AIBU: dog owner in park

[SarahProblem]

I can't sleep so thinking about a situation from earlier today. I totally accept I'm probably being a bit precious.

DP and I were sat in a local park. It's a bit muddy but dry enough to sit on a bench and have a coffee and a cake from the nearby bakery.

A family comes along the path nearby comprising of a man on a mobility scooter maybe early forties, a similarly aged woman walking, their child and dog probably mix breed mostly Labrador, off lead bounding around - very cute

DP and I are mid conversation... Labrador runs over to me without me noticing ..and jumps up on my back muddy paws and body leaving a massive mark down dry clean only coat. owners see this happen and say "(dog name) no food for you there come here " man in scooter drives over and says a quiet "oh sorry " ... And drives away.

DP shouts over :"your dog made a mess of partners coat ..that's really not on. Are you not going to even asses the damage"... Family just half ignore/shrug and walk away. In the moment we were too busy dabbing mud to do anything...not sure there's much to do ...we're not confrontational people.

AIBU to expect some sort of gesture? E.g. give me your number and we'll cover dry cleaning bill. Or is it just one of those things?

People on sat benches where I walk my Labradors usually equal picnic in the vicinity too. I always re-call mine as they will come sniffing for your cake. Any bread that people feed the ducks too? My Labs are going swimming for it.

Anyway, I'd be very apologetic to you and offer you a tissue but I'd never go out walking in my best coat.

Annoying but can't you just use a damp cloth to get it off

@vivainsomnia

It’s unsociable to leave dogs running free. They are unpredictable and can, and do, cause difficulty for other people and other dogs. Even if well trained, things can go wrong. Your dog doesn’t have more rights than I do Here we go again, didn't take long for the dog haters to show up to want to punish all dogs and shout their rights. I don't know why you bother, it will never happen because...you're unreasonable.

I am not a dog hater. I have a dog. It’s kept on the lead unless we are in a private field. It’s been attacked more than once by insufficiently trained off lead dogs with owners miles behind ineffectually calling their name because they have no recall.

Care to try again?

I'd never go out walking in my best coat.

It wasn't a "walk" though.

@WeaversDivas

People on sat benches where I walk my Labradors usually equal picnic in the vicinity too. I always re-call mine as they will come sniffing for your cake. Any bread that people feed the ducks too? My Labs are going swimming for it.

Anyway, I'd be very apologetic to you and offer you a tissue but I'd never go out walking in my best coat.

Where does it say she went walking along a path in a park her best coat? And even if she did, so what? She’s fully entitled to, there’s no law against it. There is, however, a law about having your dog under control at all times. Decent dog owners would offer to pay for the damage/mess caused by their dog.

It’s been attacked more than once by insufficiently trained off lead dogs with owners miles behind ineffectually calling their name because they have no recall.

Mine too!

@SoupDragon eh? She didn’t levitate onto a bench in the middle of a park.

It’s just so rude to allow their dog to do that. I take my dog for a quick walk at lunchtimes and will often wear one of my nice work coats for time saving rather than get changed. Ive had someone’s allow their dog to jump up at me and put muddy paws on my coat, no apology or even at effort to call it back they just walked off. I wouldn’t dream of letting my dog jump all over someone he goes straight on a lead if I think he may be an unwelcome pest. Some people give decent dog owners a bad name

Why are so many posters keen to blame the OP who was literally just sat there minding her own business instead of the irresponsible dog owners who, rather than simply leash their dog, let it bother other people. It's absolutely obvious who is at fault here.

A lot of dog owners don't care to be honest, we were in a park (as in the bit with the swings and slide in not just a grassy one) and someone brought their dog in. Several people said they're not permitted in here oh but she's so friendly and well behaved blah blah- sure enough walking from one bit of equipment to another she bounds over and knows DS to the floor before I have time to do anything and won't get off of him. I didn't know what to do as I thought if I touch her she might bite him, so woman saunters over causally and says ah look trying to play. No fuck off.

Tldr- control your fucking dogs.

[quote HandforthParishCouncilClerk]@SoupDragon eh? She didn’t levitate onto a bench in the middle of a park.[/quote]
🙄

She walked from the bakery/cafe to a bench along a solid concrete path apart from a short 3m walk to the actual bench. That is not a "walk" and is why I used inverted commas.

