...to think that NOBODY should get a dog EVER without my express permission?

[BroccoliSpears]

You could apply to me in writing and I'd assess you and my decision would be final.

People who wouldn't get dogs include

• People who work and plan to leave the dog shut in.
• People who don't really like dogs but think it would be nice for the kids.
• People who have never had a dog before (unless they're prepared to undertake a dog course).

Okay, perhaps I'm being a teensy weensy bit unreasonable, but I find it so depressing how casually people get dogs and then get rid of them.

In the last week I've been told two very similar stories from unrelated people about how they got a dog but it was "a disaster" because he just chewed things and weed in the house and wrecked the carpet and wouldn't do as he's told and in they end they had to give him to the rescue centre because he was no good. There is no taboo about cheerfully chucking a dog on the scrap if you don't want it.

I utterly utterly adore my dog and wouldn't be without her, but when people I know (even friends) get That Look in their eye as they see dog and DD playing together, and wonder if they should get a dog I want to scream "NOOOOO". I want to rant that yes, my dog is well behaved and doesn't chew stuff and walks nicely next to the pushchair and adores DD and is a joyous addition to out family, but how do you think she got like that???? It wasn't a fluke. I thought very carefully about what breed, what age and what sex dog would suit our family. I worked really hard with her to ensure that she was well behaved and well socialised with other dogs and people. Plus, I love dogs. To me it will never really be a chore to pick up poo in the garden or take her to the park in the rain, any more than it's a chore to feed and bath DD at the end of a long tireing day.

But if I said all that I'd be patronising and ranting and would eventually lose all my friends and have to become a crazy cat lady or something.

I just wish that people had a more realistic idea of what having a dog was like before they went tripping off to get one. They can be wonderful, wonderful pets if you know what you're letting yourself in for.

And I wish that getting a dog was understood as a commitment to that animals's wellfair for the rest of its life, however inconvenient that may be to you.

One of my neighbours has two dogs that i've NEVER seen her take for walks, she just lets them out for them to do their business and she NEVER picks up after them.
If you ask her about it she says its NOT her dogs.
I've taken on a kitten from her as her female queen was pregnant again this year and she still has not taken her to be "done".
Her friend up the road had taken 2 kittens off her earlier this year...they both got run over within a couple of monts and now she is going to have some more!!!
Don't have cats if you live near a main road with quarry lorry traffic!
Another neighbour has 6 kids from 2yrs to 14yrs old and has 4 dogs and they are great big Rhodesian ridgebacks..don't know how she affords it as she is on benefits.
But again, she never takes them for walks and they are constantly barking in the garden.
Enough to drive you nuts!
AB

BS - Delighted to be Baby Monitor. I'll try to live up to the enormous responsibility of the post and humbly accept the wishes of Wl Supreme Broc.

Do we Monitors have Cabinet Responsibility? All for one and one for all?

I don't think we need a wider remit - we could just substitute babies for dogs and dogs for kids in your original most worthy manifesto

People who wouldn't get dogs include

• People who work and plan to leave the dog shut in.
• People who don't really like dogs but think it would be nice for the kids.
• People who have never had a dog before (unless they're prepared to undertake a dog course).

Yep it works

"Another neighbour has 6 kids from 2yrs to 14yrs old and has 4 dogs and they are great big Rhodesian ridgebacks..don't know how she affords it as she is on benefits.
But again, she never takes them for walks and they are constantly barking in the garden."

I got everyone saying I was unreasonable in think that someone's financial position should not be considered when thinking whether someone is suitable to own a dog.

People protest madly about animals that get experimented on, but I think the conditions that some people keep pets in is worst.

Sorry I meant that people though I was being unreasonable in saying that people should consider whether they can afford a pet before getting one. I have nothing against people on low incomes, but 4 ridgebacks must cost a lot of feed, yet alone vet bills. Does she have anything left to feed and clothe her 6 children?

I need to go to bed

One thing I would say since getting a dog is that they are quite expensive, more expensive than our previous pet of choice, a cat (in which I have been responsible as we have moved to a house on a busy road which claimed the life of our last cat and as long as we live here I will never have a cat again). We thought the biggest financial expense with our dog was her purchase price but I was shocked to find that we spent at least the same money again in the first few weeks on equipment and initial vet bills! I must admit I do find myself asking how people on low incomes afford a dog (especially big dogs that eat loads).

