To think dog eating my picnic wasn’t my fault

[0lgaDaPolga]

I’m genuinely interesting to know if IABU.

I was in the park with my 13 month old and 5 friends and their similar aged toddlers. We were sat on picnic blankets and the toddlers were eating their lunches.

All of a sudden a dog comes lolloping over, running all around the toddlers, sniffing them, eating bits of sandwiches out of their hands and wagging its tail in their faces. I was a bit nervous for a few seconds and grabbed my son (who was delighted by the whole situation!) until I quickly realised from the dog’s body language and behaviour that he was friendly and not being threatening.

The dogs owner came running over with 2 other dogs. She was apologetic and we said ‘it’s ok, don’t worry about it’ but she then said ‘well, I don’t know what else you expect having food open in a park’ as if it was our fault the dog ran over. So I said ‘if you can’t call your dog back and he can’t control himself around food he should be on a lead’ and she got really shirty and said it’s not the dogs fault he can’t help it around food and he is friendly so doesn’t need to be on a lead, when walked off in a huff.

Is it unreasonable to expect a dog that you can’t recall to be on a lead or is it unreasonable to eat food in a park without expecting a dog to run up to you? For what it’s worth, no one in the group I was in was confrontational or visibly annoyed when the woman came over to get her dog but she seemed very defensive and seemed to thing we were in the wrong for bringing food to the park. There were plenty of other dogs around on and off leads and none of them came anywhere near.

The dog owner is a fucking moron and totally in the wrong. If she can't control or recall her animal she needs to keep it on a short lead around people.

THIS ^

And I speak as someone with four dogs (I have had six at one point in y dog-mothering career) - I would have been so grateful that you were prepared to laugh it off I would have apologised from here o Sunday.

our dogs have better manners - and as others have said - ALL dogs allowed to roam off-leash should have better manners - we did have one, a bull terrier who was a greedy bastard and who cost us a future in replacement ice-creams, but he is the only fucker that was ever a problem. The others don't take food until they have permission to do so.

have had loads of people try to give food to my dogs, let their kids loose on dogs, even when I've asked them not to.

Have to admit this ones me off - as do people who insist that it's okay to pet my dogs when I've sat "NO" (Two of them are no problem - one is good-natured but bouncy, the fourth was ill-treated before we got her, and although she has never bitten anyone, we don't want her stressed.)

I usually detest the American attitude to guns, but realised they might have a point when I saw an aggressive dog corner a child while his mother yelled and the owner simply threw abuse

She clearly hadn't seen the police car which had pulled up, so was perhaps surprised to hear "call the dog off now or I shoot"

It worked, though ...

I would have told her the dog just ate a choccie bar, even if it hadn't. But I'm mean and would be really annoyed a dog had Un necessarily ruined my picnic.

@ChelleDawg2020 - It sounds like you had a lucky escape - the most docile of dog can turn violent with no warning or provocation.

That's slightly over dramatic. Yes, it is true that all dogs have a snapping point after which they will turn but I don't think the encounter described by the op counts as a "lucky escape".

One of my pet hates are the "lazy owner" dog leads which extend.

Just don't get me started percheron

I expect she was defence because most people are twats like the ones posting on here. It's just one of the many animals that share our world that are a bit opportunistic.

Well done for just being normal and not getting in a flap about OMG a dog.

I would have done the same. Used my stern voice and told it no. End of.

I'm cantankerous today, dog owner and dog lover. I'd be furious if I were you. People who can't control their dogs should have them on a lead. I despair of dog owners who refuse to accept that their untrained unleashed dogs are dangerous around small children and food. Be cross. Glad no harm came to you.

At my Nanas local park there is an areas specifically for dogs to be off lead, dog agility equipment etc and then other clearly defined areas for picnics etc.
Is you park like that?
Were you in the dog area?
Because that does make a difference IMO

I got told exactly the same by a dog owner when that happened to a group of my friends and small kids having a picnic, the mind boggles 🙄

You must be new here if you genuinely thought there wasn't going to be hordes of people queuing up to tell you what you want to hear.

Dogs would be extinct if twats didnt insist on feeding the filthy things she. Theyre a hygiene liability.

This is the sort of thing I could see my dog doing (not eating the picnic though, even they aren’t that naughty!) but I’d be absolutely furious with my dogs if they did do that, and would apologise profusely, and offer to replace the missing food/offer some cash for it.

YANBU.

My normally very good dog bounded up to a couple under a tree who where having a picnic I ran over but the bloke was feeding him a scotch egg. So next time poor dd is going to think everyone who has a picnic wants to feed him. Yanbu but neither is the dog.

Owner is an idiot.

My dog is a little shitbag, he knows that small children usually have a wealth of dropped/spilled food to steal or lick off sticky hands and faces, so he loves small children and pushchairs, and he really really loves small children with picnics. I know this so I keep him on a lead.

Thing is it's not just it's really rude to let a dog spoil someones picnic, humans eat a lot of foods dogs shouldn't, so the chances are there will be food at a picnic that could harm the dog. Dogs aren't smart enough to realise this so their owners should be keeping them away from picnics as much for the dogs benefit as everyone elses.

I think parks are more for children and babies than dogs.. aren't they?

Some dog owners are so entitled and selfish, YWNBU at all, it should have been on a lead in a busy park, and under control, which it was not.

The dog owner is a fucking moron and totally in the wrong. If she can't control or recall her animal she needs to keep it on a short lead around people.

We keep coming back to this. Because its true. If my dog ate someone's picnic I'd think I'd sunk very low in not being able to control him. The only caveat I'd put on it is that of course its not the dogs fault, its the owner. I had my then newborn laid out on a blanket kicking her legs whilst my 2 year old ate a picnic, and a Doberman came running over, all over the blanket, to get the good - had his paws stepped into my new baby's face or abdomen, it wouldn't have mattered how friendly it was. Eventually the owner said its ok he's only after the food. Oh well that's fucking alright then. It happened again when DCs were a bit older, and we had to throw the picnic away. Because the dog owner was a fucking moron.

"get the food" not get the good. You knew what I meant

The dog owner was completely in the wrong. The sandwiches could then have been eaten by the small children and illness result, for starters.

A dog registration scheme and proper powers to ban some people from having a dog as a pet is long overdue.

Schaden… oops!

I think parks are more for children and babies than dogs.. aren't they?

Why would you think that?

Don't dog owners and their pets have the right to enjoy fresh air and sunshine and a bit of freedom to play?

Dogs would be extinct if twats didnt insist on feeding the filthy things she. Theyre a hygiene liability.

So would you and your children be if you had to shit on the ground. That is why responsible owners pick up after their pets. And there are plenty of parents who leave soiled nappies lying around in pic-nic spots - and worse. I've had to pull dirty tampons out of my pup's mouth in the past.

I do wonder where these threads are going to go. Of course its not acceptable for a dog to start helping themselves to your picnic. I am wondering why you are posting tbh.

You also get people who hate dogs, who want them banned etc.

The thread really doesn't go anywhere apart from everyone agreeing with you.

Percheron - The number of people who think that because their pets are on an extending lead they are "under control" drives me crackers! If anything they are more of a pest because they give the illusion of being under control when they aren't.