Dog owner here, and would be happy to support sensible and proportionate controls on dog ownership, but I think it would need careful consideration. The vast majority of owners are responsible, and would probably follow the rules, but an irresponsible minority would not, so what would you do then?
My current pet hate is the preponderance of professional dog walkers (5+) who invade our local green space every lunchtime, often with between 5 and 8 dogs off the lead and leaving **** everywhere.
DOGS ARE NOT KIDS.
You mean furbabies aren't real babies?
I do sympathise, but it is not gonna change. People have exactly the same arguements as you where you replace dog with bicycle, lorry, forriners, chip vans, etc etc.
Bikes help people get to work, the shops, nursery, and do all this while reducing the use of fossil fuels. Good for the community.
Lorries are needed to transport everything society needs to function. Good for the community.
forriners - huh?
chip vans - I don't know. Maybe in the grand scheme of things they are bad for the community. However, people need to eat so I'm going to go out on a limb and say good for the community.
What service does your dog provide for the community?
Your dog isn’t going to wipe my arse when I’m old.Someone’s kids will.
Dogs and kids are not the same thing.
Are you saying youd be ok with dogs if they are trained for rimming?
One thing people don't consider when having children is some of them grow up to become dog owners.
Are you saying youd be ok with dogs if they are trained for rimming?
What kind of nursing home did you send your folks to?
Asking for a friend.
Would that not be exploitation? I mean, my dog eats most things, but I am not sure I would be happy with him doing that. He is only 13 and very easily led.
Actually, quite literally easily led. He's super-good when out for a walk. Never really off the lead though, with his deafness he has a tendency to wander. Also, spaniel... Wandering leads to food.
Dead bodies in shallow graves in the woods are always found by dog owners. Makes you think…
This is the point where you not too subtly suggest I’m a bad parent because I haven’t figured out how to condition my kids not to be scared of your companion.
Nope, couldn’t give a shit whether your kids like dogs or not, or whether you are a bad parent. In the same way that you probably dont care that i dont like children or people and go out of my way to avoid social interaction when i can (crossing the road when i'm walking my dog being a prime example!).
OK I'm calling troll now, BruceWee refusing to see any other side of the conversation or concede any points. Happy to have reasonable disucssion but not going to argue with dogmatic people.
As a vegetarian and dog owner, no-one is using the 'animals taking up too much of the world's resources' line to convince me not to have a dog. Ours brings so much to the family. Don't get me wrong, I won't be rushing out to get another, but still defend the right to choose to.
Like cars and firearms, dogs can be dangerous, or at best a real nuisance, in the wrong hands.
One thing people don’t consider when having children is some of them grow up to become dog owners.
This ^^
Therefore the only logical solution is to ban children. Dogs are ace and the world would be a much better place if everyone had a friendly, waggy tailed pooch!
Nope, couldn’t give a shit whether your kids like dogs or not,
An attitude most dog owners seem to share.
OK I’m calling troll now, BruceWee refusing to see any other side of the conversation or concede any points.
That's certainly an easier contribution to the discussion to make than actually answering the question I asked you.
(Reads first post then posts this without reading others)
I like dogs, it’s their owners I don’t like.
Mainly those who think that any patch of grass or anywhere in the countryside automatically belongs to them to let their dog run off the lead and piss/crap wherever it likes. Ground nesting birds? Nah my Fido won’t harm them (said as Fido is bounding through the long grass and undergrowth).
And it should be made legal (with government employed snipers) to shoot any dog walker that doesn’t pick up their dogs crap and/or hangs the poo bag in a bush.
A lot of people who have dogs probably shouldn’t have, but you could probably say the same about children.
This nails it, also add cars, e-scooters and bicycles to the list.
There's a common denominator here, and it's not dogs.
Given the amount of (unburied) cat shit my dog eats I think she's probably a net contributor to the community.
Are you saying you'd be ok with dogs if they are trained for rimming?
Given the above, I don't think she'd need much training to be honest...
Not read anything other than OP's post.
