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.

Some people with dogs that scavenge keep them in muzzles to stop them eating things that might poison them.

I am a dog owner.

YANBU the dog was not in control.

Only if it was an irritating little shit and I gave the command for my dog to do that. So my dog is actually very well trained.

If it’s now ill then it’s its owners fault.

That is horrible but now you know that if a dog is running towards you when you’re having a picnic, it’s the food they’re after, not you or your child. Unfortunately my dog has done this and it is mortifying but I have always replaced the food.

This happened to me many years ago when my Cocker Spaniel was a pup.

Some students had fallen asleep in our local park leaving the remains of pizza around them. My dog ran over & started gobbling their pizzas. I chased after her & dragged dog away. I woke them up, told them what my dog had done & profusely apologised. I pointed out that they could've been robbed blind as there were wallets & expensive phones lying on the ground. Frankly they were rather amused & grateful that I'd pointed out that falling asleep with phones & wallets on display wasn't a good idea & they said that it was no problem as they'd finished eating anyway.

However I gave them £20 to pay for more pizzas as they may have wanted to take the remains home to eat later - it's only polite.

I think it's the dog owner's responsibility to keep their dog under control which I can do now, but at the time she was only a pup & the temptation was too much for her.

@givingitupok I know you probably won’t see this now but my God I hope you got a hug off someone. Ignore anyone having a go. You saw a lone dog running towards you knew it was a Shar Pei and quite rightly moved away. You’d no idea whether it was coming for the food, you or your child and I’ve seen one of them pin someone against a wall being aggressive (same dog used to sit on me for strokes). I think that was a totally understandable reaction as was expecting the owner to apologise and pay for the eaten food. You then made the effort to make the owner aware of the food this dog ate and I’m surprised nobody seems to be pointing out that surely an owner who gives a shit would’ve been checking what their dog ate in case a vet trip was needed? I’m also surprised how many ppl are missing the point dogs are supposed to be on lead in the park, like you’re supposed to have foreseen this but not the actual owner!

Not all dogs. My dog loves grapes and always eats them. He’s an old boy now and can eat anything and everything without any trips to the vets needed. Don’t worry.

No. A child's welfare trumps your dog, every single time. You have an air of arrogance that a lot of dog owners defending poor dog behaviour and dangerous dogs have. Dogs are animals. Not humans. Not furbabies. 🙄 The fact that you openly discuss your child eating someone's child on a mothers' forum is disgusting. You shouldn't be allowed to keep any animal or child. Your behaviour is repulsive.

I’d boot you and your dog into the sun then, since we are just talking nonsense.

Wouldn't necessarily stop the dog from running over & trying though.

Also some people see a dog with a muzzle & assume that it's vicious & avoid it.

I have a friend who fosters rescue greyhounds - lovely dogs wouldn't hurt anyone, but they wear muzzles as they've been bred to chase small furries & are fast enough to catch them. They could hurt someone's cat if they chased it & best to be safe.

You sound very decent ☺️

This sums this thread up.

I hope that it is the weather causing the lunacy, otherwise the whole country is doomed.

A couple of years ago, someone posted on a local Facebook page complaining about horseriders and cyclists coming too close to where they were picnicking.

They described where they were, and it transpired that the daft buggers were sitting in the middle of a bridleway. It's well signposted too, from both entrances to the field it's in.

This isn't true. There is no safe amount of grapes for any dog as nobody knows which dogs will be affected, regardless of weight. It's totally different to chocolate, which does go by weight and amount of cocoa solids in the chocolate.

I am sorry that your lovely afternoon out and yout picnic was ruined. Some people are just ignorant and selfish. I would be mortified if I had a dog who did that and if I had no money to pay you on the spot I would have taken your details and made sure I got some money to you later on. People are scared of dogs and with good reason, they can be unpredictale and only behave as well as their owners have trained them to. When I was a young mum there was this vile man that we called the "rotweiler man". He used to stride dowm the pavement flanked by two off the lead rotweilers and grin to himself as everyone leapt out of his way.

The OP doesn't "expect the whole world to revolve around her". She expects dog-owners to handle their dogs responsibly - just as they should.

As a dog owner I agree - there are some dog owners who expect everyone to love their dog-baby.

I've had dogs all my life & am very aware that for various reasons not everyone loves my dog - even if she loves everyone (which she does).

I have trained my dog to a very stern '<DOG NAME> DROP' (with hand action) which gets an immediate reaction & stops her in her tracks & she immediately goes into a lie down position - it can be used if she's about to run into a road, run over to someone who's eating a picnic, generally if she's about to do anything that she shouldn't. I don't need to use it often as she comes when she's called, but, as I say, it's an emergency command that stops her in her tracks.

However, as another post that I've put on about her eating student's pizza when she was a pup - it took a while to put that command into place.

I once used it when in a pub garden when with a group of friends, she was off the lead & went to follow a friend into the pub when they went to get drinks. Friends sat to attention & commented that I was rather scary & how they felt I was a bit OTT as my dog is otherwise such a sweet good dog. I don't think I was as she didn't come back when called & dogs weren't allowed into the pub. Having got her attention, I called back my dog came back to me for a reward & fuss for being a good dog.

Well she can either whinge and whine and and moan about it for the rest of her life or change her reaction to it. Makes no odds to me either way, just trying to be helpful.

So you'd risk imprisonment if you thought a child was an "irritating little shit"? You understand that wouldn't be a defence don't you? I realise you think you're clever and funny, but you're really not and that was an absolutely cretinous comment.

Rude!

Rude! 😂 (And none of your comments have been "helpful".)

Suggesting the OP get help for her fear of dogs was very helpful

Well this isn't extreme from pp at all.

"irritating little shit" Yep there's one on this thread.