To think people need to realise dogs are animals and act as such?

[thisbloodydog]

I had an altercation with my dog yesterday and I’ve gone from mortified to annoyed!

My dog is 8 and is a Labrador. Until yesterday he’s genuinely had 100% recall and never given me any reason to doubt him. He comes back from anywhere with one shout of his name and if he didn’t then he wouldn’t be off lead.

Whilst walking in a local park (where off lead is permitted) he suddenly ran off. I can’t explain how out of character this is for him. I shouted him and it was like he’d gone deaf.

I ran after him as he’d gone over a hill. When I caught up to him I saw a family group having a bbq (illegally). They were about to hit him and were furious.

It turns out he’d sniffed their food, gone off on one and had basically ransacked their bbq.

Of course I was absolutely mortified and apologised profusely. I explained it was completely unlike him and that I would of course not let him off the lead again unless I was 100% sure his recall was in place.

They responded by shouting and swearing at me and saying that they were going to report my dog as dangerous. When I asked why he was dangerous (ie if he had growled at the food etc) they said the fact he took the food off the bbq was dangerous.

Whilst I was trying to apologise they said I owed them £40 for the bbq food he ate and kept insulting my dog and threatening to report him. At this point I said enough was enough and that they shouldn’t have had the bbq in the park anyway (it’s not allowed usually and it’s especially not allowed with the dry grass). I basically said if they wanted to report my dog then I’d be happy to report them back.

At this point they lost it even further and I walked off as there were children present and it felt completely inappropriate to descend into a shouting match.

I am a big believer in dogs having 100% recall if they are off lead and as I said until today he has. We will absolutely go back to basics with training and not running off for food etc.

BUT at the same time he is a dog and not a robot and I cannot possibly predict his behaviour in a completely unknown random situation. He should not encounter a bbq in this place and it was a complete surprise to us both. For once he followed his instincts and went for the food and ignored me. Again, he wasn’t dangerous and didn’t snatch food from a person or growl at anyone etc, but he did take food off the bbq.

I feel like the people needed to consider that he is a dog and he did something bad, but they were also in the wrong for having this bbq when it strictly isn’t allowed!

aibu?

Exactly right. I have been explicitly told when asking an owner to get to her dog under control so he stopped jumping on a child that the park we were in, where dogs were allowed off lead, was ‘a dog place’. Unless it is only a place for dog exercising, and while this thread suggests these exist I have never seen one, a park is by definition also, and with priority, a ‘human place’. This should not be up for debate and I find it absolutely bonkers that it is.

I find it hard to believe OP would have left out of her initial post if the area she was in was exclusively for dog exercising, thus she is in the wrong here for not taking responsibility.

As I expected. Itd not ‘designated off lead’ at all, it’s just not the ‘designated on lead’ area. There’s a world of difference. Is the ONLY part of the park members of the public have a reasonable expectation to not be harassed by other people’s dogs the specifically on lead area? Because dogs have to be under close control whenever they’re off lead in public.

In Switzerland for example they provide public grills so you can cook sausages in parks. It’s not an unreasonable thing to do, and the dry weather is utterly irrelevant as a dog is not qualified to be the adjudicator of bbq legality based on aridity of the foliage in the area.

Oh, were you in Switzerland in a park with a public grill area OP? That changes things!

Well unlike dogs, people tend to have their own ideas and opinions. So they just need an animal they can have full control over.

It doesn’t. However, having a bbq in a public place does not require you to be attacked by a shitehound.

In what way? Why can’t we have bbqs in UK parks? I really can’t understand what your objection is. Are you a rabid vegan and think we all should be too? Is that the issue? It’s baffling.

Are you two ok? Can you really not see a difference between a designated area with public grills and disposable bbq?

Exactly. The owners finding this hilarious clearly don’t give a shit that their dog could eat something bad for their digestion and possibly fatal. So much for being dog-lovers, hey.

Sorry for being amused at your distress—but this is such a lab thing to do! 😂 Food overrides all else.

My DS has two dogs, one is a lab and the other is a cockapoo. It's the cockapoo who steals food and would not be trusted at a bbq.

