Embarrassing incident at park....

[NaomiH]

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Yesterday I took Sparky, my greyhound/ saluki rescue to the park and he was having a lovely time playing fetch. We had been there for a while and his attention started to wander towards the neighbouring golf course, where I believe there are deer. However, he loved his squeaky ball, so every time he started to trot off, I squeaked the ball and he returned.

I was taking a phone call when, suddenly, he bounded off towards a man sitting at a picnic table. I saw the man pushing him away, realised the man must be eating and called S back. S returned and was given a treat. He then, as he does, bounded off towards the golf course and stood on the path between the park and golf course staring, on high alert, towards it. There is a small fenced off play park. I was one side of it and he was the other but I was watching him all the time, waiting to see when I needed to call him back.

Now I can't be 100% sure on what happened next but this is what I saw....while S was staring longingly through the trees, 2 little boys aged around 5 and 7 approached him, saying, "Doggy, doggy" etc and walked up to him. I just watched, knowing that S is fine with strangers and children. Then I saw S turn and trot towards them. The next thing I knew was the guy at the picnic table was shouting, "No!No!" and running over there and I realised S was eating something. It looked to me as if the boys had given him some food, but he clearly assumed S had ambushed them and stolen their lunch. I went running over to see this guy shouting at S, S with a lunch box in his mouth and the boys saying what a bad, naughty dog he was. I grabbed S, and asked if he had stolen their food. The dad said yes and I think I apologised. He then, seething with anger, said another apology wouldn't go amiss. I was mortified, apologised and dragged S away. There were other people watching, which made it even more mortifying.

Now, the thing is, after I got back to my car, an embarrassed, tearful wreck, It occurred to me that the boys had basically approached S and got his attention, while holding food (in opened lunch boxes). It looked from where I was standing as if they had even offered him a tit-bit. So, realistically, isn't it probably just that he thought they were getting his attention to offer food? S is undeniably a thief, but wasn't that behaviour relatively normal? The guy was cross with me for not being more apologetic, but in all honesty I thought he had gone over partly to rescue his kids' lunch and partly to tell them off for feeding/ encouraging S. I wanted to point out why S had done that but didn't want to get into a confrontation. I was also worried about what S might have eaten but didn't think the dad would appreciate my concern for my dog!!

Anyway, it was an upsetting encounter. I take S there every day as it's one of the few places still open where he can really run around. Now I am worried about going there again. I know that maybe I should have been right next to him but I know he is great with people, children, dogs etc so tend to not worry (whilst always watching him carefully). Basically I didn't realise they were wandering around carrying open lunchboxes. Sorry for such a long post!

 

[JudyN]

It happens... And whatever exactly happened, I dare say the man was upset as i his eyes it had spoilt their one daily outing. Though I'm not sure they should even be having picnics right now. And it's always upsetting when someone has a go at you even though S's behaviour was absolutely normal. If the kids called him over and had food in their hands, he's going to assume that they're offering it to him. Or, if they make it that easy for him to quickly swipe it, what is any self-respecting lurcher/longdog going to do? I know Jasper would have taken it as a open invitation. I even have to watch him when we walk past people with carrier bags after he once dipped his head into a stranger's bag and came out with a pork pie

We always think of things we could/should have said afterwards, but it would probably have turned into a slanging match so you did the right thing in walking away. These things happen, you didn't do anything wrong and neither did S xx

 

[JoanneF]

To paraphrase the magnificent Emma Judson's cartoon character Foul Mouthed Fido - ”dogs are opportunistic scavengers and that was a ******* opportunity”.

It happened, you can't make it un-happen. It may not have been his finest hour but all you can do is be more vigilant in future. Are you really likely to see them again, given that you haven't seen them before? If you do, maybe just head the other way. If they confront you, perhaps have some words already prepared, like ”it looked to me like the kids were giving the dog food, I don't like him being encouraged like that so please tell them they shouldn't be feeding other people's dogs”.

 

[JoanneF]

@JudyN ... we did it again!

 

[Finsky]

No matter how much we keep our watch full eyes on them...it is never enough. And reading about your incident just woke up one of the issues in me I keep ranting about.....'parents not teaching their kids to ask before they approach and engage with strange dogs'.
It was something that was 'hammered' to our heads when I was a nipper and even to this day as a well matured adult, it stays as standard approach with me. Fair enough if the dog comes to me, but if I want to approach the dog..I always ask first.
And now I've remembered an incident that was embarrassing thing, only if it the 'victim' would have been more likeable person that is...
Yeeeeeeears ago..our first dog, teeny yorkie boy, we went to local park for a summer fair and he came with us. This time it wasn't his sneaky humping habit that was the issue but when we happened to meet my sister-in-law at the park...we stopped to talk to her. But she was giving us her usual rude behaviour...barely talking to us and didn't even bother to get up from the grass for a chat, she had her back turned to us while lying on her side. And what did our boy do.....he went behind her..walked by and lifted his leg Yep..he marked her on her back! Because my SIL was trying talk to us as little as possible..and as she didn't seem to realize what happened, well it wasn't that she was actually 'watered down'...we wished her to have a nice day and walked away.
And nope...I'm not shamed, nor embarrassed..my inner bitch did have chance for little 'pay back' and if the recipient would have been somebody else, I would done my best to apologize and remedy the situation.
I still wonder if our dog sensed something about the situation with her as he never ever did that 'trick' to anybody else??

