Dog barking in restaurant

[ChristySept]

I will begin by saying that I’m a massive dog lover and have a well behaved dog of my own.

We went out for lunch today. Five people were sat at the next table to us and they brought their two dogs with them. One of them was fine but the other was not. It barked every minute or so and they made no attempt to stop it from barking. I have ASD so I’m admittedly more sensitive to noise than most people, especially repetitive, loud and shrill noises like this. I mentioned this to the staff but they weren’t bothered.

Is this normal nowadays? My DM says that it’s just me being too sensitive but I think it’s really rude to interrupt someone else’s lunch with all this noise. AIBU to expect a relatively bark free lunch? I’m fuming because it wasn’t cheap and it feels like I’ve wasted my money a little bit.

Its definately rude - I am a dog lover and have 2 of the little blighters. If my dogs were behaving like that in a pub or cafe, I would take them outside.

This is the reason I avoid places that let dogs indoors. Too many shit owners and untrained dogs.

Not acceptable. I'm a dog lover but the dog should be taken outside if it is persistently barking.

To me this is the same as if you have a young child with you who won’t settle - you either take them out to settle or you pay up and leave. It’s not fair to disturb other diners like that.

I’d have quietly asked a waiter to have a word. Totally selfish from them.

i like dogs, but i dont see why they need to be everywhere

Dog owner, dog lover, I take my dogs out to places and would be seriously peeved if this was going on.
In fact, it has and then I have to work twice as hard to keep my dogs calm and not joining it.
Any time dog makes a noise should be removed.

Op did this and they weren't bothered. That's so bad.

Op I'd be upset about it too.

"Is this normal nowadays?"

Is this a serious question?

Agree. I have noticed quite a difference in dog etiquette over the last few years, people just down seem to care if their dog is a nuisance. I know there are still good dog owners out there that would never allow their dogs to behave like this but there seems to be a new breed of owner who just don’t care.

I bet the staff were bothered , but too fearful of saying something in case the dog owners complain on Tripadvisor. Selfish , entitled people are selfish ,entitled people. It’s not the dogs fault but the owners and id feel exactly the same OP.

I had this in a nice place once and I asked the waiting staff if they could address the noise and they said they couldn’t as they were ‘dog friendly’. Two dogs from separate parties were barking across the space at each other. I cancelled my order and left and said it wasn’t ‘human friendly’ to have that level of noise in a confined space - if was like being in a kennel.

This was a nice place as well: the set menu was £50 each for two courses. We wanted to leave as well but we’d travelled for an hour and we wouldn’t get in anywhere else likely on Christmas Eve.

Ahh the daily dog bashing thread..

It's rude, its the same amount of rude as sitting there with a child making loud noises and not removing child to calm down.

Shitty owners/shitty parents will always make things less enjoyable for others - such is human behaviour eh.

It doesn't really matter if its a dog or a child or even an adult behaving in appropriately for the context - its annoying and people should behave better.

I had this the other day in a pottery painting place. Kid aged about 8, painting quietly, mum next to her gazing at her phone while dog barked repeatedly. At one point the mum asked ‘what’s wrong with you?’ To the dog but made no effort to engage with it or anything. In the end one of the employees went over and fussed over the dog which stopped the barking! My daughter was getting quite upset, she is terrified of dogs and hates loud noises. She’s come a long way, a year ago we’d have just had to have left as she’d have been hysterical. As it was she was just wimpering asking why it was so noisy. I’m not overly noise sensitive and I was finding it bloody annoying. Not sure pottery painting is really a dog friendly activity tbh.

I’m not blaming the dog - dogs bark. I’m blaming the owner and asking if it’s rude. Honestly if you knew me, you’d know that I am a huge dog lover