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?

This is near enough 100% the situation. Bbqs aren’t allowed at the moment anyway, but even so they weren’t in the picnic area either. I fully accept the dog was wrong and I will truly make sure it doesn’t happen again as much as I can but I also felt like they were acting like it was all me when it shouldn’t have even been a possible scenario!

I have it on good authority (from my mini schnauzer) that sausages taste far superior to children 😁

Thank you for summing this up well! If he was in the picnic area I’d never have him off lead (even though until now I’d have to reason to worry!) but he was in an area where I shouldn’t have even had to consider it anyway

It’s two totally different situations, yes they shouldn’t be having a BBQ if the grass is still really dry but your dog was a little sod and you ruined their picnic lunch! I’d be fuming too! It happened to me a good few years back a dog stole my son’s sandwich it’s not funny and left me feeling peeved as a picnic and day in the countryside was cut short to half an hour having to find more food!

You said you thought your dog had 100% recall, now you know he hasn’t will you be keeping him on a lead permanently?

You must have been heck of a slow if he managed to gobble £40 worth of sausages.

But hayho thanks for the giggle. Hope he enjoyed their bbq!

I though you were going to go on about a crowd fund to try and save a dog that the owner claims isn't a banned breed. Now that's where people need to accept dogs are dogs.

My labs have invaded bbqs and picnics in the past when we’ve come across them unexpectedly and I’ve not been quick enough to get them on lead. Luckily noones every been really irate. All you can do is apologise profusely and offer to pay. I’d advise you to teach them a strong leave it command as opposed to generic come. Yell it sternly if they head towards any food.

I don’t think I agree. My dog is unreliable around food (that’s to say he’s 99% great, but occasionally will forget that he’s a Good Boy when faced with too much temptation). I manage that behaviour by never taking him places in summer where there are likely to be BBQs. However, if he’s off lead somewhere he’s allowed to be off lead, where BBQs aren’t allowed, and someone is illegally BBQ-ing fillet steak, and he decides that’s the moment to be a dickhead, then I’m not taking full responsibility for that because I have carefully taken him somewhere where there shouldn’t be any temptation. The illegal BBQ-ers were also in the wrong here and partly to blame.

At the minute that they were aggressive to you they lost the argument unfortunately. And you were well with your rights to walk away. You can’t control whether someone shouts at you, but you can control whether you are prepared to listen. You did the right thing, put them out of your head. They haven’t got a leg to stand on anyway.

I agree. As a runner (well jogger 😏) I have been chased, jumped up on, scratched and bitten several times. All dogs should be on leads.

No dog has 100% cast iron recall. Keep him controlled where strangers are surely.

Agree with this. Your dog has probably already forgotten about it (well not the sausages but the people). Follow his lead.

They didnt handle it well but at least your dog got a tasty snack out of it!

People should understand dogs are dogs, but you can believe a dog has 100% recall.
Surely we all know they have recall; until they don't.
They're lovely, friendly dogs; until they bite.
YABU!

I should’ve said in the op but it was a designated off lead dog walking area which is clearly signposted as separate from a picnics area, so he was definitely allowed to be off in the area where food shouldn’t have been

The people in the park were wrong by having a bbq etc but I’ve been at a picnic before when a random dog trampled over everything. Not everyone is a dog lover and no one can guarantee how a dog will behave so not sure letting them off the lead in a park is a good idea.

This is part of it really. Until today I’ve had no reason to doubt re food but I’d always keep him on a lead etc to be safe. But he was thrown into a scenario that never happens and his animal instincts took over! I don’t disagree he was bad and should’ve listened, but the people shouldn’t have had the food there and equally shouldn’t have shouted and screamed instead of having a rational conversation about it

erm no - as much as I detest how people eat in public, people do. A kid could just as easily been walking down the street with one of those disgusting sausage pastry things from Greggs and had the dog come careering into him at high speed or a finger taken off.

Whether or not they should have been having a bbq in the open is beside the point, by all means op should report them for doing so, but her dog smashing through eating their possessions is not something you can write off because oh well more fool them. And all dog owners (I love dogs but it is just true) say what op says 'he's never usually like this'..... maybe this time it's true but frankly people are sick of hearing it. Usually it isn't the dog's first offence and why should they care?

Then they are idiots for having a picnic in an off lead dog zone clearly signposted as such.

what did they expect?

This. BBQ aside your dog sounds a pain in the backside. We were having a picnic the other day and a dog came up and did the same thing. It was bloody annoying. I certainly didn't laugh 'and give him another sausage'. Your dog should not be off the lead as he clearly doesn't have 100% recall.

@thisbloodydog I accepted my dog was partly in the wrong as well however the family having the picnic could have set up anywhere in the park as dogs are only allowed off lead in the dog walking field and it is strictly enforced.

Why on earth they chose to sit in long, somewhat spiky grass when they could have been by the lake or sat on the lawns in front of the rather nice house is beyond me. Bloody idiots.

Two wrongs don't make a right. Their food type doesn't make it OK for your dog to gate crash even if they are cheeky fuckers.

Idiot dogs and their feckless owners caused my DCs' dog fears because of repeated incidents including gate-crashed picnics, including one where 1yo DS was eating his lunch in his pram when a large dog came up and tried to snatch his food out of his hand. People can reasonably eat food anywhere. About the only fenced off dog areas are children's play areas.

Good luck with retraining him, but remember he is an animal and there's no such thing as 100% recall and if you let him off lead there is always a risk of him pissing people off again; it will never be a 0% risk.

(I don't hate dogs, I just hate it when dogs impact my reasonable activities)

I've had dogs nick food off me so many times, including out of my rucksack I'd put down to get something out of, I would probably be very irritated if it happened again. Owners have shouted and sworn at me for asking them to call their dog off my picnic.

But it sounds like they should have been doing bbq somewhere else if there was a specific area, and the swearing was rude.

The fact your dog has recall usually isn't relevant btw. He didn't on that day, and that's the day that counts.

Quite! It's like someone making their skin bleed and then taking a swim in shark infested waters. What the duck would you expect to happen?!

"Where shall we set our picnic up? "

"Let's go to the zone where dogs are off lead"

"Good idea!"

🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

I think this is one of those occasions where you chalk it up to experience.

Life isn't perfect and shit happens.

The BBQ party should have been in the picnic area and not in the off-lead dog exercise area.

I am an absolute dog lover but no dog is 100% predictable or safe.
I have witnessed a number of incidents this summer with dogs who " have never done anything like that before" including attacking my dog when he was on the lead (that was a lab - the owner was busy birdwatching whilst his dogs went running off) running off across a railway line, killing birds and rabbits, worrying sheep and most worrying "only playing" when terrified children are screaming.
I don't think a dog should ever be off the lead in a public park, there are so many triggers and unknowns.
The family were out of order for having a BBQ. I have no doubt from your description that they were trying it on with a request for £40. But two wrongs don't make a right.
You were completely in the wrong for not having your dog under control in a public place. Dogs will be dogs and incidents will happen but it's our responsibility as dog owners to do all we can to minimise the chances of something happening.

I love dogs and this would still have pissed me off. Two things can be true at the same time, you can understand that dogs are animals not robots, and at the same time be angry that a dog has ruined your barbecue, effed up your plans and wasted the food that you bought.