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?

As a runner and dog lover, never been chased, jumped up on, scratch or bitten, ever occurred to you you may be doing something wrong in how you act around dogs?

But were you sat on the floor, with your back to your food, in an area marked 'no food, dogs off lead'?

Because thats the scenario the OP was in and is very very different to yours.

@Eyesopenwideawake they were dicks, your dog was a dick, you'll take action to prevent it happening in future, don't worry about it. Chances are they will NOT learn not to have BBQ's in stupid places that ban BBQs though, I find dogs learn far more easily than stupid people.

Someone's dog ran up and ate our picnic once, and the owner shouted at me for "letting" his dog eat things he shouldn't, I like dogs but I wasn't about to grab food from the mouth of a dog I don't know!
i think YANBU though I suppose you should pay for the food your dog ate, however I doubt that was £40 worth!

Leaving aside the BBQ issue, which is not a get out of jail free card, your AIBU is "people need to* *realise dogs are animals and act as such"

That includes YOU as an owner. You know you have a greedy Labrador. Whatever his behaviour in the past, you did not realise that he was a dog, likely food motivated and would ignore your calls in pursuit of a cheap sausage and burger. Because IT IS A DOG doing what dogs do.

You are just as bad as the people having the barbecue.

Please expand on the sheep story.

🤣 I don’t act in any way. I am minding my own business jogging on a path.

You love dogs that much that they cannot be at fault. Actually I don’t blame the dogs. I blame the owners who cannot control their dogs.

Missing the point but how are they having a BBQ? They shouldn’t be! It was only a week ago we got the alert! That’s far more dangerous than your dog!

Op, these things happen! And I wouldn’t get worked up about it, dogs can be like this and no real harm done.

So.. when I was a teenager we had a big fluffy 6kg female rescue cat & she liked to go off hunting at times.. among her successes were a huge roast potato from some poor neighbour’s Sunday lunch! & a pack of Tesco chicken legs from the hot chicken counter. She was so proud of her catches!. luckily she did calm down and stayed mainly in the garden after a while, and no one realised it was us who owned the hot food snatcher!
Your Labrador’s bbq adventure just reminded me of her OP!!

It’s not everyone’s responsibility to learn how to act around dogs. It’s dog owners’ responsibility to ensure their dogs can’t hurt or pester other people in public spaces. Honestly, talk about victim blaming!

Would it have been different if it was cold food like a picnic?
I don’t think dogs should be off the lead unless in an enclosed space. As you say, dogs aren’t robots and you can’t predict what it will do. Which is why you keep them on a lead.

To answer your question, yes, people need to realise dogs are animals and act as such.

That's you. You need to realise that. Keep your dog on a lead and stop trying to justify, make excuses or blame others. Your dog stealing from a bbq is absolutely not OK, and other people are not required to be gracious after their lunch has been stolen by your out of control dog.

I have two Irish setters and off leash on our local beach a year or so ago they didn’t nick the food or get aggressive but one one of my dickheads took a ginormous poo on top of a little girls sandcastle! The mortification was beyond this world I think I would have rather had a sausage snaffler 😂 the child was traumatised!

My Lab went to a party!
We were walking she was off lead, walking to heel, with several others and other people, on a path we used regularly. At a house next to the footpath there was a party in full swing, my dog shot off through the kitchen door and came out through the French doors from a different room. Fortunately the family had their own dogs and thought it was hilarious. She wasn't allowed off lead there though for several weeks.

If you’re sitting ON THE GROUND with a pile of food it’s not really a surprise when a dog shows interest. My pug has zero interest in the picnic tables but leaving sausages and sandwiches on the actual PARK FLOOR is quite different.

Last time she ran up and rolled over with her tummy out on a picnic rug she came back with a massive sausage I had to wrestle off her as they were so taken by her cuteness.

it’s not your fault. And it’s why in America you don’t eat outdoors on the floor in bear country (obviously).

