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.

That’s when you buy steps for your dog or lift them on and off. 😉

I'm amused that dog ice cream is a controversial topic. What about plain dry dog biscuits? Some of the resources that go to make even simple dog kibble food could be used to feed people, so is that okay, and if not, what are dogs meant to eat?

Why shouldn't a dog have an ice cream? It's not taking anything away from any human, any more than people eating ice cream are directly causing impoverished children to starve.

When you give up every treat food you eat, I'll take you seriously regarding the dog ice cream (and other dog treats).

You must live somewhere very odd, OP, with peculiar (and rude) people. None of these things have ever happened to me and I live among dog lovers (defined large area of local beach is dog free May-Sept).

We had friends to stay with their dog and on the first night they asked if he could lie on the sofa and I said yes as long as he was on a blanket, plenty of room etc, no problem.

The following night we had dinner with them and my adult DD and her BF. They all went off to the lounge, I joined 5 min later and the BF is sitting on the floor as the dog was sprawled on the sofa 🤷🏼‍♀️.

Such odd behaviour. They seemed hurt when I got the dog down.

My cat IS better than other people's kids - to me. I have no such illusions about other people though.

MIL uninvited us from the family Christmas (was to be their first turn of having our son with them on Christmas Day) rather than ask BIL to put his rottweiler in kennels.

Bonkers.

Agree OP. Can't bear the stinky shitting things. So many places we can no longer go to, and it's very hard to find dog-free restaurants and cafes, so we rarely go to these anymore. Can't go on the beach, in the park, on public footpaths, in many shops. They're even in the local butchers FFS. I live in a rural area and am sick of reading about lambs and sheep being savaged by loose dogs, sick of reading about people, especially children being attacked or killed by dog attacks, yet nothing is ever done. It's all fecking bonkers. Let's hope it's reached peak dog, and so will trigger a backlash eventually.

I’ve had dogs for my entire life. As in I’m 36, and have not actually not had one for any point in my life. That’s been multiple dogs, too, often 3 of them at any one time from childhood to now. The only reason I have just one now is because she wouldn’t tolerate another in the house.

Anyway, the current calibre of dog ownership is what is potentially putting me off having another one when mine pops her clogs.

The pet dog world is currently dominated by a couple of sorts of owner. Firstly, the Disney dog moms; usually owning a Doodle of some sort, typically a first time dog owner. Dog gets treated like a surrogate child, training minimal, has separation anxiety, and is a matted mess by 6 months. Dog is either a reactive neurotic mess or an over excited “he’s so friendly” nutter, or a mix of both. Exercise consists of letting the untrained Doodle off the lead to do exactly as it pleases, and if you take objection to this, you are the devil incarnate.

Then you have the fashion accessory dog owner. Flavour of the month is the French Bulldog (but you can also insert other small yappy dogs here). Owner is typically overweight like the dog. Dog untrained of course, snorting at the end of the lead, wearing its fake diamond collar. Picking up the dog shit is 100% optional. If they let it off the lead, it can do as it pleases, as it’s “only a Frenchie” and it’s SO funny and SO cute. Harassing other dogs and animals? It’s only a Frenchie.

This wasn’t as bad pre Covid. Post Covid it’s absolutely bonkers. I avoid other dog owners at all costs now and the majority are clueless about their dogs behaviour.

I live in a really naice area and I have told someone to fuck off when they muttered at me for bringing my small doggie into a shop that allows dogs in.

Mea culpa too

My cat IS better than other people's kids - to me. I have no such illusions about other people though

Well, my dog is better than stranger's kids, to me. That is the crux of it really. And other people's kids are better than my dog, to them. I am fine with that.

I remember a few years back when my son was a preschooler taking him to the playground in Victoria Park in east London. It has huge slides coming down a hill ending in sand, and is surrounded by a fence with no dogs sign. My son comes flying down the slide and is met at the bottom by a very large dog, which he was terrified of. Dog meant no harm but ffs why was it in the playground in the first place! It had a vast park to run around in. Doesn’t help that same day I trod in dog shit running through the grass!

