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[quote=Anonymous]*Not all dog owners, I'm just talking about the bad ones.

But seriously, why is this such a problem? People who don't train their dogs, who don't properly dispose of their poop or let them pee [i]everywhere[/i]. People who absolutely refuse to leash dogs even in crowded public spaces. People who get large, energetic dogs and then keep them in small apartments all day and act bewildered when their dogs are aggressive or hard to train. People who let their dogs run up to people (even children!) either off leash or on long lead lines, let them jump on people with minimal apology or none at all. People who take dogs places where they are not allowed, who insist on taking them into restaurants, grocery stores, even movie theaters! People who take their dogs to dog parks and then ignore their anti-social, sometimes dangerous behavior while staring at their phones or talking to other people. People who treat playgrounds and regular parks as dog parks, letting dogs off leash and letting them play in places where people would normally picnic or let children play.

So many of the absolutely awful dog owners I encounter in DC are otherwise functional adults. Gainfully employed, with plenty of resources (to afford doggie daycare, trainers, dog walkers, or simply moving to a place with a yard where their dog might not require so much of this). Yes, I also sometimes encounter dog owners who might be uneducated or simply not know better. But most of the awful dog owners I encounter absolutely *should* know better, they simply choose not to. It reveals something horrible about their character, I think. The same way watching someone parent terribly reveals something horrible about a person. A fundamental lack of regard for anyone's comfort or well-being but their own.

It is selfish. It's rude to other people, it's rude to other dogs, and in many cases, it is unkind to their own dogs who are not getting the things they need to be well-adjusted and socialized.

Anyway, why are there so many dog owners like this and why does it seem like the problem is getting worse? Did Covid make it worse? Can we do anything to improve the situation? I even think back to the six months I lived in Paris (where dog culture is very strong and people take their dogs everywhere and let them go to the bathroom everywhere), and it wasn't as bad as it is in DC right now, especially in terms of dogs who are just clearly poorly trained being in all kinds of spaces where they probably should not be (and in many cases are explicitly banned). I encountered some obsessive and sometimes rude dog people in Paris, but I can't remember ever having a dog come and jump up on me, or going to a park and having it so overtaken by dogs that it was not really functional for others, but these things happen to me all the time in DC these days. I also don't remember dogs generally being as aggressive in Paris as they are here. Tiny lap dogs were super common there and many of the dogs you'd encounter in cafes and stores would be these little toy dogs that fit in purses and were so quiet and well behaved you'd never know they were there unless you were looking. Even the big dogs tended to be much more docile. I hardly ever even remember seeing dogs pulling on leashes, and I don't even remember hearing dogs barking very much even though I lived in a small building that must have had a dozen dogs in it. Do Parisian dog owners just do a better job of training their dogs? Are the breeds more popular in Paris just less likely to cause these issues? I don't get it but it's not just a problem of there being a lot of dogs because a lot of cities have a lot of dogs and don't have this problem with horrible dog owners everywhere (I also lived in Denver for a year during graduate school -- also a strong dog culture, but people have more space and seem to prioritize sociability in dogs more so than they do here.

What gives?

Signed,
Fed up With Feckless Fido-owners[/quote]

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