Dogs Dogs Everywhere

[tealin]

Who Let the Dogs In?

So glad I'm not the only person who has a problem with the rapid expansion in dog-friendly spaces – I feel like such a Grinch most of the time.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I agree that we need to limit these indulgences to specific times and places. And while we're at it, let's roll back permissions on some baby-friendly venues.

[tealin]

My sister has acquired a dog and a baby (in that order) in the last couple years, and at least from my own observation, the dog is by far the greater determining factor in their choices re: recreation and leisure – gotta go to a dog-friendly place, or if you don't, then you can't be out more than a couple hours, or can't go too far from the doggy daycare. The baby comes along any old place and is a much less demanding sweet little lump of dough that just needs a feed and change every so often.

Presumably this will shift slightly as her daughter gets older, but on the other hand, her daughter will get potty-trained and the dog never will ...

[lumiere42]

Yeah, and it's *always* *dogs*, a significant number of which are ill-trained ... some people will have allergies and/or phobias, and certain places can be a safety issue for the dog as well.

My 2p: if someone couldn't bring a pet^^ cat into a particular place on a lead, why should they be able to bring a pet dog?


^^'Pet' as oppsed to service animals & ESAs, which are a different story altogether ...

[tealin]

Trouble is, there's also very little regulation of the ESA designation, so you get dogs in official little fluorescent vests whose etiquette is little better than any other dog on the street. This devalues real, trained, law-abiding ESAs and ruins the game for everyone, but it's very hard to roll it back now ...

[cameoflage]

aaaaAAAAAAUGH. Hearing that workplaces are doing this fills me with dread and anxiety, because dogs make me nervous and uncomfortable at the best of times and a dog barking loudly near me makes me panic. (It's not exactly a phobia, or at least not a phobia of dogs in general, it's the barking specifically.)