Dog ate my picnic

Food on the floor is something an animal would be interested in. We are all getting pedantic.

OP had her picnic on the floor also a fact. She was entitled to enjoy it.

Its a huge shame that the dog was not on the lead (point the finger at the dog owner for that not me), but its not unintelligent to suggest if there were a bench or table it might have been less stressful for her.

I am now done with this endless pedantic debate of dog v human.

I think for the fact that it wasn't 'laid out for an animal'! Plus - I'm all for having dogs off the lead but they should be good for recall whatever they are up to. My dog was great but now he is old and deaf, if I cannot see what is round a corner or it's a place for picnics then he stays on the lead.

If all dog owners were like you, the world would be a better place. And there would be far fewer threads on here about this topic!

Great...how am I unintelligent for pointing out that food was laid out on the floor for an animal.

You may call the owner of the dog unintelligent, but I am stating fact.

What seems unintelligent here the complete dog v human argument you are all creating. So random and odd.

Not necessarily, I've been to places where there haven't been picnic tables or there have been a small number of them but taken up by other people.

In that instance if I wanted to have a picnic I would just set it up on the floor, I'm quite able to and doesn't bother me. I would be bothered if someone's dog ran over and started eating my picnic.

I doubt I would have run away but I would be wary of trying to grab it, a lot of dogs react when grabbed by the collar and some of them are food aggressive.

In any case I shouldn't have to, any dog off lead should be in eyesight/control of the owner who should call it away from people. Nothing wrong with them being off lead in appropriate areas (this wasn't since there was a sign) but don't let them off if they bug people even if they are friendly.

I don't have a dog and I don't know if I ever will because of the amount of effort they require to train them. I gave up trying to train my cat to sit and I was only doing it for fun, a dog is a whole different ball game, they need training as a necessity.

There are some very unintelligent responses like this on the thread. I feel bad for the decent owners who get vilified because of posters writing stuff like this.

Sadly, I can't - I live on the south coast and the buggers are everywhere! 😂
And you're right. OP's said that she has "no knowledge of dogs" not that she's scared of dogs, per se, as a number of PPs have claimed. She saw a powerfully-built dog running towards her so was scared of this one dog and instinctively reacted to try to keep her DS safe. I have some knowledge of dogs, having owned one for almost 17 years, but I would struggle to stand my ground if a Rottweiler or XL bully came barreling towards me. I'm not keen on Staffies either - there's something about jaws that "lock on" that concern me (unsurprisingly!).

Jeez some gormless people here …. STOP BLAMING THE OP!!!
Keep your dogs on a lead….and I’m a dog owner with a very well trained dog and I keep her on a lead because you never know what will spook dogs and what they’ll do next.
I love my dog and she sleeps on my bed but dogs are not your furry babies, they are animals.
I’m truly sorry for poor dogs with rubbish owners!

Well, the point is you train them in a safe environment, using command words (and hand signals in case they become deaf in older age) and rewards (food treats or toys) and reinforce their training when out and about in busier places. Training a dog to walk to heel is fairly straightforward as you have them right next to you (on a lead initially) when you're doing it and they can smell the treats or see their favourite toy so are more compelled to stay close to you as you instruct in anticipation of their reward. Recall is much harder as you're sending the dog away from you and then trying to get them back from a distance, but the key here is that the dog wants to be with you more than it wants anything else (so rewarding them every time they come back when called is a good incentive). It takes a lot of time, persistence and patience to train a dog to recall, but if your dog has good recall and it gets away from you when you're out, you would use the command words you've taught it to stop it in its tracks and come back to you (e.g. stop/come, down/come). BUT I would never rely on this - there could be that one occasion when they forget their training so I would only walk a dog in public on a lead (I was never able to perfect my Westie's recall, but that's stubborn terriers for you! 😂 Maybe if I'd owned a Collie I'd have had more confidence.)
I also watched the series about training guide dogs. Lab's are very "biddable" so not very difficult to train, but I still think it's remarkable that they can be trained to leave food they're not allowed to touch by rewarding them with food (treats) that they are. The truth is, the majority of dogs are damned clever and eager to learn.

