To think most people shouldn't own dogs

[JamSandle]

I love dogs but I think a lot of owners:

• infantalise their dogs and treat them like babies, not animals who have instincts and needs.

• don't train them. Let their dogs bark, howl and growl all day long.

• don't look them properly. Walk them, trim nails, clean them, look after teeth.

Good dog owners are amazing people. But so many people have dogs and don't put the effort into training them or understanding the animals needs.

I dont really think most people should be dog owners.

Yep I just posted about this earlier in another thread someone has about an out of control neighbours dog - I had a neighbours dog jump up and scratch me and they had the nerve To say it was out of their control! Also had muddy paw prints once years ago and I had to turn back and text the friends I was meeting to say I was going to be late as I had to go back and change.

That said, I think a lot of people are in over their heads and have chosen breeds based on appearance or status. A busy family in a small home without time for long walks have no business getting a Border Collie, a Husky, or a German Shepherd. A family with small excitable children should not have an American Bully or a Cane Corso. A family who love hiking and biking with their dog shouldn't have a chihuahua.
I'd agree with that.
I think people should be realistic about what their lifestyles are like and what their interests are.

Just like people shops for clothes based on their aspirational self, I think some people get a dog on the grounds that it will help them get fit, it will help them have family time, they'll get their steps in walking the dog, the kids will love playing with the dog in the garden and that will occupy them.
They forget that if the kids don't like playing outside, the chance of them playing outside with a dog is slim. If they don't like being outdoors and don't walk much now, the chance of the dog transforming years of laziness and/or sedentary lifestyle is slim. If they don't have much outdoor family time now, the dog isn't going to bring the family closer together.
Dogs shouldn't be bought as a tool to fix human problems/as a self improvement tool.

Fair enough. I always thought of myself as a fairly experienced dog owner. I think I’ll change that to fairly experienced lab owner. In my defence had I ever considered another breed I would have done some more research.

Poor Fido

The older I get the less I agree with the whole concept of pet ownership in general. I think the breeding of animals for profit should be banned and the only pets people are allowed to get are ones from shelters.

I seem to be surrounded by people who "collect" cute animals but aren't able to provide or care for them adequately. There is one family on our street who have dogs, cats, rodents, lizards and birds all crammed into their little house with all of their children. The chickens have apparently not been cleaned out in over a year and the garden is infested with rats, the dog keeps escaping and running about the road etc. They clearly cant cope with all of these animals, it shouldn't be so bloody easy for them to get their hands on them.

From my experience, the terrible owners are definitely a minority. I'm not saying they don't exist, because I've come across a few, but the majority do a decent job. I'm on a breed page and the biggest issue is pulling on lead, which does at least tell you that they dogs are being walked, even if they aren't being trained.

The most frequent issues I see I the dogs locally are poor recall and dogs being overweight. Most dog owners I know look after their dogs adequately, in that they exercise them regularly, feed them sensibly and obviously love them and give them lots of attention. The dogs are social, happy and not remotely neurotic. They can be off-lead together without any issues.

However, there is a sizeable minority that just doesn't understand that some dogs desperately need some sort of fulfilment for their genetic drives. With most people I think it's ignorance rather than not being bothered, but it does annoy me. You have Google at your bloody fingertips. Don't get a Malinois or a Vizsla out of working parents or a JRT and expect a dog whose greatest ambition is to be a sofa cushion.

So don't go those restaurants and go somewhere else.quite easy isn't it?

Can I share a tip for recall please? I've never known this not work on any dog (no doubt be proved wrong here)

It's The Back and Forth Game.

Two people stand a few feet apart in a secure garden where the dog can't bolt. One of you calls the dog - really cheerfully with a hand signal. When she comes you ask her to sit and when she does you give her the tiniest little bit of her favourite treat and some good praise. Then the other calls and you repeat half a dozen times.

Repeat daily and gradually, as the dog 'gets it', the two people move further apart. When you're getting a good result 100% of the time you can move it out of the garden.

If you teach the dog a 'come and sit' command using a hand signal you can get your dog to recall and sit without even having to make a sound in noisy places or over a long distance where you can't shout.

I'm going to use my own dog as a prime example of this not working

He's a scent hound - his recall is perfect until he gets a scent - which unfortunately happens quite around here. Then it's nose down, ears off and away he goes. Hand signals are pointless as he's staring at the ground and voice/sound commands are ignored as he's so focused on the scent. He's a beagle and has been bred to do this for literally hundreds of years - no amount of sausage and hand commands will change it

So unfortunately for him he has to be kept on the lead the majority of the time.

He's perfect in the house/garden though!

Love this post. The problem is, conveniently, always other people. Although it is rather the theme of this entire forum and we all still come back to read and judge 😂

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts Bum. I knew someone on Mumsnet would prove my 'always works' method has a flaw. It definitely works on lots of dogs though, so worth a try except perhaps for scent hounds.

Beagles are a law unto themselves there's even a section on the Beagle Welfare website about how different scent hounds are to other dogs and how you need to massively re-adjust how you work with them lol.

After all, they were bred to bugger off on their own and hunt, then to bay so we came to find them - they weren't bred to come to us!

