As much as I love dogs (RIP to my passed, canine buddy), I think the “take your dogs everywhere” thing is out of control now. Maybe that’s not that dangerous of a sentiment, but I shouldn’t have to dodge your dog in the supermarket.
At what point do we as a society start pushing back on this?
Sure, people should be able to take a service dog everywhere. It does not follow that people should be able to take any dog everywhere.
- some people are allergic
- some people were mauled by dogs in the past and a strange dog can trigger their PTSD
- some dogs are unpredictable and may shit/piss on the floor if they get scared
- some dogs bite
- some small kids/toddlers don't (and shouldn't) know how to handle strange dogs and may do something (like pull the dog's ears or something) to set the dog off
- some dogs bark for no reason and become a nuisance
Your freedom ends when other people's freedom starts. I'm sure your dog is the most well behaved (everyone's dog is, of course) but we live in a society and we should put people first. The whole dog thing is out of control in the US. Don't mention France, they don't even come close to the concentration of dogs in the US. If you let people bring dogs everywhere, you reach state in the Silicon Valley episode (search for it) when you realize you're living in a kennel. For example: https://i.redd.it/y180b44x5oi31.jpg.
The other problem IMO is that a large number of dog owners are irresponsible and thus ruining it for everyone. Stuff like not obeying leash laws, not picking up the poop, leaving their dogs alone in the apartment to bark all day long, etc.. Last year there was a case of someone who took their dog hiking in a national park nearby. No dogs allowed, of course but as you said, his dog was more well behaved than humans! The dog was unleashed and it was attacked by a mountain goat and thrown off a cliff. I guess the owner couldn't show the dog's `Emotional support animal certification` to the goat in time to save his life.
America, where dogs come with trigger warnings but guns don't (pun intended). Guns have special open carry laws to protect their display.
This Wikipedia article claims 26 states permit open carry, with another 19 having local restrictions or licensing requirements:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_carry_in_the_United_State...
To address most of your other "arguments" - dogs can be muzzled when appropriate/prudent and trained. People btw - not.
>Don't mention France, they don't even come close to the concentration of dogs in the US.
about 2x difference on per capita basis.
And maybe Google employees (who are conscientious enough to have a six figures a year job) have perfectly behaved dogs and might be able to handle bringing their dogs to the hardware store - but we are talking about the general population here. Theres also probably a large overlap between people with poorly behaved dogs and people that take their dogs to inappropriate places.
https://charlestoncitypaper.com/Eat/archives/2016/10/20/holy...
>"We love dogs. Most of us have dogs. I have three myself, but over the past six months we have had employees bit five different times by dogs visiting the brewery. The latest incident, which occurred last week, consisted of a guest's dog biting one of our bartenders in the face. I have to look out for my staff."
> some dogs are unpredictable ; some dogs bite ; some dogs bark ; pull the dog's ears... set the dog off
Well, hello? If my dog did or reacted to any of those, I would heavily restrict the places I thought it was suitable to take it. It's entirely on the owner if those behaviours result, anyway - presuming the dog doesn't have an advanced illness affecting continence. Once again, it's on the owner or handler to judge appropriately.
> some small kids/toddlers don't (and shouldn't)
Shouldn't? I am puzzled by this. Surely it is appropriate for all children to be exposed to safe and predictable animals, and to learn appropriate behaviour with animals? One of the training habits I have with my dogs while they're very young, is to often take them to the local school at home time, and the local town shopping centre at peak times. Puppy learns huge amounts of unpredictable small humans aren't harmful, but are very friendly if rather clumsy. Children and parents learn that puppies can be well behaved and trained too, and don't react at all to having ears pulled...
If there is a parent obviously uncomfortable with the large puppy, well I keep the dog away from those folks. It's not compulsory for everyone to like animals or dogs, or to come over and pat it.
> large number of dog owners are irresponsible
That's the problem, and should be the target of any corrective measures and restrictions.
That all said I am a bit puzzled with taking the dogs everywhere. Some pubs welcome dogs and I might take them there, shops don't, so the dogs don't accompany. As is described in this thread just doesn't happen in the UK. A couple of small employers have welcomed dogs in small amounts - because someone senior had a mutt, nearly all workplaces I've encountered don't.
> If there is a parent obviously uncomfortable with the large puppy, well I keep the dog away from those folks. It's not compulsory for everyone to like animals or dogs, or to come over and pat it.
That's you. Lots of people I meet (for example in my building's elevator) think it's completely acceptable to keep the dog on a long leash, have it jump strangers and have a laugh about it. Just the other day a neighbor's dog charged at me out of the blue, with its ears pulled back. I saw it when I turned around, the dog surprised me and the owner was just looking at the whole thing. Luckily the dog was leashed. He also thought it was funny, because <quote> "he never does that! You must be nervous or something" and just brushed it off.
You sound responsible. A lot of people with dogs are not. We move with a speed matching the slowest of us. I would like to drive my car really fast. I got my drivers license in a country with standards way higher than the US. My car is well maintained, I never consume drugs or alcohol, never drove tired and never use my cellphone, I am 100% focused on my driving and drove hundreds of thousands of kilometers on three continents. But Jimmy likes to shave in the car on the way to work in the morning and hit a construction crew so now the speed limit is 45 MPH. Get it?
There's an obvious difference between a seeing eye dog, and someone stretching the truth so they can bring their pet into the mall and bypass "no pets" policies in apartment buildings.
If you can't defend and enforce that difference, then protections for people who really need service animals will erode quickly.