Told off for her dog misbehaving....the cheek of it!

[SoYo]

I was in the park with PuppyMonster & baby in the pram & we stop & play fetch with pups squeaky balls. She will do anything for a squeaky ball so comes, sits, stays etc beautifully when playing. Another dog ran out of the trees into the field off lead & promptly stole her ball while i was doing wait before letting pup go get it. I laughed with the owner but then she made no attempt to get it back. I waited a few mins but then the baby started crying so I wanted to move on & asked her to get the ball back. She started calling her dog but she wouldn't come or drop it & just kept running around & by this time pup was whining at my feet because she wanted to play & I was making her wait. I asked her to try again to get it but she said I'd just have to wait until she'd broken it & got the squeak out as that's what they do at home. I politely explained that I'd rather she got it back intact so I didn't have to go & buy anew one to play with my dog & she shouted at me that I 'shouldn't have been bloody playing where other dogs might get the wrong idea & why didn't I just take my dog & go?'

Please tell me I'm not going mad & this was bloody unreasonable! In the end she managed to grab the dog by the collar, threw the ball at me, leashed her dog & stormed off muttering.

You are not going mad at all! However there are some bonkers dog owners out there and by the sounds of it you came across a prime speciment! Has the woman never heard of teaching her dog a 'leave it' command?

The other owner was a loon. There are a surprising number of them waiting to accost unsuspecting members of the dog walking public. You get to know them by the mad glint in their eye and the way they talk to/about their dog as if it not only understands them but is replying.

Are you me SoYo? I had an almost identical conversation in the park recently, except my loon was a man and his dog was leaping all over me. Apparently if you bring a ball to the park you've got no-one to blame but yourself if another dog jumps up and tries to grab the ball from your hand.

I've been in similar situations so many times, I'm actually getting to know which dogs to avoid and yes, Chickens is right, you can recognise the owners by the mad glint in their eyes.

I'm a pretty mild mannered person generally but I was so incensed by this stupid man and his out of control dog that, to my eternal shame, I ended up telling him to piss off (I'd had a bad day).

Pimmsdog eats balls so I always have food with me if I am going anywhere near where other dogs and balls may be. We did have one dog steal his hockey ball (the only type he doesn't eat) but they dropped it back at my house on their way past.
If I see a dog and a ball I call pimmsdog back ASAP as he is still working on his leave command but he does have great recall. I have had to give one person money for a new ball once but now I am super aware of where other dogs and balls are all the time.
Sounds to me like she was embarrassed at how well behaved your dog was compared to hers and so mouthed off at you rather than acknowledging she has a problem

Did you see my post about the lady who wrestled her child to the ground and shouted abuse at me when our Springer looked at her

There's nowt so strange as folk

That's my face at her belief it is entirely resonable for her to allow her doggy to break your property becuase basically you invited the situation.

Very.Strange.Park.Lurking.Person.

It could have been my dog He goes off with other dogs balls, and we can't train it out of him we have tried.

But, no way would I blame the other owner, I'm always hugely embarrassed and apologetic. If I spot a ball from the other side of the park I put his lead on.

Thanks guys. PuppyMonster is by no means perfect (the only way to make her behave is to have a squeaky ball at all times!!) so if the other owner had been nice & apologetic I'd have left it! Mad woman!