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?

They shouldn't have bbqs. Eat in restaurants or indoors. Or if you really must, be sure to bring lots of extra sausages for any visiting dogs.

All dogs should be on leads all the time unless on private land.

Animal abusers like you shouldn’t be allowed in parks. You know it’s not the dogs fault right? You are significantly worse than the shit owners

I doubt that the law classes protecting your property from an out of control dog as "abuse".

Don’t be obtuse

My dog is wholly uninterested in your soggy cheese sandwich. As I said, he’s 99% reliable, and he never ever jumps up. It’s only massive temptation like ground-level cooking meat that might result in dickhead behaviour.

This has turned into a dog bashing thread , as they all do (don’t know why I bothered posting tbh). But I do want to add how thoroughly pissed off I am at the inconsiderate BBQ-ers where I live. Every fucking summer they flood our lovely village and turn our beautiful local park into a shithole of abandoned disposable BBQs and discarded half eaten picnic food that local volunteers then have the clean up. If we’re banning lovely dogs then let’s ban picnics in public parks too, so the rest of us don’t have to wade through mounds of festering abandoned cheap nasty food and dodge fire hazards if we want to take our kids to the swings. .

It’s not surprising that you see these threads as ‘dog bashing’ when you have a dog yourself. You chose to get a dog. Others haven’t. Don’t you agree that those that have chosen not to get a dog should have the right to enjoy the parks and woodlands their taxes pay for without constantly being accosted by off lead dogs?

The cliche two wrongs don’t make a right applies here. Op definitely in the wrong but she tries to mitigate it by victim blaming the BBQ people.

Yes, you are being a bit unreasonable. No, you weren't to know that a dog that had previously had perfect recall would suddenly decide not to return when called. The other people were also wrong in having a BBQ. But I do think you should have paid for their food. I've had someone's badly behaved dog bound onto our picnic blanket and wolf down our food. It's expensive and annoying (there's the cost of the food the dog ate in the first place, then the cost of replacing it), particularly if the owner just shrugs and says, 'it's what dogs do'. (Appreciate that wasn't your response, but it's what happened in my example.)

This.

@thisbloodydog If your dog had 100% recall he would've come back. Train him better.

Nobody should be having BBQs at the moment. And there are plenty of parks which have picnic areas! Also - wasps

But I do think this is a clear illustration of why dogs should be on short leads in most public spaces and why we need fenced off dog exercise areas for dogs to be off-lead. I've never really believed that any pet has perfect recall - it's different for a very highly trained working dog.

Ha ha.

No, the whole world has to orientate itself to the cult of the dog.

Lovely dogs??!!! That’s the problem only YOU think your dog is lovely. Nobody else does. I certainly don’t think your dog is lovely!!! You and your ideas and the people like you who insist on inflicting your dog onto people who do not want them around they are a nuisance!

Keep your dog under control, with a leash if needed.

Well, judging by this thread and the dogs in restaurants thread, my view of dogs is currently prevailing here, so I don’t really care what you think about my well-trained lovely boy. I do agree though that there are plenty of rubbish owners who don’t bother to train or control their animals, and they should be publicly shamed and banned from owning animals.

Nobody should be having BBQs at the moment. And there are plenty of parks which have picnic areas! Also - wasps

This did make me laugh. I’ve had far more picnics disrupted by wasps than by dogs. But then, I am terrified of the critters.

As for this particular thread, I have voted YABU, as the OP failed to keep her dog under control in a public place. Which she accepts. But I don’t really have sympathy for the family having the BBQ, as they were being irresponsible in having one at all. And IMO they lost the moral high ground with their reaction.

So both were unreasonable, in different ways.

And it's worth reiterating that people who "lose it" in public spaces with others who transgress in some way, may well also be reported by any family lawyers, social workers, police, counselors etc who happen to be in the area.

When I see altercations like this in public I always stick around longer so I can unobtrusively observe the dynamics, and particularly how the women and children are reacting or are treated by the raging person / people. I take notes of licence plates and descriptions in case they are needed. I can and have called in welfare checks to the police based on red flags observed when someone is righteously swearing and blinding at someone else in public, particularly where children are involved. That type of behaviour immediately raises concern.

It's clear OP felt threatened by these people, as she was initially very apologetic and taking responsibility as any good dog owner does. Threatening and swearing at others in public is also harassment, but apparently because you don't like dogs this is ok?

P.S not a dog owner. Don't even like dogs really. Would be far more concerned by the ragers than the dog in this incident.

I have another gripe about dog owners too. Why is it, when you are walking towards them, that they put the dog between me and them?

Surely they should insert themselves between me and the dog?

I am a 5 foot 3 woman, not a 6 foot tall bloke who they might think is threatening so there's no need to put the dog in the way.

We can have another thread about wasps ;) Although they don't seem to have liked the dry conditions this year, I've not seen many.

Maybe it’s not about you. Im right handed and walk dogs on my right side, so the dog may be slightly ahead in the lead but when I pull to heal to pass someone the dog goes to my right side.

Absolutely pointless gripe to have anyway, maybe try and over think things less, this one isn’t a big deal.