Dog ate my picnic

Of course she should...

Nope! she absolutely shouldn't...

The owner was completely and dangerously incompetent...as a result of her untrained dog and her attitude her dog will probably die.

It's amazing the knots some dog lovers will tie themselves into to attempt to defend the indefensible.

I wonder if they know how daft they look.

This is the second thread I've read this morning where some are berating a mother who had concerns for her child and wanted to protect them in the presence of a dog 😡. Have they been or are they parents? I love my dogs but there is no way in hell I would put them before any child.
@givingitupok you protected your child and did the right thing in the heat of the moment. It's not as if the dog gave you any choice given how it attacked your food. Any repercussions for the dog lie solely with owner who allowed the dog to roam in an area where it should have been on a leash. I would contact the parks management and make them aware of the incident. Maybe they could arrange a few visits to deal with irresponsible dog owners and issue fines.

They don't lol

Fool. 🙄

I would be fuming too. I find dog owners mostly ignorant or rude. I often have to get up or pick up my food when the dogs come round sniffing. I hate when they drool over my stuff too!
Definitely YANBU.

What a horrible reply.

Ridiculous to have a natural reaction to what could of been a dangerous situation? Really? She wasn't ridiculous to run away, she was scared. And when you know it ran over and ate all their food why are you claiming it was just infront of it's owner? You read what happened, why twist it to suit your narrative?

Your absolutely right, most dogs off lead are not going to be dangerous dogs. But some are. Last year an elderly couple got mauled off an off lead dog and then verbally abused off the owner at our local park. It does happen.

I really wonder if it makes people feel good when they wrote nasty snippy replies for no reason. Feeling all powerful are we 🤷‍♀️

Also echo this, OP. I’ve had dogs all my life but I absolutely do divert my route, especially if I have the DCs with me, if I see a dog I don’t like the look of. It’s common sense.

That’s a really crap dog owner for allowing that. I was once on a beach with my mum who was playing with my toddler and a shitty dog owner let her dog cock its leg and piss on my mum. When I told the owner off she had the gall to yell at me saying we shouldn’t have been sitting down!! Still furious and it was 15 years ago.

Hope your son is ok. Most dogs and owners are responsible and I hope your son gets to experience them so he can appreciate we are not all like that.

I've always prided myself on being a responsible owner. My dogs have never been problem dogs, they have all been well-mannered and never allowed to run riot.
You have absolutely no right - or reason - to make these accusations on the back of me making one flippant comment.
"Owners like me" are the ones keeping our dogs under control, not allowing antisocial behaviour, cleaning up after our dogs and encouraging responsible handling.
If you look at any number of threads on the Doghouse you will see that I consistently advocate responsible dog behaviour.

Hey OP haven’t read the whole thread but wanted to commiserate - I’ve been attacked twice by off the lead dogs when out with mine - bitten quite badly the second time, putting myself between me and the dog. The owners ran off! So I would probably run behind a tree if there was a handy one next time. And if you think you looked like a fool, imagine me running out of the park constantly if I see anything that looks like a big dog off the lead in the distance ( a fair few bully types round here to add an extra level of terror)

and those posters - it’s not you it’s them

My last dog was a menace with other people’s picnics. I discovered this when she came away from an (adults only) picnic with a sausage roll in her mouth. I was completely mortified, although they were very good about it. In fairness, she was off the lead on a river bank, not in a park, and their picnic was hidden by the slope so I didn’t see it, but I couldn’t imagine being anything other than completely apologetic. I got used to scanning the horizon for potential picnickers after that. Dog owners are like the rest of the population - generally reasonable with some complete arseholes. Unfortunately you met an arsehole, OP.

Spot on. And Shar-peis are guard dogs who have a fiercely loyal nature and are known for being affectionate to their owners, but can sometimes be aggressive towards unknown people and other dogs due to their protective nature. In any case, all dogs can be unpredictable and OP (or anyone else) shouldn't be expected to guess if a dog could turn nasty or not. The irresponsible owner of this dog was entirely to blame for what took place. OP was not - in any way.

I must ask, how did your dog peel the foil off of the coins?

why is this instinctive?
is this instinctive to be a vigilante?

Oh come on, most dogs off leads with owners in a public park are not going to be dangerous dogs. Every day dogs and people interact at open spaces across the country without incident. Running away afraid is a ridiculous over reaction to a dog who has just gone ahead of its owner. I guess in the world of mumsnet everything is a danger, I mean answering the phone or door isn’t the done thing, let alone assume a dog in a public park isn’t out to savage everyone. The hysteria for basic every day things on here is ridiculous.

a likely story!
i still stand by my comments, op took photos of dog and owner, just because,
and posted on facebook with fake concern

OP was actually taking a photo of the owner and her dog. I'm sure this was instinctive because the woman had been so obnoxious.
As it turns out, OP's instinct was rather prescient because the FB post has allowed the owner to be identified by a relative and warned to take her dog to the vet urgently.

Unfortunately the fur baby brigade will deny that their little baby could do anything wrong. It happens everywhere, dog attacks sheep and lambs - it is just been friendly and wanting to play. There was an incident locally and there were the 'it was an accident, they happen!' cries of defence.

Dog jumps over you - you are the one at fault for not enjoying getting licked and nibbled and covered in dog hair. It is young, not had any training etc I have heard every single excuse as to why I have nip bites on my arms and legs.

A dogs manners are usually an accurate reflection of the owners, I just yell hard at the dog and if nothing else it may embarrass the owner with the attention. Dog might even get the message. I would also have a ton of grapes and sultanas out just in case. Coffee is also bad for them as an owner said when her manky lab crawled over me to get at my cup.

Yes ignore those posts. Ridiculous

I was on the local beach yesterday with my young dd. Rural area so very few people about. My dd was paddling, I was watching her when I suddenly felt something at my back. It was a terrier that had run up, no owner in sight. I tried to keep it away from dd but it got over to her anyway and jumped up at her. She got upset and started howling. Owner still nowhere in sight. He did, finally, appear and put the dog on lead, along with the usual “he’s only young,” “he’s just being friendly.” I pointed out that, friendly or not the dog had scared my daughter and got a mumbled apology. The thing is that, from the direction he came from her would have seen the toys on the beach so would have known there was a high chance there was a young kid in the vicinity.

Your minimising of the OP’s fear and disbelief of the facts and accusations of her exaggerating show exactly what kind of owner you are. Owners like you make it so much harder for the many more decent owners who get then tarred by the same brush.

Why would anyone tell someone just to stay put when a strange, untethered dog is charging towards them? It’s ludicrous to tell people to ignore their primal urge to flee from possible harm. I don’t care if it’s the Hound of the Baskervilles or a handbag sized chihuahua, my gut instinct is to at least jump up ready for action. And as for simply putting a hand up and shouting ‘no’, it’s laughable. My SIL’s dogs would bark in your face, charge past your outstretched hand and start snaffling your sandwiches with gay abandon. And she would run after them screaming dramatically, arms flailing. And they would ignore her. Which is the crux of the problem here. Stupid dog owners who don’t train or restrain their animals. There’s a lot of it about. They give decent dog owners a bad name.

and you took a photo of said dog and posted it on facebook because you read here that dogs shouldnt eat grapes and you wanted to warn the owner ha
what on earth make you take a photo in the first place @givingitupok
what were you going to do with the photo?

@BigFatBully Did you read all of OP's posts? (It always helps before posting.)