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.

What an absolute tosspot comment! From someone who has three boys/men who definitely doesn't wrap her boys in bubble wrap but has been attacked by a dog, you are talking drivel!
The problem is most dogs are safe, mine definitely is. But if my dog or any strange animal to you comes running over you are definitely going to worry or even scared if you have your children with you.

The breed of a dog is irrelevant in some cases. My dog was attacked by a cocker poo, blood and stitches! And actually some Shar Pei’s can be a little off with strangers. Also, on the don’t eat dangerous food in a park. My dog has chronic pancreatitis, so any food with an ounce of fat in is dangerous to my dog. It’s my responsibility to ensure he is under control, not those around me to not eat fatty food. Dogs do not need to be off their leads in busy parks. There are other places for that

Well, the point is you train them in a safe environment, using command words (and hand signals in case they become deaf in older age) and rewards (food treats or toys) and reinforce their training when out and about in busier places. Training a dog to walk to heel is fairly straightforward as you have them right next to you (on a lead initially) when you're doing it and they can smell the treats or see their favourite toy so are more compelled to stay close to you as you instruct in anticipation of their reward. Recall is much harder as you're sending the dog away from you and then trying to get them back from a distance, but the key here is that the dog wants to be with you more than it wants anything else (so rewarding them every time they come back when called is a good incentive). It takes a lot of time, persistence and patience to train a dog to recall, but if your dog has good recall and it gets away from you when you're out, you would use the command words you've taught it to stop it in its tracks and come back to you (e.g. stop/come, down/come). BUT I would never rely on this - there could be that one occasion when they forget their training so I would only walk a dog in public on a lead (I was never able to perfect my Westie's recall, but that's stubborn terriers for you! 😂 Maybe if I'd owned a Collie I'd have had more confidence.)
I also watched the series about training guide dogs. Lab's are very "biddable" so not very difficult to train, but I still think it's remarkable that they can be trained to leave food they're not allowed to touch by rewarding them with food (treats) that they are. The truth is, the majority of dogs are damned clever and eager to learn.

Jeez some gormless people here …. STOP BLAMING THE OP!!!
Keep your dogs on a lead….and I’m a dog owner with a very well trained dog and I keep her on a lead because you never know what will spook dogs and what they’ll do next.
I love my dog and she sleeps on my bed but dogs are not your furry babies, they are animals.
I’m truly sorry for poor dogs with rubbish owners!

Sadly, I can't - I live on the south coast and the buggers are everywhere! 😂
And you're right. OP's said that she has "no knowledge of dogs" not that she's scared of dogs, per se, as a number of PPs have claimed. She saw a powerfully-built dog running towards her so was scared of this one dog and instinctively reacted to try to keep her DS safe. I have some knowledge of dogs, having owned one for almost 17 years, but I would struggle to stand my ground if a Rottweiler or XL bully came barreling towards me. I'm not keen on Staffies either - there's something about jaws that "lock on" that concern me (unsurprisingly!).

There are some very unintelligent responses like this on the thread. I feel bad for the decent owners who get vilified because of posters writing stuff like this.

Not necessarily, I've been to places where there haven't been picnic tables or there have been a small number of them but taken up by other people.

In that instance if I wanted to have a picnic I would just set it up on the floor, I'm quite able to and doesn't bother me. I would be bothered if someone's dog ran over and started eating my picnic.

I doubt I would have run away but I would be wary of trying to grab it, a lot of dogs react when grabbed by the collar and some of them are food aggressive.

In any case I shouldn't have to, any dog off lead should be in eyesight/control of the owner who should call it away from people. Nothing wrong with them being off lead in appropriate areas (this wasn't since there was a sign) but don't let them off if they bug people even if they are friendly.

I don't have a dog and I don't know if I ever will because of the amount of effort they require to train them. I gave up trying to train my cat to sit and I was only doing it for fun, a dog is a whole different ball game, they need training as a necessity.

Great...how am I unintelligent for pointing out that food was laid out on the floor for an animal.

You may call the owner of the dog unintelligent, but I am stating fact.

What seems unintelligent here the complete dog v human argument you are all creating. So random and odd.

If all dog owners were like you, the world would be a better place. And there would be far fewer threads on here about this topic!

I think for the fact that it wasn't 'laid out for an animal'! Plus - I'm all for having dogs off the lead but they should be good for recall whatever they are up to. My dog was great but now he is old and deaf, if I cannot see what is round a corner or it's a place for picnics then he stays on the lead.

Food on the floor is something an animal would be interested in. We are all getting pedantic.

OP had her picnic on the floor also a fact. She was entitled to enjoy it.

Its a huge shame that the dog was not on the lead (point the finger at the dog owner for that not me), but its not unintelligent to suggest if there were a bench or table it might have been less stressful for her.

I am now done with this endless pedantic debate of dog v human.

It might, but I’ve had dogs run up and take food from a picnic table before (also in an “on lead” area).

And that’s if there are any tables available.

It’s the dog owners that need to change their behaviour, not OP.

Dogs should be banned from picnicking areas.

My cat went to my neighbour's house and ate his tuna sandwich.

@OonaStubbs

absolutely!
it’s not just the food thing, but also dog shit that’s an issue

@Manypets

because deep down you know that OP wasn’t at all in the wrong and you’re running out of ways to try and suggest she is .

😂What a CF! Years ago one of our own cats "surgically" removed the ham from a bap my DH had bought from a bakery for his lunch - the only evidence was that the bap was on the kitchen floor with a hole chewed in the corner of the bag! 😱😂

Of course it’s normal to run away OP! Anyone who says you should have done anything different has no idea how they’d react!

My large dog will often run towards people who are sitting on the ground as he thinks they’re eating and there may be something for him.

He does come back as soon as I can him as he knows a treat is on offer.

The people sitting on the floor (usually teenagers) run around screaming before he even reaches them.

I have not said she was wrong if you read back I have said she would have better off the floor and that her picnic might have had a more of a chance against the dog.

I have inferred the dog walker should have done better.

Btw for those taking the piss we have a lot of red kite swoops here, our schools don't let the kids take packed lunch outside because of it. They are a real pest though beautiful.

I personally don’t think dogs can have a very fulfilling life if they are on the lead all the time. I do however think they should be trained for a solid recall (which takes quite a bit a lot of work).
I also think occasionally things can go a little bit wrong (with dogs, kids, other animals) and people need to get a bit less hysterical about it - running and hiding behind a tree was stupid behaviour.

Why do you let him run at them?

Completely off topic, but when did the ground outside become the floor?

I was more making the point if the food had been elevated it might have been helpful for the OP rather than wanting to get in to another debate about my use if the correct terminology.

Of course variables, someone will say "it could have been a bigger dog or one who bounced up or something could have swooped". Who knows 😵‍💫 it is a minefield but in the case she stated with the food at ground level she might have been more comfortable at a table. No idea if one was even there just a random concept.

At least the OP won’t be having a picnic there again so dogs can enjoy themselves without causing such unnecessary drama

She’d have been even more comfortable with no off lead out of control dog in an on lead only area.