Don't The Rules Apply To You Or Something?

[IngeK]

so people that see their dog as part of the family and take it with them in a lot of occasions treat them as babies

Um, if they take them into shops and shopping centres- YES

If they feel the need for the dog to accompany them all the time, everywhere- YES

Why would you need to take your dog to a shopping centre- surely it can be on its own for an hour or so.

For goodness sake a dog is not a baby that needs 24/7 care

Good on the lady for bringing the dog in...who knows what she quickly had to get. If 'we' as dogpeople already disagree with this imagine people without dogs. And I think thats why a lot of placed dont allow dogs here.

I think the problem is that some "dog people" sometimes do not respect the opinions and requests of non dog people.

Do you actually think dogs should be allowed everywhere?

well we see this different then while my dogs are no babies but I do like them to a lot of places. They are at home by themselves the entire week because we both work and then in the weekends Id like to have them with me. Our dogs are our mates and dont have to spend 24-7 with me. I wouldnt bring them to a shopping mall purely cause I wouldnt trust other people.

Allowing dogs "everywhere" is a big word but I do think they should be allowed in a lot more places here. But...thats offtopic we have had a topic like that before

[Dracdog]

When I used to live in Darwin people would take their dogs into the local shop. The scariest thing I saw though was when I went to the Nightcliff shopping center and saw a 2 meter croc walking through the door

[Maxiewolf]

When I used to live in Darwin people would take their dogs into the local shop. The scariest thing I saw though was when I went to the Nightcliff shopping center and saw a 2 meter croc walking through the door

Wjere does a man take his 2 Meter pet Croc? Anywhere he wants to. Sorry coudlnt resist.

[Rottsup]

It's only food shops where it is unlawful to take dogs. Every other shop or shopping centre is at the manager's discretion. If you can get away with taking the dog in the shopping centre, why not? I wouldn't leave one tied up unattended though, anywhere.

+ 1

[Rottsup]

When I used to live in Darwin people would take their dogs into the local shop. The scariest thing I saw though was when I went to the Nightcliff shopping center and saw a 2 meter croc walking through the door

This is hard to believe...I used to live there for 9 years and heard many croc stories, but a croc walking through the door of a shop (no shopping "centre" in Nightcliff when I lived there not so long ago, just the small open mall and shops in the street)but anyway that's not the point, crossing the Stuart Hwy and occassionally being found in someones backyard pool happened from time to time. Regularly there were dogs tied up outside Palmerston SC & Casuarina SC in Darwin and almost always without water in the hot tropical weather..

[Dracdog]

When I used to live in Darwin people would take their dogs into the local shop. The scariest thing I saw though was when I went to the Nightcliff shopping center and saw a 2 meter croc walking through the door

This is hard to believe...I used to live there for 9 years and heard many croc stories, but a croc walking through the door of a shop (no shopping "centre" in Nightcliff when I lived there not so long ago, just the small open mall and shops in the street)but anyway that's not the point, crossing the Stuart Hwy and occassionally being found in someones backyard pool happened from time to time. Regularly there were dogs tied up outside Palmerston SC & Casuarina SC in Darwin and almost always without water in the hot tropical weather..

I just called it the centre It wasn't one as such just a few shops blocked together up the road from the pool.

[Stutterfly]

I don't have a dog, but I do work in a shop. Twice now, we've had customers with a puppy. One was a 'regular' and he had a tiny mini foxie pup about his person. My boss saw my reaction and said to me "You have 5 minutes" I then proceeded to cuddle and coo to the little darling for...well closer to 10 minutes really. The owner actually brought him back the next day. I think for my benefit My shop is adjacent to an exit in the Hyperdome, and there's a pet store in here, so no one cared. Also we don't sell food. The other time it was an itty bitty pug baby. It was so freaking cute. Apparently it's owners were on the way back from NSW, where they had collected the pup from it's breeder.

I LOVE when people bring animals in. I love animals. I know pet shops are bad and all that, but I go in there almost every work day to visit the live-in parrot and the tiny turtles.

I'd be happy if dogs were allowed everywhere people are. From what I've seen, the dogs are often cleaner, smell better, have less fleas.... Also friendlier.

