To dare to think that the Cult of Dog has gone too far?

YANBU - and I say this as a dog owner. My dog stays on a lead when out, doesn’t go to places where people eat and is not my child!

I'm afraid you've misunderstood the whole thread. The op wasn't comparing dogs and children. Go back and have a look. I haven't read the rest of the thread because I'm far too busy.
By the way, your first sentence was a question, so needs a question mark at the end.

I wonder if it will all die down a bit 10-15 years post covid when the lockdown puppies pass way? Only another 5 years to go!

Maybe it is!! To get the message across
its fine to like dogs, its not fine to let your dog take over the place and jump on people. It’s simple really if you can’t control your pet and if it does not have perfect recall then leave it at home, or at least have it on a short lead

We love dogs had two in our lives but I would not behave like that ..
considerate manners have gone out the window that’s the problem
I do love furbabies … but I’m not in the category of “f you “ ! …. I’ve not been dragged up … I think some businesses have realised it’s a good idea to accommodate dogs … brings the money in …

It should be made a finable offence for a dog to jump up on someone or make contact with other people's food or property. If I pushed another person over, that would be an assault.

I like dogs but the onus should be firmly on their owners to make sure they don't cause an inconvenience to others. I don't really want to eat a picnic that's been trampled on or slobbered on by a "friendly" dog.

As for "Don't worry, he's friendly!", I'm not worried, I'm royally fucked off that the dimwit owner thinks it's ok for their dog to run at me and interrupt whatever I was doing before to grab my kids or food or try to fend their pet off. There is a scale of inconvenience caused by dogs and, while being savaged or bitten is clearly at the top, being disturbed, scratched or licked also feature on that scale.

And no, I'm not a dog-hater. But just like I never go up to a dog and impose on their space without asking the owner and making sure they welcome my attention, I expect the same courtesy to be shown to me.

Your dog may be friendly, but I'd still like to be able to ignore their existence. In exchange, I promise never to foist unwelcome attention on them.

I wasn’t asking about my dog in particular as she’s a hearing dog for the deaf and we can go everywhere together because she has given me back my life. However I was pointing out that whinging about people taking their dogs for a walk in the woods is ridiculous

I say this as someone who has a dog YANBU at all I love my dog but I’m the only person who does no one wants to be jumped all over by an out of control dog while the owner just stands there and laughs.

You're not wrong in terms of humans making a mess of things and the planet but there's this weird thing that a lot of 'animal lovers' think where that other humans think they're 'better' than animals but think animals are 'better'.

And projecting humans emotions/behaviour/ morals on animals. Like you just did.

'Simple and kind and straight-forward' is you projecting your dissatisfaction with humans into animals.

There's nothing simple, kind or straight-forward about the animal world. It's highly complex and human ideas like kindness don't play a part.

Wiltshire!

I agree, it is very important to teach children how to behave around dogs and the signs and behaviours to watch out for.

However, I think this should be at least an equal responsibility between dog owners and the public, although ideally more of a responsibility on the dog owner’s side, to manage this. Instead, we’ve gone completely the other way whereby now dog owners completely abdicate all responsibility for their dog’s behaviours and put the onus on everybody else to deal with it. They just don’t give a shit.

The issue isn’t that dogs can go everywhere it’s that people take them to places when they’re badly trained, not used to the situation etc. Our dog is young (less than a year) and we’ve spent a lot of time training him, if we’re in the park/in the canal/on a field and we someone coming or another dog it’s back on the lead initially (or permanently). He’s been to some cafes and pubs but only if it’s truly dog friendly and only in a situation he can deal with.
Also fur baby…I hate that term, he’s a part of our family but is at the bottom of the hierarchy.

Yeah I like dogs too.

I went camping at the weekend and the field was full of dogs off leads. Absolutely zero problems all weekend.

One morning, four dogs whose owner wasn't yet up came over to say hello. They were clearly very well trained. Didn't jump up and brought over a stick to be thrown.

We had a nice 10 mins playing whilst my partner cooked sausages, which the dogs showed absolutely no interest in.

Dogs are generally fine.

Some owners aren't.

It's always weird that people interpret "I don't like dogs" as "I hate them", take it so personally, and react so strongly, even suggesting it is some sort of indicator of your personal character, in the way they don't with any other animal.

Nobody thinks you are a horrible person if you're not a fan of hamsters or goldfish or rabbits. I've never heard anyone say "You can't trust someone who doesn't like giraffes."
Some creatures people actually would think you were weirder if you did like them!

Why is it just dogs (and to a much lesser extent cats) that people react this way to?

Completely agree, I have five dogs and work with dogs , would never not have a dog. It’s the entitled human behaviour that’s the issue .

Well said. It’s always humans that are the problem.

Jesus Christ where the hell do some of you people live?! Dogs fighting and growling and owners just stood around chatting?!

whilst there owners stand around chatting to the point that you have to get off the paths and often walk in muddy grass just to get by

As an aside, you do know this is a person problem rather than a dog problem don't you?

Yes, definitely. I was thinking this just last night when I was bothered by badly controlled dogs that were off leads on two separate occasions on my evening walk.

One came bounding over and jumped up with the owner completely unaware. I always feel uneasy when I see a big dog running towards me, because you're never totally sure how they're going to be. If I had a pound every time I heard some variation of 'ohhh they won't hurt you', I'd be very wealthy.

But instead I'd just prefer people to keep their dogs on sodding leads.

thank you. I appreciate you coming back to say that.

I love this. ❤️

Animals really are amazing and I also feel sorry for those that don’t/cant feel that way for whatever reason. Each to their own, but I’m glad I’m one of the ones that feel a bond with animals. They bring so much love and joy to my life.

I think the conclusion to this thread is that adult humans are just a bit shit.

I mean it's them who don't teach their children to behave and it's them who don't train their dogs.

So while we can all argue among ourselves the problem seems to be 'us' - the grownup's. Some of us are doing it right and being responsible with our children/dogs. Many of us are not. The end.

The argument should not be dogs v children as both are guided/taught by grown ups.

The argument should be shit adult humans v responsible adult humans.

@IWishIHadntDoneThat I'm sorry that sounds really tough and I’m glad you have found comfort in your dogs. It was a generalisation and obviously won’t apply to everyone. 🙂

Plenty of places in our town that are dog-free. The nearest beach to us is also dog-free.

I agree re dog owners letting dogs loose without having control in green spaces etc (and I say this as a dog owner).

But given your use of “Peri-menopausal wild eyed harridan” honestly you can get to fuck, I hope the next time you go out a dog slobbers all over your clothes.

Just said this before I read your comment! I'm out walking twice a day every day with the dogs, regularly go to dog friendly pubs and cafes and take them to the beach and not once have I witnessed anything like the OP has quoted!!!

'You're right - it's kind of funny watching the haters lose their marbles but actually I feel sorry for those that hate dogs so much.'

I actually like dogs. It's the rude, arrogant, entitled behaviour of many dog owners I have an issue with.