That's going to come across as threatening though.

Of course. I think he probably meant it to be threatening in a vague way. "Do what I say or else" is a pretty common thing to say in heated arguments. It usually isn't something people call the cops for though. If I was here and I actually felt threatened, I probably would have left. But did you see the video? She gets up in his face and he has to asks her to step back. THEN she calls the cops. Does that sound like she felt her life was in danger? Or that the dog's life was in danger? She then tells him "I'm gonna tell the cops an African American man threatened me". This to me, came across like a "tattler" hoping win the argument through power of authority. "I know the teachers gonna side with me. You just wait. Here's what I'm gonna tell them." None of that sounds to me like she felt like he was going to poison her dog. So why the hell are people in here saying he was gonna poison her dog?