Are some dog owners a bit deluded about their dogs?

You are right. It’s not all dog owners but definitely a large and growing section. I don’t believe it is good for the dogs either and in some cases almost abuse to the animal, buying it its own takeaway is not kind.
I’ve just nuked Christmas because I won’t go to mums for Xmas if my brother and his wife insist on bringing their biting dog with “separation anxiety” for Xmas lunch. It IS a BITING dog that rules the bloody roost and they and it can eff off.

Some very strange behaviour around dog owning has developed over recent years.
I don't own a dog as I don't believe I have time for that level of commitment to train. I do have a cat who is very loved but behaves as a cat and as cats always have. So yes he sleeps where he wants , does what he wants and we all do as he says. He is a cat, this behaviour is the same as my grandparents cats. He stays home and doesn't come with us on days out. He also doesn't care if we go out all day as long as we feed him when we do turn up.
when we had dogs as children they did as they were told, they slept in the kitchen at night and did not get on sofas or beds ( that was seen as a cat thing) and certainly didn't bark or jump up at people.
They were trained properly and that's where real commitment comes in. The word no was said firmly and they knew what it meant.

I have a work colleague who has recently got a small toy breed without any real research or knowledge. Her reason was her children ( late teens) wanted a pet.
She is struggling to train it, struggling with leaving it and I am literally left opened mouthed by her sudden surprise that she has to sort dog care to go on a holiday.
Dogs seem to be fashionable somehow. Colleague would honestly have been better off with a cat in her circumstances but she wanted the current fashionable breed of dog. ( never owned an animal in her life).

So despite me being brought up with dogs I have no desire to join current dog owners with this madness.

The parents/owners do compare.

Absolutely.
Children are human beings. We need people to have children as they will be the adults of the future.
A dog is an animal, of course it should be treated kindly but it's not a member of the family and is on no way comparable with a child.

Lots of people are idiots.
Some of them have dogs.

I don't think delusions are any more common in dog owners than non dog owners. Rates of delusion seem roughly similar to that found in parents discussing their children's behaviour.

Our vet have now separated cats and dogs in the waiting room. Cats are one side of a 5ft partition, dogs are the other side, I think that says it all

Yes OP - I think there are dog owners and dog owners.

How many threads are there on here about dogs - well many . I utterly understand why some don't like dogs . I have one and he is on a lead on all pavements until he gets into a park where dogs are allowed. He is well trained .

I took him to a different park & went to cafe there ( I put him on the lead ) and a small child had a stick and was trying to poke his eyes. Now - a dog can be as well behaved as whatever but poking their eyes with a stick isn't great . I removed my dog. Mother of said child didn't seem to be bothered.

If I honestly thought my dog was nippy or aggressive I would take that and make sure they stayed away from others or at home - but he isn't.

Not all dog owners are reprehensible.

I think it has become more apparent since Covid. Did those who already have dogs just get used to doing everything with their dog as you could only do things outside or in your own home and they're just used to it now? And those who got puppies in Covid brought those puppies up knowing no different and it was obviously hard to socialise them so they may be more anxious and less good at being left alone?
DS is 12 and was bitten once as a toddler (he was sat in his pushchair eating a biscuit and a cocker spaniel jumped up into the pushchair to eat his biscuit), chased in my grandparents' enclosed garden as a 4yo (dog being walked off lead barged past a visitor to my grandparents as the visitor opened the gate) and then knocked over by an exuberant large dog in the woods a few months later so dogs being out of control was fairly common a decade ago but the massive difference now is the places they can frequent.
Last week I was in The White Company with a black retriever brushing up against the cream clothes; in John Lewis yesterday a Labrador was sniffing around the materials in haberdashery and then had its paws up on the cutting table; a coffee this morning was somewhat spoiled by two dogs with separate groups who were seated next to each other yapping at each other for the entire time we were in there. A friend works in a clothes shop and a dog did a poo on the carpet about a fortnight ago. Why was a dog in any of these places?

She wasn’t saying dogs and kids were the same, she was making the point about deluded parents/ owners who think their offspring can do no wrong acting the same

@Billyandharry DH said his mates call it the "2 year puppy pass". I.e. if your girlfriend wants a baby, you get her a puppy and it buys you another 2 years 😐

I'm not. She's an absolute cow of the first order and can be replaced by...well, almost anything that doesn't tear around barking all the time. Bloody working breeds.

I love her unreservedly of course, and she knows it. But I am not deluded about her. She's pure evil and it's a good job I love her, because nobody else would have her.

