To wonder when the excess of dogs will die down

[OptimismvsRealism]

There's so much shit everywhere

There are so many feral horrible dogs pissing on front doors or prams or shop displays and barking terrifyingly at kids

I am sick of them!!!!! Is this it or will people learn their post COVID lesson and only get pets they can actually handle in the future?

It'll end when the excess of idiots ends. I.e. never.

And it's sadly humans who are at fault, not the dogs.

Totally agree. As a dog owner I can get onboard with these sorts of things.

I think a lot of dog owners would agree.

Irresponsible dog owners piss dogs responsible dog owners off just as much as they do other people.

I feel the same about labradoodles. Most of the ones I’ve met have been nuts tbh.

THIS is the issue for me too. The idiocy of people taking their dogs everywhere with them. Never used to be like that. That awful incident in Stoke-on-Trent where the boy was attacked by a dog at a pub while out with his family on Christmas Eve for instance. If the dog wasn’t in that pub, that wouldn’t have happened.

A massive issue is like @StripedTomatoes mentioned with their experience of the owner of the Alsatian taking it into a small gift shop. A lot of places aren’t suitable for dogs to be in. Guide dogs should really be the exception.

A good family friend, who used to babysit me, was attacked at a local bar, which is literally like sitting in someone’s living room. The owner of said bar allowed the odd person to bring a dog in. Absolutely silly. Far too small a venue for this. The dog just went up to our friend and attacked. She did nothing to provoke it, was just sat minding her own business.
Thankfully her hubby was there and stopped it from causing too severe an injury. The POS dog owner ran off!😡

@ShouldhavebeencalledAppollo exactly. I don’t hate dogs but I don’t have one as I done have the time or money to commit or want to have to plan my life around a dog that makes me a responsible person. I like my friends dogs they are well behaved and a joy to fuss when I am round at theirs, all the dog fuss no responsibility 😂

Humans who are silly enough to adopt dogs and let them turn communities into disgusting dog toilets which you can’t let your children run around in because they come back covered in dog shite, yes

+1 to this. I used to regularly go walking at a local beauty spot, which is near a beach, and would see the odd dog walker. It had been like that for years. There’s a great big park just around the corner and even that didn’t used to be as overrun with dogs but that is where most would be.

I am genuinely honest when I say in the past it was the odd person walking a dog.
During lockdowns and since it’s a case of dodge the dog or dodge the dog shit.
I rarely go walking there now as a result and wouldn’t walk in the evening or at night there now - likely to step in shit!
During the day I’ve seen dogs chasing swans. I’ve seen owners getting riled because the swans or geese have stood their ground. In short, it’s been spoiled.

Well there are no dogs behaving as you describe round my way, thankfully. There are a lot of dogs here - semi-rural - but it’s always been that way. I agree any problems are generally human-generated - I wish all dog owners/parents would be responsible, and I agree some just aren’t and it gives the rest of us a bad name to an extent (I have three dogs myself). Picking up poo, and keeping your dog under control is just basic stuff.
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Agreed, I don’t like dogs and I dislike irresponsible dog owners even less. Shit on the pavements all the time, people letting their enormous dogs run up to children while insisting they’re just being friendly, the incessant barking, and the entitled owners that think it’s ok to take their dog everywhere including to other people’s home. Yesterday I saw people with non-assistance dogs in the clothing section of John Lewis and in a jewellery shop, since when is it ok to go shopping with your dog?

why on earth dont people pick up after their dogs!?

I couldn't think of anything worse than taking my dogs shopping.

I'm so sorry Xeno, my dogs are family to me. I've had some awful comments on MN from some dreadful bullying keyboard warriors. I step away as I don't need to explain myself, or my lovely well behaved dogs to anyone. One of mine is 14&1/2 now, I know she is well into her twilight and threads like this where people say awful things is so upsetting.
Blame bad owners people and call them out if they're letting their dog pee on your property, or poo and not pick up. I walk my dogs in the local woodlands and pick up every time, I see so called professional dog walkers letting their too many charges poo and ignore it - I always offer them a bag!

