Rant: Inconsiderate dog owners !

fluffnutter

And don't forget that you don't need a space between the end of your sentence and the punctuation mark.
And don't forget your full stop when contracting "regarding".
And don't forget your full stops at the end of your last two sentences.

And thanks. You have helped. I hope I have too.

FatAndy

It's not just dog owners in my village, the horse owners are just as bad :eek:.

Norfolk_Jim

fluffnutter wrote: »

Horrible stinking, shi!tting, barking, biting things.

And thats just the owners

Although it probably was never intended to be, this has been the funniest thread I have ever read on MSE, it should get a prize. I nearly wet myself at times and considering I have depression and very rarely laugh any more, it was worth the risk to plough through the whole thread.

I appreciate it is a serious problem, especially as predator (cat / dog) excrement is very sticky and smelly (due to the high protein, low roughage diet) and does carry the very nasty disease toxoplasmosis. Its even worse that this disease is particularly damaging to children, pregnant women and their unborn and people with a compromised immune system - So NOT THAT FUNNY I appreciate.

Its difficult to overcome a culture issue. People in the UK are still getting used to cleaning up dog dirt, but it is improving, and still a long way to go. Dog owners need to overcome their traditional aversion to picking up excrement (even with a plastic bag between you and it) and our traditional British squeemishness about Poo, and also to the problem of carting it about with you.

I am happy to bag it, but then popping it in with the shopping or putting it in my pocket while on a long walk is taking a bit more getting used to. Heres an opportunity for some entreprenure to invent the poop safe poop bag storage vessel!

In Switzerland (Maybe elsewhere) residential areas have many little fenced off dog toilet areas complete with bin (and in some cases bags too) and the people and their dogs are used to going in there to go. I never saw dog dirt on the streets in Switzerland - people just wont stand for it.

But in the UK its going to take a long while to get rid of the "Dont see, dont take responsibility, NIMBY but yours is ok" attitude and ignorance thats so ingrained. We just have to press on with the education and hope that the ignorant gits who just couldnt care less die out sooner rather than later.

Rather than just moan, try to do something. Dog Sh alleys become that way because they are Dog sh alleys (Birds of a feather) so get your local press and council involved - get some education going sharing the effects / risks of toxoplasmosis and also the diseases passed on from dog dirt to their dogs (Some people care more about animals than people!) Try to keep the place clean so that it does not become the norm. Sorry to campaign here but it'll take a generation to change our ways, much longer if people wont be the ones to step up and make the difference.

Rome wasn't built in a day, good luck

Kazipoo

We have a Bullmastiff, many people are scared of him because of his size, but he really is a big softie. However, we have trained him to stop at the living room door, meaning if anyone is invited into our house and they are scared of the dog, they can enter the living room knowing that he won't follow them in, instead he waits at the door (howling and stamping his feet) because he just wants to be fussed over. Most people that visit our home are very surprised that we were able to train him to not enter the living room. He is not allowed upstairs either, and although initially we trained him with a stairgate, now he knows he is not allowed upstairs, and the stairgate is only closed at night time!!

Plushchris

meg72 wrote: »

Oh please, you recognised the bark of a pit Bull. but you are not sure if it
was as it was too dark too see. Dogs dont have accents you know. Their bark will give you only an estimation of size, and if you anything about dogs their intent.
.

Really? What makes you say that?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2006/02/13/exclusive-experts-say-dogs-growl-with-regional-accents-115875-16697019/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4700000/newsid_4709400/4709464.stm

Welshwoofs

I take a pragmatic approach to dog ownership. I don't walk him in towns at all, we go out to the countryside and beach. He's always predominately been an off-lead dog and extremely particular about where he poops...he'll hang out for the most inaccessible and overgrown land possible. When he does that and it's out in agricultural countryside (not parks), no I don't pick up. On the rare occasion he goes where anyone would possibly walk I pick up.

As for going up to people, he's very aware he's a giant (nearly 80kg) and that some people are scared of him. However he adores people and is a big cuddle puppy. What he does is trot up and 'stand off' about 10ft from people wagging his tail - if they make positive sounding noises or moves he's right in there. If they look scared or keep walking then he trots back to us. He was trained never to jump (he's 6ft on his back legs) and he was also taught it was rude to sniff people's 'areas'. He'll sit down in front of people and offer up a paw, if they take it he'll stand and lean on them for a fuss.

He's a guard breed so he certainly barks when anyone he doesn't know comes to the house, but he shuts up on command and goes back to his bed.