Its adults that decide to have dogs and children. Its adults that are at fault here not dogs.
IMO children should be banned, they have more of a environmental impact than dogs, and children grown up to kill other people too. Perhaps thats the next thread?
This nails it,
No it doesn't.
Children are needed for the human race to continue*. Pet dogs are not.
Cars, e-scooters, bicycles are needed for people to get to work/the shops/school etc.
What essential part of society would grind to a halt if pet dog ownership was restricted?
*If you want to argue the human race shouldn't continue then I think we should start another thread.
Don’t we always have a similar argument though whenever anyone starts a thread about e-scooters? Or for that matter cars?
[url= https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/why-is-it-imperative-for-the-human-race-to-survive/ ]I already did..[/url]
Also, dogs kill fewer people than other people, so it's clear we should ban people, right? Dogs also make me happier than people do, and I'd wager lots of other feel similarly. See, I can make silly arguments too!
Notes about poster: I’m not a pet person
No shit?
Dogs and kids are not the same thing no matter how much dog owners like to pretend they are.
I think any comparison falls down at the fact if you get fed up with your dog you can have it put down / sell on gumtree / abandom as you see fit. Without breaking any laws. It's a resonsibility only so far as you can be arsed with it.
lol @ road bikes.
Don’t we always have a similar argument though whenever anyone starts a thread about e-scooters? Or for that matter cars?
And for the third time, people have to get around and therefore if we banned or restricted bicycles, cars, or even e-scooters (I'm not sure are they still banned?) it would negatively impact society. Incidentally, I am in favour of restricting car use as well because I think that long term it would be in the best interest of society even with the short term negative impact.
So, for the third time, what impact would it have on society if dog ownership was banned or restricted?
What essential part of society would grind to a halt if pet dog ownership was restricted?
And what essential part of society would grind to a halt if having more than one child was restricted?
The self entitlement of the human race is sickening. Suggesting that non essential animals, such as dogs (and any other wildlife come to think of it) , are banned/restricted/whatever, whilst the world is becoming over populated and under resourced to an unsustainable level.
So, for the third time, what impact would it have on society if dog ownership was banned or restricted?
Mental Health issues would increase. More people would be out of work. More houses would be robbed. People would be less fit. People would have more babies - children are far worse for Society than dogs
Ooooh a thread that could get interesting, it'll be just like Mumsnet.
See, I like to read the OP, then skip forward to the last half a dozen posts and see where it’s gone on these ones. Cracking stuff. 😀
OP - got a car? Cars kill way more kids than dogs do. WAY more. Also just checked, more kids die in cycling accidents than are killed by dogs, like twice as many.
what essential part of society would grind to a halt if having more than one child was restricted?
The economy.
what essential part of society would grind to a halt if having more than one child was restricted?
Yeah, China's one-child policy has been rolled back because it's an economic disaster. You need the economic output of a smaller number of people to pay for the care and retirement of a much larger group of people. Which is very difficult to sustain.
Mental Health issues would increase. More people would be out of work. More houses would be robbed. People would be less fit.
Well, not for everyone. Mental health would improve for people who have a phobia of dogs. Their fitness would probably improve because they would be less scared to leave the house. But yeah, maybe they'd end up having babies if their improved mental health meant they were more likely to be able to sustain a relationship.
I guess the question is what are the rates of cynophobia vs the number of people whose mental health would be adversely affected by not being able to own a dog.
People would have more babies – children are far worse for Society than dogs
You do realise that fertility rates are dropping already?
OP – got a car? Cars kill way more kids than dogs do. WAY more. Also just checked, more kids die in cycling accidents than are killed by dogs, like twice as many.
Probably doesn't own a bike
I don't think anyone's saying dogs should be banned, but what's the problem with restricting ownership? Also, some breeds are completely pointless and unnecessary (and can cause the dogs some suffering, too). Breeding could be much more strictly controlled and maybe the number of dogs per household could be limited (cats, too). Finally, some sort of licensing system?
