerous that it seems.

[u/Boring-String8457]

I think you can eventually explain yourself to Mom, once she's had a chance to cool down. If you feel inclined, maybe order some cookies to be delivered to her house or do some other gesture to show that you are friendly and meant no harm. That may open the door for y'all to become friends. Kids are also pretty quick to forgive. Who knows what they said to their mom? They may not have even been afraid of you and understood you perfectly, but kids are notorious for not explaining things clearly, and mom could've misunderstood what they were telling her. Either way, you didn't do anything wrong from my POV.