AIBU to want cafes to be dog free after grandchild was bitten?

[OhSoTrue]

What to do? Took my 12 year old gc into a cafe for lunch today, and a dog
snapped her ankle as we walked by. It drew blood. No idea why it picked on her.
She did nothing beyond walking in the door.

The dog owner 'fled the scene' as it were. Made a hasty exit while he had the chance and everyone was looking at the injury.

Wouldn't it just be better if we kept dogs out of what really should be an exclusively human area?

The argument that "they are allowed here so suck it up" is wearing thin.
We are all very fed up of your dogs in human spaces. The vast majority of us would prefer a dog free space.

Yes but what I’m saying is I’ve never seen dogs there. We went there for 15 years or so.

Many do unfortunately

I actually can’t recall seeing many dogs there! Our neighbours had a dog in their large garden, other neighbours had an Alsatian - this was in not a village but the hamlet. No shop or cafe bar. A lot of people especially country ones tie their dogs outside, a English friend of ours was disturbed that a local dog was tied outside on a green area in hot summer with seemingly not much shade/water.

And tied outside all day.

Yabu. There are some well behaved dogs. However, I just feel uneasy in the presence of dogs and I'd rather keep away from them whenever possible. I dont want them in cafes or pubs

Or just a big dog. I’ve had a Labrador in the past as a child. Mind you she was taken to pub beer gardens.

Totally reasonable to feel how you feel but, realistically, it’s not going to change. Hospitality is an industry in decline and businesses - especially small local ones - will want to encourage the widest range of people. That means fewer businesses that are adult only, or human only, and those who want to bring their kids or dogs with them will be welcomed.

Or one of those places with low coffee tables.

What the actual have a just read?!

I have had 15 dogs over the years and not one of them has slobbered nor did they smell.

Not all dogs slobber or smell you know. Some breeds don't moult, some don't smell. They can have different types of fur/hair.

It's just so ignorant to say they all slobber and smell

@YourShyLion

if a dog cannot be walked past without it biting then frankly the horrible shit is a danger and should be put down.

I tie a ribbon round her wrist and mine so if she moves violently in the night it wakes me up. Must look more into technology

Dogs belong in parks/open space and in the home.
Or outside in cafes - def not in shops. I hate seeing dogs in my local shopping mall. Just leave the poor mutt at home for a couple of hours.
If you really have to bring it to a cafe then sit at the back away from humans!
Wgen you get a dog you know you’re supposed to not leave them for longer than 4 hours so you need to suck that up!

Yes I agree. Dogs have been welcome in places in France for many many years.

We lived there for 4 years about 20 years ago and we travelled around with our dog all the time. If we asked a hotel if they allowed dogs they would usually laugh and say "of course we do". If we sat outside a cafe or restaurant (as we were used to having to do in the UK) they would ask us why we were not sitting inside.

When we came back to the UK we had to go back to not being able to take our dog many places and it was just about impossible to find a hotel that accepted dogs.

Oh I am SO sick of dogs being in cafes. Yes I understand that people have dogs and they are greatly loved family members for many, however I fail to see why that means that everybody is expected to think that dog friendly is what everyone wants. I definitely do not want dogs in cafes. My son is scared of them, plenty of people don’t want dogs around them, hence choosing not to have one, but are made to feel like we’re the unreasonable ones.

Since Covid - the country has gone ‘dog mad’ drives me insane - they are everywhere - leave them at home for goodness sake - do you really think they like to be in crowed cafes/pubs - I doubt it

Every time a new cafe posts their opening online, there’s loads of comments asking if they’re dog friendly. If large cafes want to have an area dogs can be in then great. I have a DH that is allergic and a DD that is frightened of them so we don’t like sitting in small places that allow them. Yesterday I went into a small bookshop/cafe, only 6 tables and there was 3 dogs. Far too small a cafe to be allowing dogs.

Well if that many people don't want dogs in eating places why are there not more that don't allow dogs?

As I said before, 3 new cafes open in my town last year, 2 that allowed dogs and 1 that did not. The dog friendly ones were always busy (often you could not get a table) the other was often empty. They then started allowing dogs and suddenly they are busy and having to turn people away.

Don't go to dog friendly cafes then - simple.

Do you mean like when parents let their child sit on the chair/table in a nappy and thin covering or worse actually change the child's nappy on the chair/table? That is exactly the same.

Mine definitely would rather be in a cafe with me and DH than home on his own

She was walking in a normal way toward an empty table in a cafe. The dog darted out. I can't see any way that this can be construed as her own fault.

I love dogs, have had them in all my nearly 70yrs.
What I can’t abide is some owners never bothering to educate their pets (basically expecting the dog/pup to just know) , which actually ends up as cruelty to the poor things. (can’t stand that some owners think it ok to ‘crate’ pets so much nowadays either…)
I hope the bite wound gets better soon & DD will get over the fright & pain, poor lass. 💐💐💐

OP I hope your DD is OK.
I love my dogs, they are well exercised and I make sure they have a good life. However, I am very careful not to inflict them on anyone else. A lot of people don’t like dogs and that’s absolutely fair enough. If I see people on walks, they are put on leads and it would not occur to me to take them into town to go shopping or go to a cafe. In our local town, I see a lot of dogs who look miserable being taken everywhere. I think dogs would often rather switch off at home than be put in potentially stressful situations.

They will grow out of it, yes, but there will always be more of them to fill the gap. My dog does not slobber or smell - we keep her clean and she is amply fed and watered. When we take her out, people fall over themselves to come up and say hello to her, stroke her and give her a treat. They are not all the same.