Thanks for the comments on the experienced dog clique, I think that is what I am often coming across, thing is I always wanted a dog when growing up and was never allowed one and hate to think that we are being looked down upon just because of this. In this regard it is just like having your first child, everyone has an opinion and wants to tell you what your life is going to be like!

People who don't clean up after their dog should be shot!

I also totally agree that it is not on to have a dog and not take it for walks.

I spent many years working for the RSPCA....you'd be shocked and disgusted at how people treat their dogs.

how can someone have huge dogs like Rhodesian Ridgebacks and not walk them. Shocking. Ihave a quite largish dog who is old now but he would go crazy without a walk or run to park. That in itself is cruelty. The family i mentioned earlier has two massive golden retrievers who never seem to get walked, well just now and again when they fancy a stroll. Poor, poor dogs. Makes me and .

can I also add another one to your list

People who work, and leave their yappy dog outside to bark all* day, and I do mean all day

• anyone who plans on getting a massivly large dog to live in a very small space with no garden and plans to call it something like 'Rambo' or 'Killer'

Broccoli you are so not being unreasonable. Can I also suggest adding to your list:

*People who do not intend on picking up their dog's poo when out on a walk (and thereby giving a bad name to all dog owners).

The other day dh took our dogs for a walk and the older one had a bad tummy - ie she did a number two's which he couldn't pick up...so dh made his way home, got a bottle of water and went back down and washed her deposit away. He's also been known to go out with the dogs and forget to take bags - rushed home, grabbed some bags, and drive back to where one of our two dogs have been and pick it up.

Now if he can do this why can't other dog owners simply pick up their dog poo rather than leave it for my kid's shoes to find?

I know of quite a few dogs who simply don't see the light of day - ie never go out on a lead. For one reason or another they don't get walked atleast once a day - owners are elderly, the dog pulls too much on a lead, or the owners simply don't have the time. I know of three dogs that are overweight as a result. Having an overweight dog is, imo, as cruel as having an underweight dog.

I've owned dogs and always picked up their poo. I loathe owners who don't. How come they never get fined like what those notices say? Our pavements are covered in dog crap, even in the High Street yesterday was a huge mound. Someone must have stood there with a large dog, watching it dump by the pedestrian crossing, then stroll off.
The Bristol-Bath cycle path is covered in crap as are all approaches to it. Makes pushing a wheelchair or buggy a nightmare.
When i lived in Virginia US, it was State law that dogs couldn't be off leads and all poo must be picked up. So my dogs had the run of the garden and could be walked on lead but if we wanted them off-lead we had to drive to a special fenced off area in the local park and take them in there. It was rather small and gravel underfoot and at the time I thought it a bit unreasonable. But you know what? In the whole park which was playground/football feiled type space and baseball quadrangle thingy, there was never one poo. You could sit on the grass and know you'd never sit on a poo or let the kids run around the grass and they'd never come back with dogshit on their shoes. It was lovely.

If a few dog owners were prosecuted for allowing their dogs to foul the pavement/ verges perhaps they would be more vigilant.

Not sure what it's like in other parts of the country but round here there are plenty of dog bins to deposit them in (poop that is not dogs.)

There's simply no excuse not to pick it up (other that being an irresposible, uncaring, selfish git.)
If they find it that unpleasant they shouldn't have a f*ing dog.

Bring back the dog license.

Why is it my kids shoes always find it? The wheels on their bikes? My younger dog will roll in dog poo too. It's so disgusting.

I agree - bring back the dog licence. Why on earth was it scrapped in the first place?

We have one 'dog poo' bin here - yes, just one which is normally full to over flowing. It absolutely stinks when you walk past it. I bring the bags home instead and put them in my own wheelie bin at the top of the garden. Nappy sacks are so cheap to buy, smell nice and easy to shove in your pocket (empty!) - failing that use a carrier bag!

I once saw an old guy with his dog in the park - the dog was off the lead and decided to empty its bowels in front of me and the kids. DH went over to the guy and told him his dog had just done a poo right in front of us and would he please come and remove it. The old guy was very offended that 1, DH had approached him and that 2, DH told him it was his dog who'd done it. The old guy put his dog back on the lead and walked away telling DH it wasn't his dog etc etc.

Honestly......the older generation are always there to moan about the younger yet they're hardly perfect themselves!

