To feel the doggy-as-child thing goes too far

[Lovelyideas]

I like dogs. I got my parents a dog and she changed their lives. But something seems wrong about dog stuff in our little town. The whole child-substitute thing just goes too far. It is as if all the pressures of child rearing are transported on to dogs.

Example 1 today. I bump into friend K with her cute new puppy. A stranger's puppy interacts with K's puppy. K and stranger exchange friendly doggy chitchat. K's puppy is straining at the lead and they have this dialogue.
Stranger: oh! Yours wants to come off the lead!
K well, I wouldn't trust her yet.
Stranger: oh, what you can do is, take her to the park, you know the enclosed children's playground before the kids get there, it's so good for her training!
K oh right....
Stranger: or the tennis courts, she can have a great time on the tennis courts and she can't get out.
K right, thanks...

This is not an isolated thing, I have noticed it for a while. I am sure that my parents -yes- trained their dog. But then she became part of the scenery, not the big focus of conversation. There were no dog play dates, dog cages or dog anxiety. They did not allow their untrained dog in areas where dogs are not allowed for very good reason. And she was none the worse for it.

While taking pups into the play area is wrong, at this time of year many tennis courts are standing unused; the ones in our nearest large park probably wont have the nets up by now. So using them for other purposes isn't so unreasonable. Its where my DD learned to ride her bike many moons ago and then rollerskate. A bit of dog wee frequently rainwashed away wouldn't have been the end of the world.

i took my dog to a few training classes, then oh and i would walk separately up the sides of the football pitch at night (so no other dogs) with treats in our pockets and call him between us. recall mastered in 3 days.

ppl wanna baby their dogs that's fine. i don't wanna see 25 pics of your dog tho, same way u don't wanna see 25 pics of my kid. neither do i appreciate you comparing my child to your dog, teaching ur dog to roll over is not comparable to me teaching my child to read, nor do i appreciate your absolute conviction that u know what having children is like cos u have a dog, cos u have zero clue! may know one crazy dog owner who has tainted my view of dog owners beyond repair

Yanbu this type of behaviour drives me nuts!
My neighbour is like this. Their dog fucking sleeps in the middle of them in their bed. Wtf??! I just don't get it... it's a fucking dog!!!

My puppy is defintley baby no 5 to me.❤️ I was supposed to go for a night out on Friday, my pup was ill so I stayed in.

I don't understand why anyone would get a dog, to then treat it like part of the furniture or a non-entity and ignore it.

Just get a stuffed toy?!

As for tennis courts - do check for broken glass, more people spend time on them drinking and smashing glass bottles than they do playing tennis.

They can be very useful resources for teaching a dog to go off lead safely and yeah, actually if I've got a dog I trust not to shit or piss there, I'll use the kiddy area when theres no kids in there too if necessary - training dogs involves using LOTS of different locations because dogs are context specific learners, they do not generalise well!

Obviously if a dog is going to piss and shit in the kids play area thats not on (but then, so will the foxes, and cats and other beasties so I can't get too worked up about it!)..

A longline and harness is a top tip for teaching recall and keeping a dog safe.

Dog parks like the US havethough - absolutely bloody awful horrific idea, they create SO much dog aggression issues, and here in the UK where we have far less land, the reality would NOT be acres of safely fenced land with trees and terrain and agility gear...

it would be a shit encrusted postage stamp dominated by a couple of thugs and their very dog aggressive dogs and no one else would get in there but even if they DID the space would be too small to use as anything other than a dog toilet.

And then local authorities would use this as a validation for banning dogs from basically EVERYWHERE else.

It would be awful adn as a direct result we would see far more issues with unsocialised aggressive dogs.

Fluffy, I don't plan on 'walking my dog round a tennis court'. I think it would be a safe place to try recalling her.

She's not ready to poo or wee outside yet, she's very small and a bit nervous of giant double decker buses and other dogs who are huge to her since she's 14 weeks and a very small terrier. She is happily using pads inside with no problems and she did manage a poo in the tiny garden at 4am but I suspect that was because it felt dark and safe - she got lots of praise for doing so.

