Why do people take their dogs with them everywhere?

[JoshandJamie]

I'll admit it - I'm not a fan of pets of any description. Dogs give me an itchy nose and I hate the smell of a house that has dogs living in it. I also hate the hair that gets left everywhere.

But what drives me nuts is when people take their dogs with them everywhere - particularly to my house. When I grew up we had dogs. But dogs were dogs. You took them for walks and obviously if you were going away for a weekend or whatever you took them with you or possibly put them in boarding for a while if it was a long holiday. This was in South Africa

But here in the UK it seems that if you have a dog you cannot leave it alone - even for a few hours. It must be with you - like a child. But it's not a child. It's a dog. And personally when someone brings their dog over to my house uninvited I want to turn them around and send them home.

The worst thing is that most of our friends now have at least one dog so if we have a get together it becomes a gathering of the dogs. How do I politely tell them that they are welcome but their dogs aren't?

Apologies to all the animal lovers out there who probably want to lynch me but this is a real issue for me.

dogs are gross

I love dogs but would not even dare to assume that everyone else does.
My biggest peeve is the sleb trend of carrying dogs in your handbag.
ITS A DOG FFS, IT CAN WALK ON ITS OWN!!!
AARRRGGGHHH....oh and what does your handbag look like at the end of the day?
EEEEWWWW

Just tell them. BFs sisters are like this, and there was a chance they were going to come to a friends and family BBQ. I did not want their dogs there, so I had to ask BF to point out to them that the invitation was to them not their dogs. I don't like them either, luckily BF is like you, she's quite happy to leave her dog at home when she goes out.

It was our BBQ btw, just in case anyone thought I was making a fuss about someone elses do which would have been very rude

erm.... I wouldn't DREAM of taking my dog to someone else's house! Just tell them!

My job is booking holiday cottages - some take 0 dogs, some 1, some more - you would not believe the tantrums we get from people who want to take 3-4-5 dogs on holidays with them. They say "this is the perfect cottage but it says no dogs, could you ring the owner please, my dogs are so well behaved and everybody loves them!"

i'd have a hard time not telling them to get to fuck w/their mingin', mangy dogs, JanH.

lol expat!! but they ARE you are right!

i mean, who the hell expects someone in the business of letting out cottages to host 5 dogs!?

they've obviously snorted enough coke that they're lost the plot in addition to their sense of smell.

eww, dog smell. beyond foosty.

Jan,when we wanted to rent out our house,the agents told us 90% of people wanted to bring dogs!

I hate it when people bring their dogs to my house and let them inside!!!

I am also pissed off at the idiots who allowed their dog to ruin my children's swim in the lake at llanberis last w/end.

I don;t want your stinking hound licking my kids' faces and nuzzling their crotches ok??

So just fuck right off!!!

hmmmmmmmmm janh the plot thickens >

I love dogs, I have dogs... but I would hate anybody bringing their dogs to visit! what comes next? organising playdates for the dogs? No, thanks.

moondog hates dogs!

lmfao!

lol
Actually I like them and had a lovely sheepdog for 15 years,but a time and a place hey??

i have dogs and its f's me off when other people bring theirs to mine.
i dont take mine to anyones home.

I wouldn't take my dog to people's homes.I'm allergic to dog's,even my own and so is ds so I'd be pissed off if someone brought a dog here.OUr dog knows not to lick us (we're allergic to the saliva),others don't.

I was having lunch at a pub today and felt really sorry for the dogs taken there to sit and swelter.Leave them at home ffs.

a dog licked my baby the other day on her arm.

i just about went off half-cocked and fed them 7 shades of holy hell!

i find dogs vile, anyway, but i don't want them licking my baby, goddammit.

Earby, nao [helpful smile]

dp had sussed you!!

my mate cut hair there!!! ( schoolgirl speak)

I know expat,my ds reacts quite badly to dog's saliva and dog owners think I'm weird when I stop their dog licking ds, when I've got a dog with me.

my sister takes her dog lots of places. also, if she goes out without it, she cant stay long cos 'got to get back to the dog'. apparently, the dog gets lonely and when lonely gets bored and when bored wrecks the house.

so that's it. people bring their dogs with them cos otherwise they get home to piles of shit on the sofa and all their shoes chewed up.

so more like a child than you thought, eh?!!

nao, we have to meet up!!!

I have a dog and also would never take it to anyone else's house.

But I do take her everywhere I can. e.g. if I walk to the shops, letterbox or whatever. To answer the question why do people take dogs everywhere -because it is cruel to leave a social animal locked up for more than two or three hours at a time alone. We plan our days partly round the dog so that she isn't left alone. e.g. we go to places at the weekend where dogs are welcome and we walk as much as we can to give her as much exercise as we can.

If we kept her out of sight of the public at all times we would be behaving cruelly and irresponsibly.