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.

Even small dogs can be aggressive and bite. And not all dangerous dogs look dangerous. I was bitten by a very friendly looking dog off a leash who just jumped up and bit my arm. Luckily, it only ripped my thick coat and didn't break my skin but I was shocked. When its owner appeared from round a bend in the path (with three other dogs) and I told her what had happened, she just said that she hadn't known I was there. We were on a public footpath in a popular area so I don't know why she thought it was ok to let her dog loose.

"ran in a panic and stood behind a tree"

😂 😂 😂 😂

Op you did nothing wrong.

it’s the owner’s problem if the animal ate what it shouldn’t. You were happily in the park enjoying a picnic with your son.

The dog is not your responsibility. Tough luck for the owner

Er...because she did. Presumably afraid. Shar-peis are medium-sized chunky dogs. I've found them consistently challenging to other dogs, though ones I've encountered indoors have been nice enough. They tend to charge up their objective.

You need to open your eyes and look around you. So many younger people do it, it's utterly commonplace.

Sounds like the dog is going to be really ill and probably die as the owner will be unaware it ate grapes.

Allowing your dog to eat other people food and not control them can be lethal

dogs are a menace and need to be stopped or at least cracked down on and heavily restricted.

How do you stop dogs and what does that even mean? Or crack down on them? Or heavily restrict them?

You do realise that the context of dog ownership in the UK is one where successive governments haven't even got up off their arse to have compulsory registration.

Exactly. Or in today’s world she probably has a banking or money app like monzo or PayPal for easy money transfers.

With PayPal you just need to give them your email address, so you don’t even need to share bank details.

This makes no sense.

Nowadays these dogs are “exposed to those things” and still - look at the behaviour of many of them. They may have been banned from this specific shopping centre in Glasgow, but I see them in many other shopping malls, bookstores, restaurants, public transport etc the list goes on…

I grew up in the 90s and many people in my neighbourhood had chilled out well behaved dogs that didn’t invade places designed for humans such as shopping centres, libraries and restaurants. They didn’t need to be trained to be in these spaces, because most sensible people recognised they shouldn’t be there. For the sake of both the dogs and humans.

They got to sit at home with familiar faces and play in fields and walk around their neighbourhood and relax in their garden, which the dogs probably enjoyed more than going shopping with their owners for makeup and clothes.

many of the more dogs - particularly “lockdown dogs” - go to all these places I’ve listed above. You claim these spaces are an opportunity “to teach” them and yet they seem far more anxious, highly strung “reactive” and badly behaved.

I have seen people let their dogs run up to random people including me in public spaces and behave badly so no, the mere act of taking your dog in these spaces doesn’t automatically teach them how to behave. The owners need to actively train them and many are not.

And it’s not really acceptable to use public spaces as an opportunity to “teach your dog” if it negatively impacts people in the process such as having to dodge poo in shopping centres or as in the catch of OP having your picnic ruined.

And it’s all very well saying it’s the owners fault because yes of course it is, but the point is many of these owners exist and inflict their chaos on everyone. It not being the dogs fault doesn’t really help much.

We need more dog free spaces and many dog owners and dog lovers agree with this too. Not everyone needs to drag their dog around everywhere with them.

Yes it’s very disgusting and selfish - can you imagine the poor cleaners, it’s hard enough having to clean after humans never mind adding this into the mix. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-64566448.amp

Many people warned this sort of thing would happen before the trial went ahead and were speaking against it on social media, but I guess the management were set on trying it out.

At least they had the sense to pull it when they realised the “naysayers” (many of them dog owners themselves) had been correct.

I had a conversation about bad dog owners with a couple of my neighbours. They've had their dogs for years, but are having increasing problems because of people who obtained dogs during Covid.

They told me that they often have to protect their dogs from out-of-control animals these days and they've had the same problem as me - bags of droppings thrown into their hedges. (I was painting the exterior of my fence at the time - I'd had to jump over a pile of dog mess left on the verge outside my garden.)

@WearyAuldWumman Our street is popular for dog walks and I regularly see people letting their dog go partway up our front path to have a sniff around on the lawn. 😡 No poos on the lawn yet but found a couple right by the hedge.

