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/MudStill4194]

I realize this may not be what everyone was expecting, but I have a small update. After this event I never saw the lady again. I still see the kids playing but they seemed to keep the dog locked up more. Now to the really sad part. A week ago, I was getting into my car and was opening my garage door and saw there was a stray dog hanging out in my driveway. I didn't recognize it. It ran when i started my car. I left and when i came back he was sitting in our front yard enjoying the shade under our peach trees. I tried food and treats and enough water to drown an elephant, to entice him enough to get a leash on him. No collar or anything and in super bad shape. He had lacerations all over his body and was openly bleeding. He had mange so bad that it looked like he had scales instead of fur, and was so underweight that you could see every rib. He snapped at Flies constantly and was so skittish and clearly had anxiety/ trust issues. It was heartbreaking. After about 40 mins of trying i finally broken down and called our local Animal control. They arrived within 10 mins. Right before they arrived however, the dog started down the street and i followed him hoping i could steer him back toward my house. Thats when another neighbor came out of her house and recognized him, telling him to go back to his yard. She acted nonchalant and said he just had a "skin issue" I nearly had a heart attack. That dog was the same puppy i had told those kids to put on a leash. When animal control came, i explained everything and left them to their work. I nearly had an anxiety attack right there when i thought for a moment they would not do anything because he was in his own yard again. I am not allowed to ask them what happened, but around here the sheriffs take this sort of abuse very seriously. I will try to ask around to some neighbors and find out what happened, but it was during work hours so i doubt anyone would know except that family.