Dogs are everywhere?!

[LadyMonicaBaddingham]

I took DS to a university open day today. Two separate families had brought their dog with them! Is this someone I've missed?! Why is this necessary?!

30 years ago we had a dog that loved fireworks but he was used to gunshot, went out with DGF and DH on shoots. We lived rurally. Loud bangs didn't bother him..
My dog now hates them, she tries bolting for home if they go off while we are out walking. We live in a large town now and twats let them off indiscriminately. I actually enjoy fireworks...but on bonfire night...not for flamin months.

Dog owners now need to consider a dogs need these days.
My DGM couldn't understand taking dogs for walks...open the door, they come back later! That's no longer an option. So dogs now need stimulating rather than being left to it.

Even pet dogs can be trained to have 'jobs'. My dog could search for a missing person,she found a distressed woman by indicating where she was to me, we were able to direct emergency services to her. She could find items. Its great when you drop your keys in a gravel carpark! 😁 She is not a breed usually used in that type of work.
Dogs don't have to be an antisocial pita.

Greyhounds are such lovely dogs! my mum has a deerhoundxbedlingtonxsomethingelsethatmusthavebeeninbetweensizes lurcher, and as far as I'm concerned, she's my baby sister. and she ADORES me. apparently I'm her favourite person that she doesn't live with.
I have my cat, who my mum refers to as her grandson, and when we go round there, when I'm getting his harness on, I tell him, we're going to see your Nonna, and Auntie Mouse. (we take him with us, and as far as he's concerned, it's his second home. and he loves the car trip) those two adore each other, too.
they are definitely my family.
studies have shown that grief on losing a pet is often far greater than losing anything but immediate family or very close friends, as they are such a huge part of your life, every single day. my cat has slept on my chest almost every day (apart from occasional trips away, or high summer, when it's too hot and he sleeps on the windowsill instead) for the past four and a bit years. there's just the three of us (me, husband and cat) , in a big snugglepile. and it's perfect.

Ah, that’ll be a post from an AI hound lover.

🙄

I'm always wary of people that don't have enthusiasm for at least some animals.
it's okay if some kinds aren't really your thing, but you are okay about them. I love MOST animals (except craneflies, they freak me out a LOT, but I'd still never want to see someone hurt one, just to get them the hell away from me because they make me panic) I love rats, reptiles, spiders, most bugs, bats, and so on.
I was once really upset with my husband when he revealed he "hated" frogs and toads. he's such a kind and sweet person, and the idea of him hating an animal really upset me. but he later said, it wasn't so much that he didn't like them, but that sometimes they jump unexpectedly and that made him anxious. which is understandable. I once found a toad in the garden and showed them to him, and he sort of got over it a lot when he got to see one up close, and things like how pretty their eyes are, and so on.

I'm a dog/rat person, but I can't deal with rat lifespans anymore, and our landlady doesn't allow dogs, so we have a cat. I'm not a cat person, but he is EVERYTHING to us. he's just such a precious little boy.

I wouldn't object to there being a specific area of trains where dogs are allowed. just like I don't object to quiet carriages. I've taken one of my dogs into town on the train and he LOVED it. but I very much made sure he wasn't in anyones way. (and not one of the tiny dogs, he was a greyhound sized lurcher, probably crossed with a collie) I tucked him in between me and the window seat, and he was sat on the floor. he behaved IMMACULATELY well the whole day, and it was one of his favourite days out to have. one of the best bits is there was a seafront shack where I got myself a mackerel bap and a pint for lunch, and asked for a sausage bap minus the bap for him. they offered to cut it up so it would cool down quicker for him to eat it. it was a lovely day out, and he adored it. and I was surprised just HOW good his manners were. there was a farmers market on, and we were enjoying browsing it together, and someone on one of the cheese stalls offered him a sample of cheese, and he was so reluctant to accept it because he seemed to think he wasn't allowed it. I had to really encourage him to not feel anxious about accepting it

but yeah. I'd be happy for there to be a designated area where dogs are allowed. that seems really fair.

I think it's unfair that people label others as 'dog haters' just because they object to seeing them in clothes shops, cafes and other enclosed spaces. I honestly don't hate dogs at all. I have had a few uncomfortable experiences with them, including being pushed over, scratched and chased - and I still don't hate them. But admittedly I am wary of them. One or two dogs in a big space like a university campus wouldn't bother me, but yes I would notice. And I suppose it's the fact that it's becoming more common to see them In places where they wouldn't have been before. You do wonder where it will end.