[fuzzy82]

in our local shops there is a lady who uses a scooter/gopher ..and her little elderly SWF is always sitting on the scooter . She leaves it tied to the scooter when she does her shopping .. no- one has ever complained ... the little dog hasn't ever put a foot wrong ..it has water when weather is warm.. a coat when weather is cold

There is a woman at our local shops that does this too, with her chi. The dog rides on the scooter with her inside the shops, and walks alongside outside. No one has ever commented on it as far as I know.

[Huntia]

When I used to live in Darwin people would take their dogs into the local shop. The scariest thing I saw though was when I went to the Nightcliff shopping center and saw a 2 meter croc walking through the door

Wjere does a man take his 2 Meter pet Croc? Anywhere he wants to. Sorry coudlnt resist.

:D :rofl:

[sparkycat]

I think it is a great pity that dog access is so restricted in Australia. I don't have any problems with dogs on public transport or in shops.

In Europe dogs are allowed in shops, trains, trams and coffee shops and some places even had little dog play corners - all the dogs we saw were very well behaved and very friendly and well socialised. Everyone seemed to know and understand dog handling and because there were so many out and about it was not a novelty so we didn't see any incidents of people or children approaching dogs inappropriately.

I heard the end of an intervie with a dog expert where she was saying that in her opinion the incident of dog bites would lessen if our dogs had more freedom in Australia.

[Greytmate]

I think the problem is that some "dog people" sometimes do not respect the opinions and requests of non dog people.

Do you actually think dogs should be allowed everywhere?

Why would I respect the opinion of somebody that doesn't want dogs in their vicinity?

Would you respect my opinion that I don't want people's children near me?

I understand that I have to obey the requests of shopping centre management, or risk never being allowed back in K-Mart again, but there is no respect there.

I do think dogs should be allowed anywhere except for food preparation areas, and only dogs that are inadequately controlled be asked to leave. My dog won't affect you, and so it is irrational for you to demand I don't have it near you.

[Winterpaws]

As dog lovers people are really intolerant of dogs these days. You have to wonder what hope there is when the people who are dog crazy are so intolerant ........

[trojka]

I think the problem is that some "dog people" sometimes do not respect the opinions and requests of non dog people.

Do you actually think dogs should be allowed everywhere?

Why would I respect the opinion of somebody that doesn't want dogs in their vicinity?

Would you respect my opinion that I don't want people's children near me?

I understand that I have to obey the requests of shopping centre management, or risk never being allowed back in K-Mart again, but there is no respect there.

I do think dogs should be allowed anywhere except for food preparation areas, and only dogs that are inadequately controlled be asked to leave. My dog won't affect you, and so it is irrational for you to demand I don't have it near you.

I agree. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean you have the right to demand you never be confronted with it. I may not like children (actually, I do, just not always their parents, quite similar to dogs and their owners, really), body odour, loud voices or a number of other things, but I realise I have to put up with them at times, and that those people have the same rights I do.

However, this does of course require respect and consideration from all parties. Returning to the kids analogy, I can't expect everyone to keep their kids far away from me, but I think I can expect for you to tell your kid to stop kicking the back of my seat for hours on end on a long distance flight (speaking from experience here). Equally, I will make sure nobody is annoyed by my dogs behaviour when out in public.

I think there's a bit of a vicious cycle here in Australia. Dogs aren't allowed in many places and are therefore often not used to being out in public, therefore they often aren't as well behaved as they could be when they do get out of the backyard. People see this and make the rules even stricter. Which brings us back to the start.

I grew up in Switzerland and lived there for most of my life, and from my experience, what a lot of people here are saying is true. Dogs are allowed in restaurants, shops (other than supermarkets), on public transport....They are used to it from a young age, and are generally well behaved. Kids (and adults) also seem to know not to approach strange dogs without asking. An important thing to note, from my point of view, is that very few people in Switzerland live in a house (especially not one with a big backyard), most live in apartments, therefore their dogs have to get out and about a lot. Having a "backyard ornament" like a lot of people in Australia seem to, is simply not an option. My girl I had in Switzerland went to a restaurant for the first time as an 11 week old puppy, when I had had her for a week and was perfectly behaved, sleeping under the table the whole time. She was very well socialised with dogs and people and great in all sorts of situations, I could take her anywhere and she never bothered anyone. With my boy I got here in Australia, I had a lot more trouble I have to admit (but we're getting there), and a lot of that had to do with the fact he never got to experience all those things. Just a few days ago I took him to a cafe and the lady at the table next to us was completely baffled, saying "what a lovely dog, so well behaved (haha, if only she knew), amazing you are able to take him out for coffee...."To me, that should be a normal thing and not at all surprising.

