At my kid’s dance studio, some parents think it is ok to bring dogs into the small waiting room and allow them to run around, sniff and jump on people, and lick items in the lost-and-found box. To those who’ve said a dog is no worse than an unruly kid- I would never bring my younger child into the studio and allow them to toddle around and paw on other people. It is insane that the comfort of animals is prioritized above the comfort of the humans paying for their kids to be there. Yes I could wait in my car, but why should I have to? Management does not seem to care.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No worse that someone bringing toddlers. In fact, most dogs are far better behaved than most American children.

If a dog owner were to drop dead in their home , a toddler won’t be the one licking the flesh and eating away at bodies. A loyal dog who loves their owner would.

We forget that animals are animals and humans are humans . They’re all instinct. Yes, they have ability to love and even grieve but they can’t process emotion or grieve the way humans do.

That’s preposterous. There is an abundance of scientific evidence at this point of the emotions, including grief, experienced and expressed by animals.

You think an orca that pushes her dead calf around for weeks isn’t experiencing and expressing grief? You think a dog that sits at the train station every day for years waiting for an owner that never came home isn’t experiencing and expressing grief? Or a dog that lays on the grave of its owner every day for years?

And there are plenty of documented - and I’m sure, undocumented - cases of human beings eating other human beings when hunger and circumstances dictated. Dogs and cats will eat the corpses of their owners if left for long periods without food and in the company of a decomposing corpse. But no, dogs and cats do not jump on their owner at the moment of death and begin chewing off their face - how ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:No worse that someone bringing toddlers. In fact, most dogs are far better behaved than most American children.

If a dog owner were to drop dead in their home , a toddler won’t be the one licking the flesh and eating away at bodies. A loyal dog who loves their owner would.

We forget that animals are animals and humans are humans . They’re all instinct. Yes, they have ability to love and even grieve but they can’t process emotion or grieve the way humans do.

Anonymous wrote:No worse that someone bringing toddlers. In fact, most dogs are far better behaved than most American children.

Doesn't matter. Dogs are still animals and a pet. They need to be leashed (not an idiotic retractable one), under control at all times, and not brought everywhere unless they are a trained service animal for a legitimate medical need and task.

- childless person

We lived on a private lane. An idiot British couple would walk on our private road, cutting through a neighbor's property to loop back to their community about a mile from my community. It was strange how often they were sauntering up our private lane at the same time I was coming/going walking my dog. Their multiple dogs were always loose. I repeatedly asked them to leash their dog while traversing our private lane. They ignored me, and the husband would let loose with verbal abuse on me for having the nerve to ask that their dogs be leashed. He didn't care that my young child was with me or that I was worried about a dog fight between their dogs and my dog (a distinct possibility). He was a guest on our private lane, but that didn't stop this idiot from doing what he pleased with no consideration for others. This same couple annoyed another family living on the private lane. They had pit bulls inside of an electric fence, but the British couple's dogs could easily cross into that property. It was scaring the husband. He finally had enough of this couple, and harassed them into moving. Eventually they were run out of their second neighborhood for their selfish determination to impose their loose dogs on this second community. Sheesh. I couldn't have cared less about their loose dogs if they hadn't posed a dog-on-dog threat, but these people didn't care. Left a bad feeling for all British folk that endures to this day.

Anonymous wrote:No worse that someone bringing toddlers. In fact, most dogs are far better behaved than most American children.

No.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My old apartment building allowed dogs but they had to be leashed at all times in common areas like hallways, etc. There was a fairly long walk from the lobby to the elevators and a few entitled owners used to let their dogs run off leash to the elevator. One would let her dog jump up on people. The first time the dog jumped up on me, I told the owner I was allergic and had back problems and please not to do it again and to please leash her. She did not. The second time a week or so later I saw the dog running at me, I asked her to restrain her dog. She didn't, dog leaped up on me, and I told owner it hurt for me to have the dog jump on me. She said, "I'm sure," sarcastically and rolled her eyes. I complained to management.

I'm glad you complained to management. I also had an apartment neighbor whose dog used to jump up one every time she was near me. It was a small condo building and there was no management, so no one to complain to. I just started avoiding them the best I could. Every time it happened, the owner would laugh and say "oh she's happy to see you!" Like it was a good thing. Once I was coming in with several bags of groceries and the dog jumped up on me and it was all I could do not to fall over. No apology, no nothing.

These people are so oblivious.

That's about all you can do as a woman since these owners will confront you if you push the dog away. I'm male and have had to kick dogs that charged at me or tried to jump on me on trails or sidewalks. The owners almost always start wailing like you attacked their child. No, keep your dangerous animals under control so they didn't maim or kill actual humans.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just because one service dog is diligent doesn’t mean they all are.

I have known many that were not at all like that, and I am a different poster. Especially dogs trained for specific things like diabetics/epilepsy. They often act like normal dogs until they sense an issue, and they “work” 24/7

What's with the quotes around work?

Because sometimes the dog is sleeping or eating or peeing or getting petted by someone else, but even then it’s monitoring its owner’s health. That type of service dog doesn’t have working hours and non-working hours. It will alert its owner of a medical issue no matter what else is going on. My dog has no special training, but no matter how deeply he appears to be asleep, he will report to the kitchen within seconds if he hears a pizza box opening. Dogs never stop analyzing scents and sounds.