Dog burst my son's football

[Maverick99]

Took my 5yo football mad son to the park today to play with his new football that he got for his birthday. It cost £45 and was the first time he'd used it, after months of begging me for it.

He was kicking it through some goal posts when a dog (I think it was a staffy of some kind but know nothing about dogs so could be wrong) ran up to the ball which was about 10ft away from him and bit it, causing it to burst. It then started running around in circles around my son then back to its owner. Didn't seem dangerous but son was hysterical over his football.

Owner put the dog lead on and apologised, and I asked that he replaced the football. I was v pissed off and vocal about his dog and the fact that it wasn't on a lead. He said he couldn't afford it and refused to exchange details or tell me his name but was v apologetic.

Just feel pissed off that there was nothing I could do and nobody else helped me out as lots of people saw.

Can't afford to replace the football myself but thankfully my dad is going to buy him a new one tomorrow.

Not sure what I want from this thread, just a vent because I feel so irritated still and like I could've done more or handled it better.

I think this would be smart to do.

I completely agree unfortunately there are a lot of inconsiderate sh!+ dog owners.

£45 isn’t that much for a football (there are several that are over £100 on Sports Direct), not sure why posters are hyper-focusing on that.

If a random dog jumped up on you and ripped your £45 top, you’d probably want to reimbursed for the whole thing, even if cheaper tops are available in Primark.

I’d have burst the dog

£45 is a lot if you don't actually have it. OP didn't, and neither did the dog owner.

I wouldn’t have handed over my name and address but yes - while I’d probably google the football to verify the amount first, I’d have paid the £45.

Obviously if he doesn’t have the money he cant pay it there and then, though (unless he is desperately poor) I think the reasonable thing to do would have been to exchange phone numbers and him offer to replace it once he is able.

Either way, there are some posters who seem to object paying £45 on principle, or think a ball that price shouldn’t be taken to the park - it’s those comments I’m objecting to. Yes it’s not the cheapest football money can buy but it isn’t an outrageous or unusual amount for one, and a child should be able to take their football to the park.

Thats really shit. Its people like this that give dog owners a bad name. Dont have it off lead if you can't control it.

I do very much blame the owner if you read the rest of my post. I think my post sums up exactly how I feel towards the owner. I’m absolutely sick of owners like him.

I think it’s fine to be angry at both the owner and the animal. I don’t despise dogs but I don’t really have much patience for the dogs who have crap owners. I just don’t. It’s fine to feel frustrated at both.

It’s like if someone was to mutter “stupid dog” under their breath when out and about and someone’s dog does something really annoying.

I see Xenobitch is here with her usual child hating, dog loving madness. Makes me cringe, so much.

How is letting your dog off lead near the football goal post an accident?

Stalking and weird. Get a life.

@XenoBitch

£45 is a lot if you don't actually have it. OP didn't, and neither did the dog owner

Too bad. Dog owner shouldn't have his dog out in public if it can't be prevented from destroying property and he can't afford to pay for the damage.

lol it’s hardly stalking when you bleat about the same stuff every time.

If you notice the same stuff I am "bleating", then you are stalking, or are obsessed. I would be flattered, but it is creepy.

Or….and hear me out here…I read Mumsnet a lot and constantly see your name banging on about dogs and how much you dislike kids.
By all means, continue the childish rhetoric that I am ‘stalking’ you, and it’s creepy, but if you weren’t such a stuck record we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

You could have just scrolled on by.. but you felt the need to respond to me.... with nothing to add to the thread.. just that you have seen me post before and you clearly don't like me.
Well, I don't like me either, so join the club. Goodnight xxx

you’re being unreasonable

fair enough you don’t have a lot of money, so the value of the football is clearly a big deal to you in all this. But to everyone else, it’s just a football, and you can’t expect the football to remain in perfect condition in public. Even if it wasn’t a dog, footballs can easily get lost or end up in inaccessible areas. You take special & valuable things out at your own risk of loss/damage.

don’t get me wrong, I’m not a dog owner and have no agenda in this. But I do think it’s just common sense that a dog might chase a ball especially untrained dogs with owners that can’t control them, which seem to be everywhere

I appreciate it’s sad that your son is upset and no longer has his gift but it’s good he’s getting a replacement. However you might want to reconsider whether you can afford to replace the ball if anything happens to it, and how your son might feel. You ultimately can’t keep replacing it forever

This has the hallmarks of a dog-hating clickbait thread tbh - yes the owner should have recalled his dog, should have paid for the ball.

