To dare to think that the Cult of Dog has gone too far?

[MariLlwyd]

There is now not a single public space in my home town that is dog-free - and that includes cafes, restaurants and even the library. Local beaches, once a quiet escape, have turned into asylums for the fur baby/pupper brigade to inflict their poorly trained animals on others with children getting chased, people jumped on and tripped over and all to the sound of hysterical barking and frequent dog fights.
80 year old woman knocked over by uncontrollable dog? 'You got in his way'.
Ask politely that you take your dog away from our lunch table? 'Go fuck yourself'.
Sit on the most remote bench you can find? Peri-menopausal wild eyed harridan lets loose 3 dogs from her 4x4 to jump all over you and laughs that it's 'their spot' and turns unhinged when you push them away.
Yes, this is a rant and yes I hate most dog owners.
This weird cult that values darling dogs over human beings is actually pretty worrying.
I shall await the inevitable and hilarious 'incoming' from the emotionally stunted Doggo Nutters.

Sadly I have to agree with you. It has all got out of hand now and spoils so many outings for everyone.

How can we turn the clock back and get back to some sanity? I do not know.

I agree, but I think we’re probably in the minority , because there are so many people who prefer animals to humans and regard their fur babies as more important than anything and anyone.

It’s interesting that, if you were selling a house, you’d be advised to remove evidence of dog, including the smell and often, second hand goods and furniture are advertised as ‘pet and smoke free home’ as a positive.

Totally agree. Sometimes I feel as though dogs are more socially acceptable than children these days!

So have all the dog related threads on MN.

I have a dog but agree that owners should have them under control. Ageism and misogyny not necessary though.

Yanbu but you'll be torn apart on here.

"Fur baby" attitude is the worst thing that ever happened to dog ownership.

Hate the term Fur Baby, my dogs are dogs and part of the family.

Was with you until you started with the perimenopausal shit

It must have been at least 48 hours since we last had a dog moaning thread 🥱

This again?

I agree. No doubt the "my dog is better than your kids" brigade will arrive soon.

Inclined to agree to a point. I have dogs and do enjoy the beach with them during the winter, but places that serve food, places that are designed to be quiet or for vulnerable users (such as libraries which are wonderful for the very young and the elderly) and a whole lot of other places that are wildly inappropriate for any animal I absolutely don't take them to. Are they a part of my family? Yes. But they are not a part of everyone else's and I will not force other people to put up with them.

I once looked after a lovely man with severe autism who was TERRIFIED of dogs.

We were once having a picnic and a dog came over, I asked the owner to call it away as the man I was supporting was really visibly anxious and she responded with, “it’s okay, she’s friendly”.

It was the only time I’ve properly lost my shit in public.

I understand that we needed to work with him on his phobia but her entitlement was insane.

Same with children. Children are small. Some dogs are huge. It must be like being faced with a brown bear.

It's not really the dogs that are the problem, it's the increasing selfish attitude of society and that some people don't see why they should behave in an appropriate manner in shared spaces, so they don't ruin it for everyone else. They simply don't care if they impact other people - but they usually demand they're treated with respect, tolerance and deference by everyone else and there's hell to pay if they are impacted by being asked to behave in a way that doesn't impact others negatively.

They want a dog and so they get one and aren't in the slightest bit interested in anything other than fulfilling their want with none of the responsibility that comes with either dog ownership or being a member of society.

Even if all dogs dropped off the face of the earth tomorrow those people would still have that attitude and still manage to ruin shared spaces for others in existing, new and original ways. At the moment it's dogs, and I can forsee eventually the popularity will drop because rules will change and they will be restricted and then something else will take their place.

As ever, it's humans causing this, the dogs are just a symptom.

Dogs are pets, not fur babies, and much as I love my two, and they are part of my family, they’re not human beings.

YANBU about dogs but you sound like you may be a perimenopausal harridan yourself!

Totally agree but no doubt there will be a lot of posters along shortly explaining why you’re wrong.

dogs are animals. Not fur babies. They should be controlled, and not in a lot of public spaces like shops, cafes etc

Totally agree
See this everywhere these days

Sick of dogs.

I simply don't want some slobbery dog coming near my legs when I'm out walking, and entitled owners don't bother controlling their dogs from encroaching into people's personal space

I agree and I'm a dog owner! I'm frustrated on a daily basis by the behaviour of other dog owners.

I am a dog owner and I agree with you.

To be honest, I agree with you op. Just got home from holiday in Cornwall and they were EVERYWHERE. Pubs, cafes, shops, there was nowhere they weren't welcome. I love dogs - albeit in a healthy normal way - but don't own one. I was in a clothing shop whilst there and around 3 shoppers had dogs, one had 2 and a few of them started fighting at the till area 😐 Dogs are not meant to be in clothes shops!! It was too much to be honest and made me not want to stay in the shop. The other thing I noticed is that alot of the dog owners had 2 or 3 dogs rather than one. I did enjoy watching the dogs frolicking on the beach - that was because they were meant to be there and having lots of fun running about rather than going shopping or sitting under a seat in a pub or cafe!

Yep! Will happily admit to it too.

It sounds more like you live in an area full of shitty, aggressive people rather than it being a dog problem. It's definitely not something I recognise. I run a lot and meet loads of dog walkers, all that is exchanged is a hi and a smile.

I don't remember the last time I saw a dog tie up outside a shop. YANBU at all!