Dogs everywhere

My husband is allergic to dogs: their fur, dander and saliva. Restaurants, coffee bars, holiday cottages and hotel rooms all have to be dog free and the choice is becoming increasingly limited. We’ve even been told that a place is dog free or limits dogs to a specific area only to find it’s not the case. We both love dogs but can’t be near them - he can even tell if I’ve been with a friend who has dogs as it’s not long before his skin starts to itch and - if not addressed quickly - an asthma attack follows.

Goodness,well you are a bundle of laughs.I appreciate you are not a dog lover, but dogs are part of many peoples lives.And give company and love to many people.If shops allow dogs in..so be it.I am a dog lover..I think you are over dramatising it.I have dogs.and leave them outside..tied up with a watchful eye.They are friendly and eye up people with a hopeful eye.Dogs are like children..you love them or hate them..And i have never dressed them up!!!.lol.

I sometimes think people have gone completely mad. This dogs/children thingy is a completely false dichotomy.
Many families that include children include a family dog that would defend those children ferociously if they were threatened and who is deeply beloved of the children.
My childhood dog was beloved in our family of three children and was instrumental in teaching us how to care for another living creature and that managing a living creature demands discipline and personal responsibility.
I live in France now and wonder if the UK is becoming overcrowded and this is bringing people who fear and/or dislike dogs into too close contact with them.

I have been taken aback by churches allowing dogs to attend services. They seem generally well behaved, but when the owner takes them with them when going up for communion, are they expecting the priest to bless them too?

A dog lover and been an owner over 40 years. ASs are dog owners now and their dogs are well trained. Never mibdca verbal command I think a look keeps them in check. I never
took a dog into any kind of establishment selling food. Nowadays anything goes, animals in hotels, restaurants, shops and children running about screaming in supermarkets ( a couple playing
football before Christmas) babies crying nonstop on planes. I would accept a well trained dog on the floor in a pub but not anywhere in a hotel. Since Covid there seems to be a dog population explosion with owners just not prepared to put the work in to train them. Now some dogs are left outside during the day whilst owners go off to work. The dogs are stressed and just bark and howl for hours. Should be like driving there should be a test before being allowed to own a dog.

To be honest, as the owner of a well behaved small dog, I wish I lived in an area like yours. Where I live, very few places allow dogs including our local shopping centre.

Firstly: I agree with your objections to dogs being allowed in everywhere.

But, as I have said before, grumbling about it here will do no good other than to show you that a lot of us, dog owners, and or friends, or not agree with you.

You need to get your local MPs involved, and presumably the health inspectors as well.

Collect signatures and canvass for new laws on the subje

I do not live in the UK and am frankly shocked to hear that dogs are allowed into anywhere that sells food. This is not the case in other countries.

Only guide dogs for the blind, or dogs trained to help other people with disabilities are allowed into restarants, cafeterias, shops selling food, pharmacies or hospitals.

If you need to take a household pet, including cage birds, in a taxi, you mention this when ordering the taxi, as a driver could well be allergic and any driver, allergic or not, has the right to refuse to transport animals.

Some Danish pubs do still allow dogs in, but usually only before 6 p.m. when children also are refused admition.

I do not think it is actually illegal here to take a pet into a shop that only sells clothes, but the staff would have the right to ask you politely to come back without the dog.

Dog central around here. I love it. It's the owners not the dogs. They should be trained to be well behaved in pubic. For the most part dogs do not need to be in a lead here. If someone is allergic then sorry it's not the dog or dog owners problem.

It is very hard to find a pub around here that doesn't accept dogs. Even when dogs are kept in a certain room, that room always seems to be on the way to the room I am in and I don't want my food to go past dogs that may be shaking,with fur flying everywhere - even in my dinner, or worse as they aren't all toilet trained for the indoors!!
How is it that restaurants & pubs get such high awards for hygiene standards when dogs are allowed on the premises?! Beggars belief....

I’m not a dog lover. I don’t mind them if they’re on leads, but when they’re running loose they’re unpredictable. They’ve all got teeth and claws!!
It’s more the owners who bore me with their interminable tales about their little darling’s latest tricks/behaviour/intelligence.
I just switch off.
Looking around supermarket aisles nowadays it’s easy to see that there’s big money to be made from dogs (and cats, etc.) They’re more pampered than new babies!
If I ever get a pet it’ll be a cat.

Oh dear - let's be honest gransnetters, dogs are not allowed everywhere despite your observations - this is a gross exaggeration on the part of those who are just too finicky. There are lots of restaurants, shops, hotels etc that do not allow dogs. It's their choice, and yours too. Having spent much time in a hospice environment where dogs were brought in specifically as therapy animals, I can vouch for the fact that all dogs lick their nether regions whether they're considered fit to be of service to dying humans or not, and given the hygiene protocol in hospices (particularly during covid) it would seem that if dogs were unhygienic they would never have been allowed in. Likewise, guide dogs behave the same way but I'm quite certain that if any gransnetters were sufficiently unfortunate to need an assistance dog in the future, they would soon change their tune and expect their animal to be able to accompany them anywhere. And why not?

As for asthma, it has been demonstrated in the Middle East, where some countries have become very 'hygienic' as a result of increased wealth, that infantile asthma is associated with the lack of exposure to dogs and cats, and to carpets that house a multitude of bugs, all of which build immunity.