The people having the bbq were clearly in the wrong here as it was stated that they are not allowed, whether due to the recent dry weather or not at all. The OP said that she was walking her dog in a designated dog walking area, whether that is a dog park or just somewhere they are allowed off lead. In my local park it says "dogs must be on lead or under control" so maybe it is something like that.

I think maybe the people having the bbq were so angry because they had been found out. Dogs, however well trained, will be dogs. I would have offered to p[ay for the stolen food.

@thisbloodydog I absolutely love dogs but as you say even the most well trained can be unpredictable. I think that all dogs should be on a lead and muzzled in public or walked in designated areas set aside where others know they may encounter a dog off their lead. Most dog owners are responsible but some are very selfish hanging bags of dog crap from trees or allowing their dog to follow on behind them and ‘not noticing’ when they stop for a 💩.
I get that these people were in the wrong for having a BBQ but don’t really think that’s relevant.

Our park doesn’t have grill areas but does have specially inlaid paving stones in the grass specifically for disposable bbqs to be lain on and not ruin the grass. But anyone attempting to use them as intended gets constantly harassed by people’s off lead dogs. Is that ok?

But the OP was walking her dog in a designated off lead area @Icanthinkformyselfthanks The people having the BBQ were being quite irresponsible by setting up there if they were bothered about dogs running around.

My old spaniel was a nightmare off the lead and the only place I ever let him off was in the fully fenced and gated dog walking field at the park. A group of idiots decided that the 200+ acres where dogs were either not permitted or only allowed on leads wasn’t sufficient for their picnic so set up in the dog field then verbally abused me when DDog crashed their picnic.

People do have to take a bit of responsibility for their own actions if they decide to use an area to eat where dogs will be off lead when they have other options.

That sounds remarkably like a designated bbq area to me.

If we believe her. I don’t. I very much doubt she meant a dog park, with high fences that you pay to use to let your dog run free. I very much think she meant an area of the park where you were not specifically required to keep your dog on a lead. In which case you are still required keep your dog under close control and ensure it does not harass others.

It’s worth reiterating that letting your dog going barrelling up to people causing them fear or alarm is harassment and you should be reported for it every single time. Dickheads like OP won’t learn that their actions are totally unacceptable otherwise.

6 of one half a dozen of the other here I think.

They certainly should not have been having a barbecue. But your dog was very badly behaved.

I’m sure you are being honest that it’s out of character, and I’m most certainly not a dog hater but I am honestly sick of being bothered by dogs in the park.

Over the years I’ve had a dog eat my picnic, I had a dog chase my son and burst his football, Ive had a big German Shepard dog chase and knock over my younger son, I’ve had a muddy dog jump up me and I’ve also had dogs chase me aggressively when I’ve been out jogging.

Some people are nervous of dogs too.

They definitely shouldn’t have been having a barbecue but if it had been a normal picnic it could have happened.

I’ve had dogs and sometimes they lose the plot when there’s food involved. They should be on leads really tbh. Or perhaps we need more dog only fields.

They’re not in a designated area though, they are scattered evenly throughout the park. They’re there to be used, but it’s impossible due to entitled arseholes like OP.

And if you let your dog run around unleashed, someone may cause it severe harm, so the poor dog will have to deal with the consequences of having a stupid, careless owner.

Exactly. 100% this.

Seems bizarre that this one park has such a huge issue with untrained offlead dogs specifically targeting BBQs every single time they are used. Maybe write to your council about dog rules in that park

They were in the wrong for having a BBQ, but so are you for having the dog off the lead. Imagine if they were just having a picnic and your dog had done the same, then you wouldn't have a leg to stand on. I do think you should have reimbursed them.

Cats are more sneaky. My late father in law liked to have a ham sandwich in his garden, he thought he was going mad as it kept being just salad- then out of the kitchen window we saw next door's cat sneak up when his back was turned and steal the ham and run off

I'd happily have another, but my husband wants something super high maintenance again, and I'd just like a loveable mutt. I can walk a couple of miles at a push, but my mobility is slowly declining so I can't manage a dog that needs to run for a couple of hours a day. We also both work quite a lot, and I know we got lucky with our Samoyed. Many dogs are less happy to be left for several hours at a time. So for now, we have tropical fish and lots of small furries.

You booted a dog in the jaw because it picked up a cone? Abusing an animal like that is absolutely disgusting.