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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To get annoyed that some mumsnetters think dogs should be perfect all the time

331 replies

lesley33 · 01/11/2011 21:50

I try and be a responsible dog owner. I call my dog back if he is near anyone who looks uncomfortable with him, I move him over to the side of the path to let joggers by and clear up dog mess.

But some posters on here seem to think that dogs should alwa\ys be perfectly behaved, never run up to strangers and never bark at people.

Dogs are not robots. However much you train them no dog will always behave 100% perfectly all the time. Some dogs are harder to train. For example, dogs that are really really dim or dogs that have a very nervy and neurotic personality.

We all accept that DCs will not always behave in public. I think most dogs generally behave well most of the time - but it is unrealistic to expect them never to misbehave. So AIBU?

OP posts:
topknob · 02/11/2011 20:00

Oh and I taught my dog very early on, not to lick, especially faces..given she eats shit and all sorts it really isn't so hygenic !

catgirl1976 · 02/11/2011 20:01

Good god no DrN

They don't wear shoes so those paws are covered in EVIL GERMS. No better than licking when you think about it.

DrNortherner · 02/11/2011 20:04

Lol catgirl.

Anyway, my dog has breath that smells of roses and his shit smells of lavender

babybarrister · 02/11/2011 20:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

catgirl1976 · 02/11/2011 20:07

I am sure you would not take your son somewhere where dogs were exercised off the lead baby given the seriousness of his condition.

My stance through the whole thread is that if you cannot accept the risk of a dog approaching you or your child you should not go to places where dogs are exercised off the lead.

If someone lets a dog off a lead in a place where this is prohibited they are idiots who should not own dogs.

KittyFane · 02/11/2011 20:07

On top of all that shit and ball licking they also enrich peoples lives. They assist blind people, deaf people, epileptic people. They discover explosives, they work on the front line with our troops and they find drugs. They change lives.
Very few would dispute this but I find "everyone should love my pet as much as I do" attitudes irritating.
I don't love dogs, I don't hate them. I don't particularly like them, wish them no harm but don't really want them near me.
Why is that wrong?

cheeseandmarmitesandwich · 02/11/2011 20:08

Hey I don't discriminate- I don't care if they've cured cancer or found the solution to world peace- nobody licks my toddler's face! (Except perhaps my 16mo)

cheeseandmarmitesandwich · 02/11/2011 20:08

Hey I don't discriminate- I don't care if they've cured cancer or found the solution to world peace- nobody licks my toddler's face! (Except perhaps my 16mo)

KittyFane · 02/11/2011 20:09

Cheese :o x2 !

KittyFane · 02/11/2011 20:15

DrN , you are also talking there about highly trained working dogs. They are very different to your average pet mutt in the park.
Highly unlikely that these amazing dogs jump up on, bark at, chase after or lick strangers.

feesh · 03/11/2011 11:24

We used to socialise Hearing Dog puppies, and I did once experience a nasty situation with one of them - we were at a marina, and a couple were walking up one of the ramps towards us. Because they appeared out of nowhere and were lower down, so at eyeball-level with the pup (who was the size of an adult dog, but still a puppy) it completely freaked her out. Initially they were about to get coo-ey over her (saying "ooh cute doggy" etc) but because they were staring directly at her as they came up the ramp, she started barking and straining at the lead and in return the couple started screaming at her and waving their arms about, and shouting at me.

They didn't give me chance to explain, and shouted a few obscenities at me before walking off. I was really upset by the whole incident, and so was the dog. She was taken off the Hearing Dogs' programme as a direct result and was rehomed.

My point is, that even a very well trained, on-lead, working dog such as this can still be provoked into acting oddly sometimes.

As a dog owner, of course I am ultra-careful not to let my dog bother other people (especially as I live in a Muslim country where dogs are not at all welcome) BUT sometimes, just sometimes, people can be quite unreasonable as far as dogs go. I totally understood why the couple were upset by our Hearing Dog's reaction, but they also (1) made it worse in the way they reacted - she was on a lead and they weren't actually in any danger and (2) they didn't give me chance to explain to them that she was a puppy in training and that she was in the process of being exposed to lots of new situations.

So although I have issues with a lot of things the OP has said on this thread, there is an element of YANBU in my response.

bemybebe · 03/11/2011 12:30

KittyFane
"these amazing dogs" are chosen from thousands to be trained, there is a high degree of failure (fresh would probably know the stats). Where do you think these other dogs go? They become pets!

