How do we ACTUALLY solve the rift between dog people and non-dog people?

[Talkingtomyhouseplants]

Inspired by yet another dog thread where all the SAME arguments are trotted out again and again:

The Pro Dog People say:

• The dog is my family, you need to treat it like family
• Why would I get a dog just to leave it at home?
• It’s just a dog, it’s not bothering anyone
• My dog is less annoying than your child
• I love my dog more than I love people
• The dogs are ALLOWED to be there so it’s okay that I bring them places
• If my dog isn’t invited, I would probably choose to stay home as I prefer most dogs to people anyway
• My house is my dog’s home too, I won’t be shutting it away for anyone
• My dog isn’t dangerous - he’s a bit softy.

The Anti Dog People Say

• I’m allergic/scared/don’t like being around them - please keep them away from me
• It’s a pet, not your family
• A dog is not a child
• I won’t have dogs in my house
• Dogs are dirty and unhygienic - they shouldn’t be in shops or places where you eat
• I’m sick of dogs barking and jumping up at me in public and I keep stepping in dog poo
• There are too many places that either actively allow dogs, or more often don’t challenge people who bring them anyway so dogs eventually become allowed
• Dog owners are entitled and pushy and this is why they are now suddenly everywhere
• It’s dangerous to have dogs around children
• Dogs can bite/kill people
• There are too many untrained dogs who are treated like people

Same arguments on both sides, every time.

In my personal life I can think of at least two situations where these opposing views are creating real rifts in families because the dog person wants to bring a dog, and the non-dog person doesn’t want to be around said dog. I can feel it becoming more polarising in society generally, anti dog people are more vocal about being anti dog and pro dog people are more pushy about full inclusion of dogs in human spaces.

So what is the actual solution?

I like dogs and had a gorgeous Labrador growing up, but they do stink and I don’t know why some dog owners insist that they don’t. They make your house stink and they stink in pubs and restaurants. Dogs in a country pub, fine. Dogs in an actual restaurant, coffee shop or cafe will put me off my food. The dog would be much happier in your back garden where people used to leave their dogs.

Dogs should be properly trained and then they will, for the most part, go unnoticed by people who don’t want to interact with them. I run or walk almost every day around the perimeter path of our local playing fields. I would say that about 90-95% of dogs completely ignore me. They are well behaved and just go about their sniffing and scampering and whatever else dogs love to do. But the other small number of untrained dogs make my life, and other people’s lives, a misery. Running around people’s legs, jumping up, bounding up to children. Their owners are lazy, irresponsible bastards as far as I’m concerned.

Also, far more consideration needs to be given to allergies. DP can become severely short of breath around animals. My eldest and I are also allergic, but we tend to get cold symptoms and itchy, swollen eyes rather than breathing problems. This can happen if a dog is no longer present but has shed its hair on furniture. It would be a good start if people didn’t let their dogs sit on the sofas or chairs in dog friendly cafes. We don’t have any cafes or coffee shops nearby that AREN’T dog friendly, so we can either go there or go nowhere. Or travel several miles. I agree with pp’s that it’s about respecting other people.

100% up to the business owner whether they're happy to have dogs there in their cafe, coffee shop or restaurant.

Engage them in a shared hatred of cats?

Exterminate the non-dog people? That’d larn ‘em…

No but service dogs are few and far between, a cafe that has a dog or two visit each week will not have the same additional cleaning to do as one filled with dogs for brunch every weekend. Also for those allergic to or scared of dogs they are less likely to come across them in shops , restaurants etc if it's only service dogs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_dog_attacks_in_the_United_Kingdom

Dogs kill people.

https://onlinecpdacademy.co.uk/blog/dog-bite-statistics-uk

Increasing number of dog bites and dog deaths.

We need to curb dogs in all ways - their breeding, their ownership (unless a working dog) and their ability to move around the world without clear guidelines on immediate actions when they present a nuisance, a danger and when they kill people.

To be fair more men kill people than dogs

I just think it’s communication! Some of the threads recently… if the dog people had said oh well have our dog with us, or the non dog people had asked if they would. And if the dog person explained why they really couldn’t shut the dog away in this specific circumstance and the non dog people didn’t take it personally that they could therefore not go on this occasion. It’s just thoughtful, polite, considerate communication without ego that is needed.

I say this as someone who likes dogs well enough but doesn’t have them and could do with a few less in some circumstances but enjoys them happily enough in others. I’m probably as ‘centrist’ as it gets when it comes to the dog political spectrum!

men kill more people than dogs -well that's alright then.

Let's allow people to own guns too, so we can say guns also kill more people than dogs.

We don't need to increase the danger. We need to reduce it.

Get rid of dogs.

Well dog owners could begin by ...

Stopping their dogs barking all the time/not leaving them outside for hours on end....

Picking up their dog's shit and not leaving it on footpaths and public areas

Stopping their dogs pissing up post boxes and peoples wheelie bins and bicycles etc...

