To never shop at Pets Corner again

I don’t know where you live, but in no place I’ve visited or lived in the uk have the “majority of dog owners” walked their dogs off lead in town centres- frankly dogs are too expensive for people to be so stupid. Are you perhaps getting dogs mixed up with cats, which many owners do let out to wander, shit in other people’s gardens and kill wildlife? You don’t have to like dogs, and owners should pick up after their pets, but your hyperbole and excuse for lack of empathy is ridiculous.

Really? What a naive question.

Possibly not the reason but the one that allows dogs is nearly always busy even at the beginning of the week which is usually pretty quiet for most eating places. In fact a lot of restaurants don't even open Monday and Tuesday because they don't get custom.

Maybe a lot of dog owners have more money which is why they can afford a dog?

I do know that in my area the places that allow dogs always seem to be much busier than those that don't. A cafe opened at the beginning of this year and did not allow dogs. About 2 months ago they started allowing dogs and, according to the owners, have far more customers now.

I've seen the video and it sounded more like a major artillery battle than a firework display. Noise was way in excess of what anyone would expect or could desensitize for. Let's hope there were no ex forces with PTSD in the area.

You seriously believe the reason 2 restaurants were nearly empty but 1 was full was primarily down to the policy of allowing dogs? It's only marginally above 1 in 3 households in the UK that own dogs. Based on that it's reasonable to assume 1 in 3 of people dining out own dogs (could argue less due to costs associated with owning a dog). So you really believe 2 of 3 people who don't own dogs base their restraurant choice primarily on the restaurants policy of being pet friendly?

Your annoyance should be with the shops that allow dogs not the owners that take them into them.

You say on another post that most people should not have dogs but surely someone taking their dog out with them and into shops, restaurants etc is a good caring owner?

Me and DH rarely go out without our dog. We think it's great that so many shops now allow dogs and only really have coffee or eat in coffee shops and restaurants that allow dogs.

We went out for a meal last Tuesday evening and the restaurant we went to was pretty crowded and almost every table had a dog. On the way there and then back home we passed 3 other restaurants that don't allow dogs (similar food and prices), 1 was completely empty both times and that other 2 had very few customers. Could be nothing to do with allowing or not allowing dogs but I doubt it. Shops, cafes, restaurants etc have cottoned on to how many people want to take their dogs with them when they go out.

Oh and the breed we have does not moult

And some people are traumatised fireworks too. Especially the ones that sound like bombs exploding.
Organised public displays are fine and a few sparklers and Roman candles in the garden are ok too but people who have huge displays in their gardens in residential areas are simply selfish

I think he really messed up considering his job, he apparently told some immediate neighbours but clearly not enough. But he’s apologised and reaching out to people, it’s not great but I also think boycotting the shop is not great either, if everyone did the same, it realistically wouldn’t change his life that much if at all, he’s already a millionaire, it would just be a problem for everyone who works at the shops.

I really dislike fireworks, and drones are so cool these days in terms of shows they can put on, but I will still be shopping there, I think boycotts tend to most hurt ordinary workers.

Fuck off with your "desensitise your animals" bollocks.
The foal that died didn't have enough time to become desensitised.
There are laws about how close to livestock you can let fireworks off.
What about the horse that suffered horrific burns when a firework landed on her rug which caught fire?
We had a dog that started life in the army in the landmine and bomb disposal units.
Retired from that, retrained as a drug sniffer in prisons.
When we got him he was my partner's gun dog.
Yet he was affected the worse of any of our dogs in over 50 years of being dog owners. Screaming, soiling himself, throwing himself at the walls.
What else could we have done to desensitise him?
We can't be prepared 24/7 to help our animals.
If we could limit the fireworks to organised well publicised events then we'd stand a chance.
Luckily my horses aren't overly bothered, but we haven't had crazy loud fireworks near us.
If you read accounts of young soldiers, most had never been on a horse before, the terror they felt because the horses were literally bolting from fear.

