To think a big dog has no place in the wheelchair/buggy area of a bus

[yessirnosir]

I think I may know I ABU, but I've just been on a bus journey that made me very uncomfortable. When I got on the bus with my nearly 3 year old DD I saw someone get on the bus via back doors with a Phil & Ted and two sleeping small children. As I got on the front I heard her say to someone who was in the wheelchair/buggy area, 'this area is for buggies' I thought she was just asking him to move as she saw me coming, but she looked pretty annoyed, and as I got to her I saw the boy she had been talking to had a large dog. When I say large I mean much bigger than a staffie, but with that bull terrier type head. He was the sort of dog I would have steered my child well clear of normally, and while that sounds really predjudiced, I know my kids aren't always as good with dogs as I'd like, they tend to get overexcited. I always make them ask the owner before they stroke a dog, no matter what breed, and take them away if they start getting overexcited and honestly, I would keep them away from a dog with a huge jaw, with any sort of studded harness/collar, held be a chain attached to someone who doesn't look capable of responsibly looking after a goldfish. In this situation if any of the children had started to want to stroke the doggy they were trapped at eye level with a dog that the owner had to hold back throughout the entire journey. I stood with me between my dd's buggy and the dog, but felt uncomfortable with the situation as obviously did the other mother.

I just wonder if a dog like this really has any place on a crowded bus. A crowded bus is unpredictable, children are unpredictable as can dogs be. I know there is a body of people who will say it's about the owner not the dog, but the owner didn't fill me with confidence, he didn't look old enough to be responsible to look after a dog that strong. I would say it would be hard to say one dog is OK, another not, and also probably not appropriate, after all who decides, and who knows which dogs can be trusted and which not, so is there a place for any dog on a bus (except obviously working dogs)? Or should I have just got off if I wasn't sure my child and that dog were not a good mix?

And please can we stick to this point, not the usual dog lover/dog hater thing.

And what if you can't?

tethersend - I AM angry, but more because what wannabe has put far more succiently than I have.

The number of people who have a go (or a train or bus) who turn out to have been drinking / havin ga bad day and just decide to take it out on some random person.

yes, I have a dog, but I've had grown adults swearing in front of my kids because I've got a dog on a commuter train.

The LAW as it stands means I can take my dog on a train. I (out of KINDNESS and economy) wait until after 9:30.

FFS> If you are getting a 9:30 train, how much a rush can you be in? and if you ARE in a rush. YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT EARLIER. DOESN'T MAKE IT MY PROBLEM.

Doen't make it your problem either, tethersend - sorry.. but it DOES get to me.

I have two kids, a dog, no DH or family close by to help. What am I supposed to do? get rid of the dog, incase it upsets a random weirdo????

"If there are no wheelchairs then it is first come first served."

Yes. First person come, first person served. Not animal.

It's got buses, it's got big prams, it's got potentially dangerous dogs, it's got shades of parking issues...I've only read the OP so far, but somebody tell me it's got women with tattoos and I'll read all of it!

Fold a buggy that is - you are saying when it can stay but not if you would have it thrown out if it can't be folded

No. First come first served

And, about folding buggies...

HOW EXACTLY do you fold a double P&T (which has to be taken apart to fold) while containing 2 kids on a bus which is accelerating / declerating from 0-100 every 30 seconds?????????????????????????

People in wheelchairs take priority because they cannot travel without their chairs. Their wheelchairs are not optional.

The same is not true of buggies. Children can walk, sit in a seat, go in their sling or be carried. A pushchair is a device to carry a passenger, it is unnecessary (as the bus is already carrying said passenger) and it is therefore luggage. A pushchair is optional.

If someone needs to travel with their dog (to take the animal to kennels, or vets, or wherever) then the dog is not optional. It needs to be on the bus.

So however inconvenient you may find it, assessing each priority and need - a dog requires space more than a pushchair.

But the first person might have either a dog or a buggy - it's not the person who is being 'put' anywhere is it? If we are treating dogs and buggies as the same then it is first come first served for the person in charge of either bit of 'luggage'.