I am also allergic to dogs and so are my partner and eldest son. DS1 and I usually get hay fever type symptoms and I have had fluid build up in my eyes to the point where they are bulging so much I wouldn't be safe to drive. Also hives and skin rashes. DP has some of these symptoms, but his main problem is that his chest is affected to the point where he has an asthma attack. Of course none of us object to service dogs and it's a ridiculous thing to point out as a gotcha, that service dogs cause allergies too. Of course they do. But I see perhaps one service dog a month indoors (plenty outside) so they are easy to avoid. It's not as easy to avoid the number of other dogs slowly but surely appearing in shops and cafes.

For me I like dogs at the right time and place. I've happily visited homes and gardens with people's well behaved dogs and have enjoyed going walking with people's dogs. Doesn't mean I want them in a clothes shop or office.

I guess I feel like there are still lots of shops and cafes that don't allow dogs (or at least where I am, there are). The supermarkets only allow service dogs.

I think sometimes it can be a confirmation bias thing. As a dog owner I tend to notice where I can't go with my dogs. I don't object, and always respect that. Many of the shops and cafes are very small in our closest town, because it's just a wee town with a lot of old buildings, and there's not space for dogs and some even say no pushchairs unless folded. That is often course fair enough. There are a few pubs and one or two other places that allow non service dogs, and if you go out of the town centre towards the countryside you find more dog friendly places because of the hiking and biking types. I'm always hyper aware of not wanting to break any rules about where dogs can't be and not wanting them to be a nuisance to anyone else, so I think I probably notice where I can't take them more, and my perception is that there are fewer dog friendly places than there are places that don't allow them.

It's probably the same for making allowances for dog owners (and dogs) not being perfect. I tend to allow more tolerance for the odd hiccup/boisterous puppy/owner being a bit inattentive. One of my dogs doesn't like being jumped on or crowded by other dogs, and that can be annoying when there's a dog with poor recall who won't leave her alone. My perception is that most dog owners are pretty considerate bar the odd one, or the odd lapse of attention.

I wonder if that's the same in reverse for allergic folks and non dog lovers (they're not always the same but can be both!) that maybe they tend to be more aware of where dogs are allowed and that can lead to the perception that there are more places where dogs are allowed than places where they aren't? And that there are more badly behaved dogs than well behaved ones/more rubbish owners than considerate ones, because any interactions with dogs will be experienced as unpleasant?

The man opposite me on the train this morning slurped his coffee like a piglet, wiped his nose in his hand and rubbed the snot on the seat (repeatedly) and then unwound the bandage on his other hand, put ointment on the boil-type thing on his thumb and wound the bandage up again.

I wish he'd been a dog and then all I'd have had to worry about would have been dander almost, but not quite, falling on my toast.

My perception is that most dog owners are pretty considerate bar the odd one, or the odd lapse of attention.

I do actually agree with this to be honest @CrazyGoatLady. There are probably plenty of dogs I don't even notice because they're just trotting along or lying quietly at their owner's feet. My SIL however has two dogs, untrained and as a result unmanageable. I feel all my dog tolerance shutting down the minute I see (and hear) them. And I feel the same about her when she rolls her eyes at me for not petting them until they calm down😆 My brother's dog is well trained and well behaved and an absolute pleasure to be around. But I still wouldn't want to share a sofa with his hair in a coffee shop, or have to brush it off something I intend to buy in Next. I expect to take an antihistamine to be in the company of people's hairy dogs, but not to go and do my shopping!

The zoo is dog free. They do do even have to allow assistance dogs.

Not

Chester, London, Welsh Mountain do. Which one states they don't just out of curiosity?

I googled which zoo establishments do not permit dogs with the exception of some assistance dogs depending on reasons. Initially I found 9 including:
London zoo,Edinburgh Zoo, Chester zoo, Paignton zoo. There were more but I only read about 9.

London zoo. Whipsnade which is part of London zoo. They have acres and acres of ground so children can run round without being chased by dogs. The animals are a bonus.

We're talking about assistance dogs. I know you can't take dogs to zoos. But the poster said assistance dogs as well.

Where does it say no assistance dogs?

Whipsnade have free roaming animals and do not allow any dogs, including assistance ones, into the zoo.

Ah fair enough.

So they won't have dogs, but other animals roaming instead. So not really a place to go to avoid dirty animals really

Here.
London zoo (Regent’s Park) allow assistant dogs with a list of restrictions that really prevents it.

See my above comment.

The only dog free place is a place full of other animals, so it's a bit of a pointless point.

Quite the opposite. Went there a few months ago actually and was wonderful. Virtually all outdoors (can’t get more well ventilated than that!), lovely animals and no chance of an asthma attack. Brilliant.

So like a university campus.... outside in the open

The OP doesn’t say either way and since they haven’t been back, I guess we’ll never know.

@m@monkeyblonde

Reminds me of a documentary on John Lewis. A woman with a dog was in there. Took no notice of the dog defacting on the floor. Just marched on. Grim!