AIBU to think dog owners have low hygiene standards.

[ThisQuirkyPeachHare]

I'm not a pet owner, although have had pets in my childhood.

Many of my friends and family members have dogs... And I'm just always so surprised to see how their hygiene standards change when they get a pet....
No dogs on the sofa/bed... But how is it suddenly acceptable?
Dogs around the table and sniffing around food that's low eg coffee table.
And then the owners stroking the pets and letting it sniff/lick hands and then eating without washing first??
My sister in law is awful for it... Her and her children are all petting the dog while eating and then taking more food from the plates which are for everyone. In-between this, the dogs led licking it's nethers before coming back for another sniff around the food 🤢
I can't be the only person to think this is disgusting? 😂🤦🏾‍♀️

Hmmm

💯

I find people who are not keen on dogs or treat them as if they’re way below them…pretty suspect

Dogs are amazing.

Here's my two! One knows its place...the other is a spaniel...be prepared to be disgusted!

It really is, but I suspect you didn't mean that genuinely.

Studies have shown that children who grow up in a dog owning household have stronger immune systems, a lower risk of asthma etc so they must be doing something right……

I feel the Lab is judging the Spaniel 😂

Thing is, I don’t thing most dog owners care about people’s judgements in this respect. They’re getting a lot of love and happiness from their pooch. They and the dog are happy, having a few sniffy visitors making judgements is a very small price to pay.

My cat doesn't make the house smell unless she does a poo in the litter tray (or somewhere she shouldn't!) but we definitely don't wash our hands after touching her and she sleeps wherever she likes and gets hair everywhere.

The rats make the house stink despite my best efforts and I do make more of an effort to wash my hands after touching them because they are a bit stinky.

I would like to say we are a hardy family but me and my eldest child are always coming down with something!

I like sharing my house with animals and I'm not bothered about being a clean freak. For me they make my house a home and I put up with the hair/smell/muddy paw prints although the rat smell does annoy me a lot but I can't seem to stop it.

Exactly. I genuinely don’t care if other people don’t love my ‘smelly pooch’, why would I? I care that we have a happy house, and we do. Our dog contributes to that. If people don’t want to visit my apparently filthy, stinking house, they don’t have to. Funnily enough though we have a lot of regular visitors to our house and are often told we are excellent hosts.

@K0OLA1D yes! Always such anger and venom....imagine being this het up about someone else choosing to have a pet in their home.
It's the 'your filthy, smelly mutt' comments for me, like all dog owners are going to shrivel up in to a ball of tears because someone has called our dog a mutt.
Also, always popping 'Fido' in there. It's 2024, Abraham Lincoln is long gone - go with Bella or Luna instead 🤷🏻‍♀️

Bet my pup has cleaner bollocks than some of your husbands. 😉

I don't get the obsession with hygiene some people display. It feels very OCD to me.

My experience is that people obsessed with hygiene tend to be more often ill with viruses than those who are not. Maybe it's a vicious circle. They fall I'll, they increase their hygiene duties, they lower their immune system, they fall ill.

They then feel entitled to judge those who don't uphold their standards and think it's perfectly acceptable. It isn't.

Hygiene very much comes down to how you've been raised. It's about how it impacts on others around you. If you stink of sweat so that everyone stays away from you, then yes, you have a problem. If you don't, then who cares how often you wash!

Yes, and every time they go out some horrible germy dog is jumping up at them. I walk nearly every day in a huge park that’s a favourite with dog walkers, and in many decades IIRC I’ve only ever once had a dog jumping up at me.

Maybe they can sense that the human doesn’t like them and do it on purpose! If I were a dog maybe I would, too. 😈😂

😂😂

We get it: you don't like dogs and you think they are disgusting.

Other people loves them and enjoy having them in their lives.

No idea why you think it is OK for you to suggest that makes them dirty and look down on them...judgemental and daft.

That reminded me of a nephew, then maybe 8 or 9, who remarked to DSis that their dog was licking his balls again.

Dsis told him that the correct word was ‘testicles’.

Some days later he said, ‘What was that word again, Mum? The one that means willyballs?’ 😂😂

So true. Must have quiet lives.

One of the best ways to build children's mine system. People are obsessed with dog bashing here.

I think you might be onto something, @ThisQuirkyPeachHare, but not as revolting as you describe…
Having managed perfectly well without owning a dog, we rescued one about 4-5 years ago.
Having made rules about where the dog was allowed in the house, we slowly came to accept that he’d break every single one!
He has his own place on the sofa (which is rigorously cleaned if we have guests - It’s a leather sofa, so very easy to remove all traces of hair and smell), he is allowed on the bed (which gets changed 2 or 3 times a week because of that) and we all love the dog, so he’s allowed to have cuddles any time he wants.
I have had to change the hand soap we use though, as we were all getting very dried out from handwashing after touching the dog and before touching food, so not doing that is, I totally agree, lazy and unhygienic.
We have never left food on low tables, so that’s not a problem: we eat at the dinner table, and snacks are collected from the kitchen and consumed there and then.
The house is definitely not as clinically clean as it was before the dog, but our lives have changed immeasurably for the better in other ways…
And we get more exercise, so on balance, we are much better off than before, and not any less clean!

Those with pets (particularly dogs and cats) live longer, have stronger immune systems and are happier. And to be honest - you don’t know love fully until you’ve had a dog love you. Wouldn’t trade it for the world! Frankly I find people who don’t like animals psychopaths. 😌

I’m a dog owner and I’d probably agree with you to an extent! I don’t allow my dog to sniff counters and tables. I don’t take him into shops and cafes either. But yeah within the confines of our home standards although not appalling are definitely lower than they were pre-dog. To be fair I can say the same about having kids too!

I think people who say you can't know love until you have been loved by a dog and to call people psychopaths for not liking animals are a bit lacking on the old intelligence.

I'm not anti animal, neither do I think having pets is unclean, but come on, what is that absolute crap?

You don't have to be a "dog hater" to recognise that they have unhygienic habits.

@kenidorm sniggers I don’t know you know! I think it might be more “lacking in the old intelligence” to argue with a stranger over the internet when you don’t have a pet so can’t possibly comment? No? 😉 Frankly psychotic if you ask me 😏

There was no argument; just pointing out that calling people who don't like animals psychopaths is not acceptable and absolutely does make you look like you are not too clever.

Moving on, do you even know what psychotic means? It's a bit harsh for a chat about dogs.

Also, missing the part where i said I don't have a pet?