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.

I found it incredibly off putting watching a dog piss on the beach in Devon, yuk

my dp loves dogs and works with them everyday all day.

I dont

Some times i just look at him and say ( disdainful face) " i cannit believe you have spent all day with ...THOSE!"
Licky long tongues - nasty stained tails...bums...scratchy claws...

dribble

NAO!!!!

holden_jan at hotmail dot com

If you spurn my advances I shall crawl into a hole and weep

piss on the sand

poo in the sea

have brown round their mouths

But Shimmy (and anyone else), help me here - when people say you can't leave a dog locked up - is that because people leave their dogs inside? I understand that if you don't have a garden that would be your only option but if you do have a garden, why can't the dog just stay and run around in the garden?

To me it is FAR more humane to leave a dog to run around in a garden than stuck in the back of a hot car (which I see so often) or tied to a pole outside a shop.

I have a friend who takes her dog everywhere and when she comes to our house she knows that we don't want them in here so she leaves it in the car. Then I feel guilty because the poor dog is sitting there trapped in a small space 'because I'm being selfish' but they have a big garden - so why not just leave it at home. She even takes it to work with her - which if I worked with her, would drive me demented.

When we had dogs as kids, we would all go off to school and my parents would go to work and the dogs would stay in the garden and do whatever dogs do all day. And when we got home, we'd take them for a walk, play with them etc. And occasionally if we were out for the day, we'd need to leave so that we could 'get home to feed the dogs' but that was it. It was never an issue.

I know that in the height of winter it might be seen as cruel to leave a dog outside - but surely that's what kennels are for or make a space in an outbuilding or something??

But Shimmy (and anyone else), help me here - when people say you can't leave a dog locked up - is that because people leave their dogs inside? I understand that if you don't have a garden that would be your only option but if you do have a garden, why can't the dog just stay and run around in the garden?

To me it is FAR more humane to leave a dog to run around in a garden than stuck in the back of a hot car (which I see so often) or tied to a pole outside a shop.

I have a friend who takes her dog everywhere and when she comes to our house she knows that we don't want them in here so she leaves it in the car. Then I feel guilty because the poor dog is sitting there trapped in a small space 'because I'm being selfish' but they have a big garden - so why not just leave it at home. She even takes it to work with her - which if I worked with her, would drive me demented.

When we had dogs as kids, we would all go off to school and my parents would go to work and the dogs would stay in the garden and do whatever dogs do all day. And when we got home, we'd take them for a walk, play with them etc. And occasionally if we were out for the day, we'd need to leave so that we could 'get home to feed the dogs' but that was it. It was never an issue.

I know that in the height of winter it might be seen as cruel to leave a dog outside - but surely that's what kennels are for or make a space in an outbuilding or something??

Exactly, JJ! We had a little mutt as a kid and she stayed out in the garden whilst we were away. We lived in a warm climate and also had a covered, screened in patio and plenty of tall trees for shade.

She'd get a walk twice a day, too.

I mean, dogs are meant to live outside for the most part.

we have a dog and he annoys me half the time (bless him) and I would never inflict him on my non-dog owning friends. We leave him at home, shut in a room with his water, bed and toys. If we're out for a long day he goes to mil or we book him into the kennel.
The thought of someone bringing a dog into your home uninvited is grim. Our house smells of dog and I'd never want to leave that behind as my calling card.

my dog sleeps for about 22 hrs out of 24.She'd rather stay at home and kip actually.

? Have never heard of this - how could you be sure that you weren't going to come across somebody who was allergic to dogs?

How would you know that the owners didn't have pets who wouldn't like your dogs?

I think I can answer the why not leave the dog in the garden question - because many dogs would amuse themselves by barking at birds, cats, other dogs aeroplanes etc and really annoy the neighbours. I can see how this would be the best option if you had a suitable garden though - just not many of them around in towns and cities in the UK.

I have a dog and the only places we take her are MIL - since she owns our dogs mum, also my parents, if they have been warned. We would NEVER take her to others houses unless she had been invited specifically (sometimes people do ask her) It is rude (worse than bringing uninvited kids IMHO)

Dogs are pack animals and don't like being left alone. People here think of their dogs as members of the family.

Having said that, I wouldn't take my dog (if I still had one) to a house where he wasn't welcome, for his sake as well as the houselholders.

We don't leave dog in the garden for exactly that reason - bark bark bark. Very antisocial for the neighbours. More antiscocial than a well behaved dog, under control dog out on a lead with its owner.

And yes - dogs are social and intelligent animals. It is not kind to leave them anywhere all day - garden, house or car because being left alone is stressful and boring for them. They need company and mental stimulation like any captive animal. Hence the destruction of houses or barking in the garden if they are left alone. You cannot put a dog away in a cupboard and get it out again only when dog lovers are around.

People on MN seem to resent their very existence. I resent the existence of massive 4X4 gas guzzlers, cigarettes, children that make a lot of noise (except my own ) but I do accept that their owners have the right to possess them.

I love dogs but wouldn't dream of taking mine with me everywhere. When we're out she has the full run of the house - with her hugely comfy bed, water, toys, food, radio left on for her by DH ("so she won't get bored").
Mind you - she is so sweet that people actually ask us to bring her with us when we visit but it's a logistical nightmare now we have DS.

Actually I agree with Shimmy about the social thing. You can't just dump a dog for five or six hours anymore than you could dump a child. The sad thing is, people do, which I think is cruel and irresponsible. I have a friend who brings her dog to my place whenever she comes and while it drives me up the wall (especially when it's raining), I can understand that she doesn't have an option, if she wants to look after him properly. The only other option is for her not to come and see me and as I value her company more than I dislike the inconvenience of having to mop the floor afterwards, I'd rather she brought him with her.

Oh and btw if she ever does have to leave him for longer than about 2 hours, he gets depressed. When she went away for a weekend and she left him at her dd's, he simply lay down at the door and didn't move the whole time except to drink. He didn't eat anything for the whole weekend.

JanH - the woman next door to my Mum rents her house out for holidays so that she can go and stay with her daughter, She specifies very very clearly 'no dogs', and people sign for that in the contract. One family DID arrive with a dog (there is no supervision of the hires, people get sent keys and are expected to clean up after themselves etc)..and the following week, in came a family who had specifically booked it because of the 'no dog' rule.

My Mum had to babysit two of their small children in the middle of the night while the parents went in an ambulance with another child with an almost fatal allergic asthma attack. The child survived, but that was the end of their holiday.

We booked our dog into the kennels for 3 days for and after the day of our wedding. We felt so awful that we went and picked her up first thing the day after our wedding and brought her home cos we couldn't bear to think of her in kennels.

If we go out longer than a couple of hours and she can't come with us either my parents take her or our neighbour 'babysits' her.

well i hate dogs too

i have a friend who takes her dog everywhere

this dog licks faces (my friend sticks her tongue out and she kisses her dog )
licks crotches
licks my children
snatches food out of my childrens hands - and my friend THINKS THIS IS FUNNY AND SHE LAUGHS
snatches food off the the table

and the first time they visited my 2 DAY OLD HOUSE YES MY BRAND NEW HOUSE the dog ran upstairs and pissed and shat on my brand new bedroom carpet, and pissed on my baby's bed

friend said "oh she (the dog) is just marking her territory, she has never been here before

fucking dogs

they stink
leave hairs everywhere
they stink
spread germs
oh and they stink

I hate all pets

they stink and leave hair everywhere

barf