Put simply, there are just too many of them and owners should recognise that not everyone loves a cute doggy.
There - quite restrained, I thought.
You do realise that fertility rates are dropping already?
Is there a link between that and a rise in pet ownership?
See, I like to read the OP, then skip forward to the last half a dozen posts and see where it’s gone on these ones. Cracking stuff.
^^Yup,it's almost as much fun as a "Why are roadies so miserable" thread. 🙂
I agree some breeds of dog are not suitable as family pets, but let's cut to the chase here, we're not talking about granny with her shitzu.
children are far worse for Society than dogs
this has to be a contender for the stupidest thing written on the internet today. About as logical as declaring trees are far worse for forests than fish.
I don’t think anyone’s saying dogs should be banned, but what’s the problem with restricting ownership?
My question has always been, are people who live in towns and are away from the house for 8 to 10 hours a day really in the best position to own a dog?
I'm not against the idea of owning a dog myself (have to get the kids over their fear somehow) but if I was going to do so my lifestyle would have to be very different. I'd want to live somewhere out of town and have a work situation that meant I didn't have to be away from the dog for hours at a time every day.
There just seems to be an element of entitlement and selfishness among many dog owners where all they care about is their own needs and not the needs their dogs or the needs of the people who live nearby.
OP – got a car? Cars kill way more kids than dogs do. WAY more. Also just checked, more kids die in cycling accidents than are killed by dogs, like twice as many.
Alcohol kills a lot of people a year, we should probably ban that first (this comes from an argument with the mother in law, social every night drinker with alcoholic husband who thinks that motorbikes are the real mass murderer of the world while starting her second bottle of wine)
Unfortunately a lot of these cases seem to come down to the owners reckless approach to dog ownership. "I know what will make my 18 month old light up, a slathering pent up ball of rage with teeth like a crocodile and the jaw strength of that pneumatic press on all the You Tube videos"
I hate to bring it down to stereotypes, but you rarely hear about a pedigree Golden Retriever or a Cocker Spaniel losing it's shit over a crying child - do the owners know the backgrounds of the dogs they're getting? or is it all a bit "got it from some bloke down the pub, he said it's fine with kids and paints watercolours at the weekend"
Mental health would improve for people who have a phobia of dogs
The number of people with a phobia for dogs so bad they stay indoors is pretty Small I imagine! I knew a girl with a phobia for balloons once. Unsurprisingly we didn’t ban balloons…
My dog is kept on her lead when any people are about. If your kids have some kind of breakdown if they walk past her on the pavement then I suggest you take them to counselling.
children are far worse for Society than dogs
this has to be a contender for the stupidest thing written on the internet today.
I'll bet it was written by a teacher. During school hours. (Can't decide which emoji to insert here to signify a joke.)
Alcohol kills a lot of people a year, we should probably ban that first
Oh god no, it's only wine that helps me cope with my tribe of children. 😀
It was also decent pain relief on Sunday evening after (genuinely) being bitten by a dog while riding. Actually, while stopped and chatting to the dog owner. The police now want to know if I want the dog put down. Answers on a post card..
TL;DR, but:
And I’m with the OP on the environmental impact – a dog in western society has an absolutely massive negative effect on the environment.
You could say the same of those who contribute nothing to society other than popping out kids and expect the rest of us to fund it.....
I pay for my dogs - I keep the vet and pet shop in business by using them, thus keep people employed.
And if I had £1 for each time either of my well behaved affectionate 4 legged friends made a child happy & smile I'd have at least £50......
And people who buy frankly 'dubious' dogs when they have kids need their heads looking at. Granted 'any' dog can be dangerous/vicious but certain breeds are less tolerate than others - especially if they are there for appearance rather than a family-friendly.
See my other thread here:
Dodgy dog encounter
And here's our two 'guarding' the house....
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My dog is kept on her lead when any people are about. If your kids have some kind of breakdown if they walk past her on the pavement then I suggest you take them to counselling.
Thanks, I was getting worried no one was going to criticise my kids and my parenting.
I was worried standards were slipping.