Dog ate my picnic

[givingitupok]

Had a picnic with my child today in our local park. Random dog (Shar Pei) appeared out of nowhere and ran over to us. I stood up and picked up my child and ran in a panic and stood behind a tree (probably looked like a total fool doing so but there was nowhere else to go without running towards the dog!). No idea where the owner was at this point. Watched the dog eating our food and also drooling all over our lunch box. Owner suddenly appeared from a path that lead into the park screaming at her dog to 'get here now'. Dog totally ignored her and she had to grab it and literally drag it away and put the lead on it. She apologised but when I asked her if she was going to pay for our food she actually had the gall to say 'you should have picked it up when you saw him coming' !!! I have just got home and this literally only happend 45 mins ago so am still fuming. She did not pay for our food and despite initially apologising, was incredibly arsey and walked off in the opposite direction. My child is very upset and the worst bit is, he has SEN and made everything in the lunch box himself (spread the sandwiches, cut up the apples, broke the chocolate into pieces to fit it in the container, etc). This was quite a big thing for him and he's really upset. I am also on a low income and spent a lot on the food. I took a photo of her and it clearly has her face in it. Not sure why but I just felt like I had to do something. I am not going to name and shame, but I'm just so angry.

Not sure what I want from this thread. Just rather pissed off.

Hey OP haven’t read the whole thread but wanted to commiserate - I’ve been attacked twice by off the lead dogs when out with mine - bitten quite badly the second time, putting myself between me and the dog. The owners ran off! So I would probably run behind a tree if there was a handy one next time. And if you think you looked like a fool, imagine me running out of the park constantly if I see anything that looks like a big dog off the lead in the distance ( a fair few bully types round here to add an extra level of terror)

and those posters - it’s not you it’s them

I've always prided myself on being a responsible owner. My dogs have never been problem dogs, they have all been well-mannered and never allowed to run riot.
You have absolutely no right - or reason - to make these accusations on the back of me making one flippant comment.
"Owners like me" are the ones keeping our dogs under control, not allowing antisocial behaviour, cleaning up after our dogs and encouraging responsible handling.
If you look at any number of threads on the Doghouse you will see that I consistently advocate responsible dog behaviour.

That’s a really crap dog owner for allowing that. I was once on a beach with my mum who was playing with my toddler and a shitty dog owner let her dog cock its leg and piss on my mum. When I told the owner off she had the gall to yell at me saying we shouldn’t have been sitting down!! Still furious and it was 15 years ago.

Hope your son is ok. Most dogs and owners are responsible and I hope your son gets to experience them so he can appreciate we are not all like that.

Also echo this, OP. I’ve had dogs all my life but I absolutely do divert my route, especially if I have the DCs with me, if I see a dog I don’t like the look of. It’s common sense.

What a horrible reply.

Ridiculous to have a natural reaction to what could of been a dangerous situation? Really? She wasn't ridiculous to run away, she was scared. And when you know it ran over and ate all their food why are you claiming it was just infront of it's owner? You read what happened, why twist it to suit your narrative?

Your absolutely right, most dogs off lead are not going to be dangerous dogs. But some are. Last year an elderly couple got mauled off an off lead dog and then verbally abused off the owner at our local park. It does happen.

I really wonder if it makes people feel good when they wrote nasty snippy replies for no reason. Feeling all powerful are we 🤷‍♀️

I would be fuming too. I find dog owners mostly ignorant or rude. I often have to get up or pick up my food when the dogs come round sniffing. I hate when they drool over my stuff too!
Definitely YANBU.

Fool. 🙄

They don't lol

This is the second thread I've read this morning where some are berating a mother who had concerns for her child and wanted to protect them in the presence of a dog 😡. Have they been or are they parents? I love my dogs but there is no way in hell I would put them before any child.
@givingitupok you protected your child and did the right thing in the heat of the moment. It's not as if the dog gave you any choice given how it attacked your food. Any repercussions for the dog lie solely with owner who allowed the dog to roam in an area where it should have been on a leash. I would contact the parks management and make them aware of the incident. Maybe they could arrange a few visits to deal with irresponsible dog owners and issue fines.

