I’m (apparently) a bad dog owner because…

[TeenLifeMum]

Out at our local country park in the fields that are primarily used for dog walking - lots of friendly owners and dogs. If you see one on a lead you pop yours on too while you pass but most are off lead and well behaved.

Today I was walking with a friend and bumped into a group we knew so we stopped for a chat. My sprocker was running round with her bell then came and sat by me and dropped the ball at my feet. I was still chatting and she was waiting patiently so all good. A Labrador suddenly came over and swiped the ball from in front of my feet while my submissive year old spaniel just looked on sadly, but stayed sitting. I called out to the Labrador owner lady “i think your dog has our ball” and lady said “well we don’t do balls so I’ll struggle to get that back”. I replied we weren’t in a hurry so happy to wait and let her manage her dog.

our friends carried on their walk and I waited chatting with my friend and spaniel played with some other dogs. Lady with ball took more than 10 minutes trying by throwing a ball she had with her, eventually got her dog on a lead and got the ball. I walked over and collected it from her saying “thank you”. She replied snappily “YOU need to be aware that not all dogs can have balls and realise you caused this!” I laughed because I was quite taken aback. I didn’t give her dog our ball, she allowed her dog to walk over to our group when she knew her dog was bad stealing balls, her dog had minimal recall or drop commands yet she had them off lead. My dog sat at my feet yet she thinks I caused the issue for having a ball with me.

I’m still amused/baffled hours later. There were other witnesses who reassured me I wasn’t insane, which was nice.

How do they 'not do balls' - if she had a ball with her?!

I’m regularly at fault for dogs jumping up at me. It’s because ‘that’s what happens if you bring treats on a walk’

My dog is ball obsessed. It's so annoying when other dogs take his and the owners just stand there like a wet blanket or they have no drop command or treat swaps. Like yours he just sits there looking all eye-ore like "oh dear my ball has gone". I also buy chuck it ones so they're not cheap! If you have a dog that steals balls then take some swap treats out with you at the very least!

I have this loads ! Drives me mad , I threw a ball for my dog at the park a bloke picked it up passed it to me and said ‘ you need to stop throwing that my dog will have it ‘ I was literally speechless . A few times the person has thrown their ball for my dog in the hope that we can just swap balls as they can’t get my ball from their dog . My dog just stands there because it’s not her ball and I have trained her ! Does my head in !

Sounds like she was talking balls to try to deflect from her dogs lack of training and make you feel bad.

She's the issue here.

Oh it's definitely the woman's fault for not training her dog. I just don't understand her saying that they don't 'do balls' and she has one with her!

I thought the thread was going to be about why your dog told you you're bad.

I'm bad today because I didn't let her eat the random bit of food she spotted on the walk. She gives a very good dirty look. I was suitably chastised and gave her a treat to compensate.

On a seperate note, why do people just dump food on the park?

She was definitely the problem here. What a cheek!

It reminds me of my 6-year old who regularly blames me for something she did, or was a cause of. A number of us adults regress from time to time.

One of mine is a highly-skilled ball thief. It's my job to stop her indulging her vices. Other dogs should be able to enjoy their balls in peace.

Oh I thought I was the only one who got this comment. At least 2/3 times a month some twat will say this to me and I'm yet to think of a decent come back other than using my teacher look on them.

what's a sprocker?

Springer x cocker spaniel. Generally thought of as the best of the modern crosses.

Stupid cow. At least she gave you a laugh.

Some dog owners are idiots.
Not long ago in our local park there was a man and his wildly out of control young dog running up to other dogs like a maniac (even those on leads). It ran up to a dog walking at heel next to its owner and the dog at heel snapped at it. It ran a huge circle and went back for more, so the dog at heel snapped again.
Cue owner of out of control dog shouting to the man with the dog at heel that his dog was “dangerous” and “shouldn’t be out in public”.

Same dog then came over and started trying to get a ball off my dog who was playing happily with me. When I politely suggested to the bloke that perhaps it was HIS dog that was poorly trained and he really shouldn’t allow it to just run up to other dogs and people, he went absolutely crazy and started shouting around the park that I was an “idiot owner”. All while his dog is still running amok- flying up to people and dogs, stealing their balls, leaping on top of dogs who were walking on lead.
Madness!

What a ridiculous woman. She's the bad dog owner, not you!

My dog is ball obsessed so I have to avoid places where people throw balls because he will 100% steal any ball within a 5 mile radius.

That’s a me problem, not anyone else. (But I do wish a little bit that people would just walk their dogs, there’s no need for endless ball throwing)

Ah yes people who have off lead dogs and no control. They're such fun 🙄

I have a neurological disorder and sometimes walk with a stick, and DDog is always on a lead because I can't chase him. I am plagued by offlead cockerpoos dogs "just wanting to play", and when this makes me fall over.."fucking disabled people shouldnt be allowed dogs" apparently.

Nice.

This is why I taught the command “not yours” to one of my ball mad dogs! He definitely would have stolen someone’s ball (I always recalled him and put him on lead before he could) but now he just watches wistfully! She’s an idiot.

It was OPs dogs ball. The other woman’s dog took it. Not uncommon in dogs of particular breeds such as retrievers. Balls can be very high value for lots of dogs and awful triggers.

Honestly, the whole thread and the other woman’s reaction is a mountain out of a molehill. It’s a non issue. Yes the woman reacted badly, but was likely incredibly embarrassed and stressed and we’ve all had ‘dog related’ moments where we get annoyed over little things, and equally no need to make an entire thread out of it.

Separately ball throwing and retrieving is one of the leading causes of early on-set arthritis in dogs.

Separately ball throwing is one of the leading causes of early on-set arthritis in dogs.

Really?! 🤔

The poster is clearly referring to the fact the owner used her own ball to get the OPs ball back. Hence her wondering why they had a ball when she claimed they don't do balls.

I’d say she was embarrassed she couldn’t sort it quickly and stressed but she could have just slunk off instead of blaming you as someone said as a 6 year old would do!

I’ve met lots of ‘dog people’ with some very strange ideas. She sounds like one of them and possibly overwhelmed and frazzled by her untrained dog, blaming everything and everyone else for their dogs behaviour.