It’s ridiculous, I don’t let Ddog have a wander in other people’s gardens!

@WearyAuldWumman That must be so frightening, my hairdresser who has a small dog complained about out of control dogs too and feeling quite vulnerable when they go on walks recently.

Ugh that’s just vile. Why on earth would they do that instead of just using a dog bin? Hope they get caught on someone’s ring doorbell, identified and fined.

It's infuriating.

There's a particular bloke whom I caught allowing his dog to defecate in my driveway. Turns out that he has done the same with a neighbour.

He persists in using one of those veeeeeeery long leads which gives him very little control on a pavement.

The first time I encountered him, I was inching out of my driveway and saw the dog - and stopped, of course. No sign of the owner - the animal wasn't on a lead.

He eventually appeared and started yelling "You nearly killed my dog!"

Well, no. I had my eyes open, was taking my time and stopped as soon as I saw the animal. I pointed out that he was endangering the dog by not having it on a lead... so now he does use a lead, but it's virtually useless.

Yes. One of my elderly neighbours told me that he'd had to pick up his dog to stop it from being attacked - and then got a mouthful of abuse from the young chap who'd failed to keep control of his own vicious dog.

I feel so many things are out of control nowadays and these incidents are way too common. There are no dog wardens or anything despite the massive increase in dog ownership. Who do you even report this kind of thing to?

The authorities don’t seem to do anything until after people have been savagely bitten.

They don’t care much when more gentle dogs have been attacked by out of control dogs either it seems. Even though that obviously puts the dog owners at risk when they try and rescue their dog.

Let's hope she has the sense to take her dog to the vets as both chocolate and grapes are highly poisonous to dogs.

The comment to pick up your food was stupid, how are you supposed to pick up both your child AND the food within a few seconds.

A dog that's likely to bolt should be on a lead. I would at least reimburse you for the food that was both eaten and spoilt.

Glad you were both ok after.

Agree with the dog owner here. If it was a Doberman or a large dangerous dog I’d understand your panic but this isn’t the case. You need to work on your issues with dogs as it will detrimentally affect your child. She’s right - you should’ve picked up your food. You left it unattended and dogs will do that.

and no, I’m not a dog owner. It’s just common sense !

I think that ultimately the dog owner is at fault...

but, there are a few things to learn from this op.

1 - if you are sacred of dogs or unable to deal with them, don't picnic on the ground in an area where dogs are. I know this isn't fair, but the reality is that there are unreasonable dog-owners, they exist. So knowing that, it is probably sensible to find picnic spots in places that dogs cant go, or at least have enforced dog control. Kids play areas that are fenced off.. picnic zones in places.. beaches that don't allow dogs (and have enforcement) etc.

2 - It is highly unlikely that she was ever going to pay. Of course she should, but I can't imagine anyone (even if many say they would) whacking their wallet out and giving you some money. Personally, I wouldn't bother asking, and I'm not surprised she said no and that is when the situation turned bad.

All of that will feel to some a bit 'victim-blaming', but it is just taking practical steps, knowing that there are bad dog owners out there.

I think her priority here was removing her child from potential harm, not the food. Any sized dog can be aggressive, not just larger dogs. By the time she had packed the food away that dog could have caused harm to her child. Dog owner did not have control of her dog so it should not have been off the lead to begin with. Responsible dog owner here. It's common sense!

It was a park where dogs are meant to be on a lead. Where is OP meant to picnic if not in a park like this?

I’ve never had a dog or had family with a dog. Can’t stand the things. How am I supposed to know the first thing about what dogs are dangerous or not? Am I supposed to take time to learn? Wouldn’t it be much easier for dogs to be properly policed in the UK? A dog out of control in a public place should see the owner with a £1,000 fine. Take a picture and report to police.

Lots do but twat dog owners just ignore it. DH was bitten on a supposedly dog-free beach, in the height of summer, by an off lead dog. His fault for jogging in sight of the dog, according to the owner. Runners and cyclists apparently always set this dog off, so what did DH expect?

Police weren’t interested.

Dogs on dog free beaches enrage me. When ours were tiny we sought out dog free beaches. Still remember the woman with the huge off leash dog walking with her nose in the air smack through all the picnickers 🙄.