To think The Range has made a stupid decision

[hellolittleduck]

“CDS Superstores has announced a major change to The Range stores' entry requirements. Dog owners will no longer need to leave their pets outside or at home as stores across the UK are now completely dog-friendly.“

What’s the point of this other than to make shopping in The Range a miserable experience? Am I the only one who thinks it’s disgusting to have filthy dogs running around soft furnishings and fragile displays, potentially pissing on things? I assume people with dog allergies are just irrelevant then. Navigating the shop is already a nightmare when it’s busy, who wants dogs who have been rolling around in God knows what to be taking up the aisles? Think it’ll be online orders only from now on…

I went to the Range once. Never again. Awful experience. I suppose dogs will make it just that little but worse.

I’m a dog owner and I agree with you, I think all shops etc should be service dogs only. You do not NEED to take your pet everywhere. Mine wouldn’t be happy anyway she quite likes her time alone when we do pop out.

I'm a dog owner. I love my dog, I like going places with my dog, never in a million years would I go shopping with my dog. My dog doesn't give a shiny shite about home furnishings, she isn't going to derive enjoyment from shopping and she isn't going to enhance the shopping experience.

I don't understand this relatively recent trend of people taking their dogs fucking everywhere. Unless it an appropriate place for a dog to be just leave them at home like a normal bloody person.

(Obviously service dogs are excepted).

Doesn’t bother me either way but I wonder why they’ve done it? Feeling the pinch with their competition B&M and Home Bargains is my guess.

Fuck me, is there anywhere dogs can’t go now? My town is overrun with them… dogs in the pub, dogs in the pharmacy, dogs in Fenwicks, I’m surprised people don’t take them to church…

IME, it's hardly ever the nice dogs that go everywhere with their owners (probably because good owners wouldn't take their dogs to unsuitable places to begin with). It's always the yappy fuckers or the "fur babies" or the jumpy twats hanging out at the very end of their lead or the genetically fucked up science experiments... Sorry, designer breeds ... stumping around, struggling to breathe and looking at you with a pained expression.

The amount of times I have found a dog poo on the floor in pets at home proves to me no other shops should allow dogs in

I don't want to take my dogs shopping in the Range and I am pretty sure even tho they would like to be attached to me like velcro that they don't want to be taken shopping in the Range either.

yes they may like a trip into Pets at Home as they will like the smells of the treats etc. but my dogs stay at home when I shop.

I choose where to take my dogs - somewhere I know they will enjoy i.e. the park or the beach or the woods These places are places for dogs.

otherwise it's at home in their multiple beds or on the sofa.

I hadn't heard this. Ddog is looking forward to a visit. Thanks op

Yup.I was in the bedding department of John Lewis last week and there was a couple browsing around with two largish dogs.Said dogs were having a jolly good old sniff at all the bedding on display while their attached humans were preoccupied with finding pillowcases containing the correct thread count,or whatever.

I always wash bedding and towels before first use,but there were some large expensive quilts and bedspreads folded on the lower shelves and I wouldn't expect to be spending £200 -ish on something like that after someone's dog had been sniffing it!

I checked when I got home and apparently JL's policy allows all dogs in the store,apart from the food outlets (assistance dogs excepted of course).I'm really surprised.Perhaps I shouldn't be though 😕

Meh. They're no more disgusting than toddlers so I really can't get too worked up tbh.

I think you've been OTT in what it will be like in there with dogs allowed but as a dog owner I'm not particularly supportive of this either. I love taking my dog where she is allowed and expected - pub beer gardens, garden centres and the odd dog friendly cafe. But we really don't need dogs in regular shops.

I love my dogs and, tbh, like most dogs better than most humans. There is however a time and place for them and absolutely no need for them to be in any shop or restaurant.

100% my position
100% agree

I love dogs and I have one myself so this wouldn’t bother me greatly. But I understand that it’s not for everyone and there should be boundaries. There’s no need for dogs to be in shops other than Pets @ Home or the likes. As an aside, I used to look after a friend’s kids after school. She’d always bring her dog into my house to collect them even though every single time the wee buggar would pee with excitement, often on my living rooom rug. I asked her not to but she’d ‘forget’. Leave the fcuking dog in the car, pal!

I have no issue with dogs but I am genuinely wondering why on earth you’d want to take them to the range? Seems very silly to me - and I’m a dog owner + lover!

It’s not a pet friendly shop in the slightest.

Pity the poor dogs that get dragged to The Range. It's a shithole anyway, one more reason not to go!

🤢

I agree it needs to be rolled back. I was really surprised a few years ago to see a woman with a dog in John Lewis. There's just no need. Cafe Nero is an accident waiting to happen with out of control dogs and people carrying trays of hot drinks. Maybe it will take an aggressive dog attack or worse before they are banned from most shops.

It's nice to see so many, including dog owners, agreeing for once instead of the usual arguments that they are more hygienic than children.

In defence of the Range as a shop it is good for picture frames - lots of sizes and mostly real glass.

I also wonder if the staff want the added responsibility of cleaning up dog mess where their owners won't.

Ha ha someone new to our village was asking if there are any dog friendly churches in the area

Quite an odd decision.
The Range makes me desperate for the loo for some reason. I get in there and it's immediate! And they don't have one. Wouldn't want to risk it with my dog....

I don’t have a dog, don’t want a dog and don’t like dogs in stores, but the unfortunately reality is that we now live in a world where a) the number of dog owners has increased loads, b) it’s no longer acceptable to leave dogs tied up outside shops, c) it’s increasingly unacceptable to leave dogs in cars, even for short periods. And while I don’t like dogs in stores, it’s not enough to make me actually not shop there, and I suspect that’s true of most of us non-dog-lovers as well.

So the reality is that unless shops and restaurants allow dogs, they will lose loads of drop-in custom, which will threaten their bottom lines in an age where brick-and-mortar retail is already under pressure. So more shops will close. And then the rest of us won’t have the option of shopping there either. Same with restaurants, pubs and cafes. And this will just become yet another face of broader social trends pushing society into staying at home, consuming stuff online, drinking beers at home, ordering takeout, shopping via the internet, getting drive-thru.

I’m fed up with bloody dogs and can’t wait for the covid numbers to start reducing in a few years’ time, but unfortunately, I think that this is where we are and shops and restaurants who want to survive may not have a lot of choice.

I think any dog owner with common sense wouldn't take their shit up dog in a shop. People take them in those dog prams anyway. Wilko did this and expanded their pet range. Probably a last ditch attempt to save them going under.