We have a scent hound..

He recalls just fine when he is not following a scent, he has no wilful desire to bugger off, he comes lolloping back, big grin on his face, delighted to do so because he gets paid in sausages.

But when hes on a scent he is clueless as to the world around him, he does not hear a recall, he fully believes we too are following the scent and know where he is, can see him, are right behind him... and when his nose comes up off that track.. he is HORRIFIED and outraged to find we're not there! I have had (helpful geography of hilly field so we could see him!) the joy of actually watching this happen and he turned and followed the scent/his own scent, back to us, in a fair hurry...getting his bustle on!

He thinks we are the wayward ones, we have this awful habit of not keeping up, but he is too clueless to let off in places where he could get to a road, so its secure fields or the long line for him!

I think you’re right, OP. Lots of people got dogs during lockdown on my street, and most are fine, but there are one or two that clearly shouldn’t be owners. There’s the dog next door who NEVER goes out and spends the whole day looking out the window barking at passers by, and another who leaves her dog barking outside for an hour at 10pm every night. I’d like to see people go on a course and pass an exam or portfolio so they could get a licence before being allowed to buy a dog. The course could cover breeds, exercise, nutrition, grooming, training, finance, etc. I’m not saying it would be perfect, but it might help some people face the realities of what they were committing to, and ensure they thought it through carefully before they selected a dog.

Oh, absolutely! I know, my little heckers run rings around me daily. And they love our company.

But it's definitely a different set of criteria, easier to meet on a daily basis for your average cat compared to your average dog.

The idea that cats are aloof is just asinine - and probably contributes to people wanting the more overtly "slavish" adoration of a dog.

(Disclaimer, yup, great if you're a good dog owner. But if you demonstrably can't meet a dog's minimum needs, don't bother. I promise a cat will love you just as much.)

I have a lovely dog that needs a coat below 6 degrees Celsius or she gets cold. Clearly a double-coated breed can cope without, but long dogs such as whippet, lurcher, greyhounds and IG’s in particular, need coats in the winter.
I think that you have shown that your knowledge isn’t necessarily as good as you think in making this part of your observation, but as for dogs that don’t get exercised enough (the amount differs from breed to breed), or aren’t properly trained, or are not stimulated enough, I do see more dogs around now that are badly behaved, and I also see more un-picked-up dog poo than, say, 10 years ago, so you’re not entirely unreasonable!

Difference between cats and dogs is that owners train their dogs and cats train their owners. I mean staff.

Very true 🐈

Agree so much with this, but equally the same goes with children too!

Although I posted earlier that I don't put my dogs in outfits, I do put them in jumpers and coats when it's cold/ snowing. My old lurcher girl whines when she's cold, so a jumper or fleecy blanket is needed ( she likes being tucked in).
She also gets a light coat when it's raining because she likes to find the muddiest part of the field and roll in it. 🙈
Then whines if we shower her.

I am with TeenLifeMum. I live in an area with a lot of dogs, and a decent amount of space for them. I meet a lot of them while I am out with my well loved, well looked after, labs.

Most of the dogs are friendly and most of the owners are working hard to keep the dogs happy and well trained.
I
have known a couple of dogs and owners who were clearly not a good fit, but the majority do pretty well.

Not sure what it is in your experience that makes you think otherwise ?

A lot of dog owners are decent owners IME, just a few idiots out there who shouldn't be dog owners

I absolutely agree with you. I don't have a dog because we couldn't devote the time needed to care for one at the moment but the number of people who don't care for their dogs properly round my neighbourhood is terrible.

Exactly. We have a cat. I feed her once a day and she rewards us with casual occasional affection.

I think you miss a very important point off your lists, @JamSandle
and that is people refusing to see that their dogs are suffering and need to be pts.
I see so many dogs who clearly don't only have any quality of life but are in discomfort and sometimes pain.
I hear about dogs who are incontinent, have dementia, any number of old age issues that are never going to get better.
I have just seen a poor old dog who can barely walk and limps on all four legs and her owner, who is trying to balance the needs of her young dog with this old lady, calling her and telling her to hurry up. She made some comment about life being a struggle now.
I really think there need to be specialist vets for one your dog gets old that judge quality of life and can insist on euthanasia if necessary.
I've had to make the decision once in my life and I left it too late. I feel terrible shame about it and I will never do it again. Far far better too early than too late.
However hard it is for the human at the time, I think it would be best for them too to have the decision taken out of their hands. The vets would have to be made of pretty stern stuff. I don't know, not an easy problem to fix but something needs to be done.

Absolutely agree. My grandad always had dogs and said there's no such thing as a bad dog, only a bad dog owner. You have to commit the time and effort to teach, train and care properly. I'm not angry at the yappy snarling dog who almost bit my child, I'm angry at the owner who had the lead so loose it could reach us and hasn't trained it. I'm not angry at whatever dog did a massive poo in my front garden, I'm angry at the owner who allowed it and left it. I'm not angry at the dogs leaving wee streams all over the pavement every day, I'm angry at the owners not training them to go in the gutter/against a tree/not in the middle of the pavement or all over my garden edges.