They should've made more of an effort to apologise and really they need to keep the dog on the lead if it acts like that, but paying for your dry cleaning seems a bit ridiculous. I wouldn't wear a posh coat to a muddy park. At the same time I'd probably be horrified if my dog did this to someone as he knows better than to run off and jump on people. I think in an enclosed field it's fine to let them off as long as they are well behaved and don't just run wild.

I wasn't on some muddy walk I very much kept to areas and activities that I was appropriately attired to do (see comment re clean boots). There were sections of the park that were muddy that we avoided.

I literally can not impossibly understand why some posters are like ‘your fault OP’! It was the stupid bloody dog and the owners in the wrong!!!!! So clear!!

@StoneofDestiny

I wouldn't offer to pay for someone's dry cleaning

That's like saying you don't want to pay for damaging someone else's car when you crashed into it!
If you, or what you are supposed to be in control of, damage someone else's property, you are responsible for the bill - like it or not.

It’s not really the same. Dry mud will brush off. Dents in cars won’t.

Dogs should be on a lead and the owners of that dog are rude and selfish. Ignore the other rude self-centred posters. I have a dog and I would’ve been mortified if she did that to you! Although she wouldn’t because I don’t let her off the lead in a public place!

Dry mud will brush off

As I posted upthread, not all mud just brushes off leaving no mark - it depends what’s in the mud, and what material and what colour the coat is.

I am not a dog hater. I have a dog. It’s kept on the lead unless we are in a private field
How often is that? My dog vets two walks a day where she gets proper exercise, and she loves it. No private field anywhere near us so she would of get to exercise once a week maybe.

Yet she never ever goes to people because she is scared of them anyway. Why should she be punished for other dogs behaviour? Don't assume tour circumstances apy to very dog and dog owners.

Don't assume tour circumstances apy to very dog and dog owners.

That's exactly what you are doing, assuming that all dogs are like yours.

They aren't. Large numbers are badly trained with poor recall in my experience.

@vivainsomnia

I am not a dog hater. I have a dog. It’s kept on the lead unless we are in a private field How often is that? My dog vets two walks a day where she gets proper exercise, and she loves it. No private field anywhere near us so she would of get to exercise once a week maybe.

Yet she never ever goes to people because she is scared of them anyway. Why should she be punished for other dogs behaviour? Don't assume tour circumstances apy to very dog and dog owners.

We didn’t have dogs till we knew we could give them this, because we didn’t want to risk our dogs being a nuisance to other people. We live in a small country town and have the ability to use a private field here.

If you don’t have private space to exercise your dog off lead, then you need to find a responsible way to exercise your dog which doesn’t have the potential to cause a nuisance to other people.

If your dog is scared of people then she is a potential danger, if frightened or surprised by something unexpected. I’m surprised you feel confident enough to let her run free around other people, especially where there could be children, who are also unpredictable.

That's exactly what you are doing, assuming that all dogs are like yours
Mummy no I'm not! I said dogs do misbehave but they are not the majority. Most dogs cause no issues and need to run free for their wellbeing.

I've been jumped on by dogs, maybe once every few months going out twice a day, so not often at all. It annoys me when it happens but really not the end of the world.

I wouldn't have expect them to hand over any money or details, but I would expect them to be abashed, apologise and put the dog on a lead. (As a dog owner)

@vivainsomnia

I am not a dog hater. I have a dog. It’s kept on the lead unless we are in a private field How often is that? My dog vets two walks a day where she gets proper exercise, and she loves it. No private field anywhere near us so she would of get to exercise once a week maybe.

Yet she never ever goes to people because she is scared of them anyway. Why should she be punished for other dogs behaviour? Don't assume tour circumstances apy to very dog and dog owners.

Most dogs of a lead will jump up at other people or lunge at dogs that are on a lead. It’s annoying and can be very scary depending on how big the dog is!

*off not of

@MsAgnesDiPesto, please spare me the dog psychogy non sense!

My dog is fine running around because she's been trained well, that's all.

As for tour assumption she is a danger to others, you couldn't be further from the truth. Ironically, the one attack from another dog that really scared ne was when she was on the lead, passed another one on the lead and he jumped on her and attacked her despite no provocation at all. Didn't even get an apology from the dog owner.