It's amazing the knots some dog lovers will tie themselves into to attempt to defend the indefensible.

I wonder if they know how daft they look.

Of course she should...

Nope! she absolutely shouldn't...

The owner was completely and dangerously incompetent...as a result of her untrained dog and her attitude her dog will probably die.

I don't understand why you are even giving the time of day to keyboard warriors, who I'm quite sure wouldn't dare say what they type to a person's face.

Some people just get a kick out of anonymously being rude to others. Please don't even both responding as you're giving them what they want - a reaction.

Your reaction was perfectly valid. Lots of people hate dogs. A dog should not be off lead if they're not under full control. I walk my dog off lead as all she wants is the tennis ball. Not interested in other dogs, people or food.

I hope this dog owner comes forward and pays for the food her dog ate. I personally would have left the post up a bit longer until the money had been paid.

That is awful, as a dog owner myself 2 of our dogs stay on leads because despite training under certain circumstances their recall goes out the window (usually around squirrels and birds) but all three are put on leads around picnic areas.
As someone else has pointed out standing still instead of running is much safer if you are unsure about any dogs and I’ve taught all my children to stand still, turn their backs and stay quiet if approached.
It’s also worth mentioning that any dog has the potential to be dangerous regardless of breeds, you said you don’t know which ones might be.
I wouldn’t post her picture but Shar-peis are fairly unusual so on your local page if you have one I would say something along the lines of
”To the female owner of the fawn shar-pei that was off lead and not under your control when he ate our picnic in (area) at (time) just to advise you that your dog consumed our punnet of grapes and some chocolate, you should seek veterinary advise immediately and perhaps keep your dog safe in future by keeping on a lead.
Edited as I see you’ve tracked her down, Shar-pei are pretty rare so I’m not surprised she found quickly.

Stop being such a ridiculous stirring troll!

Training is the key and it should be mandatory. As a first time dog owner I took my adorable Westie to formal training classes every week from 12 weeks old (he won the trophy for "most improved dog"! 😂) and it was invaluable in teaching me how to communicate with him. The trainers were very honest that they weren't actually training the dogs, but us owners - which became so apparent as the weeks went on.
I agree with everything you've written, but please don't paint all "the fur baby brigade" with the same brush - some of us take our responsibilities seriously and don't want an anti-social dog that bothers other people.

Indeed. An equivalence (false imo) is often drawn between dogs and small children.

Is there any world in which it would be acceptable for a small child to barge through a stranger's picnic, upset all the food and stick it in their mouth? Absolutely not!

I'm flabbergasted that anyone is trying to defend this.

FFS furbaby 🙄

The food wasn't dangerous... to humans.

And neither dogs nor teddy bears were invited to the OP's picnic.

Even though you say you were mortified 'BeakyFlinders', you clearly have no control over your dog, which is the reason why so many people are frightened of dogs being off lead. If your dog doesn't come to you, EVERY time you call it, even if there is food around, it is not under your control, and should be put on a lead when you're out and about.

It really ate all the chocolate? Chocolate, even in minuscule amounts can actually kill dogs…

And the chocolate wont help

Feeling all powerful? Get a grip. It wasn’t a dangerous situation. I mean running away from a dog you fear is dangerous is the worse thing you can do anyway. Shall we all start going out in bubble wrap?

I think maybe some dog owners come on these threads to see what daft story is on here this time. Weekly, it seems, there’s someone who likes to post a badly behaved dog story. Usually they get more and more silly, because they’re running out of ideas, and usually the same posters from the other dog posts, piling on to sympathise with the horrific experiences. I think some must have an alert on their profiles to any post subjects with ‘dog’ in them. They probably jump on them with gleeful anticipation….hence some dog owners also coming on to these posts to wind up, as it’s so difficult to know which stories are true, and which aren’t.

As I said, I didn’t know there was a picnic. She did come back, with sausage roll. If I had no control, she would have stayed and eaten more.

I'm sorry, OP. I don't know what's wrong with people blaming you for yet another a shitty dog owner's behaviour.

The dog owner should be ashamed of herself and should have apologised profusely and paid to replace your food. With more apologies. And if she'd stuck around to do so, perhaps she would have realised then that her dog probably needed to see a vet right away.