A dog ate my butcher meat

[Rae36]

Walked down to the shops today, bought a load of meat from the butchers, decided to stop for a coffee on the way home. I was sat on a bench outside the coffee shop with my carrier bag of butcher meat beside me on the bench.

Next thing I know a massive dog (German Shepherd looking thing I would guess) has appeared from nowhere, grabbed the bag off the seat and is ripping into it, scattering the meat everywhere.

The owner started running over yelling "Stop feeding my dog, she's on a special diet, if she chokes on any plastic I"m sending you the f-ing vets bill you stupid cow" and running towards us. There was no way in hell I was putting my hands anywhere between that dog and the meat to try and stop it, it was going nuts.

He grabbed it by the collar and pulled it away, with it growling and snapping at him as it was trying to get back to the meat, twisting all around as he was holding on to it. A little kid at the next table was crying, people were getting up and moving away, it was scary.

The cafe owner came out and sent the dog and owner packing, cleared up the meat from the ground and brought me another coffee. She couldn't have been nicer to me.

The dog owner is a parent I recognise from school. As he was leaving he shouted back that he knows my kid and if anything happens to his dog he'll be "coming after me".

The cafe owner said that if there was any further trouble she would happily speak to the police or whatever for me and say what happened. They also have cctv in their patio area so it was all recorded. Another customer also came over and asked if I was okay and offered his name and number.

I'm home now and okay, but just really shaky. And without any meat. I'm sure the dog had no interest in eating me but it just appeared so fast and was tearing into the meat like a crazy thing. Imagine if it had gone for a small kid for some reason? (Although it wasn't a kid, just a bag of raw meat, I know I'm over-reacting a bit)

I'm hoping we won't hear from him again, I didn't do anything wrong, did I? Should I have done anything different? I've never owned a dog so have no idea what's reasonable. But I suspect this owner was not reasonable.

I understand why you don't want to report but you should. The dog is large and uncontrolled. The owner sounds a bit off the leash too. What happens if next time it takes food from a child and the child tries to take it back?
You recognized him and he recognized you. Call the police and report the dog while the cafe owners still have the CCTV footage. You don't have to ask for meat replacement but you should help to make the neighborhood safe from the dog (and the man!)

I’m a dog owner and lover but that behaviour is completely unacceptable - the owner that is - the dog was just being a dog - I’d have been mortified if that was my greedy hound , apologised to you and other frightened onlookers , paid for the replacement of your meat .... and assuming the comment re dogs welfare was true contacted my vet .
In your position I’d report to the police .

He's mad as a box of frogs!

He owes you for that shopping bag full of meat! You owe him nothing and personally I'd report his dog for being out of control and would also chase him for your money back - though I get why you are reluctant to do so!

But he has to be held to account for the lack of control...

The owners mothers was there and collapsed. I was rendering medical assistance whilst waiting for an ambulance, while their dog stole my leg of lamb and woofed into it!

After the ambulance arrived, collected the eldery mother etc I got a small bag of veggies from the stall. They had the cheek to charge me, even though her dog ate 5x the amount the veggies cost and i'd potentially saved their mothers life!

Have you written about that before, I’m sure I only read it recently on here?

Sorry for what happened OP, he sounds like an idiot. Maybe ask the cafe owner for a copy of the CCTV, just in case?

Took DDog for a walk on the beach a while ago. Didn't spot 2 picnickers on the ground in time to get her back on the lead. She ran over and swiped a sandwich. I was absolutely mortified, apologised profusely and as a result am way more alert now regarding other people and ddog. Would never have dreamt of getting verbally aggressive towards the people DDog stole from.

Isn't it a shame that no one has thought of a device whereby you can keep your dog under control?

You should report him. To your local authority's Animal Warden. It was an out of control dog in an area where it almost certainly should have been on the lead, it's behaviour was threatening and you are now out of pocket because of this incident.

I'm a dog owner. Only a complete arse goes through a shopping and café area (presumably on or near a public road) with their dog off the lead.

Seeing as though he vaguely threatened your child and your children attend the same school, I would be inclined to mention it to the school tbh.

I also think that you should report because of the threat that he made.

Don't get drawn into the "what ifs" though-it was clearly after the meat!

I would definitely report it. It’s unacceptable for a large dog like that to be completely out of control. Somebody could have been seriously hurt.

Never mind the fact that this man had a large dog out of control in a public place, he also threatened you and your family in front of witnesses. I would be reporting him, OP, because he is the type to make up a vet bill and hassle you for cash if he thinks he can get away with it. I understand if you would rather it was all over, but it might be worth registering a report with your local police, explain you just want it on record in case the situation escalates but don't want it going any further at the moment? I have no idea if it is possible to do that but perhaps a friendly conversation with a police officer might clarify it?

I agree with @TeapotCollection. I'd be taking the bill to him at the school!

One of our dogs did that once (complete accident and a small dog - bag with meat and other food was under a communal bench, kind of in the middle, not where the other person was sitting, and I hadn’t realised what was happening). Of course we paid for the food, and some more! And our dog hadn’t been out of control, but it was definitely my fault for not paying attention to what she was doing. We apologized profusely and paid about double the value of the food because it was very inconvenient for the owner of the food, and because I had been stupid).

I'd be reporting it simply because if the dog does have expensive issues that he tries to sue you for, you want to have your actual truthful version on record to counter with the CCTV that they wont keep for long.

You won't hear nothing from the dog owner because to was all bluster to cover his liability for the out-of-control dog and the theft of the meat.

I'd talk to the police about it. The dog is indeed out of control and possibly being kept hungry to make it 'keen'.
If a young child were walking along carrying the meat from the shops for the family tea it would have attacked them for it. Very worrying.

Of course it's not your responsibility to to worry about other people's children, but the dog needs keeping under control. It's not your word against the owner's as you have witnesses.

I would consider reporting to the police to create a paper trail. This man is not controlling his large dog. This time it was a package of meat, but it could easily be more serious. He has a legal responsibility to maintain control over his animal and he clearly does not take it seriously because the correct response to an incident that got away from him would be apologies, not anger.

I would report it if possible.

What an ignorant moron. If you’d tried to push the dog away you could be in hospital now getting stitches for a bite.

I think you need to report it to the police non emergency number. The dog was out of control, and if anything does happen to the dog, you have evidence that you weren't at fault.

I called the police non emergency number. They seemed hugely disinterested and said someone would call me back when my case made it to the top of their list.

I don't actually know the name of the man, I just recognise him from the school gate, or I recognise the dog more than the person tbh. I would have to ask around and find out his name. I'm not sure I would even know which child was his, it's a big school and his they are definitely not in the same class or year as mine.

I haven't seen them at school this term, maybe they have moved on to high school or their child is old enough to walk alone, I don't know. Parents are not encouraged in the playground now.

Half hoping our case never makes it to the top of the police list tbh but we'll see what, if anything, happens.

Well done OP. Best of both worlds. You didn’t really want to report, and nothing may come of any of it. If however, the man causes problems, there’s now a record of your call.