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.

Why would you need to know there is a picnic? If your dog doesn't behave all the time, they need to be on a lead all the time. Your dog shouldn't have the opportunity to eat someone else's food. No excuse.

No, you come on. You literally wrote '... and if it’s off lead in a public place it’s not going to a threat." So your assertion is that if a dog is off the lead it's trust-worthy. This comment is beyond ignorant and it's plainly wrong. 🙄

I'd genuinely never heard of cutting up grapes until I joined Mumsnet. (I'm in my 60s.) No children of my own, so I've never been in charge of infants.

However, I can't once remember a family member cutting up grapes for their children. I'm assuming that cutting up grapes for safety is something that's been happening in recent times? (I'm not arguing - just saying that not everyone does this.)

ETA It's just dawned on me - I've cared for stroke victims and I can't ever remember the Speech and Language Team (incorporating the swallow team)suggesting that grapes needed to be cut up.

Again - I'm not being argumentative. Just admitting my lack of knowledge.

Stupid, irresponsible dog owners everywhere. Dog should be on a lead if owner is not close by and is
is a park frequented by lots of people inc children. It’s just common sense. Yes she should have compensated you for your food that was stolen.

These are the same dog owners who leave their dogs shit all over the place because they miraculously don’t see it coming out their dogs arse (because they’re ages behind, walk ahead, are in cloud cookoo land or have their eyes on their phone). I call them out every time I witness it.

I rest my case - fur babies can do no wrong. Owners who cannot stop their dogs being a pest to others should have them removed.

I am pretty sure if I invaded a dog owners picnic & helped myself they would not be happy about it.

So, according to you, OP was being a "vigilante" (by taking a photo? 😂 ) even though the dog-owner was breaking the law and not taking responsibility for her actions. Ok then. 🙄
And if you haven't noticed the number of people whose first instinct is to film something happening in public then you must have been asleep for the last 25 years! 😂

So what point were you making with your "flippant" comment then? I don't get it. If you're such a responsible dog-owner, surely you would be totally understanding of OP's experience and totally damning of the dog-owner and post in that vein? Please make it make sense.

We shouldn’t eat in public at all really in case a dog comes along and sees. It might try and get the food or it might feel sad that we’re got food that it hasn’t

i am not asleep, far from it,
i hate this type of attitude, it is ugly

@Zanatdy but how do you know if OP had an ‘over reaction’ if you don’t personally know her or her SEN child? This is part of the problem, a certain type of entitled dog owner just refuses to accept there’s anything wrong with their dog being off lead particularly in non dog parks. Just because you adore dogs doesn’t mean there’s not people with a genuine fear or those with dogs on lead (like my ex whose dog had been attacked before and poor thing was always terrified when off leash dogs run up sniffing and she’s cowering trying to crawl up our legs). But of course those types don’t really adore dogs only their own and the majority in my experience have no clue and control is laughable. Dog almost always have to be dragged away by the collar and in the rare occasions the owner does apologise - it’s laughable! They apologise for the dogs behaviour but I’m just thinking you should be embarrassed by your lack of control and should apologise for that! Don’t blame it on the dog apologise that you’re too lazy to properly do recall training and too entitled to put a leash on your dog even when the signs tell you to 🙄.

Exactly this. There are responsible dog-owners and irresponsible dog-owners and, sadly, OP encountered the latter (and the latter give the former a bad name).

Seriously considering starting a thread on here titled Turn Me Into The Bad Guy
where posters describe a perfectly normal reasonable situation and others have to find a way to make the person posting the situation in the wrong. Eg I picked a flower in my garden = bees will now starve, what about if a child saw and decided to pick other people's flowers etc.
Im starting to think there's not a scenario out there that couldn't be turned round on a poster.

Absolutely ridiculous. Clearly the dog owner has no control over her dog, or sense of shame for the people losing their lunch.

I couldn't agree with you more. It's precisely why I would never start a thread on here and, I suspect, why others wouldn't either, which is a shame as it's kind of the whole point of MN.
There's been a particularly high number of perverse loons posting this weekend - I'm blaming the hot weather! 😂

Your comments are not the ones from a decent dog owner who advocates for responsible ownership or who shows understanding for others affected by poor ownership. Other owners here have been reflective, understanding and compassionate.

‘Yup. I noticed that. Interesting, isn't it? I wondered if I'd come across this poster before. It all seems remarkably similar to something on another thread a few months back.’

‘Because chucking it a bit of sandwich to distract wouldn't create a dramatic enough thread to make The Daily Fail. Whereas the absurdity of a "huge" Shar-Pei terrorising a small child for a punnet of unwashed grapes has it all.’

What "type of attitude"? Normal people would be criticising the irresponsible dog-owner and defending OP, but not you, apparently. 🙄

Sorry OP, although I suspect you've walked away and got on with your life now ... some of the posts here are ridiculous, and I suspect just out for attention.

I'm a dog owner, multiple dogs over the years. I'm very confident around dogs but am scared of spiders. I've said to people who don't understand a fear of dogs, imagine a spider the size of a dog running at you, you don't know what it's intentions are, will it bite, which way will it run etc.

Irresponsible dog owner, deeply upsetting for your son and for you, the food prep and the premise of an enjoyable picnic and afternoon together spoiled by someone who simply gave you no thought. Horrid experience.

My dog has eaten more chocolate in his lifetime than I have in mine! He seems to make a beeline for it. Goes down bags, nicks it off the kids. He can’t get enough of it. And no, he isn’t dead either!

The thing is...it is incredibly similar to a Post a few months ago. You can't people for spotting the similarities.

Nowhere has @CoubousAndTourmalet given any indication she's not a decent dog owner. All she has said is the original reeks of an attempt to secure a Daily Mail headline. Which, to be fair, it does.

Yes, central south coast, very nice. 😊

You did nothing wrong.

I would have done the same as you.

There were signs saying leads were required.

The dog owner was irresponsible.

I hope the dog stays well and the owner learns from this upsetting incident.

Its like this: many people have no common sense to do the right thing. Dog owner was simply out of order. If you own a big dog you either take him in the fields or put him on a little ng lead if you walk him in the park. As simple as that. Also the dog owner absolutely should have offered to pay for the food eaten by her dog!! Your dog = your responsibility! The dog doesn’t understand the situation, he simply needs lots of training and as usual the owner is clueless as she is shouting at the him instead 🙄. On top of that this is a special breed that needs lot of training and care🤷‍♂️. I’m really sorry OP had to have this experience, particularly with a child that have SEN as I know how difficult that can be.

But many of us have had dogs ruin picnics. There are lots of posters here. Why is it so unusual to have the same incident happen a few months ago to somebody else?

Lucky for the OP that the dog owner doesn’t know who she is as she could be reported to the RSPCA for cruelty to the poor dog. Very irresponsible to leave your food and run off

And mums and neurodivergent kids unused to dogs should stay at home for their "picnics". How dare they complain about shitty dog owners and their annoying, sometimes deadly, furbabies.