Totally agree with you my dog is lovely but she is hard work

you have to enter into these things with total commitment knowing you will look after them long after the children have left home

a dog should never just be apresent for a child either a hild cant look after them so you will always do it

Cats on the other hand should be banned nassty things that make my eyes swell up and make me itch lol

I think we should still have dog licences

A present for a child thingy should also apply to fluffy cute and cuddly bunnies and guinea pigs that are cute and cuddly when young but soon grow up into less cute and cuddly creatures and are often forgotten about stuck outside in their damp and cold hutches because the kids have lost interest.

I've seen so many cases of forgotten about hutched animals struggling to survive in their wooden hutches which are rotten, soaked through and with very little food and bedding. When I worked for the RSPCA we had case after case of dead rabbits and pigs lying in their hutches with no food, water or bedding. Dreadful.

Brocolli - I like the sort of pet owner that you are.

My two dd's have a dog at their fathers place, and would love to have a dog at my place. I never ever would have a dog, I do not want the responsability ever I think I am being very kind - to the dog I never have come live with us. My dd's though think I am a mean mummy......

The answer will and would not ever change though and hasn't over the last 5 years.

we got a puppy a few months ago, she did the chewing, nipping thing, but she house trained within 3 days....all was going well till on the 3rd or 4th day our son started itching like mad....just thought it was something or nothing, a week later, puppy still with us, everyones happy, but ds gets up (he's only 3yo btw) and he's scratched his back in his sleep so bad blood had come through onto his bedsheets and soaked his pj's....took him to GP and he was highly allergic....spent 4 days with ds and puppy seperated while we found her a new home....ds still, even 3 mths later, asks why we sent poppy away....he said he doesn't mind scratching if he can have her back.....

it was heartache letting her go, and we'd planned on a puppy for well over a year, talked about having a dog in the house for much longer too, so it was a planned pet, but now we can't have a dog unless he gets over his allergy!! i am a SAHM so was in all the time to walk her feed her, play with her, train her etc....we are on a good income, have savings for if we need them....so could afford a dog.

i strongly agree that owners who dont have time to be with the dog, walk it, play with it, train it, and not afford jabs and boosters etc then they should NEVER consider getting a dog....it only funds puppy factories!!

People who insist their doggy is just being friendly and there is nothing to be afraid of.

Not afraid, just don't want it near us thanks.

Good list though Broccoli. There is one dog even I rather like, but his owners are excellent and he is gently and beautifully trained and you sound the same sort of owner.

So for people like me who say they don't much like dogs, I will admit that it's not really the dogs it's the owners who won't look after them properly that are the issue.

My dd adores the dog I just mentioned and it is lovely to see them together. If they were all like that I'd be ok with them.

I have always believed that a dog and its behaviour is pretty much down entirely to how it is looked after at home.

There have been so many cases where dogs have been put to sleep because they have bitten, are unmanageable or simply too difficult to control.

Look at the tv programme Dog Borstal, for example. There have been so many dogs brought to that programme with their own individual problems and most of the time the dog is the way it is through the fault of the owner.

Ugh, dog muck. I tihnk one of my neighbours must have a dog that poos as soon as it gets outside because there is dog shit outside my gate every couple of days.
We have to park one of our cars there because they don't both fit on the drive so as soon as the kids get out of the car they tread in it.
It's infuriating.

Where we live people will normally pick up dog poo but what I want to know is why some of them then throw the bags into the bushes where they will not rot down.

Yep...that happens here too...or in our case we get them thrown over our back wall. I can only guess dog owners want to be seen picking up their dog poo - so not to be sworn at by passers-by but don't want to carry it home/put in a bin. Madness.

Surely this could have been avoided

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7163696.stm

Poor child.

Reallytired,
sorry but I strongly dissagree with your sweeping statement about people on benefits/low income not having pets. I;m a carer to my daughter who has cerebral palsy and is wheelchair bound, my two rescue staffies were around when I was married and will remain with me until they die {one is 13 one is 3}Now i'm on my own I would not dream of rehoming them {shock]the chances of my old grumpy 13yr old dog getting a good home are zero .
What about all the dogs/pets that keep disabled/elderly people company? or the Dogs who help promote independance to disabled/blind people [working dogs] are you to say that if their disabled/blind owners don't work they should'nt own them???? .
I'ts a well known fact that people who are irresponsible pet owners come from ALL walks of life rich or poor.
P.S. before getting my staffies I read up about the breed and weighed up the compatability with my family/lifestyle.
I dont believe in 'surprises' when you plan to keep a dog for it's natural life.