Keeping their dogs on leads and stop letting them run loose around fields scaring livestock, and running into people and scaring them, and jumping up them. Also scaring other dogs. (Often smaller dogs.) I have seen nasty vicious spiteful comments on here where people say how they have been laughing at and mocking someone 'picking up their little dog,' so their big dog doesn't come at them. Laughing because the dog and its owner are afraid. Nasty!

Just a few suggestions! @Talkingtomyhouseplants ^

Not the dog's fault in most cases, and it's generally the fault of the owner!

Case in point, I was walking on a canal path this morning - doing a 3 mile round trip along the path - and I was a mile in, and a couple had a barge on the canal and they had 3 dogs, all on the footpath, loose. I was about 100 feet (33 yards away) and all 3 dogs started barking at me, and edging towards me. 'Oooh I don't think they like you' the stupid fucking man said - and laughed. I said 'I'm not too fond of them either!' and frowned at him. Then I sighed and turned around and walked back the way I came. Couldn't complete my walk because of this stupid fuckhead of a man, and his aggressive LOOSE dogs!

The 'rift' will never be solved @Talkingtomyhouseplants because too many dog owners are twats.

#TeamCat

!

You are right there is a tendency to dismiss allergies as not a big deal because it’s just like hayfever and you can pop and antihistamine without actually acknowledging that they can be a lot more severe for some people and that antihistamines only go so far to addressing the issue.

It could be mitigated for sufferers by things like you have suggested, or having the dog/non dog zones as suggested above. Otherwise people with allergies are being left out of society in favour of dogs which seems crazy

I don't mind dogs.

I do mind the fact that I had to avoid knotted dog poo bags whilst I was running in the park today. Only a couple, but the dog owners responsible aren't doing other dog owners any favours.

I do wonder about people who go to the bother of picking up the excrement and then just chucking the bag on the ground, particularly in a park where there are plenty of bins.

I’ve always wondered that too.

Makes no sense at all. Why pick up, bag it up and discard?

I’ll ask when I see someone do it

Being left out of society 😂. Of course they're not. There are far more places that aren't dog friendly than those that are and around 60% of households don't have dogs.

Dog people say their dog is like family until when the vet bills get to0 high and they just give them a lethal injection and tell themselves it was because they were being "kind". Funny that they don't use that approach to "kindness" to their kids.

Surely it is just about general respect for each other ? I don’t expect other people to love my dogs hence I don’t allow them into their space unless invited, bit if you are coming to my house they will be there, I can keep them away from people that are scared but I won’t banish them completely.

if you don’t want to be surrounded by by dogs don’t got to places that are dog friendly. However all dog owners should have full control of their dogs and understand dog friendly doesn’t mean everyone wants your dog near them.

Can we stop them breeding?! 🤔

Dog owners need to be like my sister:

• She has 2 dogs, completely respects my DH will never have one in our home. She still visits without them, we likewise appreciate that may reduce how long she can stay.
• When we are all at our mum’s, they are there, but my sister uses play pen type things to stop them jumping at everyone whilst eating lunch in the garden/leaves them in another room or outside during meal times.
• If I organise a family lunch out I am happy to eat at a pub or restaurant which is dog friendly, it’s nice to be outside anyway. I also suggest walks/outdoor attractions which suit both my children and her dogs.
• I like to buy the dogs a few bits for Christmas, which are appreciates. I am happy to be referred to as their Auntie 😂

Basically, my sister respects that not everybody wants her dogs in their home, or jumping at them whilst enjoying food. Her reasonable attitude means that likewise, I will meet her halfway and try to include them in outings and not make things unnecessarily awkward for her.

I'm in favour

Hyperbole. How many dogs per 1000 dogs kill? It's really very rare.

This.

My back garden runs along the length of a public path and I (and the folk on the other side - front gardens, in their case) regularly have to deal with excrement bags chucked in our hedging.

Then there are the bare patches on my front hedge, caused by dogs lifting their legs on it because their owners would rather not spoil their own garden. Yes, I do wash down the hedging in order to dissipate the urine whenever I notice a yellowing/brown patch.

I also get deposits of excrement on my driveway. Not so much as I used to, now that I give the plants at the edge of the driveway a top dressing of chilli powder.

I used to get dogs and their owners barging through the back garden boundary - in spite of the fence. (The dogs would be off the lead and dive through or under the fence; the owners would then just break through the original stick fence and hedge.)

I've since managed to reinforce the areas where they were coming through and have managed to persuade the hawthorn hedge to fill out a bit more - but the fact remains that if owners haven't trained their dogs to return command, then they shouldn't be letting the animals off the lead and they certainly shouldn't be damaging someone else's property in the process of retrieving the animals.

I actually had a middle-aged couple in my back garden one time, insisting that they couldn't leave until they found their dog's favourite ball.

Mass cull of all dogs over a certain size.

Surely it's really simple:

In dog friendly spaces non-dog people need to accept that dogs will be there without whinging. If they have a problem with that, then don't go to dog friendly spaces.

In places where dogs aren't allowed, dog people need to respect that and not bring their dog, without whinging. If they have a problem with that, then don't go.

I love dogs, but I'm sick to death of other people's dogs being out of control. Running up to us, jumping on us. Slobbering, licking etc.

Not too mention those god awful poo bags everywhere.