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.

Oooh can I throw another spanner in works?
I have a three yr old, a 5 month old (in a hoooge three-wheeler ) and a Stafford.
I have mobility issues due to a back condition, so cant have slings etc and tbh struggle with walking normally let alone on a moving bus. So would I be allowed to stay on the bus?

(could I bring budgies on the bus too?)

DH had to take our old Springer Spaniel on the train once. She was a beautiful thing, so sweet and got loads of attention.

He was taking her on the train to get back to the rescue she came from as it turned out she was extremely aggressive and we couldn't keep her in the house with our baby DD.

The moral of the story is that appearances can be deceptive.

I know many people with back conditions and mobility issues who use slings and find them very beneficial including women with spinal problems, surgeries, pgp, those on crutches and some in wheelchairs. Not saying that would be the case for you as I don't know you or your condition, naturally. But I wouldn't dismiss it as an option if you haven't explored it with those qualified to advise.

Only if you wanted to of course. But you did ask. I'm sure you manage admirably and are suitably scary to rebut any challenge to your public transport rights

Thank you Normality but it's physically impossible pain wise and the fact my shoulder blade sticks out far to much for either me or the baby to be comfortable. Plus I bend over to much without the added weight of my little milk monster strapped to me!

op, the real question here is: once you were off that bus and all safe back home, would you leave your dd alone to go to the pub? (I think this box is really worth ticking)

Actually, it's the people who make a fuss of the dog who annoy me most...

You get one person who is like 'ahh.. ickle wickle labwador' and winds mine up into a frenzy so he wants to lick say hello to everyone.

Dorisbonkers - I used to use a double buggy, but now I don't. I don't usually travel with 57 monkey (performing variety), a bear (grissly) or bees (average stingy ones) either

Not on a bus you don't, Harimo.

Exactly.

What I do in my tank mahoosive 4x4 is up to me You lot can't see cos of the blacked out windows!!! mmmwwwwhhahaha!!

I have to use the bus every week with my mother who is wheelchair dependent, I love getting people to move for the wheelchair, so doggie would have had to go.

Oh dear, I shouldn't have come back. I am sad to see I am someone who would hate someone with 2 kids and a dog, disses (sp) staffies and cacks herself in public. I never saw myself that way before.

To clarify a few points, though there is probably no one still interested...

The boy was probably about 17/18. He responded to being asked to move by asking where to? The bus was not particularly crowded except the buggy area, there were spare seats, but he seemed to be implying the dog was too big to fit elsewhere, which I would agree with.

It was the other buggy that was a Phil & Teds, mine is a modest Mclaren. I could not see the dog until I had paid and got on, so could not have decided not to get on. I could have folded the buggy, but given the shopping and the fact we were only going a few stops it didn't seem worth it. I didn't get off because I'd paid and it was raining. I decided that as my dd was reasonably calm as she was dropping off and unlikely to harrass the dog, putting myself between her and the dog was enough to counter any risk - I was at no point hysterical.

I like to think of myself as a live and let live person, many on here seem to disagree. I think he did have the right to have the dog on the bus, but I am sure I have seen on these threads before people saying 'as much the kids fault as the dog's, as they act inappropriately around dogs'. Well, I really try to teach my kids not to be scared of dogs, but treat them appropriately and with respect and in a situation where a dog and a child are very much cooped up together I think it would be hard to ensure this if the child either decided they wanted to stroke the dog, or got nervous with such a big animal being so close.

So, in conclusion I think yes to dogs on buses, but I still think it's not appropriate for them to be in the buggy area with buggies, but I'm prepared for it to be me who gets off if I feel uncomfortable - not s*t scared, that would be an over-reaction.

Oh and I think monkeys should be allowed on at all times as long as they entertain my little ones and don't have tattoos.

Hi yessirnosir...

We are all just having a bit of fun

I think we all (largely) agree that priority should be given to those most in need.
We may be a few disagreements about how we decide who is most in need, but that's another thread entirely

I know (speaking from experience) it would simply be impossible for me to have folded up the P&T I used to use when DD was first born. I've never seen a mum with a buggy 'diss' another mum with a buggy... It takes a mum to understand another.

