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.

Exactly this. If you can’t use a football here, where can you use it? Most people don’t have the luxury of proper sized goals and enough space at home.

And to anyone saying the dog has a right to be in the park as well, yes, under control on a lead if needed, not free to run around a kid and then destroy property.

£45 for a special football is completely fine. Taking it to the park is what you should do. If my child popped someone else’s ball I would expect to pay. I would offer to pay. The dog owner should have offered as the damage was caused basically by him not having adequate control over his dog.

Many of the good owners here have said they know their dog would chase and pop balls. ie they know they could not control this behaviour if their dog was off-lead so they take steps to prevent it. So they do the right thing and keep them on leads and don’t let them run after balls in parks.

after OP opened both barrels on him

Your language is so anti the OP and pro the owner whose dog damaged a child’s ball. It says a lot about you.

The law itself doesn’t mention chasing balls, nor does it simply say, ‘your dog cannot be dangerous.’ It states that your dog must either be 1) on a lead, or if not 2) under control/recalled immediately. The dog in question met neither requirement 1, as it was not on a lead, nor requirement 2, as it was not being recalled whilst it was destroying property. Therefore, the Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991 was being broken by this particular owner in this particular instance.

The owner should have replaced it! My son had a football punctured by a dog once and they took a photo of it and brought a replacement the same time the following day.

He could have offered the OP £5, £10 or whatever he could afford. If he didn’t have cash on him, he could have offered to transfer it by PayPal, bank transfer or other means.

And yes, hopefully the child will remember that time his mum stuck up for him.

@XenoBitch a dog that pops someone else's ball isn't out of control? Is that a joke? So you think it's acceptable for that to happen? You seem to have a real agenda here but the trouble is, you're not making any sense.

Again, I think you’re being far too sensitive. If a wasp was to sting me it’s just being a wasp I know that. But in my frustration and pain I might say, “A stupid wasp stung me.” People might leave out the stupid and replace it with a swear word… “A fucking wasp stung me!” The level of frustration AT the wasp for stinging me is still the same, even though it’s just being a wasp.

The same applies with the dog. It’s “just being a dog” but it’s being annoying. But with dogs people are just too sentimental hence why we are having this conversation.

The difference between a wasp is it's a wild creature. A dog by law should have someone controlling its behaviour. And if they were this incident wouldn't have happened and nobody would need to be pissed off or upset.

If you let your dog off lead around kids playing football, you have to accept responsibility if they damage something. Doesn’t matter what the football cost the dog wasn’t under control and burst a kids football so it should be replaced like for like by the owner, at the very least offer something towards it!

I have a son who plays football at the park (he also insists on taking the expensive ball sometimes because our garden is small and he can’t play as well) and I have a dog who likes to bite footballs so I understand both sides but your property was damaged and the dog owner should replace.

£45 for a football? For a 5 year old? You're absolutely crackers.

Learn what to spend money on - a football isn't it.

Replace with a cheap ball and learn a lesson.

So youve said your son has had the football since the age of 3, and you claim he was asking for it for ages? I can't understand how an under 3 year old would be asking for an expensive football for ages??? A ball is a ball for an under 3 year old no matter how much it costs.

I can't blame you for being annoyed op, I would be too. The price of the ball is not the issue here it's the fact the dog was running off the lead with no muzzle in a public place and the owner is responsible for that. I agree he should have reimbursed you for the ball.

I've got two football mad kids who have had expensive balls over the years and when they were younger I gave in occasionally and let them take them to the park (as you say they are designed to be kicked). I also now have a dog who loves chewing footballs so I put him on a lead if we are near any where we are out and about. If he managed to chew one not only would I be mortified and feel terribly guilty about upsetting the child whose ball it was, I would offer to pay - even if in instalments if necessary. He was at fault not you - I don't know how anyone is suggesting otherwise.

What the hell is wrong with most of you people!? It doesn't matter if the ball was 99p or £99! The fact is this twat had an out of control dog that destroyed someones property so hell yes they should have paid to replace it. I would have taken a pic of him and his dog and taken it to the police to file a report and then plastered him all over social media, stop victim blaming the parent or whomever for buying an expensive ball. Some of these attitudes on here begger belief

Nobody else helped you out? How couid they? I'd be absolutely fuming aswel that parts justified the owner may of coughed up for a £15 ball

My dog has done this twice, once on the beach and once in the park (funnily enough he doesn't play with balls at home and has never popped one of our own kids balls) We were totally mortified and accepted that it was 100% our fault. The family on the beach laughed and said that they understood that dogs chase balls, they refused any payment but hubby went to the beach shop and bought their son a new ball and an ice cream. The family in the park were really pissed off (understandably) but were fine after hubby gave them £20 and a huge apology. Now we constantly scan the beach/park and put the dog straight on his lead if we see a ball.
You are not being unreasonable to let your son play with an expensive football in the park and to be pissed off when it is damaged.
Dog owners should be taking responsibility for their dogs.

My spaniel has burst a few (of our own) footballs! This was in our own garden too. He is brilliant on recall and wary of strangers so wouldn’t go near anyone else playing football! As a pp said, dogs love chasing balls and are often trained to fetch balls as a game/exercise. It does not follow that they would also bite a child! That said I am always extra careful around small children as you never know for sure how a dog will react. I’d be horrified if my dog did that and would have offered to buy a replacement. I haven’t bought a football for a while so don’t know the going rate. A quick google would soon sort that though!

I had a dog owner let his dog kill my cat, he had let go of the lead, my cat was 2 feet from my front door by my car. The owner rescued his dog and left my cat to die. When it comes to dog owners unfortunately lots don’t care. The owner was a police officer. I still couldn’t do anything as it was apparently doing what it does naturally. When it comes to dog owners for some reason there seems to be no law or punishment.

Is there wasp legislation I’m unaware of? Perhaps a Dangerous Wasps Act? If not, there is nothing to be done about wasps. There is, however, legislation regarding dog behaviour and responsibility.

Totally understand your anger, I’d be fuming. Dogs running round everywhere at parks really gets my back up, if you don’t have instant recall and full control it should be on a lead with no exceptions.
not sure what you could have done differently, only thing you can do now is just let it go.
all those questioning that a 5 year old should have a £45 ball are really missing the bloody point!

I saw a lurcher breed dog, outside my front door, off its lead, bolt across toward a cat and maul it to death. It then dropped the cat and walked off (covered in blood). The whole thing took literally seconds. It was horrible and my 11yo was completely panicked. She was trembling, she was so upset. I confronted the owner, who claimed that ‘he’s not normally like this.’ I was quite stern with her re: the Dangerous Dogs Act, that him being off the lead/unmuzzled, etc was illegal, and that the cat was someone’s pet. I also was concerned that the front garden this out of control dog bolted across—my neighbour’s—is the home of an 18 month old. That’s what really pissed me off.

The cat owner of course put a plea out on our local Facebook page asking if anyone had seen her missing cat. Police were involved and went to the dog owner’s home, but ultimately did nothing because it was a cat, rather than a child, that the dog had attacked.

Just asked my 13yo ds the price of a good quality football and he said £18.

He's the king of overpriced stuff as well.

Taking a £45 football to the park was always going to end in tears. I'm surprised that you weren't aware dogs chase balls, but now you know.

Damage to the ball is something the dog owner should deal with. (He should have been able to call the dog off!)

He owes your son a ball.

I can see why asking for this much compensation might have made him doubt you though (and head off rapidly fearing some kind of scam) - it isn't unreasonable to expect children's footballs to be £10-£20.