Sounds like its a replica football team branded thing and not actually meant to be taken down the park and booted around, its meant to sit in some footy team shrine in a kids bedroom.

Prized objects taken out into public places do run the risk of being damaged or lost, and it isn't always possible to find someone to blame or get them to cough up if you can. Next time it won't be a dog it'll be bigger boys, or kicked into a tree or kicked into a river or under/over/through somewhere it cannot be rescued from. Harsh thing to learn at 5 though, hopefully you can persuade him to keep the replacement at home and take a cheaper ball out to the park!

To the posters that are/would be devastated for their child if this happened-how you do cope with actual traumatic life events?! Or is it only traumatic when you can blame someone else for it? Kid's pet dies and it's just "that's life, they'll have to deal with death" but if a stranger accidentally does something wrong it's all guns blazing and into defence mode and "mama bear" ugh. How many parents ruin their own kids toys? Are they wracked with guilt over that? Doubt it. I can just imagine the outpouring of sympathy if OP had accidentally burst the ball and couldn't afford to replace it. But no one else can ever be shown the benefit of the doubt now can they?

I was bitten by our own pet dog as a toddler and still have the scars and my mother minimises it every time I bring it up. If that was a stranger's dog it would've been destroyed and owner would've been shamed-because it's a parent they get to keep the dog (who thankfully didn't bite me again and died when I was 6, which upset me greatly despite the history) and not get any criticism for their poor parenting.

I am sorry the ball got destroyed and I know OP will be very careful never to make a mistake with her own kids so as not to cause them any further trauma.

Tbh people walking dogs on football pitches, amongst kids playing confuses the feck out of me.

Mine go to training on an actual football pitch used by an amateur team and we see people driving up with their dogs to walk them off lead while training is on. Letting them run onto the kids pitches and crap everywhere. 🤢

Why wouldn't you choose literally any other park or area to walk them in? Especially if you can drive to woodland and other parks within a couple of minutes. I kind of get parents waiting at training with a dog, but to choose a sports pitch to let your dog run about and 💩 on? 🤷‍♀️ The local cricket team's park gets the same treatment.

If your dog isn't completely under control, it should be on a lead.

that is a ridiculous amount of money for a ball for a child.
what was so special about it?

The owner was at fault and its fine to be pissed off.

It's also not their fault if they can't afford that fit football. I would have offered a replacement but not a 45 quid one.

If my dogs had done that and OP had come up to me yelling the odds, she’d have received a far different response than if I had approached her and/or she had been less aggressive. And saying it cost £45 would have made me laugh tbh! I wouldn’t have believed that for a second and assumed it was a scam. And I definitely wouldn’t have given my name or address for a ‘£45’ ball.

Aggression in situations like this doesn’t help matters. I can see why you were annoyed, OP. But the way you went about it probably did more harm than good.

It is such a nightmare. Dogs should be banned from playing fields and recreation grounds as they crap all over them and it is disgusting. My son used to play cricket with a tennis ball when he was younger. It was on a playing field but loads of dog owners thought it was lovely for their dog to get the ball. You then had to hang around for ages while they got it back and returned it to you covered in slobber. This was after you had scraped the dog shit off the playing field before you started the game. Once he progressed to hardball you then had to worry about hitting the damn dogs as they dashed about off lead on the cricket field.

He should have paid you for the football. If he can’t afford £45, he shouldn’t have taken on the responsibility of a dog. I like dogs but most people who have dogs are completely incompetent owners.