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?

@Offmyfence

So it was a quiet sorry, a mumbled sorry and a sorry with a shrug?

And the coat you've suddenly discovered is ripped.

You must've got no sleep last night, what with the thread and cleaning the ripped coat!

Seriously what is the point of this response PP.

I said at the outset I acknowledge it's a bit precious of me and I was thinking about it whilst not sleeping (for other reasons)

My qualifying about the apology was the response that "well the owner apologised" I was emphasising that it wasn't really much of an apology and I said it's a bit of a rip which at the time of it happening and me posting I didn't realise.

Bore off. You're the problem with Mumsnet.

I would feel pretty awkward if someone offered to pay for my dry cleaning. A simple ‘sorry’ would do.

Let the mud dry and brush it off.

That's what coats are for.

Dog owner was a pratt.

*Seriously what is the point of this response PP.

I said at the outset I acknowledge it's a bit precious of me and I was thinking about it whilst not sleeping (for other reasons)

My qualifying about the apology was the response that "well the owner apologised" I was emphasising that it wasn't really much of an apology and I said it's a bit of a rip which at the time of it happening and me posting I didn't realise.

Bore off. You're the problem with Mumsnet.*

You're changing the events to gain more sympathy! Laying awake about this is ridiculous!

You posted at 2am them by 8.30 am you'd found the coat had been ripped... really?

also, I'm allowed to post on an open thread, so do t try to be the MN police, because that is boring.

@WTF475878237NC

I would have offered to pay for your coat to be cleaned. Blaming you for an untrained dog pounce is like saying she shouldn't have worn a short skirt around all those men.

^^ This - completely and 100%. The OP shouldn't have to consider the actions of out of control dogs when choosing what to wear for a walk in the park, just as women shouldn't have to take into account the possibility that some random man can't control himself when choosing what to wear on a night out. Some of the replies on this thread making this the OPs problem for choosing to wear a dry clean only coat are frankly appalling.

@Offmyfence

*Seriously what is the point of this response PP.

I said at the outset I acknowledge it's a bit precious of me and I was thinking about it whilst not sleeping (for other reasons)

My qualifying about the apology was the response that "well the owner apologised" I was emphasising that it wasn't really much of an apology and I said it's a bit of a rip which at the time of it happening and me posting I didn't realise.

Bore off. You're the problem with Mumsnet.*

You're changing the events to gain more sympathy! Laying awake about this is ridiculous!

You posted at 2am them by 8.30 am you'd found the coat had been ripped... really?

also, I'm allowed to post on an open thread, so do t try to be the MN police, because that is boring.

I haven't changed the events. And I wasn't lying awake about this specifically. I don't particularly want sympathy it's a coat. I'm fine and I've said earlier chalk it up to experience.

You're allowed to post where you like and everyone is allowed to judge you on what rubbish you write.

@Offmyfence your comments are ridiculous and childish. It's not rocket science, don't inconvenience others by being irresponsible in your dog ownership. Doesn't matter if the coat was ripped or not ripped, muddy or not muddy. Dogs shouldn't be allowed to approach strangers and jump up on them. Some people might be fine with that, others won't be. Why are you struggling so much with that part of the story? Why are you focusing so much about legitimacy of a ripped coat?

The amount of times I have been walking with my on lead dogs and an off lead one runs up, irritates them, intimidates them and generally makes our walk stressful is unacceptable. There has only been one occasion where a dog has shown aggression in these circumstances but that was enough to make me nervous about it for life. What would I have done if a fight had broken out? Just keep your fucking dogs on a lead if they aren't trained to come back, why is that so hard?

I really think it's fair to be annoyed about the coat. Coats aren't cheap, lots of them are either dry clean only or a hassle to clean. The OP shouldn't have to dress for someone else's muddy walking route!

let mud on coat dry do NOT try to wipe off when wet
When dry brush mud off with stiff brush
Even if coat is dry clean only you can usually use slightly cold wet clothe & perhaps a tiny bit washing up liquid (check this on lining to see if it leaches colour first) for small stains

As a dog owner I would be absolutely mortified and would have stopped to check you and your coat were ok.
Saying that, I wouldn’t offered it to be dry cleaned as that it wouldn’t have crossed my mind it was dry cleaned only.
I think your getting a bit of a tough go on this thread. It is totally acceptable to believe that you can go for a walk in a park and not get jumped on by a dog.

[quote dramallama55]@Offmyfence your comments are ridiculous and childish. It's not rocket science, don't inconvenience others by being irresponsible in your dog ownership. Doesn't matter if the coat was ripped or not ripped, muddy or not muddy. Dogs shouldn't be allowed to approach strangers and jump up on them. Some people might be fine with that, others won't be. Why are you struggling so much with that part of the story? Why are you focusing so much about legitimacy of a ripped coat?