I have a dog and I agree with 99% of what you said, I’m not too thrilled with the “Peri-menopausal wild eyed harridan description “ that could apply to many of us ! But many of us wild eyed peri meno harridans don’t inflict our animals or our children on others .

'Perimenopausal mad eyed harridan'. I think thats me :-)

My kids don't go into my neighbour's garden and scare the garden birds, they don't go in her house, upstairs or wrap around her feet while she's hanging her laundry. My neighbour can leave her downstairs windows open w/o worrying that my children will climb in. They do not jump in her car when she is a hurry to get somewhere. They do not stand on my fence and hiss at each other (though to be fair their human version is pretty annoying too).
I know 'cats will be cats' and I don't dislike them as such, I just find them really annoying.

Totally agree. I have dogs. They are treated as animals. Live outside (well a dog house) and they don’t go inside ever, our house or anywhere else. Pretty typical for farms around here.
I am always astonished how many dogs there are in shops and cafes. It’s madness.

Didn't we just do this thread two days ago?

I love dogs but agree, there are terrible dog owners around. Also to highlight that some people are genuinely very scared of dog's. My partner does a job where staff get bitten & often. Dog's are a huge responsibility.

As a perimenopausal wild eyed harridan, I take issue with this post.

Give it another 5-8 years and I think there'll be far fewer dogs. Loads of people I know who bought dogs during lockdown regret it terribly and will never have another. The cost of owning a dog is through the roof and unlikely to come down.

I think what you dislike are the awful dog owners. Controlling your dog and making sure they behave is something you have to teach. People are lazy. Same with some parents, they just can’t be bothered.
I do go to dog friendly places but those generally have special areas and the dog has to be well behaved. I definitely prefer well behaved dogs to a lot of people.

Dont have pain, so got no excuse 😂just in the midst of the menopause. 😛
God aren't some women just always looking for a reason to clutch their pearls

Oops, am gonna get accused of misogyny now😶

Now for my perimenopausal harridan rant....
To open, I love dogs, recently lost my own. I also love to be away from them.

We just spent a few days in a hotel on the south coast over the BH. Every morning, we were woken up by the dog in the next room being let out, not on a lead, charging up and down the corridor barking in excitement to get outside. At 6.30am. That is not acceptable.

Same venue, at breakfast, woman with a different dog sitting on her lap, eating from her plate. Also over meals, dogs at different tables starting scrapping. Extending leads across the dining area, causing trip hazards to staff and garotting risk to small children.

All of this is poor owner behaviour. But, as more and more places allow dogs, everyone ends up exposed to badly trained and incompetent dog owners gazing indulgently at their unruly cockaschitzapugadoodle, oblivious to the desire of other people to sit in quiet. There are so many first time dog owners who acquired puppies during COVID but were unable to properly socialize them or get access to training. I look forward to a time when that cohort of dogs are gone. Maybe only then, the previous sensible balance will be restored.

YANBU about the out of control dogs

your ageism is horrible and in that YABVU

Oh yessss... I live in a semi-rural commuter village and dogs are very much a lifestyle statement. The village Facebook page is pretty much exclusively just folk moaning about dog shit, people walking dogs off lead, dogs attacking other dogs, kids walking dogs and not picking up poo or being dragged around by the dog, dog walkers etc. I don't go to the once lovely local cafe because it always smells of wet dog and the leather sofas always have dog hair and muddy paw prints.

The fur baby people make me laugh too. I knew a woman who was an aspiring actress. She banged on and on about her little fur baby. How shit it was that all of her friends and family bought the children of the family gifts at birthdays and Christmases but no one had bought her fur baby anything. She loves him as much as they all love their kids. About two weeks later she was back on Facebook asking if anyone wanted him because she was off to the states for pilot season. Cos yeah we'd all just do that with our kids.

Aye - but I recently got rid of my pearls since I became obsessed with Swedish death cleaning. I'll have to make do with clutching my handbag.