God I am bored of dogs

[Orteul]

And they are everywhere. Obviously barking and shitting which is annoying anyway. But also running and shitting around every tiny bit of green space in cities so that no one else can use these places apart from dog owners. Even when you go to a pub or café half the time these days it's "dog friendly" (why do we all have to be fucking "friendly" btw? "Tolerant" I could at least understand). You can't escape the fucking things. At work we even have dullards cacking on about how they want "office dogs" - nightmare as far as I'm concerned and really if you're going to be accommodating people's personal life at work surely a fucking crèche would be a higher pissing priority. Pet dogs don't even do anything. They literally just exist so that people can have pet dogs. Why the fuck are they suddenly everywhere?

So? What's your point? Hitler was a vegetarian.

I agree partly.

I have some friends who have lovely dogs - one in particular has three beautiful shelties. Such intelligent and well behaved dogs that respond to her commands brilliantly. I always enjoy spending time with them.

But there are so many inconsiderate dog owners! As a keen walker, the number of times I encounter someone with a wildly out of control dog, and always get a half-hearted 'oh sorry' whenever I have to change my path or get jumped up at or whatever. I think what a lot of dog owners forget is some people don't want to be bothered by your dog, no matter how 'friendly' they are.

And it blows my mind how entitled some dog owners are too. For years, I worked at an arts and heritage centre in my nearest town that has a café and gardens that are maintained by volunteers. Prior to opening the decision was made to be a no dogs allowed venue. We'd regularly get fairly vitriolic messages on social media from aggrieved dog owners, demanding to know why they weren't allowed to enter...despite the information being on our website. Some people said they wouldn't ever visit us, simply because we didn't allow dogs at the venue. It was very bizarre.

Yes of course it’s the owners. If owners were all decent like you, these threads wouldn’t exist. But you can see from some of the owners here, that they value dog rights over humans. And ultimately dogs lose out too.

You sound like a great owner.

I have done in the past on multiple occasions. It is not something I enjoy obviously but we have a lot of older folks with little dogs who let them crap everywhere on an area that has fields that children use and I would rather pick someone elses mess up than one of the kids run through it.

YANBU and I love dogs. A neighbour on our street has a dog, a gorgeous but batshit crazy and badly trained doodle. It is supposedly a school therapy dog but it only occasionally goes to the school. The rest of the time she is left at home by the evil headteacher neighbour. It barks and cries half the day.... a therapy dog that needs therapy!!!! A complete joke...

If you look at the list of fatal dog attacks in this country, it's basically all American Bully XL: dogs as heavy as a grown adult bred for fighting. Whippets and Golden Retrievers and French bulldogs and cockapoos and spaniels aren't murdering anyone. Being afraid of most dogs is irrational.

You're right, not all fears are logical, but I personally don't see the harm in telling someone on an anonymous web forum that they're being ridiculous when they are.

Yes. I do it every day when walking my dog.

But then my bit of Australia isn't the shit fest that the UK appears to be from this thread. I can go up and down my street and go months without having to pick up a dog turd, and believe me there are loads of dogs here I am.

All dogs must be annually registered and licensed, and have to be leashed except for specified areas. To be fair every time I bring this up, and I always bring it up, it is countered by claims that it simply can't be done in the UK: too big/hard to do, etc.

Where, not here.

I grew up with dogs as working animals who were also pets and loved dearly and have nothing against having a dog if you have the space, finances and time to afford it.
However, I do not want to go out for dinner to be seated at a table next to someone’s dog, dodging them on a busy high street, or having to watch out for dog poo in our local park.
My daughter was bitten by a dog (genuinely through no fault of her own) and now is scared of them. We are working on this slowly with calm and trustworthy dogs but it does not help when overexcitable or badly trained dogs are allowed to run up the her, and there are fewer dog free places than ever before thanks to COVID and places wanting to appear easy going and inclusive.
It’s those with no concept that there will be others who do not love their ‘fur baby’ as they do that ruin it for the responsible owners

Of course I would, if I had dog poo bags with me. Of course there are situations where my dog isn’t with me, so I don’t carry the poo bags round with me when I’m not with the dog! And I would challenge the owner first if I saw it happen and they didn’t pick up themselves. I do the same with litter. Our local park has litter everywhere, and if I see kids (and adults!), drop litter, I challenge them. But i do pick it up and bin it rather than just step over it.

