AIBU to think the UK is more tolerant of dogs than children

[playgroundwarrior]

This morning an entitled dog owner shouted at me for pointing out that she wasn't allowed her (offlead) dog in our local playground. The dog was nosing around in our pushchair and hurtling around. The owner said she had seen the notices to say 'no dogs allowed except assistance dogs' but that hers was a puppy and that I needed to get a life! She genuinely thought her dog was as important as our children (she didn't have her own child and was with a friend)

This made me think about all the threads I've seen here about noisy toddlers in cafes and small children blocking the stairs. Last night I read someone moaning about the sounds of Peppa Pig on the bus.

I appreciate that the above examples of toddler behaviour are objectively annoying (mine frequently annoys me) but I'm beginning to think there's greater tolerance of dogs in this country than toddlers.

I've seen so many toddlers knocked over by offlead dogs and our 3 year old neighbour was pinned down by one last year, which was sort of just accepted as something that happens.

Since the pandemic, everyone seems to have a dog and the culture feels much more dog orientated than child oriented. I'd love a nice cafe or pub with a sign welcoming kids and a nice play area for them but have never seen one in my area, yet there are many signs welcoming dogs with treats and bowls.

Fully appreciate there are inconsiderate parents of toddlers and great dog owners who have perfect recall etc! I quite like most dogs but am
starting to feel the UK has its priorities very muddled.

AIBU?

No, that is how society is structured, including legally, on the premise that humans are at the top of the hierarchy.

That doesn't mean everyone agrees with it.

Entitled rude people will be entitled rude people no matter what, it really doesn't matter what their particular thing is.

I prefer my dogs to most strangers children. I fully expect the strangers in question to prefer their children to my dogs.

That doesn't make me a cunt, nor does it make them cunts - it just is how it is.

Funnily enough, the same hormone, oxytocin, that makes you feel that overwhelming 'my child is the best thing in the world, why can't anyone else see this' love.... is also produced by humans interacting with their own dogs/dogs they want to interact with (particularly puppies). In fact some studies measured a 300% increase in oxytocin during such interactions.

So all this 'its not the same love'.. actually, chemically - it is. The things that make us prioritise our own child over our own dog are the social, moral, ethical and practical factors more than the chemistry.

This ability to trigger us to produce oxytocin and also to produce it themselves is a huge factor in why dogs are dogs, and not wolves.

Back to the point however, rude entitled twats are irritating wherever and however you come across them. The specifics are really irrelevant.

That's how society is structured @Twentywisteria. Else you'd be lying in the street in cardiac arrest watching my Guinea pig take your ambulance to A&E!

I'd give an ambulance to a guinea pig over a lot of humans I've known.

👏

Dogs do not need seats. A reasonable person can make room. A deranged person will declare that the dog must stay because of their own relationship.

^This dog, is a tiny dog, so tiny you can barely see it. If I do not see the dog on the seat I am not loved so it's fine.
^
The dog can cope. It's the owners who can't!

Last night I read someone moaning about the sounds of Peppa Pig on the bus

good for them.

that’s obnoxious behaviour that will impact negatively on every other passenger on the bus.

there’s never any reason to behave like that except sheer selfishness and stupidity.

That woman was a dick but some parents can be equally as entitled and ridiculous. Also, I've never met a dog I didn't like whereas I can't really say I like any kids outside of my own family

I completely agree OP. Many people seem to have no tolerance at all for small children but are perfectly happy to make any number of excuses for dogs. I don't understand it

I can't believe we are still having this debate about dogs v kids. Dogs are animals pure and simple. Don't need seats. Don't need to be indoor around people. Should be on lead around people

The very fact that people can openly draw equivalences between people and animals is vile.

People are always more important than animals. Anything else makes you a bit of a psychopath

Only people with children think their children are much more important than animals.
This is just not true. I think all children are more important than any animal including my pets. The human race would die out if everyone felt animals are more important than children

That wouldn't be such a bad thing given we've totally fucked up the planet.

On yay!!!ANOTHER DOG DISSING THREAD.
Congratulations for your wise choice in opening another one.
let's all moan about dogs AGAIN.
Or not as yabvu.

Well it's not true and you have feel a bit sorry for the people who say such things.

The more blunt truth is that, if I find a dog on my land and it's endangering a sheep, I can shoot it. If I did the same to a child who was annoying my sheep, I would be a murderer.

I don't have any sheep, or a gun. The above is just one base example.

It's not dissing the dogs, it's those who think they have equivalent worth to a human being.

I don't have anything in particular against dogs @KarmaStar But ask yourself why are there so many dog dissing threads appearing. I'd suggest it's because behaviour around dogs is batshit in this country! My experience this morning was sureal and I'm clearly not the only one.

If there have been lots of threads on a theme it should tell you something.

Just been to the park with my dog. He was on the lead until we got to the field because I knew it would be busy. A group of kids aged between say 4 and 6 came running round the corner. They could not see what was round the corner. They were screaming. Having fun type screaming. One fell over and they all stopped running but carried on screaming. He didn't hurt himself. My dog is only young and to him a child screaming in this way would indicate they wanted to play to him. I stood back off the path and got him to sit and wait. The three adults with the children followed on a few minutes later. Not one of them acknowledged the fact that I'd moved out of the way for their children.
Dogs need to learn how to behave around children.
Children need to learn how to behave around dogs.

Too many of us, not enough space and facilities. People end up pissed off at everyone.

Actually it's because there used to be 6 million dogs in the UK. Now 13 million. That happened in a decade

What did the kids do wrong?

Yay, another dog hating thread. This site should be renamed HateDogsNet.

Entitled dog owners and entitled parents piss everyone off. However, no one complains about well behaved children in a cafe, for example, but posters here get themselves in a froth about spying a dog having a snooze under a cafe table.

Not so much the kids as the parents. Totally oblivious to the surroundings. There could have been a bike, a wheelchair, an elderly person with mobility issues. The parents were not watching the children. The children could not see round the corner. In this park, there are three play areas and at least 3 open spaces where they can run around. This was not the space for it. The parents were oblivious to their children. Had i been oblivious to what my dog was doing I would have been called all kinds no doubt. Had they run into an old person the old person would not have been able to move as quickly as I did and they would have been hurt.
Children AND dogs need to be controlled.

I'm very much not a dog person. I don't want to pet one ever. I hate when they come up to me! But feel free to pass me a baby to hold... adorable. Really struggle to understand anyone who likes dogs and dislikes children. Surely we are the only species where some of us prefer a different species?