I do agree that training of dogs is important so that they respond to the owner's command. It would be nice if humans could also be considered in this way. Personally, I'd far rather sit in a cafe with several well-behaved dogs sitting with their owners and alleviating their possible loneliness than in a cafe with a dozen bean bags and noisy kids who don't pipe down when their parents tell them to, or indeed a cafe with loud people who have no regard for the fact that others might not want to know from where they bought their latest item of clothing, or where they're planning to go on holiday. So I choose where I go.

Am I a dog lover, oh yes, living on a farm I'm in close contact with four dogs, all trained and one trained as an assistance dog. Dogs are what their owners make them. None of the family suffers from any allergies interestingly - perhaps that's proximity to huge biodiversity. Seriously, our environments are becoming far too clinical for our own survival. So gransnetters, the next time time you're in a place where there's a dog, try asking the owner if you can stroke it.

Dogs are what their owners make them. That's it in a nutshell. 100% agree!

Llghten up..its a dog, not a aligator...goodness!!!

Youngnanny

Totally agree with you, in Cheshire Oaks dogs everywhere, I nearly fell over a lead and hurt myself (didn’t see the dog).
I wonder do they have 3rd party insurance in case their dog hurts someone 🤔
I have the insurance for my horse, just a thought

My dog is insured for health and third party if he causes an accident. I hate extendable leads due to tripping people . I keep my dog on a short lead and put him on the lead if we see a horse , cyclists, runners , or an on lead dog . Incidentally everyone thanks me except the cyclists

I wholeheartedly agree. I detest badly trained dogs that don't come to recall, jump up at you, run out in front of bikes etc. almost every week on the local Facebook/Nextdoor pages some reports finding a loose dog either running in the road or fields and woods. The staff in cafes, shops etc patting dogs and then going back to serve customers is a health hazard. all these problems are caused by bad owners. The worse thing is when you object to being jumped at etc the owner looks at you as if you are insane or evil. Too many walking multiple numbers of dogs they cannot control on country and coastal footpaths and walks. I suspect this is due to the number of people baby sitting /walking dogs as a living who have no training.

I don’t like dogs. I am scared of them. I’d never be unkind to a dog (or any other animal); in fact I feel sorry for them and I hate to hear of animal cruelty in any way, shape or form. I’d help a dog in distress. But I don’t like them. There. I’ve said it. I think to say anything against dogs evokes a really horrified reaction from most people. I like cats and I have two. People seem quite happy to tell me how they hate cats, and I don’t get uppity about it. Each to their own. I don’t like kids much, either. Or people of any age, sometimes. My cats don’t come to restaurants with me. They don’t bark. They don’t poo wherever they feel like. They don’t need walking. They keep vermin away.

I would rather go to a pub or cafe with well behaved dogs than not well beahaved children being allowed to run around like little hooligans. My parents would never have allowed it. We took our dog to the new forest and all the cafes luckily allowed them in so we didn't have to leave her in a hor though shaded caravan.

Sorry to go on, but one of my pet hates, as a dog-fearing cat lover, is when a nine-stone person is getting dragged along for a walkies by two twelve-stone dogs. What chance does said nine-stone person have if the dogs take off in pursuit of a cat/cyclist/postie? Just saying…

"So gransnetters, the next time time you're in a place where there's a dog, try asking the owner if you can stroke it."
Re children and dogs and my last late dog, I wish I had a tenner for everytime a child or group of children asked me if they could stroke my dog!!! Of course I instructed how they should aproach him " no sudden movements, let him sniff you first and then and only then if he's OK with it, then stroke him and give him this treat ". Never refused? Never had a problem. Lovely kind animal that he was. Once a teenager in the park who , frankly , was old enough to know better, simply with no warning at all walked up and got hold of his erect curly tail(why I'll never know). By the time I, so surprised , had time to register, she had let go and walked off. Lovely kind animal just gave me an old-fashioned look.
One of these days she'll get hold of the wrong dog's tail and be nipped and it will all be the dog's fault......

Is there any evidence to suggest that dogs are unhygienic and cause disease? I believe statistics show that children who grow up with dogs are healthier. Places that allow dogs seem to me to be more relaxed and friendly. No-one should allow their dog to jump up and bother anyone who is eating - that's just inconsiderate and very bad manners. But there are worse things to contend with!

Agree with Romilo that I prefer to be around a well behaved dog than feral children ! I don’t agree the objection to dogs in cafes regarding hygiene - I have seen many parents plonk their babies wearing dirty nappies and dirty shoes on the table to be at the same height while they entertain them ! I prefer to sit outside with my dog if the weather is nice enough but appreciate a dog friendly area in a cafe in the rain or cold. I live near a national park which is a very popular spot for tourists and hikers so those establishments that do not allow dogs are potentially excluding a lot of customers.

Wow what a miserable lot

I'll take my dog anywhere that dog's are allowed. She's well behaved, doesn't jump at people. Won't take her into clothes shops. I do prefer her to many people and yes, I do have children.

Tell you what, I'm sick of people complaining about dogs. I love my dog. If I can take her with me, I will. I ask if I can take her into shops. Don't take her into food shops and wouldn't dream of asking. If you don't like dogs...stay at home.

Wow, not much it seems evokes more response on GN than someone complaining about dogs.
Daisycuddles that's a bit harsh, there are varied reasons why people may not want dogs around them. They are as entitled to dog free spaces as we are to take our dogs to suitable areas.