That about sums it up.

My dog sleeps upstairs and (shock horror) sometimes in my bed because he's a dog and they are social animals. Not because I treat him like a child. Dogs used to be allowed to roam freely they didn't get locked up in a barn on their own all night unless they were farm dogs with the other dogs.
^
He's fine on his own of course and I don't take him anywhere inside where I know he wouldn't be enthusiastically welcomed with treats and a fuss. ^

I don't think it's helpful to equate dog that gets to spend time with his human with a dog that misbehaves. I see plenty^ of nervous/ aggressive dogs that get smacked by their owners or are locked in a crate over night. They're the people not treating dogs like dogs.

There are just arseholes that have arsehole dogs.
^

I remember being shouted at because my pug who was on a lead and sniffing a tree was apparently at fault when two off- lead Rottweilers decided to run over to him. She asked me to move because my dog was winding hers up?! I laughed to myself and let him carry on sniffing the tree. I see her all the time with the dogs running circles around her totally out of control. Obnoxious cow!

Dogs do not compare to children.

I know some very good owners and some equally poor ones. I love my dog but don’t expect everyone else to. We don’t take him everywhere with us and certainly wouldn’t assume he’s invited somewhere we are invited to. He has good manners (most of the time - we are still doing lots of training) I only allow him off lead when no one else around and as soon as I spot someone coming towards us I pop him back on his lead. We are working hard to train him (he’s still a pup)

People are the same about their annoying ill-behaved brats.

I don't think I could call ours well behaved, but he's a million times better behaved than when we got him. And we are still working with a dog trainer and putting in the time and effort.

He wasn't treated well before us though, so it's taking a lot longer than expected. (Not abused, just only meeting the bare necessity of needs).

If you came across us on a walk or saw him barking at you through the living room window, you might assume we were shitty owners with a badly-behaved dog but I promise you we're not. It's just taking a lot more time to train than if we'd had him from a young puppy.

Honestly? Yes.

As someone else said these people are frequently delusional about their children's behaviour too or rather they have a level of entitlement that makes them think it's OK to train neither pets nor small humans in acceptable behaviour!

I would say a high percentage of dog owners are deluded. Generally the ones who treat them like humans.

The world is not short of arseholes and some of them own dogs.

I think some of the never leaving them stems from lockdown, when people got dogs in droves, didn't attend any puppy training and the dog had someone with them 24/7. Hence the chronic separation anxiety.

I've got 2 spaniels who are mud magnets, hedge surfers and would probably strangle themselves wearing a coat on a walk. I spend my life surrounded by muddy dog towels. However they do sleep on the sofa next to me, and they're also now sleeping in my room as our old dog is deaf, losing his sight and started barking at 2am when he couldn't smell me (even with an old T shirt in his bed). So he sleeps in his bed upstairs and we all get rest!. It's really sad he's growing old.

Yes definitely. Dog owners whose dogs have nearly attacked my son and been very close to biting him seem totally unconcerned at the effect it's hard, even though they have children of their own and have seen for months afterwards how distressed he is. I think they think it's like an argument between two children and they are happy as long as their child (dog) came out okay.

No pets here. We've brought up two sons and we don't want the resonsibility of another living creature. Not prepared to put in the time and money for a cat or dog.
I hate seeing animals treated as humans. I cringe when I see pictures of animals dressed in silly clothes etc.. They are animals with their own specific needs which are not the same as human needs. People who treat their dogs as if they were human should try reversing the role and see how comfortable they are living the life that a dog is naturally wired to live.

Our dog is 12, and has always been treated like a dog. He does what he's told, goes to his bed when asked to, knows that life doesn't revolve around him, and sometimes we will be out and he stays behind, and that's that. He's a shite sometimes, and no matter what we've tried he has a passion for going through handbags and stealing stuff, and also can't resist barking at other dogs. But apart from that, he's a good dog... But he will always be a dog, he's not a replacement child, he doesn't need to be dragged everywhere we go, and he certainly wouldn't ever come to a supermarket/restaurant with us. We love him, and he knows his place in our family, and respects us, as we do him. I'm so sick of people with dogs treating them like children and not being able to leave them at home for one second of their life. It's a ridiculous mindset, and not sustainable unless you're willing to give up your entire life for potentially 18 years. They can be loved and treated with respect and kindness without taking over your entire life, and annoying everyone else around you.

The worst ones are the people who compare their dog (and the love of the dog) to a child. These are usually people who don't have children. They genuinely believe the love is the same 🤯