This is bonkers! What do you think picnic blankets are made for - just warming up while you sit at picnic benches? Picnicking on the ground is very very common and is no excuse for other people’s supposedly domesticated animals stealing your food! I’d argue ‘having a picnic’ most often implies eating on the ground.

We are not in America and don’t have bears. These people were apparently in a no picnic area so fair enough, but obviously eating on the ground in the Uk is very common and totally normal.

And it is also OPs ‘fault’ because it’s her dog and she’s responsible for it. Your dog stealing food off people is also clearly your fault, because she’s your dog. HTH

I know dogs are animals and all but tbh I find them far more predictable than people these says to be honest!

I've been jumped up at and scratched while standing still taking a photo. The stupid fucking "owner" ignored her dog barking and jumping at me and carried on yacking away on her phone.

I'm not quite sure what I did wrong there. I had no food. I didn't smell of animals. I should have been entirely unremarkable.

DS has had many sticks snatched out of his hands as he's walked along. He's never forgiven the loss of his favourite stick that was stolen from him.

The only places I know set aside specifically for off-lead dogs are private hire dog fields. Everything else is just general public access. The only places where dogs are banned are fenced children's play areas, but you still have to walk through the rest of the park to get there.

DS2 was once victim blamed for being in "the dog walking woods" aka a nature reserve where dogs should be on leads anyway. There were no rules on 8 year olds having a walk there, and he should have been able to walk there safely without being winded by an ill-trained puppy and its idiot owner

Ultimately dogs are their owner's responsibility not the passing general public. Frankly I can't be arsed therefore I don't have a dog. So many dog owners make it look like a nightmare to train and control a dog responsibly which has put me right off the concept despite having grown up with dogs.

Dogs that are under control and minding their own business are fine.

You are completely in the wrong. All dogs should be kept on leads. I think it should be the law everywhere.

Tokittyornottokitty

the whole point of my post is that my dog DIDNT STEAL food, they GAVE it to her

Yup. Classic victim blaming. If you have a dog, it’s your dog. It’s not part of society. It’s not human. Other humans have a right to go about their lives totally unaffected- running in public places, playing with balls, picnicking - without having any interaction with anyone’s fucking dog.

Were you not concerned about your dog eating other animals? I can only presume "food" that cost £40 on a barbecue is going to be dead animals as vegan food on a Barbie doesn't cost that much. Plus even if itwas vegan it could have had garlic and onions in it. which I'm pretty sure dogs shouldn't be eating. And as others have said, nobody should be having barbecues in a park. So much going wrong in this scenario.

Doggo doesn’t have 100% recall I’m afraid, perhaps he’s not a dog with a strong prey drive, but he does think with his tummy clearly!
they were out of line and I’d tell them to jump re the £40, bloody idiots, didn’t they get the government message .. idiots!
FWIW I have a dog with 100% recall, unless there’s a squirrel … or a bunny … or a fairy … dogs really don’t always listen, it’s just the dangerous ones that are the real problem

100% on OPs side here, it was an off lead area for dogs, separate from the picnic area, clearly signposted - a bit of a Darwin award for the BBQers who were in the wrong place and should have expected this could be a potential scenario with off lead dogs around. Is it acceptable for off lead dogs to not recall and steal food? No. Could it happen? Yes. It's on them as far as I'm concerned. The swearing and blinding seals the deal.

And before anyone jumps on me, adults who find that to be acceptable behaviour in front of children are quite likely to be behaving the same way toward those children when they do something wrong. I work around DV cases, this type of behaviour from adults to a less than ideal situation is a clear warning sign of potential family violence happening behind closed doors, and "losing it" like that - no matter who was in the wrong in the initiating incident - can and is used in Court evidence to show that restraining orders should be made to protect any dependent children.

This is precisely why dogs should not be off lead in public. They are animals and they don't understand the rules about other people's food and personal space, but their owners really ought to.