In general the answer to your questions is 'Lewisham' . It's big, noisy, and not all dogs she's coming into contact with want to be nice to her. She's very desirable for stealing since she's about the cutest thing on the planet. We nearly let her off yesterday in Greenwich Park but there were just too many dogs around she'd have wanted to play with. She doesn't stick to us like glue, she's a very independent breed.

We have puppy training tomorrow and they're in a giant (closed) hall so we will be trying it for the first time.

Dogs aren't allowed in children's play areas. It is disgraceful that they are being taken in there. It isn't dog parks that mean ' local authorities would use this as a validation for banning dogs from basically EVERYWHERE else' - it is that behaviour.

For those who are unable to be parents or whose children have left home, a dog can be vital for them. Not a child yes, but deserving of love and care.

We would never have dreamt of having her run around a playground though - dog urine and poo smears are not safe for little children

I was in hospital with one of the dc recently and the child in the next bed had been in for 3 months. Apparently she fell in a playground, grazed her knee and several days later couldn't move her leg. A type of necrotizing bacteria found in dog urine was responsible and she had had 10 operations to remove dead flesh.

Not the Downham part of Lewisham per chance AndShesGone ?
We have had dogs nicked round here , mainly those little designer types or staffies .

PS if it is , , Durham Hill Park is good and does have a doggy part bit , , I take mine there.

Aggh Doggy Park .

Letting dogs run in enclosed play areas and tennis courts - even with no people present - is disgusting. Even if people pick up their dog's shit there is bound to be residue left which can get on children's or tennis players shoes. Gross and very entitled. YANBU.

"I haven't really read this thread but as a dog owner and mother the things that annoy me are:

People talking about potty trainings dogs,
all the revolting stuff in pet shops that is totally unnecessary,
people getting very bossy about crate training etc and all the rules and judgements about the way you should train your dog - reminds me a bit of Gina Ford and babies"

Thanks, this should have been the OP

Thanks Rachel

"I was in hospital with one of the dc recently and the child in the next bed had been in for 3 months. Apparently she fell in a playground, grazed her knee and several days later couldn't move her leg. A type of necrotizing bacteria found in dog urine was responsible and she had had 10 operations to remove dead flesh."

Ok on the basis of this I am satisfied that IANBU to have disapproved of the playground thing. I appreciate the accident could have happened on grass but I think the point still stands.

I think it's important of remember pets are pets OP, whenever my my comes round to visit with my sister and her 2 very small children my dog goes in the garden as he is a very excitable labrador who would never bite or harm anyone but in a small area with lots of people would not be calm enough and there is too much risk of one of the children being knocked over (I also have a baby). The dog whimpers to get in but only because he wants to jump around and play with everyone and my.mum keeps saying how sorry she feels for him and that it's not fair and it exasperates me as I am his owner and I know that he is absolutely fine in the garden and most days won't come inside for ages as it's great fun for him and I'm just not risking one of the children getting hurt. I have to say to her "he is a dog, he is not in pain. He is fine".

DontTouchTheMoustache

You should get a mumsnet award for being a considerate dog owner.

So where should dogs be walked? If everywhere is for children, where should the dogs go? Where I live, dogs don't go into the enclosed play area. However if no fence then it is fair game. And the fool that said "all the revolting stuff in pet shops that is totally unnecessary" LOL. You are seriously stupid, aren't you?

Takes,

Be less rude and you'll get more replies.

Dogs just shouldn't be in children's play areas whether there are any kids in there or not. I don't want the remnants of dog poo there left behind. if you don't have enough outside space to do a bit of puppy training yourself; should you really have a dog?

Oh, a dog bashing thread on mumsnet. How very original.

Read again, OP.

(I definitely meant enclosed play areas by the way). Open parks are for all. (Although having had a scary personal experience with an uncontrolled dog off lead, I wish dogs would stay on the lead unless the owners are really sure they can stop them jumping up etc)

I do think dogs are part of the family - and I have a 'dog brother' since my parents got their new addition. But there should be places for children to play without dogs.

Advertisers deliberately play on our tendency to be anthropomorphic when it comes to dogs
If we regard them s human we spend more money on them

Kerching💰