Why are there so many wankers on this board?

[Ocre373]

They’re on every thread. I’ve never known a board like it. People come on asking for advice and you can guarantee within a couple of replies someone will jump on something in the OP, often something completely irrelevant to what is being asked. They’re judgemental, condescending, rude and often just plain nasty.

It’s happened to me time and time again and it’s stopped me asking for advice which is such a shame because there’s so many people on here with so much knowledge and experience.

It’s made this a horrible place to be.

Veterinari i can’t believe you’ve never seen a reply like the one @Annabegins7 has described. They’re rife! You can’t mention the word cockapoo here without getting a snipy response.

If you feel you're being personally attacked you can choose to defend yourself or ignore. That's the nature of internet forums....

Or you can start a nasty thread calling anyone who thinks animal welfare should be paramount “wankers”

Then I'm happy to await a link.

I absolutely agree that cockapoos and other cross breeds often get snippy responses. But I think @Annabegins7 is giving a very exaggerated 'example' in an attempt to justify the name-calling and bullying that seems to be the aim of this thread.

The general gist seems to be 'it's ok to name-call and make personal attacks because of (highly exaggerated) criticism around a cockerpoo...'

Like a said before it just seems juvenile, hypocritical and goady.

MN has crazy views on some things. Dog ownership and alcohol are the two main ones I've noticed. If you don't stay at home 24/7 with your dog you are an irresponsible dog owner. If you have one glass of wine in an evening you need to go to AA.

Laughable

I’ve had some really helpful advice on here. I think the majority are sensible helpful people.

I did get one nutter who told me to get my puppy PTS (!) but the rest were thoughtful helpful responses.

I’ve not noticed any real problems on this board. But I’d say I was relatively experienced with owning dogs and other animals. People have been lovely when I lost my two old dogs and very helpful with ideas re my little dog’s allergies. Generally I find it a quite balanced page.

I have noticed a lot of very naive, inexperienced new owners on here. I often find myself thinking “what were you thinking!!” It feels like people don’t plan at all before getting a dog, then get prickly if criticised, while the dog may be suffering because of the lack of thought.

And this thread title is perhaps the rudest/most aggressive thread I’ve noticed on here.

This board put me off dog ownership completely. I had no idea the expectations for owning a dog was on par with raising a child and there is no tucking way I could cope with that.

I find that really sad but not unexpected. It all smacks of you can only have a dog if you're as worthy as ME!

The oversupply in the British dog population would be 100% sorted if the puppy farms were closed down and imports from puppy farms abroad came to a halt. It would be more than sorted: there would be a puppy shortage. Which might, given how some people treat their dogs, be a good thing.

Puppy farms are a massive problem and somthing every dog owner and animal lover should be worried about and know how to avoid. But the superiority complex some posters have and the lecturing goes well beyond puppy farms. It's a my way or the highway attitude for absolutely every aspect of dog ownership.

Cockerpoos do get a really unfair amount of criticism. They have been bred for years. I think the original intention was to breed out the nervousness that so many poodle lines had. Poo'in up every breed going has made proper bred cockerpoos get a bad name. I have an actual real poodle BTW and Tbh just see cockerpoos as a rebrand of a dog that lost popularity. Most of them are so simular to poodles and the owners don't even know it.

See I’m finding being put off dog ownership by how much work they are as being a bad thing quite an odd concept to get my head round tbh...

I’ve been put off having rabbits by finding out how much work they are and I’m really glad I know that because I’d kind of assumed they’d be similar to guinea pigs and could quite easily have got some and only realised how much harder they are after I had them... which would have been a bit of a shit situation to be in...

I suppose it’s a bad thing when it puts off anyone who would have adopted a dog from a rescue centre but definitely not a bad thing I’d its stops someone from buying a puppy from a puppy farm.

I don’t mean in that way - just, who wants a pet that’s way more work than you’re wanting to put in?

It all smacks of you can only have a dog if you're as worthy as ME!

This is definitely sums up the general vibe of The Doghouse! And it's such a shame because lots of people are so knowledgeable on here, but it just gets lost when they are so busy giving someone a kicking for not being as 'clever' as they are.

If someone needs help, just help them. I think that a lot has changed about how dogs are raised, bred and sold in the last 10-20 years. So lots of people who grew up with dogs or own/ owned an older dog, may well think they know a lot about them without realising what they 'know' is completely out of date.

