To not want to socialise every time with a bloody dog?

[NoSpanielSympathy]

Friend has a rescue dog she’s very fond of. It’s a nice enough dog but I’m not really a dog person. We have a mutual friendship group, a mix of couples and singles, a few pre-schoolers and babies.

Friend is a bit of a friendship queen bee and does a lot of organising. She regularly organised things like walks and picnics in the summer, and meals.

The dog comes everywhere she goes. That means picnics have to be in the dog bit of the park (which means dog crap everywhere and rogue dogs sticking their noses into food), pub trips are often in pub gardens even in the bitter cold as the dog can’t come inside, meals are always directed to her house because of the dog (either we order a takeaway or everyone brings a dish - I have offered to cook many times but the dog isn’t invited so she always steers it back to hers).

I used to be less bothered, but I have a toddler now, and don’t want to sit in the dog shit bit of the park, or a freezing smoky pub garden anymore, or have my toddler rolling in her dog’s bed!

AIBU to arrange separate meet ups which aren’t dog friendly? She will be upset.

To be fair my kids are quite honky too 😬

Let me guess, this woman is single and has no kids? So typical of these types, gets a pet and makes that their identity.

A bit like how women often do with motherhood when they have kids then?

In my park dogs are allowed everywhere and I don’t know of one pub that would make them sit outside. Where on earth do you live?

Ah…..the old “coming from a good place”
it’s control disguised as kindness OP. It means you’re less likely to call someone out on their behaviour because they’re only being kind…..bollocks.
This sort of thing drives me nuts.

How do the other friends in the group feel . If they are ok id suck it up or not go . If they are equally as frustrated I’d suggest you do some dog free events and it’s up to this woman to come alone or not as the case may be . I socialise a lot with friends but have 2 dogs who are fine on their own . If I’m out for a whole day or weekend they go to their sitter .

What a horrible stereotype. You know nothing of her situation .

It's a shame. My best friend got this snorting little lab experiment that really mars going to visit her. It sits in a corner making horrible noises, you're just listening to the poor thing suffer to breathe. I find it upsetting and annoying.

It jumps at you, bites your toes, licks you, steals your stuff, hurts you! and is just all round miserable to be in the company of. Instead of having a normal conversation with my friend, every now and then her speech is interjected suddenly with FIDO! GET DOWN! Which can make you jump sometimes as it's out of nowhere.

I know dogs should be well trained but these poor creatures can't really be trained as they are mentally backwards by design.

I love my friend so still went but sometimes it was really, really tough.

Arrange separate meet ups. Start arranging things and if she steers things another way be honest. If the group still go her way you may have to opt out. What do others in the group think? It would annoy me.