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.

This is pathetically judgemental.

Many dogs are perfectly happy and dandy doing their own thing until food is involved and then they can display food aggression and resource guarding.

The OP doesn't know this dog, or it's temperament, so she had a perfectly natural flight response to a potential threat to herself and her child.

Standing still like a tree doesn't always work, and dogs should be under control in public spaces.

The OP hasn't done anything wrong here.

Really bad. Am a dog owner. My dog could not be trusted so I would have her on a lead. She once ran off with a quiche and I immediately offered to go and buy another one. Now on a lead

Yeah op, total fuss over nothing. You should have stayed put as a random dog came up to you with no owner in sight at first . You've got no way of knowing if it's friendly or aggressive so you should have waited to see, and if it bit you or your child, then you run.

🙄 X 1000

Sorry, again, I ran because I am nervous of dogs and my fight or flight kicked in. My son has SEN and he would absolutely grab a dog if it were eating his food. I did what the dog owner should have done and secured my child if that keeps you happy. There was nobody else around where we were sat for quite some distance and the dog appeared from a path out of nowhere. It was on its own. If the dog had an owner with it that didn't look concerned it is very unlikely I would have moved. I don't think acting on instinct is strange, whether the wise decision or not, and I don't think it's fair to say I might be the one responsible if my son now develops a fear of dogs.

Besides the lack of consideration for others, it's just plain dangerous for the dogs. I have had to have a nasty conversation with a dog owner before about taking their dog to the vet after it ate a portion of cake made with artificial sweetener for a diabetic friend. The dog owner was very upset, having previously been blase apologetic. I hope the dog was ok, he was a lovely good-natured chancy oaf and huge, which would go in his favour.

Staggers me the amount of dog owners that will just have their dog off the lead, out of control, absolutely anywhere...the amount of things people leave lying around, deliberately or accidentally means I would never let my dogs run wild anywhere.

My DM is a prime example. I swear she thinks more of her dog than her own children but she hates putting it on a lead. I cringe when I hear some of things she tells me. And yes I do tell her she needs to be more careful as that dog she loves more than life itself, is going to wind up dead at this rate.

No my friends Labrador died after eating a pile of grapes beside a field in France. They called after it but it didn’t stop. A lesson there.

The lady has been identified since I added the photo and is getting in touch with her. Have deleted the post now.

I wouldn’t post a photo of the owner, I think it’s enough that you’ve posted the incident on SM. Posting her photo is abit “big brother” IMHO.

She’s been an idiot and is probably dealing with a puking dog as a consequence. I’m surprised that the dog ate grapes tbh, ours seems to instinctively know that they’re toxic.
We’ve had a milk chocolate stealing incident though! He was fine despite eating several chocolate coins intended for Christmas stockings. My understanding is that milk chocolate is far less toxic for dogs than dark chocolate.

There was literally not one grape left. Not even the stems. I did post the picture but I cut her face out. There mustn't be many shar peis around here as she was identified very quickly!

Gosh I'm a lifelong dog owner (on number 4 now) and had no idea about grapes! Thankfully my dogs have never been particularly interested in fruit or veg.

I do hope the dog is fine OP but also hope you and DC are fine. I like to think I'm a responsible dog owner and would never have allowed this! My dogs have always had perfect recall and I've never allowed them to bother other people

Public parks allow unleashed dogs?

Is there a shame page for dog owners who are not in control of their dogs? Post that pic. He could have eaten something toxic to him and she obviously didn't have control over him.

I'm really sorry you lost your picnic. Your son put a lot of effort into that, what a sweetie.

This happened to me in a children’s playground the other day. My picnic was on the floor of the park and I was watching my mum playing with my DD when a big lab ran over to me on a lead held by a 4(ish) year old boy. It had its face in my food even as I tried to gather it up, slobbering all over it and eventually ate a banana right out of my hand. The owner nearby just shouted ‘pull him away’ and walked off. She didn’t rush over to help or apologise and just expected her young child to be able to control this massive dog which shouldn’t have even been in a playground in the first place. I was seething!

Owner was shit and has probably killed her dog through her inability to control it. At least it's looking at kidney failure.

How exactly is it OPs fault that this woman has zero control and not watching her dog? It shouldn't be loose if it isn't trained with at least reasonable recall. No such thing as perfect recall but if your dog won't come 8 times out of 10 then it should be on a long line.

Yes, I'd have grabbed the dog, not stood there like a lemon, watching it eat my lunch but not everyone is confident handling animals. Its not her job to handle this dog! That's down to the owner.

I think this lady may have learned a valuable lesson today OP.

I'm sorry your picnic got ruined. Some dog owners give the rest of us a bad name.

Sounds like a good idea to me. You're couching it in terms of being a caring member of the community.

That’s kind of my point though, mine didn’t die, your friends did. It’s the unknown that makes it so tricky.

What I meant about breeds was that if some are particularly susceptible to kidney issues, they could be at higher risk. Labradors are rightly or wrongly known for having cast iron stomachs.

As a dog owner myself, as soon as you see people with food I would have put my dog straight away on the lead. I respect not every one likes dogs. In the event it did get to you I would have defo covered the costs. My dog my problem. Unfortunately there’s a good chunk of dog owners that scream entitlement. Another chunk that are unbothered about other people’s feelings. They are dangerous breed (dog owners) when they are both

@givingitupok It’s entirely the owner’s fault…my dog is a natural scavenger so we don’t let him off leash in parks because he’d definitely go for any picnics. Your poor son, I hope this hasn’t frightened him too much. 💐

Oh hang on..if you are so nervous of dogs why are you picnicking somewhere people walk dogs off leads? I take my kids to the park and have a picnic quite often. Usually at least once a dog will come sniffing up and the owner will call them away. We just sit there and the kids will talk to the dog - no dog has ever actually lunged for the picnic while we are sat there! Of course if we ran away the dog would tuck in.

Does it hurt to be this stupid?

With grapes, I don’t think it is a question of how hardy the dog is, rather how much of the toxin is in the grapes. Your dog may have been lucky and eaten some without a lot of toxin in.

🤣 (bring back the laughing emoji)

Reading my posts may prove to be a helpful exercise.

Are you on drugs?