See I’m finding being put off dog ownership by how much work they are as being a bad thing quite an odd concept to get my head round tbh

I don't think there is anything wrong with warning people how hard a dog can be. But people really over egg it on these boards. Not all dogs are that much work. A husky is always gonna be much more work than a bichon. The puppy phase is really hard, but for the majority of dogs after that they just slide into your life.
People on here make out all dogs are like a dragon mixed with a newborn for their entire life.

There are a lot of people who, if you don't walk your dog 20 miles a day along with 4 different nosework activities, feed organic foie gras and let them sleep on a bed of finely woven silk, will say you are abusing your dog.

On the other hand, a lot of people are really really shit dog owners.

I do think people are trying to look out for the dog but it is rather much sometimes.

There seems to be a lot of obvious exaggeration on this thread to justify an unecessary goady and unpleasant thread.

Odd isn't it how those accusing some posters of being 'unpleasant' are the ones having to create ridiculous and untrue 'examples' to justify their criticism and name calling.

I agree with @tabulahrasa
If a few comments strangers on the internet put you off dog ownership, that's a good thing irrespective of where the dog comes from.

Shelter dogs need as much if not more care than bred dogs, depending on their background. I'd definitely suggest they need an owner that's capable of independent thought and doing their own research into workload, and their own reflection on commitment

This board put me off dog ownership completely. I had no idea the expectations for owning a dog was on par with raising a child and there is no tucking way I could cope with that.
What the poster was saying was that the expectations were so high - not that so much work was involved. There is a difference, and if dog owners come over as people who will flame someone from not buying from exactly the 'right' sort of breeder, and conducting exactly the 'right' sort of training in the 'right' way, and never ever leaving the dog for more than four hours, then people who could quite possibly be good and happy owners with happy dogs get turned off the whole enterprise.

I've read back through a thread or two this afternoon and yes, there are some unnecessary, rude and unkind comments. Taken alone, they don't tend to sound so bad, but taken together, and directed at an OP who is anxious and worried, they are bloody unnecessary. 'It's you. Not him.' when OP had made it very clear she knew that. It was just a smug and pointless comment (it was true, OP knew it was true, but why say it?) There were other comments on that thread from people who didn't seem to have read what the OP was saying and just kept having a go at her for her inadequate training and terrible solution.

It’s interesting that it is the exact people who you know will respond in an exact way that are denying it in this thread.
Trying to suggest that cockerpoo threads don’t descend into chaos or ‘I have to go back to work and leave my dog’ isn’t met with reply’s of animal cruelty. It’s laughable.

I can read an OP and know exactly who will comment what.

Exactly what you say @GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman. Clearly the poster has been put off by the ridiculous expectations not the actual work involved. Though I suppose you would choose to believe that if it means you don't have to look too hard at your own posting style, which is putting off people who would be good and responsible dog owners.

So what tone do you want people to use to point out that the vast majority of dog breeders are pretty shitty and even more so with some popular breeds and cross breeds, so you’re statistically more likely to find a puppy farm pretending to be a good breeder than an actual good breeder?

Or to say that all dog welfare organisations state hat dogs shouldn’t be alone for longer than 4 hours a day?

Because I’ve found threads about that descend into chaos however it’s put.

Clearly the poster has been put off by the ridiculous expectations not the actual work involved. Though I suppose you would choose to believe that if it means you don't have to look too hard at your own posting style, which is putting off people who would be good and responsible dog owners.

Or you could choose to believe that those people are grown ups capable of independent thought, and if they've genuinely researched and reflected on the commitment of dog ownership, then they can make their own minds up. If all it takes to dissuade these 'good and responsible owners' is the opinion of a few strangers on the internet then then that hardly supports their critical thinking skills or actual commitment to dog ownership.

Considering that research shows that dog owners spend more time researching which shoes to buy than which puppy to buy, I'm not going to lose sleep over a few fickle posters who've been easily dissuaded. At least those dogs won't then end up in the repeated rehoming cycle

Some dogs are easy and healthy and slip into their family’s lives very nicely.
Some suffer with separation anxiety or are reactive.
Better to be realistic.
I spent a couple of years looking into getting a puppy. A wolfhound is a huge undertaking and have very specific needs.
But I wouldn’t take on so much as a stick insect without thinking through exactly how it would work and making sure I had the knowledge or support I needed to look after it correctly. That’s how I was brought up. It’s not about what I want. But about what an animal needs.

Aggressive puppy and 3yo thread is a pretty wanker thread tbh. The op did not come back.