Lets remind ourselves here, we are not talking about aggressive dogs, we are talking about normal family pets. Not robots, not dogs-for-disable superstars, but normal pooches. Trained, but not 100% compliant all of the time.

I meet YOU and YOUR children in the parks also. You slam your prams into my ankles and shout to your children disturbing my peace and your children wooze up and down the paths on bikes ignoring elderly and disabled. I accept this as part of living in a society and sharing the space. A child once frightened my puppy by running to her and hitting her with a plastic spade. Nothing dramatic, but she was 4 months old at a time and on the lead. Another one asked to stroke her (this child was about 6 at the time, so not exactly clueless) and when he touched her soft ears he started to scream in excitement on top of his voice. My jaw just dropped. There are plenty of people out there that could do with being on the lead if you take this attitude...

boschy · 03/11/2011 12:45

MN dog thread virgin here (dons hard hat) - but why do the dog lovers always seem much nicer and more reasonable than the dog haters?

its an honest question. dog haters seem to go from zero to mach 4 at the mere mention of the word dog; dog lovers remain calm until the provocation is severe at which point they fight back.

I'm with the dog lovers - yes, responsible ownership is essential and all those other points made ad infinitum, but really why the vitriol about another species?

bemybebe · 03/11/2011 12:47

Kitty By YOU and YOURS of course I did not mean "in rl yours". Hope it is clear Blush

DogsBestFriend · 03/11/2011 12:53

Just a thought... perhaps MNers expect dogs to be perfect because mine are? :o

Kytti · 03/11/2011 12:54

You're comparing a DOG to a CHILD? Dear me.

I'm not mad keen on dogs, but they're OK. Don't really see the point of them though. (People claim they're for companionship, can't you just get some friends? lol - only joking!!!!!!!)

I despise bad dog owners.

One of my children is terrified of dogs, despite my best efforts to introduce him to as many as I can. At the end of the day, he'll grow out of it, but if there weren't so many terrible owners out there it wouldn't be a problem.

They're walking poo machines. What's the point?

bemybebe · 03/11/2011 12:56

Kytti are you addressing me? Quote pls...

Kytti · 03/11/2011 13:04

bemybebe - no. I didn't read everything. Just was a bit outraged by the OP. Gah! :)

Kytti · 03/11/2011 13:06

Although having just read your post, sorry for knocking you with my twin pram. You wouldn't get out of my way! lol

bemybebe · 03/11/2011 13:08

Grin no problem!
my dh is disabled though, please mind him!

DooinMeCleanin · 03/11/2011 13:11

Boschy it is recognised that stroking an animal with soft fur has theraputic benefits, hence the PAT dogs and cats. Us doggy folk are more chilled and generally more mentally sound Grin

bemybebe · 03/11/2011 13:13

"Us doggy folk are more chilled and generally more mentally sound"

This is DEFINITELY true. Wink

mathanxiety · 03/11/2011 14:13

Bemybabe, was it my mentioning the unwelcome dog poo on my own lawn among my children's toys that made you remark that I thought the world was created for my personal use?

bemybebe · 03/11/2011 14:22

No, it was the reference that all dogs should be on the lead, presumable, so that you can enjoy the parks without dogs out and about. I cannot remember where it was upthread, but this is the view that you very clearly expressed.

Incidentally, we never go on farm land with live stock, but I personally put a lot of effort to train my dog when she was little to ignore the animals (sheep, cows, horses, lamas).

mathanxiety · 03/11/2011 17:54

lolol at the idea that you can train a dog to ignore livestock or recall a dog who is running off lead who has got it into his head to chase sheep. It can happen to even the naicest of dogs, and the results of worrying sheep can be horrible, and costly.

I like to enjoy parks without stepping in poo and without having my face or hand licked by a creature whose mouth and nose have been all over its own butt or the rear end of another animal or up close and personal with the urine of another animal, and I don't like muddy paw marks all over my clothes after dogs have jumped up to greet me. Because I don't find all of that as charming as some people here seem to think I should, I therefore think the world is created for my personal use?

Pot... kettle... black... ?
The world is not created just for your animal and if you think I should have to put up with whatever your animal does to me or the environment just so that you can enjoy the pleasure of having a pet and a long walk every day then I think you need to take stock of your priorities.

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