to bring dog in supermarket

[Name2change]

I have name changed as I know that most people will be inclined to think that this is ridiculous proposition as its societally unacceptable. I know the cognizant is not to bring them in because they could get out and get into things and cause damage or irritate people with allergens or for hygiene reasons etc etc but surely this applies to dogs who are on leads and being held and not ones in enclosed baby-looking prams that cant get out or get close enough to people to irritate them. I honestly don't see the issue with well behaved dogs who cant bother anyone especially when no one will even know they are there. I saw someone in the supermarket who'd done this a while ago, they bothered no one and ever since I've been thinking that this is something id like to do as I have a hidden disability that is made just that bit more comfortable with my dog just being there but I haven't done it as I'm too ashamed and would be anxious the whole time about being found out! I dont want any "YABU for getting her a pram", its a separate issue, she requires one and I'm not getting into a debate about it. AIBU to go for it or should I leave it well alone and forget about it?

The Times , May 2022
Animal welfare experts have warned about an epidemic of dog attacks after the number of people requiring hospital attention for dog bites more than doubled in 15 years. NHS data shows that more than 10,000 people a year need hospital treatment after an attack, a rate of 15 cases for every 100,000 of the population

Yes and this is only the actual direct injuries from dogs. It does not include the people who are injured because of out of control dogs, for example because they trip them up or make them fall off their bikes.

And how often does that actually happen? Most people who are afflicted like that don't go out because there aren't enough public loos. I wish there was a lot more uproar about the lack of public loos than there was about facilities for dogs.

I've never heard of a dog that can't ever be left alone before, not even for 5 minutes. It must be vanishinglyly rare, statistically, and I don't think that it can be the basis for over-arching legal judgements or guidelines that affect very large numbers of people.

Ditto, people that crap themselves in banks.

Maybe rare but unfortunately true in our case.

Sainsburys is being sued because it refused to allow someone to take their "assistance cat" in with them

Sorry, but that made me giggle - not because Sainsburys are being sued, but at the idea that a cat could be trained to assist with ANYTHING it didn't feel like doing

<Eyes two furry idlers narrowly>

It also doesn't include those who go to a GP or those who are bitten and stupidly do not seek medical. I sat stupid because it isnt just the flesh wounds from bites, or what some dog owners speciously call 'a nip', that are a danger, it's the infection that might occur. People have died from infections from dog bites or had to have limbs amputated due to infection

It isn’t necessary you’ve just said it might make things a bit more manageable for you but I still think there’s no need for a dog in a shop.

Someone will say ' I saw a dog in Asda and it was allowed'

Next thing there will be others wanting the same for their dogs

If one non assistance dog is allowed in then others will...consistentcy

I have seen pet carriers advertised which are similar to a shopping basket on wheels with a mesh front for the dog/cat to look out of. I can't see one of those would be a problem pushed around a supermarket but as already said only the supermarket manager can decree what is allowed.

@CounsellorTroi

They do lick their own backsides though. You can’t argue with that can you?

@TarpaulinEyes

why should this be allowed though? Bar the hygiene aspect, it’s fucking weird to push a dog about like it’s a baby in a pram

i thought it was strange that people pushed dogs around in a pram, but now I find myself with a elderly dog who likes to go out still but can’t walk far and am thinking of getting one.

Lady in the vet last week had a pram with a dog in it and had walked to the vets which was a distance from her home, the dog couldn’t walk that distance. So dog prams can very practical.

Bar the hygiene aspect, it's fucking weird to push a dog about like it's a baby in a pram

There might be one or two ' fucking weird' people pushing their dogs about like it's a baby but I've never met one.

Most people who have a dog in a dog buggy do so because they dog is recovering from surgery or is old and can't walk far.

Dogs become bored and miserable if they can't go out and see the outside world. Much better their owners look weird to people like you than they're stuck at home with a bored, restless and unhappy dog.

