Bloody dogs in park burst my son's football!!!

[Failingatthemoment]

6 And 7 year olds playing with their football in the park, bloody dog comes over and grabs the ball and bursts it. No sign of dog owner 2 v upset children.

It's annoying but with the amount of dog attacks in the news lately it's only a ball and not your children being attacked.

At 6 and 7 you might want to encourage them to see the funny side of it rather than being very upset. Resilience and that. Not really the dog’s fault, but I’d still want a word with the owner!

A cocker spaniel nicked my son’s barely eaten ice cream clean out of his hand at the park the other week. I asked the owner to replace it, which he did, and then my son and I laughed about the naughty dog so it didn’t become a big drama.

My dog would do this if someone's football headed our way (now I know, I keep her on the lead if we are anywhere near loose footballs). She does it to "kill" it because, I realise, she considers footballs a painful missile being aimed at the two of us (she is a rescue and was picked up by the dog warden on the streets of inner London). She is also very uneasy if children approach her, as she was clearly tormented by children in her past life. She is ok with older teenagers and adults.

My dts would have giggled. It only a ball

It’s life

things happen

Some balls are quite expensive!!

We saw a dog piss on someone's towel on the beach last week. I honestly think the UK is beginning to get very sick of dogs.

More and more cafes and stores are going back to banning dogs in my local towns and cities.

I personally love dogs (but down own one!) - just my observations from my local area.

It's annoying but not really something to get worked up about imo.

Dogs like to play with balls just like children do - it's just that dogs have sharp teeth!

I would be grateful nobody was hurt, laugh it off and only take cheap balls to the park in future.

Life sometimes happens- sometimes children are children and dogs are dogs- Perhaps change the story to dog bit child.. bit of drama

Dogs pissed in my kids shoes at the beach. Owners looked at me, looked at the piss-filled shoes, and walked off without a words. I hate some dog owners.

I'd have grabbed the dog and waited for its owner to pay for a replacement ball before releasing it.

Not ok. Owner dog owner needs to pay for a new ball and apologise ( and not let it off the lead where they can’t see what it is doing)

I would have go and look for the owner. They couldn't have been that far away. I'd asked politely for cash to replace the ball.

Your dog sounds like a right dick.

Not Ok. Where was the dogs owner. It shouldn't have been bounding about the park without it's owner controlling it.

You're OK for loose dogs to destroy other people's property? You'd laugh about it? Completely irresponsible!

Well what are you going to do to the actual dog? Make it do community service?

Theyre really expensive and its a cost of living crisis so I'd be really cross.

As a dog owner I would expect to pay for the ball. But I suspect as the owner is out of sight they are bloody useless anyway.

I'd be mortified if my dog did this, and I would certainly pay for the ball. Can't believe people are so casual about it. Yes, these things happen, but when they do, you apologise and try very hard to put it right.

I don't think it's fair to just tell the OP that her and her children need to have resilience. This would have terrified me as a child, I was bitten by a neighbours rottweiler as a child. If a dog had bounded over to me playing in the park and bit my ball I'd have been really scared, why should I build resilience?

I had major pelvic surgery recently and was out walking on the moor trying to recover through walking and a dog jumped up at me - I was terrified it would catch my stitches and told the owner this and he looked at me as though I was being ridiculous. I shouldn't need to change my response to that, it's a genuine and proportionate fear.

You're OK for loose dogs to destroy other people's property? You'd laugh about it? Completely irresponsible!

Did I say it was okay? No.

Did I say I would laugh about with my kids - yes, because I wouldn't want them to her upset and they do need to understand that not everything needs to be stressed out over.

I have no idea how that makes me irresponsible but as long as you got to have a dig 😂

Very poor behaviour from dog owner. Sadly typical.

Anyone who thinks it’s ok to wreck other people’s property and not apologise or replace it is a twat. OK it’s only a ball - but the op presumably paid for that, and it was a toy belonging to her kids.

Our society is full of irresponsible and cheeky idiots.

I'd be furious. I'm fed up of living amongst so many dogs who poop everywhere, jump up at me, bark loudly at cafes, leave their stinking urine up the side of every wall and on every beach, try to steal my toddlers ice cream. We shouldn't have to tolerate dogs' bad behaviour. They are unpredictable animals anyway and shouldn't really be pets but that's something else altogether.

DS's ball was ruined yesterday, a ball he'd saved up his pocket money to buy himself. Yes he has a few balls to play with but I'm sad that he's learning to save his money for something he likes and it just gets ruined by someone else's dog with no apology or anything.

I also never said I thought it was ok, hence why I said I asked the dog’s owner to buy my son another ice cream.

I don’t particularly want to raise my toddler to break down in tears when a minor curveball is thrown his way though, and I don’t think it’s helpful to raise him to be shit scared of dogs either. They’re not going anywhere.

I don't think the OP should just buy cheap balls in case an off lead dog bursts it.