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?

I’d love to know where these designated off lead areas in public places are? The only ones I can think of are where you pay to exercise your dog and no one would pay to picnic there. Surely any ‘designated off lead dog’ area would have to have a high fence around it otherwise it would be pointless, and why would they walk into this area with a high fence to have their picnic? This part of OP’s tale really doesn’t ring true to me at all. Unless the picnickers were complete and utter idiots.

What consequences? Should people not be allowed to eat in a public park without expecting ‘consequences’? Do you think only people with gardens should be allowed to eat outside?

I think they shouldn’t cook sausages on an open flame in a public park. Do you think they should?

Dogs should be on leads in all public areas. It's common sense. Why shouldn't people eat alfresco in the summer?

I didn’t say anything about open flame. Do you think people should be allowed to picnic in public parks without being hassled by dogs (which are essentially just other people’s lifestyle choices).

You quoted my post where I said if you’re going to cook sausages in a public park you can deal with the consequences. I’ve not mentioned picnics once. Do you think it’s ok to cook food on an open flame in a public park?

Yes. Where I live there are no bbq restrictions. People ought to allowed to have bbqs in public. Don’t you agree?

Because you keep harping on about the bbq being illegal to defend your poorly trained dog, what if it had been a picnic instead and your large black dog had ran up to someone, presumably ignored being pushed away/shooed by whoever was trying to defend their food and ransacked their good time? Why do you have a large gundog breed anyway if you're just taking it to the park to be a nuisance, if it was a more sensible dog it wouldnt be running around causing a nuisance at 25+kg while humans are trying to do human things while you try and exercise it. It 100% wasn't hilarious trying to see you chase after it, it's an eyeroll kind of scene seeing someone (usually women with obvious country dreams honestly) try to chase after their overly babied dogs while it ignores them and it happens all too much.

I know they're animals. I don't want anything to do with them. You were in the wrong and expecting people not to mind when you don't control your dog is pathetic.

No, clearly.

I’ve got a spaniel who is 100% food orientated. I can imagine him seeing a discovery like this as a miracle!

He is usually reliable at recall but he’d sniff out cooking sausages too. He’s on a lead around expected food spots but a chance encounter is just bad luck (for all the humans)

You don’t think people should be allowed to bbq in public parks? Where should they bbq if they don’t have a garden?

They shouldn’t.

You’re clearly just wanting an argument but no one in their right mind can truly believe lighting a bbq in a park is an ok thing to do.

YANBU I expect they deliberately chose to sit away from other picnics in the off lead area as to not being spotted having a banned disposable barbecue. I don’t have any sympathy for them. Dogs will be off lead running free not trotting along to heel next to their owners.

As a PP said you need to be prepared to defend your food from dogs, toddlers and sea gulls. Were they even watching the barbecue or sat too far away if they couldn’t intercept before your dog reached the barbecue.

If they had been in the on leads area my attitude would be different.

Under normal conditions, BBQs are allowed in most parks. It is just at the moment we have drought conditions so it is very stupid to light one. You actually don’t need a specific shop bought disposable BBQ. Many are made by using other things.
It would be unfair to ban them as many people don’t have gardens.
Everyone in a park and their pets should be under control and leave other people and their belongings alone.

My DB’s late lab disappeared once while DB was walking him in a huge local park with a small caravan site attached. He eventually found him with a family at the caravan site, being fed chips and generally having a whale of a time.

Literally spreading food out on the floor in an area specifically designated for off lead animals.

Not very bright thing to do but let's just disagree.

It’s not a dog park though is it? It’s not ‘specifically designed’ for dogs to be off lead. It’s just an area of the park that allows dogs to be off lead, which is not the same thing.

Quick google:

An estimated 75–85% of UK public parks do not permit visitors to use their own flame barbecue, with only around 15–25% allowing them either generally or in designated areas.”
The official Countryside Code position is essentially only use a BBQ where signs specifically say you can.

You would think dog owners would care what their dogs could eat at a picnic. It could harm them.

About 20 years ago We came across a couple with a bbq picnic in an area which did not alllow this at all. They called him gave him something he was allergic to he died later at the vets. So fuck your picnics if your going to teach dogs that they are allowed to run up look cute and be fed.

Like here where the yellow area is keep on lead and no dogs in play area, which is enclosed.

Are you saying the rest of the park is “designated off lead” and everyone else must not have a picnic because it’s fair game for a shitehound to thieve your sandwich ?

We’re talking about dogs and bbqs. Not picnics and shitehounds.

I’ve read this 4 times and it still doesn’t quite make sense at the end