But it's not the owner's predicament is it? It's the animal's. It's animals who are suffering.

ETA I have a dog, but wfh so am presumably OK. He's also very scared of fireworks to the extent of being medicated for the worst nights - alongside desensitisation and counter conditioning work

I just have a petty attitude to not caring about the owners predicament. I actually don't like that thought of animals suffering believe it or not. I'm sure I've said it before but I honestly believe the majoirty of people that own dogs shouldn't, due to the significant amount of time most dogs spend alone due to the owners being at work. Different for retired or people wfh. But most dog owners have jobs that they go to and leave the dog unattended for extended lengths of time, which is wrong imo.

Clearly you have been desensitised. And how do you suggest desensitising a terrified animal? Maybe we can apply the same tactic to desensitising war veterans with PTSD.

So it sounds like you feel that dog owners are being inconsiderate and selfish, therefore you have decided not to “give a fuck” about their distress when they witness their dog’s suffering. I can kind of understand your logic, even though I don’t agree.
But, genuine question, do you honestly not give a fuck about animals distress? If we remove the owners from the equation. When you think about the fear and panic in pets, wildlife etc, do you honestly not care?

Some dog owners behave like total antisocial shits. And it gives the rest of us a very bad name.

In my case, I have a little dog who is utterly terrorised by fireworks. I pick up his shit, he’s never walked off lead (unless in dog field) and I don’t take him into shops, with the exception of sometimes pets at home. He doesn’t impact negatively on the public. Ever.

I signed .
I agree with others how things have changed . No longer do we have bonfire night we have firework fortnight . No longer the pops and fizzes it’s like living next to an army firing range . The ‘ bombs ‘ are totally unnecessary . After the thugs in Liverpool I think injuring that little girl hopefully the call to ban them being sold to the general public will increase .

Maybe they seem unrelated, but I was merely pointing out I have little empathy on the impact fireworks have to the life of a dog owner, due to the impact their poor behaviour has on my life.

Your post is a pretty typical example. I take my dog into shops because why not. Perhaps because people have allergies to dogs, that dogs mault and leave their hair on things, that most shops have limited space making it difficult to navigate around a dog and many people have phobias to dogs, that unless it's a vet a dog literally has no business being in a shop.

I don't think the CEO is unreasonable for having a fireworks display. They are quite common this time of year.

What is unreasonable is not letting your neighbours and people around you know you are having a big display, that's common courtesy whoever you are but I agree looks particularly bad for a CEO of a pet company.

It sounds like he made a mistake and has apologised profusely to his neighbours. When did that become not good enough.

Wow 😡

Do you have some sort of emotional dysfunction? If not, off you hop.

Proper Ratner moment, like pps have said. On an epic scale.

I was one of those 'stop whingeing about fireworks' types until this year. Have totally come round to the idea of fireworks either being silent or banned.
I get it now.

I’m pretty sure my cats (who are thoroughly spoilt and spend all day either sleeping or playing), enjoy a better and much less stressful life than a lot of people on this thread.

When I got my previous dog as a 9 week old puppy I spent ages playing videos on youtube of loud noises - motorbikes, lorries, buses, fireworks etc. I played a video of a fireworks display and gradually increased the noise level.

He was not scared of anything so it definitely worked for him (not sure it would work for all dogs).

Year after year he was fine with fireworks and we live in area where there were always loads of them for around 3 weeks continuously. Then one year I was walking him around 2pm. It was not "firework week". It was a weekday. AS we walked past a garden with a high fence someone in it let off a firework which made a loud noise. My dog tried to run but luckily I had tight hold of his lead or he would have run into a busy road. He was shaking and panting.

After that no amount of playing cd's or videos of fireworks, no matter how quietly, worked and he remained terrified of fireworks and also became scared of other loud noises such as thunder.

So even when training/conditioning or whatever you want to call it works it only needs an idiot to think letting off fireworks in daylight and not even on 5th November is clever to ruin it.

What a horrible uncaring person you are.