You’ve got to do this - shouting shut up - more often. It’s spoiling your enjoyment of being in the garden. Sausage dogs are terrible for barking like maniacs whenever people walk by or whatever. Our next door neighbour has one but she is really good and whenever it starts barking - usually because a bird dares to fly over - it gets brought inside and “sin binned.”

We had a neighbour that left their dog in the back garden all the time and it was always making a racket whenever anyone walked past.
I learned one day if I poked my head out of the bedroom window and glared the owner would bring the dog inside. They moved within the year.

That’s hilarious! How are people supposed to walk their dogs to these parks? Also I’m pretty sure if any parks near you became dog parks and you could t go in them you’d be furious! 🤣🤣

Also tired of dogs running up to me when I'm out on a walk. The owner always thinks it's funny and says "he's just friendly". Why can't people keep their dogs on leads in public spaces?

I find this viewpoint very disturbing. I don't understand how you can look at your fellow humans and see blight. Where's your empathy? For a planet, but not for the people living on it?

yup, sorry but you cant do anything about dog piss....its just going to happen!
If the outside of your house gets smelly though try biological washing powder in really hot water sloshed around. That should get rid of the smells!

I own 3 dogs (now very elderly) and people leaving dog shit really annoys me. Im very careful about picking up after my lot, esp in the park opposite me which has a creche attached. Some areas here there is dog shit literally every few feet.
Not to mention the idiots who believe that leash laws dont apply to them coz their dog is somehow 'special'.

I dont blame the dogs though...its pig ignorant human beings with no respect for anybody else.
The same ones that drop litter everywhere, smash bottles on the pavement, let their cats crap in other peoples gardens, park so close on the pavement that people in wheelchairs or with prams cant use it, etc, etc.

Yes, I agree and muzzled: We could eliminate dog attacks, even on other dogs, if by law all dogs were muzzled in public.

Agree 100%.

All the parks near me are full of dog piss and shit, I’d be delighted if a dog park opened so I could actually take my child to the park without worrying if he’ll get shite on him.

Can't end soon enough. They shouldn't be allowed in cafes, restaurants, shops, etc

Fed up with stupid inexperienced owners who don't train them. They walk all over the pavement even on a lead as they've never been trained to walk to heel.

Experienced dog owners who treat their dogs like dogs train them properly and take them for proper walks I don't have an issue with. It's the idiots who treat them like humans with prams and trips out to shops instead of walks and not bothering to train them.

You have a dog owners problem, not a dogs issue.

People should act responsibly, keep clean up after their pets and make sure they don't cause a nuisance.

Dogs, and cats, are not going anywhere by the way and it is unfair to blame dogs for people's behaviour.

Speak to the farmers who are losing livestock to dogs, with the owners adamant their dog could never hurt anything, just like the highly educated QC whose dog killed the seal Freddie by the Thames. She regretted not having the dog on a lead (as signs asked) but did not think it necessary.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9398763/Furious-neighbour-calls-f-ing-idiot-QC-49-dog-mauled-Freddie-seal-fined.html

The park a few yards away from my garden isn't officially a dog park (though it's used that way) but a football field surrounded by shrubs and trees.

It's only now that I'm retired that I've realised that many of the cars that block the driveways round here actually belong to dog owners/walkers who drive to this location specifically to walk their dogs.

During lockdown, it got worse. I had my back fence broken by dog walkers who had to retrieve their animals after letting them off the lead - the dogs could slip through the fence, but the owners couldn't. Instead of walking round to the front gate, the owners followed their animals through.

I spent part of lockdown using up old bits of wood from the garage to put up a new fence and I've managed to persuade the hawthorn hedge to thicken up and it's now filling the gaps nicely.