I walk 2 small dogs in the same household: hyper energetic 8yr old & sprightly nearly 15 yr old. They have completely different needs so I can't walk them together. If I walked them together, I'd want the almost 15yr old to go in a dogpram while taking the 8yr old about 5 miles.

Why do babies get pushed about in a pram? Why not get them out to walk?.... well, same for dogs.
They might be too young to be out properly yet (as in not had all their jabs yet), or elderly/infirm.

I agree we should be able to take them in, in a pram. It's definitely not safe to leave them outside.
If you get the dog some assistance/ therapy training and it has a certificate you would be able to take it in. X

No, absolutely not!

The cut off is clear - guide/support dogs only.

If they let you in with yours they have to let everyone in with theirs. I bought potatoes, tomatoes, carrots etc all loose and at dog height today. I don't want to buy licked food

Navigating people with leads etc would be a nightmare.

Nah - there's a time and a place.

No premises by law has to allow an assistance dog in training in, therefore you’re misinformed there. Also emotional support dogs are not assistance dogs and don’t have the same rights as highly trained assistance dogs. Too many people are claiming to have assistance animals simply to get them into shops and other premises. It doesn’t help that people are selling official looking documentation in an attempt to gain access with untrained unruly pets to premises! Assistance dogs are not required by law to carry identification.

My DD has a fully qualified guide dog and over the past year her highly trained dog has been attacked twice by owner trained ‘assistance’ dogs in shops. One was a Jack Russell who not only drew blood from a guide dog for the blind but whose owner claimed it was highly trained. Assistance dogs are trained not to react to anything around them and training can take anything from 18 months to over 2 years depending on what the dog is being trained to assist with.

At present, there is no register for assistance dogs therefore anyone can buy an in training harness from the internet and claim they have an assistance dog. Far too many shops are afraid to refuse access due to owners quoting the equality and disability act. There are are very few cases that have reached court due to the wording of these acts.

There needs to a register/database of professionally trained dogs who have a record of training and who actually are needed. Assistance dogs are treated as auxiliary aids and not simply a pet. Far too many people are jumping on the ‘I have an assistance dog’ bandwagon simply to gain access to premises, which, in my view is wrong and is undermining assistance dogs who ARE highly trained to aid their owners.

You assume that shops will be swamped with badly behaved dogs if they were allowed. A lot of shops already allow dogs. Wilko is one. I have never seen a single dog in there, let alone it being swamped with dogs licking everything.

What I have seen... kids poking their fingers in all the donuts in a bakery aisle. Kids plunging their fingers into pick n mix, and shovelling it into their gobs. Parents changing nappies on cafe tables.. parents changing pull up pants in full view of everyone else in a cafe/shop/pub.
Kids are vile. They also routinely touch their arsehole, play with their genitals etc... then go on to touch everything else too.

People are the problem, not dogs.

For some reason people who have dogs believe that all people love dogs. This is not the case….

Do you have a study or evidence on this, that you could quote?
I have a dog. I love her to bits. I don't assume that other people do, or that they must love her too.

Why can't your dog just stay home like other dogs do? Food shops allow assistance dogs for bling people. It is unhygienic for dogs to be in food shops. Other customers don't want them there. They leave their dogs at home so why can't you?

Not true!

Mumsnetters that have dogs are well aware that not everyone loves dogs, or MILs or men for that matter.

Literally every other post is about hatred of one of those three.

No. I'm sick of dogs infiltrating everywhere. Since the covid dog boom you can't go anywhere without being approached by a bloody dog. They smell, they slobber, they piss everywhere, they jump up at small children. And I know it's "not all dogs" and blame the crap owners blah blah blah but they are EVERYWHERE. Your dog in its hermetically sealed pram (WTF) is, I'm sure, not going to affect my life that much but if you're allowed, everyone else will want to and why can't we have one bloody place where I don't have to navigate people's bloody animals. It's just a supermarket - go in, get your shit, and go home. It's not that hard, you don't need your fucking pet with you.

Wow, that's a LOT of anger.