I should say that the local council provides poo bags next to the poo bins on all off-leash areas, so a carrot.

I like dogs but don’t want or need to take mine shopping or to the cinema. I can’t imagine that they would enjoy it much either!

I understand that just because I like mine and feel safe with them that others don’t. I respect that and no matter how much I trust mine I wouldn’t trust them 100% with my grandchildren or strangers because at the end of the day they are animals.

People that have dogs but don’t look after them or train them are the worst kind of people.

In which case, I don't mind telling you that you're being rude, selfish and inconsiderate.

The dog mess just really gets me down. The parks always, and i mean always have some lying around. If dog lovers/owners could just pick up one extra poo each walk, it would surely dampen the antipathy from many people.

That said, I know people who earned over £7000 from a Lab litter this year, and I can see why it’s tempting to keep doing it.

I do wonder about how vegans/vegetarians work it out, buying a carnivore. Any veggies with dogs care to comment?

Dogs are everywhere nowadays.

I have had dogs and loved them very much, but I'm sad nowadays to see how objectified dogs have become. People don't see them for the wonderful species they are anymore but have turned them into "fur babies'. It's a really unhealthy trend that harms them and us as a society. The amount of dogs I've seen being pushed around in 'dog prams' or over groomed or dressed up in clothes is crazy. I feel its actually a form of animal abuse and reminds me of the chimps they used to dress up in the 70s.

These trends stop dogs getting sufficient exercise which creates health issues for the dog. Inappropriate socialising puts them into stressful, high conflict scenarios(overcrowding of dogs in enclosed spaces such as offices). Over grooming removes important oils from their coat and the wrong diet causes digestive issues. The high demand has lead to very unethical puppy farming and the prevalence of breeding dogs that have genetic disorders (French bulldogs for example) simply for their looks.

We've put them into a category that is also unhealthy for us. They will live on average 12-13 years and then will either pass away naturally or will need to be put to sleep. Making a dog into a 'fur baby' causes a lot of mental anguish when this stage is reached, or worse prolonged life for an animal in pain because the owner cannot take the final step.

I loved my dogs very much, trained them on recall, exercised them and kenneled them when required. I had one pedigree gun dog and one dog from the RSPCA that required a lot of rehabilitation, so have experience in a range of needs. I've never once referred to them as fur babies but celebrated them as the wonderful amazing animals they were.

But true.

Now THAT is original. Absolutely never heard it before on a dog thread.

Yes I do. Same as litter.

We have a beach nearby and the amount of poo and litter left each day is disgusting.

I work on the assumption that anyone who does not call him over has no interest in/is scared of him. I do not let him approach people unless they explicitly ask if they can pat him.

he may well have scared a lot of people like you - but only from passively being a dog that they can see, not by actively looking to interact with them. Not apologising for that.

My apologies. I know people don't pick what they're afraid of, and learning that their fears are unfounded isn't usually enough to undo the fear response. And of course, a considerate dog owner should always keep their dog away from people who are uncomfortable with dogs.

I do wonder about how vegans/vegetarians work it out, buying a carnivore. Any veggies with dogs care to comment?

I’m vegan. I don’t buy dogs. We own an animal rescue centre taking in injured and abused animals.

Dogs in cafés.

‘Humans are more important than dogs’ is an opinion though. Who are you to say that humans are more important? Of course they are to the majority of people but I’m sure there are many people who think their dogs are more important. It’s their right to think that.

Totally agree. Can’t go for a walk without a dog running up to me or my child (not everybody likes it - it’s not ok!) or stepping/nearly stepping in dog sh*t. So many noisy barking dogs in the area too. It’s sad that dogs (particularly certain breeds) have become “fashionable”. Like an accessory. My local cinema now do “dog friendly” screenings. I mean… really?! But god forbid you admit to not really liking dogs. People react as if you’ve just confessed to being a serial killer or something 😂🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️