 

[NaomiH]

Thank you for your replies. He is a total scavenger and I do watch him closely around picnics....I just didn't realise the two kids were walking around with their lunch. The problem is that S is so fast. His recall also completely goes out the window if there's food involved!

I like the anecdote about Jasper stealing a pork pie out of someone's shopping bag! xx

 

[NaomiH]

No matter how much we keep our watch full eyes on them...it is never enough. And reading about your incident just woke up one of the issues in me I keep ranting about.....'parents not teaching their kids to ask before they approach and engage with strange dogs'.
It was something that was 'hammered' to our heads when I was a nipper and even to this day as a well matured adult, it stays as standard approach with me. Fair enough if the dog comes to me, but if I want to approach the dog..I always ask first.
And now I've remembered and incident that was kind of embarrassing thing if it the 'victim' would have been more likeable person.
Some years back..our first dog was teeny yorkie boy, we went to local park for a summer fair. This time it wasn't his sneaky humping habit that was the issue but when we happened to meet my sister-in-law at the park...we stopped to talk to her. But she was giving us her usual rude behaviour...barely talking to us and didn't even bother to get up from the grass for a chat, she had her back turned to us while lying on her side. And what did our boy do.....he went behind her..walked by and lifted his leg Yep...did the wet thing on her back! Because my SIL was trying talk to us as little as possible..and as she didn't seem to realize what happened....we wished her to have a nice day and walked away before she would have chance start her usual scene.
And nope...I'm not shamed, nor embarrassed, if the recipient would have been somebody else, I would done my best to remedy the situation. I still wonder if our dog sensed something about the situation with her as he never ever did that 'trick' to anybody else??

Amazing! I agree about teaching children not to approach dogs unless asking first. Last week we were at the park and two tiny boys (aged around 2 and 4 I would guess) just would not leave S alone and kept wanting to stroke him and feed him daisies and grass! Aware of the 2m thing, I kept edging away but they kept approaching. Their dad didn't stop them. Anyway, S was standing panting heavily because he was worn out from playing fetch and it was a warm day.

The older boy took a step towards S and S happened to whip his head round at that very moment. The boy was alarmed and quickly stepped back, knocking over his little brother, who sat on the grass crying. The dad hadn't seen and it took him a little while to respond to his little boy crying. I couldn't go and comfort the little boy because of the social distancing rule so just stood there until the dad got there. Of course, when he gott there he asked if S had done anything....I explained what had happened but felt slightly irritated that my dog, who was just wanting to stand next to me and chill out, was automatically cast under aspersions when actually the dad should have prevented them from following him around trying to feed him daisies! He was a nice guy though and the boys were very cute. I do think, though, that parents should teach their kids to be cautious. S is never snappy, but another dog might have got annoyed....xx

Apologies if I inadvertently end up posting Finsky's message again! Bit useless at this!

 

[Flobo]

One of my dogs that stays with me (a weimaraner/lab), loveliest dog but a food hound, when he was young he'd pinched a whole loaf of bread in the wrapper and ate the lot, ended up in surgery.. once when he was with me, even being vigilant, I let him off to play after doing my 360 scan, there were 2 people sat on the grass in the distance but no picnic, no kids etc.. well, I unclipped his lead and he literally legged it up the field to these 2 people with me desperately running and calling after him,(knowing food is his only motivator to move so quick!) stuck his head in her hand bag and wolfed down her sandwiches in the packets, like a seal eating a fish!! Thankfully the woman was fine, probably stunned, but fine, I apologized hugely and lead my gannet away rather quickly,(he was fine after his thievery, thankfully, spoke to the vet when home just in case and put him on a soft, easy to digest diet for a few days until the wrapper appeared, big relief)

 

[Rinkydinkydo]

Sorry I'm guilty of having a chuckle,having had Hyena x greyhounds in the past,your post brought back some fond memories.

Have fun Sparky

 

[merlina]

I think the truth of this has already been expressed- picnics are banned!.. Your dog was simply doing its social duty- and no harm done. WTG Sparky. (I know it can shake you at the time though). I had a guy shout Go away! at my lurcher once and, for emphasis, point at him with a jumbo sausage roll. It didn't end well.

 

[JudyN]

I had a guy shout Go away! at my lurcher once and, for emphasis, point at him with a jumbo sausage roll. It didn't end well.

Brilliant - we really need a ROFL smilie!

After the pork pie incident, we had a woolly hat incident and a car key fob (with small fluffy toy attached) incident involving carrier bags. The woman whose keys it was didn't even realise he'd swiped them till we gave them back. And then there was the perfume bottle incident when he actually grabbed and tore the bottom of the bag and the perfume dropped out.

 

[merlina]

We could form an Embarrassed Owners Club .

 

[Crazy Dog Man]

It's normal, all dogs do that! Dogs just don't understand limits and it's really not their fault, especially if someone is holding food near them, it's very tempting. My parents and I did our best to try and stop Lady from overeating and I remembered walking her to the shops with my mother and she just stop halfway through her walk and we wondered what she was doing and Lady had started licking up someone's spilled strawberry milkshake then Lady helped herself to half an eaten sausage roll. Food is a dog's weakness and no matter how hard we train them, they will still have those occasional moments where they'll give into their temptations.

 

[Josie]

Ah reminds me of back in the day when Dennis was a young spritely Labrador and if we didn’t catch him in time he would devour people’s whole picnics! Or he would even eat the fisherman’s bait!

 

[Ari_RR]

Brilliant responses, love it

 

[JudyN]

I know someone whose horse nicked a child's Marmite sandwich when the child came up to say hello to the horse