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.

There's no need to make any excuses for dogs - it's lousy, irresponsible owners who are the problem.

Cringing at those people tying themselves up in knots to try and defend this useless dog owner. Give it up!

Outdoor eating - She should have been wary of all animals not just dogs, we have a lot of red kites here who swoop down.

No ones is saying the dog owner was right, but if the OP was particularly frightened of dogs had she thought it might not just be dogs...a kite would swoop
on a picnic very easily. It is naive to assume theres no
risk from "any" animal.

If the OP goes picnicing again she will hopefully look more for cover or a table (where if a random dog was passing regardless of its owners lack of control) wouldnt be able to get her food as easily and more importantly she would feel safer.

She shouldn't have to but life isnt perfect and people here are turning it in to a dog v people debate which it is not. when its common sense the dog owner uses its lead and the scared picnic lady picnics where dogs are less likely to get to her.

OP posted "... there are signs everywhere saying dogs should be on leads."
I'm sure, following this experience, OP will now know what to do when an uncontrolled dog approaches (as a number of PPs have advised her), but she also posted that she "has no knowledge of dogs" so why would she know how to handle a dog when she's never owned one?
And, unlike dogs, cats have a "right to roam" so it's a false comparison, but if you knew who the owner was you could have complained to them as cat owners still have a duty of care to ensure their cats don't cause harm or nuisance to others.

If it was an Alsatian or Rottweiler I would understand. But a Shar Pei???????

I totally agree. When I owned my first (and only, to date) dog, I read books on how to train him before getting him and then took him to puppy training classes every week for a year (he won a trophy for "most improved" puppy - heaven knows how given he was a Westie! 😂). I took my responsibilities as a dog-owner (to him and to other people) very seriously as I didn't want an anti-social dog and I wanted him to be safe and live a long and happy life (he died six months ago at almost 17 years old). Even though he was well-trained, I never walked him off-lead in public places - you simply don't know if/when something unusual could trigger your dog to forget his training (and because he was a terrier I was never able to perfect his recall). I loved him and wouldn't want to lose him for my lack of responsibility and care.
I hope to get another dog in the Autumn and when I do, the first thing I will do is enrol them in training classes - they're worth every penny.

I know nothing about dogs, but the internet informs me that this type of dog was bred as 'a house guardian' and has particularly strong jaws.

No, once microchipped and registered (typical cost between £10 and £30) there's generally no ongoing cost for this. Owners just need to update their registration if they move house, sell/give away their dog or when it dies.

I’m a dog owner and once my dog ran over to a child’s ball and popped it, I transferred the mum £10 for the ball some people are extremely rude. Sorry that happened to you and your child.

peteducate.com/are-shar-pei-aggressive/

"However, Shar Pei dogs do naturally possess protective instincts and they can therefore act aggressively towards strangers and other dogs."

This is only one source. Other online sources say much the same.

As a dog owner, if my dog did this I would be absolutely mortified, I would still be grovelling and apologising now, I would have replaced all the food (or taken your details so I could make recompense) and would have kept my dog on a lead from that moment on if there was the slightest chance they might ever do it again. Absolutely unacceptable behavior (from the owner), and not in anyway your responsibility to stop the dog eating your food!

You’re so sweet as well still having compassion for the dog. Just a stupid ignorant owner dog has

That's irrelevant to the point I'm making which is that OP was not wrong to set up her picnic on the grass because she was doing so in a park that displays signs requiring owners to keep their dogs on leads so OP would have no expectation that they wouldn't be. (Most parks these days do prohibit dogs being walked off-lead in them.) The owner was walking her dog, off-lead, along a path adjacent to the park and clearly did not have it under her control (as required by law) because it came into the park alone and the owner was unable to recall it. You should never walk a dog off-lead in public unless you have trained it to have perfect recall (and even then, I wouldn't rely on it in case the dog sees something unusual that piques its interest).
STOP blaming OP for this - the dog-owner is entirely to blame, not OP.

Roles eyes

I am not "blaming" her.

I am stating a fact that she had the option to go to choose a table/sit/find somewhere there was no risk to her food.

Does not excuse the dog owner.

Dear God, football pitches and now "kites"?! 😂 How many more irrelevant extrapolations are you going to employ to make your entirely meritless point? You haven't done wasps and flies yet - no doubt you'll be advocating for the banning of picnics altogether soon due to the number of risks picnic'ers are so "naive" about. 🙄
A very small number of PPs have made some anti-dog posts, but the biggest division on this thread is between responsible and irresponsible dog-owners - it's clear from your posts that you're squarely in the latter group.

You clearly dont live in Oxfordshire haha. Red kites are a real issue. Google it.

It is what it is, if the OP (or you) do not feel the need to be aware of animals when putting food out then its your call. Not sitting here investing too much energy into this tbh.

Have a cracking day 😀

You are bu OP was trying to protect her child with sen, if you own a dog it's up to you to control it and the dog owner should have been more sympathetic and offer to pay for the food, why should dogs take precedence over humans

You forgot seagulls 😂
And “scared picnic lady” 🙄 could that poster get more patronising?

I was going to suggest a post on Facebook. You can preface it with "this doesn't concern the majority of dog owners who are responsible" and I can assure you that you will get a lot of sympathy.

I did similar with a dog owner who left the massive dog mess next to a public and well used park that has a playground. Didn't post a picture as had none but if I had caught them I would have.

Such awful behaviour and much love to you and your son x

OP has posted that she has "no knowledge of dogs" so the specific breed is irrelevant - she could only react to what she saw running towards her and her DC. Shar-peis are heavy, powerful dogs (bred to be guard dogs that are fiercely loyal to their owners, but can be aggressive to other people and other dogs due to their guarding traits) and a male Shar-pei can weigh in at over 4 stone, so it's hardly surprising that OP reacted the way she did.

I agree that dog training should be mandatory (and yes, owner training is just as accurate!)

I think what I am trying to get at it is, in case of emergency and you somehow lose control of your dog by accident in a busy and crowded place, and there was food nearby, how do you tell them to still recall perfectly or walk to heel perfectly if they’ve never experienced it before.

I am thinking of a documentary I watched once on training of guide dogs - these were Goldies and so very food oriented but part of their training was walking them past cakes on the ground and treating them for ignoring the cakes 😂

I doubt most people would test this in a controlled environment 😂

Should have read your posts before posting. Glad it was sorted.

So if she'd sat at a picnic table her food would have been protected from your example of diving birds (kites), would it? 🙄
Your posts could be collectively described as "dumb and dumber".
And it's 'rolls' not "roles".

Well done, hopefully you feel a bit better now 😂

I'm assuming this is really dry humour - please say it is! Or someone trying to goad everyone - if this is the case can everyone please ignore!