I hope we haven't made you feel bad. YOur thread struck a chord with me - had a few run ins with pissheads office workers which makes me a bit tetchy.. and you KNOW how protective us muvvas are!!

It isn't a buggy area. It is a wheelchair area which can be used by others if no wheelchair user requires it.

If you think your buggy should take precedence over dogs, parcels, suitcases or a massive supermarket shop, then you need to take that up with the bus company.

Ah, you lot would hate me.

I often park the tank 4x4 in disabled spaces cos I can't fit it into 'regular' spaces with room to open both doors (two kids in car seats means I have to be able to open both doors)

Dog........ check
kids....... check
4x4........ check

I'm pretty much public enemy No. 1

you would be surprised by the amount of people who refuse to admit it is a wheelchair area and not a buggy area.

7 out of 10 people will move or fold their buggies but 3 out of 10 will turn in to idiots, it has got to the point where the driver has had to refuse to move the bus until some stubborn woman have moved out of the wheelchair space.

Buggies fold, wheelchairs don't also is a 66 year old woman with one leg can not hop to a vacant seat.

Harimo - I enjoyed monkeys, bees etc, and am quite proud my first thread start has made it onto another thread I notice...

MillyR - read the op and you'll notice I mentioned wheelchair area/buggy area, I think that's a different thread that has been done before! There were no wheelchairs there and the sign on our bus mentions the area is to be used for wheelchairs and buggies, it nowhere mentions big dogs or shopping. I assure you, if a wheelchair had got on, I'd have assumed the dog and I should move.

I think the problem is people arguing with fellow passengers or the bus driver because they don't like the rules.

If you think that as a buggy user you shouldn't have to give up your space for a wheelchair user, or you feel that people with dogs should be made to get off the bus when you get on, then why not take it up with the bus company in your own time, rather than being anti-social on the actual bus?

Yessir, there may be different rules in different parts of the country. But in Yorkshire, and in London, everyone is allowed to use the wheelchair area if a wheelchair is not on the bus, and other people are obliged to vacate the bus to allow a buggy on.

So I suppose it depends if your local area has specific rules, although I don't see in law how it could do. The laws were put in place for the benefit of disabled people, who campaigned long and hard for them.

A thread about a thread... ??

Tsk tsk!

Sorry, other people are NOT obliged to vacate the bus to let a buggy on.

Errr, I don't think I was anti-social, I don't think any of those involved were, no one was rude, no one asked for anyone else to be removed. I've said I think it's probably up to me to get off if I have the problem, I'm not sure if I'm on the same thread as you...

MillyR, the area on London buses is for wheelchairs, and specifically states that buggies can use the area if no wheelchair users need it.

Buggies or not, people trump dogs.

But I don't care anymore because me and my performing monkeys got a lift with Harimo and we are cruising in the bus lane with the bass PUMPING.

Tethersend, the rules for London Transport are available online. There is no rule that dogs have to get off the bus to make way for a buggy. You are just making it up. Goodness knows why.

boom boom YAH
boom boom YAH
boom boom YAH

MillyR Surely we can all agree on the general:

1. Wheelchair user
2. Buggy user
3. Dog owner.

No-one is saying anyone can / can't use a certain area, but we should all have a certain dignity and if some one needs a space more than we do, we should try to accomodate that.

I expect my dog to be accepted, but I'd never expect him to take a seat, IYSWIM.

It;s the 'I don't care, I DOn't WANT to see a dog on a bus' attitude which is frustrating. FFS... I Want TO WIN THE LOTTERY. We don't always get what we wnat!!!

Arf at MillyR.

If you can just point out to me where it says that a dog takes precedence over a person, I will eat my words.

Some posters were insinuating that a dog had a right to be on public transport- it doesn't; it is not a member of the public. A dog owner has a right to be on the bus, but not the dog itself- they are allowed on at the driver's discretion.

But as I say, it's all academic to me now, as I am rollin' with my homies. And my monkeys. or something.