The breed of a dog is irrelevant in some cases. My dog was attacked by a cocker poo, blood and stitches! And actually some Shar Pei’s can be a little off with strangers. Also, on the don’t eat dangerous food in a park. My dog has chronic pancreatitis, so any food with an ounce of fat in is dangerous to my dog. It’s my responsibility to ensure he is under control, not those around me to not eat fatty food. Dogs do not need to be off their leads in busy parks. There are other places for that

What an absolute tosspot comment! From someone who has three boys/men who definitely doesn't wrap her boys in bubble wrap but has been attacked by a dog, you are talking drivel!
The problem is most dogs are safe, mine definitely is. But if my dog or any strange animal to you comes running over you are definitely going to worry or even scared if you have your children with you.

I'm assuming this is really dry humour - please say it is! Or someone trying to goad everyone - if this is the case can everyone please ignore!

Well done, hopefully you feel a bit better now 😂

So if she'd sat at a picnic table her food would have been protected from your example of diving birds (kites), would it? 🙄
Your posts could be collectively described as "dumb and dumber".
And it's 'rolls' not "roles".

Should have read your posts before posting. Glad it was sorted.

I agree that dog training should be mandatory (and yes, owner training is just as accurate!)

I think what I am trying to get at it is, in case of emergency and you somehow lose control of your dog by accident in a busy and crowded place, and there was food nearby, how do you tell them to still recall perfectly or walk to heel perfectly if they’ve never experienced it before.

I am thinking of a documentary I watched once on training of guide dogs - these were Goldies and so very food oriented but part of their training was walking them past cakes on the ground and treating them for ignoring the cakes 😂

I doubt most people would test this in a controlled environment 😂

OP has posted that she has "no knowledge of dogs" so the specific breed is irrelevant - she could only react to what she saw running towards her and her DC. Shar-peis are heavy, powerful dogs (bred to be guard dogs that are fiercely loyal to their owners, but can be aggressive to other people and other dogs due to their guarding traits) and a male Shar-pei can weigh in at over 4 stone, so it's hardly surprising that OP reacted the way she did.

I was going to suggest a post on Facebook. You can preface it with "this doesn't concern the majority of dog owners who are responsible" and I can assure you that you will get a lot of sympathy.

I did similar with a dog owner who left the massive dog mess next to a public and well used park that has a playground. Didn't post a picture as had none but if I had caught them I would have.

Such awful behaviour and much love to you and your son x

You forgot seagulls 😂
And “scared picnic lady” 🙄 could that poster get more patronising?

You are bu OP was trying to protect her child with sen, if you own a dog it's up to you to control it and the dog owner should have been more sympathetic and offer to pay for the food, why should dogs take precedence over humans

You clearly dont live in Oxfordshire haha. Red kites are a real issue. Google it.

It is what it is, if the OP (or you) do not feel the need to be aware of animals when putting food out then its your call. Not sitting here investing too much energy into this tbh.

Have a cracking day 😀

Dear God, football pitches and now "kites"?! 😂 How many more irrelevant extrapolations are you going to employ to make your entirely meritless point? You haven't done wasps and flies yet - no doubt you'll be advocating for the banning of picnics altogether soon due to the number of risks picnic'ers are so "naive" about. 🙄
A very small number of PPs have made some anti-dog posts, but the biggest division on this thread is between responsible and irresponsible dog-owners - it's clear from your posts that you're squarely in the latter group.

Roles eyes

I am not "blaming" her.

I am stating a fact that she had the option to go to choose a table/sit/find somewhere there was no risk to her food.

Does not excuse the dog owner.

That's irrelevant to the point I'm making which is that OP was not wrong to set up her picnic on the grass because she was doing so in a park that displays signs requiring owners to keep their dogs on leads so OP would have no expectation that they wouldn't be. (Most parks these days do prohibit dogs being walked off-lead in them.) The owner was walking her dog, off-lead, along a path adjacent to the park and clearly did not have it under her control (as required by law) because it came into the park alone and the owner was unable to recall it. You should never walk a dog off-lead in public unless you have trained it to have perfect recall (and even then, I wouldn't rely on it in case the dog sees something unusual that piques its interest).
STOP blaming OP for this - the dog-owner is entirely to blame, not OP.

You’re so sweet as well still having compassion for the dog. Just a stupid ignorant owner dog has