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.

Oh god is “perimenopausal” being used as an insult now. Give me strength.

Get rid of the dog if you don't like it. Send it back to wherever you got it, or have it put to sleep. Your life will then be immeasurably improved.

And I'm neither emotionally stunted nor a nutter.

That would be you.

This

You just don't sound very nice OP, calling people nutters, unhinged and peri-menopausal wild eyed harridans.

I don't own a dog but I think you demonstrate well why many people often prefer them to other people.

Being one myself I recognised the symptoms. 😊
Mea Culpa for the comment tho '.

Even if this is true, why do you bracket dogs with children?

Badly behaved children are a pain, sure, but they’re humans, you know, like me and you. Dogs are not humans. They’re dogs. They have no more rights and privileges than pigeons.

I think more people have dogs since COVID, but it was Brexit that made everyone more entitled and selfish.

Yep - it’s got totally out of hand. People are out there trying to gentle parent their dogs and it’s obviously not working.

I have actually fallen out with BIL and his gf over this because I am allergic and generally grossed out/a bit fearful of big dogs and they are not prepared to do anything to curtail their dog “in case she feels left out” and let it run rampage, they have no crate and no boundaries. They believe it should be allowed to jump all over me and the feelings of the dog are more important than mine.

To the people complaining about the number of threads on here about this - I would suggest that this is testament to how untenable this has become. People don’t feel able to voice it to the dog nutters directly because they get verbally abused.

I should add not all dog people are so inconsiderate - my brother’s lovely girlfriend offered to board her dog so that we could come and stay. We declined this as a) not necessary, can book an Airbnb and b) wouldn’t be able to stay in a dog house for much longer anyway even if the dog wasn’t there but it was a clear shift in the difference between BIL and his gf above. A dog is a dog and the comfort of people, should come first.

The upshot is we are very happy to stay in an air bnb near my brother and get on without the dog whereas we can no longer go over to BILs house and MIL has had to ban the dog from any wider family gatherings.

My exH's new girlfriend is a doggo nutter. He never used to like dogs and now he's forced to go everywhere with a pair of spaniels. I laugh.

I don't believe your little stories in your OP either.

My dog was allowed to visit me when I was an inpatient on a psych ward. It really helped me. She was in a private room, not wandering about everywhere. A few other patients even asked to come in and see her too.
My local trust also has a Pet as Therapy dog who goes on the ward a lot too. There is a picture of her on the wall with all the pictures of members of staff.

All I'll say is the quietest cafes in any town or village are the ones that don't allow dogs.

For the record, I don't mind either way and agree some places can be overrun with dogs. I've just seen first hand the margin benefits of making your business dog friendly

Dogs in prams 🤣 To think they are descendents of wolves. Bet they didn't see that coming when they came to the camp fire and started to accept scraps.

It used to be the case that dogs weren't allowed in eating areas, which made perfect sense to me. When did that change? And if we must have them in places where food is being served - at least keep them on the floor, and at your table.

I was at a lunchtime cafe a few weeks ago where a group at the next table allowed their dog to sit up on a chair at their table. Absolutely revolting. I pity the person who had to use that chair afterwards.

My Dad is 70 and has somehow been caught up in this idea despite previously being a very typical older generation pragmatic Northerner.

He wasn't like this with all the previous dogs he's owned but he seems to think his current dog is so special that normal expectations just don't apply.

He doesn't go to pubs or bars and leaves the dog at home for an hour once a week when he does his food shopping.

But the rest of the time he wants to take the dog with him and if a business says no dogs, that's a sign to my Dad that they're not worthy of his custom.

He's happy with a no-dog policy but doesn't think it should apply to his dog as his dog is different.

And if they say fine, bring the dog but the dog doesn't get the positive attention my Dad thinks he should have, my Dad immediately thinks there's something 'off' about that person so doesn't like or trust them.

It is a very, very cute and extremely well-behaved dog I'll admit. And he was the dog he had with my now dead Step-Mum so I can understand the extreme attachment but even before Step-Mum died, he thought this dog had some kind of special abilities.

This might come as a novel idea to you, but maybe walk the poor thing?

So you can get out more and the dog won’t suffer.

its very hard on people with dog allergies. Stayed in an Airbnb once where there had been dogs and suffered badly!

Maybe if dog free places were marketed as "allergy friendly, so regretfully, we cannot accept assistance dogs either" then it shouldn't cause an issue. There are loads of dog friendly places these days.

I think dogs are wonderful, but they aren't people

This ^^

There are some wonderful and sensible dog owners on this thread. If there were more of you in this world then dog ownership wouldn't be the problem it has become.

I had a client with a dog a few weeks ago, poorly trained little terrier with an assistance dog jacket. I said oh I didn’t realise he was an assistance dog, and he replied , he isn’t but this way I can take him in Greggs to buy my sausage roll !

Then the rest of us who have seen these situations are imagining them? People are able to have different experiences to you and for them to be true and valid!

Both of my DC when they were under 2yo were approached by "friendly" dogs who came right up to their faces. A massive English bulldog and a huge sheepdog. They are both now scared of dogs, despite me having grown up with German shepherds and working in dog kennels. My DD actually had a bischon frise jump up on her try to take her soft toy away from where while we were on a walk. She was 18 MONTHS OLD. When I asked the owner to do something I was told "go f* yourself".

I've lost track of the amount of muddy paws and slobber on me, where people just smile ane laugh. People have started bringing their dogs INSIDE the school playground at drop off/pick up. For a mother of DC scared of dogs, I shouldn't have to be negotiating that! Dogs fighting in cafes all the time. Dog poo everywhere. Everytime I go to John Lewis I see at least 1 dog. I don't get it why anyone needs to take their dog to JL! It is a novelty nowadays to see a dog which can sit and heel. I doubt most dog owners now know what heel even means.

I couldn't agree more, we were in our local pub at the weekend and there were so many bloody dogs! Actually having to step over some going to the bar, yapping, slobbering, people putting them on the very nice velvet seats (thankfully the staff do always ask people to put them on the floor).

I said to my OH I can't bloody wait for all the covid dogs to die out

A cafe near me has two signs in the window: 'we are dog friendly!!! :)' and 'Well behaved children welcome.'
I think it's such a shit attitude and I never go there now.