The amount of times I have been walking with my on lead dogs and an off lead one runs up, irritates them, intimidates them and generally makes our walk stressful is unacceptable. There has only been one occasion where a dog has shown aggression in these circumstances but that was enough to make me nervous about it for life. What would I have done if a fight had broken out? Just keep your fucking dogs on a lead if they aren't trained to come back, why is that so hard? [/quote]
Have you read that I've said the owners weren't good? Your post makes no sense, I've already acknowledged they were wrong.

I think it makes a big difference a cost being muddy or a coat being ripped.

I'd be livid is someone's badly behaved dog jumped on me. Absolutely ridiculous some of these responses. The owners are horrible and should have offered to pay for a cleaning. What if the dog had ripped the coat? They didn't even care to check.

Anyway. No more posting on this thread for me.

I wish I'd have been a bit more assertive and I might have got a bit of a better acknowledgment/apology for what happened.

At least I can treat myself to a new coat.

All wool coats need to be dry cleaned. Not very unusual to have a dry clean only coat.

Yes, and if you let mud dry on a wool coat it will brush off. That's what it is for.

Dogs that jump up on people shouldn't be off lead imo. This is clearly normal for the dog or the owner wouldn't have been so offhand. I'd be very pissed off, and if you see them again, tell them. You're only supposed to let your dog off lead if they can be kept under control, and dogs jumping on people is not under control.

The responses on this thread are batshit!

So OP should have been prepared for someone’s else’s filthy animal to make her dirty by wearing a washable coat while out for a coffee?

Absolutely disgusting entitlement by the kind of ignorant bastards who are the reason the streets are full of dogshit.

@SarahProblem

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.

Who would you send the dry cleaning bill to if a bird shat on you?

To be fair, they jump up when on a lead too.

When people come in to pet them without asking; when kids run up shouting 'doggy'; when men choose to show how hard they are by ruffling their ears; when people say stupid things like "I'm good with dogs, me" and help themselves to petting your dog.

Again, this dog owner was a twat. But that traffic isn't one way.

@CrabbyAggie

The responses on this thread are batshit!

So OP should have been prepared for someone’s else’s filthy animal to make her dirty by wearing a washable coat while out for a coffee?

Absolutely disgusting entitlement by the kind of ignorant bastards who are the reason the streets are full of dogshit.

No.

But just because a coat is dry clean only doesn't mean it should be dry cleaned every time it gets wet ot muddy.

Maybe look at the rest of the advice: let the mud dry and brush it off.

And most/all people have said the dog owner was a twat.

And wehen you own a dog you start to notice what else streets are full of. One walk: bits of used tissues paper, wet wipes; all sorts of food debris; plastic wrappers galore; spit, chewing gum, fag ends. All of which have to be navigated so my dog won't try to eat them!

And even on the shittiest of streets there is far more human crap than dog shit!

@CrabbyAggie

The responses on this thread are batshit!

So OP should have been prepared for someone’s else’s filthy animal to make her dirty by wearing a washable coat while out for a coffee?

Absolutely disgusting entitlement by the kind of ignorant bastards who are the reason the streets are full of dogshit.

I don't think ANYONE has said that.

People are just saying that parks in winter are not the ideal place to be wearing clothes that require specialist cleaning. I mean, people can wear what they want, of course, but I certainly wouldn't wear anything that needed dry-cleaning out to a park in the middle of January.

Not because I think it's acceptable for dogs to jump up, but because I know parks in winter are often muddy, full of puddles and not places you go if you want to stay clean.

@Offmyfence it really doesn't make a difference what condition the coat* was in. The fact that it got damaged/dirty makes it worse but even if it hadn't, it's still wrong for dogs to be jumping up at strangers. People don't like it and shouldn't have to tolerate it when it's so bloody simple to just put a dog on a lead!

It's the height of bad manners and selfishness. If you agree the owners were wrong then why are you nit picking over the state of the coat? That's what makes no sense.

They have no reason to cover your bill because you’re in a park where dogs are allowed. There are places in parks where no dogs are allowed and you should go there.

However the dog owners were dicks for not at least saying sorry, sorry isn’t hard to say

The dog owners were dicks but at the same time I wouldn't wear a dry clean only jacket on a muddy walk - what if you'd slipped over 🤷‍♀️

Oh FGS! Yes, it was YOUR fault OP - you should fully expect unruly dogs to jump on you in a public place - their dogs right to bound about uncontrolled trumps YOUR right to wear a nice coat.

Dogs that jump up on people shouldn't be off lead

It's really as simple as this. And the fact they made the "no food for you there" comment suggests they are used to their pet being a nuisance.

I once had a dog come up to us whilst eating outside a cafe and snatch food off my dd's plate. The owners thought it was hilarious. I suffice to say, did not.

There are places in parks where no dogs are allowed and you should go there.

Do you know anywhere where this rule is followed though?

Dogs aren't supposed to be off lead in certain areas in our park but no one pays any notice - so are people without dogs not supposed to go there?

Control your fucking dogs people!