I have never seen a dog on a bus and was not aware they were allowed on buses

out of curiosity is there any animal that should not be allowed on a bus

I.e. multiple cats, say 3
birds, perhaps a tame owl
or a bear, a la grizzly Adams

what happens if you get on with your animal and someone else is in the buggy space with one of your animal's natural prey/predators

inquiring minds want to know

"Is this were a guide dog, would you still feel that buses are not the place for dogs?"

No. Guide dogs are an 'extension' of a blind person IYSWIM. Asking a guide dog to leave would be akin to asking your eyes to leave the bus to make more room.

"You cant say 'thats different' either as you have already pointed out that 'it would be hard to say one dog is OK, another not'"

It is different, but perhaps you meant this for someone else and my massive ego has got out of control again

Can dogs not be carried in slings? I can see where this might be a problem for say a great Dane but it us my understanding that many slings can cope with toddler weight, this is a medium sized dog, no?

Is no one going to address my perfectly legitimate query about bears?

Are you some kind of anti ursine fascists then????

It is very true that a dog will lie under a seat, whereas a large buggy is much harder to put out of the way. But then isn't it fab that people have big buggies these days that they can carry all their shopping in rather than lethal McClarens that fall over backwards when loaded with shopping and tip it all over the aisle (painful memories here)

Surely in any event it is much better that we are all travelling by bus - with our buggies, dogs, tattoos et al - than driving & clogging up the roads with more cars [pacific emoticon]

"No. First come first served"

Right. So you would be happy if me and my troupe of 57 performing monkeys (which I had to take to the vet, so not optional ) got on the bus one stop before you, meaning that you nor anybody else could get on the bus?

First come, first served, after all....

Orm - you are right of course but, tethersend keeps on saying that the dog must go but the person can stay if s/he chooses which is why I'm asking if, should there be a buggy, the buggy should go (on its own like the dog)

Can those of you who think it's at all possible for me to carry my:

1. 4 stone dog
2. 2.5 stone 2 year old
3. 1.5 stone 10month old (who, by the way CAN'T FLIPPING WALK)

in a sling so as not to annoy any other passengers PLEASE line up here:

...................................

make an orderly queue.

This whole thread is preposterous.

Unless someone with a buggy / wheelchair simply COULDN'T get on the bus, because the dog was lying flat out, with all 4 paws in the air... it's totally unraesonable.

Live and let live.

And, actually, I can't imagine... just re-reading the OP... how LARGE would a dog have to be to rival a double P&T???

It would need to be a donkey!!! not a dog!!

Come to think of it, you would probably all really hate me when I go on the bus with dd & two bikes plus assorted luggage Fortunately the bus-travellers of Pembrokeshire are clearly not MNers as they all seem remarkably tolerant folks (generally people even help us on & off)

(The main reason I don't take the dog is actually that I am convinced that he would pee on the side of the seats . . .)

chibi, you raise an excellent point.

Of course you wouldn't be able to get on the bus with a grizzly bear.

The bus is already full of performing monkeys.

In your situation Harimo I'd have the 10 month old snug on my back in a sling, 2 year old sat next to me on a seat and dog happily hanging about (probably in the huge space not taken up by a giant buggy ;)) No worries

Harimo, not exactly sure how large a P&T is, but suspect my dog would run it close

No, I would not be happy but you and your monkeys got there before me so fair play. I would not expect you to get off I'd wait for the next one (with my big unfoldable P&T)

well said Harimo."Live and let live," quite a few on here find it difficult to get their heads around that one, very sadly for them.

Actually, I don't ever take a buggy. I DO put DD in a sling and let DS walk - he loves it. So it's not an issue for me anymore, now that DS can walk so well.

But there is only 14 months between my two... So, for a while there, I just did NOT have a choice but to take a double buggy. There was NO WAY I could transport a newborn, 14MO Ds and Ddog.

Mind you, the monkeys would have probably got off the bus to escape my DS!!