[Isabel964]

I love it in Paris where dogs walk around with their owners everywhere. This includes cafe's, restaurants, department stores, show stores, book stores.....everywhere. Its just fabulous. I don't know how it works, but its wonderful to see and its just the norm over there. And I never saw dog poop anywhere so the people must be good at picking up after their dogs.

[trojka]

I love it in Paris where dogs walk around with their owners everywhere. This includes cafe's, restaurants, department stores, show stores, book stores.....everywhere. Its just fabulous. I don't know how it works, but its wonderful to see and its just the norm over there. And I never saw dog poop anywhere so the people must be good at picking up after their dogs.

That's interesting, I don't know when you were there, but Paris used to have a reputation as being the dog poo capital. I've just done some googling, and the council forked out a lot of money in 2002 for a campaign to try and get people to pick up their dog's poo (and from what you say it seems to have paid off, although I have different memories). 200,000 dogs produced 16 tons of poo. A day!!

The new dog poo central of Europe is definitely Berlin, though.

[OSoSwift]

Would you respect my opinion that I don't want people's children near me?

Yep, I do not allow my children to annoy other people, yell or scream to the utmost best of my ability. When they were younger if they threw a major tantrum that couldn't be stopped they were removed until calmness reigned.

I take my dogs with me from time to time to check the mail etc when I am in town. I get lots of positive comments but you don't often see dogs down town.

I took the dogs into my sons pre-school for news, they were then crated in the corner of the room with appropriate toilet breaks, while I helped with activities until after lunch and the teacher was more than happy to ahvet them there,

[aussielover]

I love it in Paris where dogs walk around with their owners everywhere. This includes cafe's, restaurants, department stores, show stores, book stores.....everywhere. Its just fabulous. I don't know how it works, but its wonderful to see and its just the norm over there. And I never saw dog poop anywhere so the people must be good at picking up after their dogs.

That's interesting, I don't know when you were there, but Paris used to have a reputation as being the dog poo capital. I've just done some googling, and the council forked out a lot of money in 2002 for a campaign to try and get people to pick up their dog's poo (and from what you say it seems to have paid off, although I have different memories). 200,000 dogs produced 16 tons of poo. A day!!

The new dog poo central of Europe is definitely Berlin, though.

That is because they actually employ people to pick up the dog poo in Paris

I would not allow my children to intrude into others space. But then again, you can't really compare dogs to children and it worries me that people are.

I also wish dogs had more access on public transport (trains particularly) and in public but when people break the law or are seen to be obnoxious with their dogs then this is decreasing the chance this will happen.

I've lived overseas and while you do see a lot of dogs on public transport, they are not in big shoppping centres. Yes, they are at village shops which is great but I don't see any need for dogs to be in shopping malls? I take Mindy up to my local shops but I wouldn't take her to the mall now (i have as part of her guide dog training). If dogs were to be allowed in shopping centers, I am sure most DOLers would be responsible but we are a minority. How many people can't even pick up their dogs poo in a dog park, or even have basic control and courtesy to others?

I live in a dog friendly area and I see people everyday abusing the relaxed attitude towards dogs- not picking up, allowing their dog to approach other dogs without asking, allowing their dog to bark at other dogs at cafes etc.

Unfortunately there is a big difference in attitude toward dogs in europe compared with australia. In europe there is the expectation that dogs will be well behaved and there are many, many more training clubs and more dogs that have a job to do eg. a lot of family labs are also part time gundogs on weekends etc.

[aussielover]

As dog lovers people are really intolerant of dogs these days. You have to wonder what hope there is when the people who are dog crazy are so intolerant ........

I am intolerant of iressponsible dog owners... not the dogs themselves but unfortunately you can't really separate the two!

[aussielover]

I think the problem is that some "dog people" sometimes do not respect the opinions and requests of non dog people.

Do you actually think dogs should be allowed everywhere?

Why would I respect the opinion of somebody that doesn't want dogs in their vicinity?

Would you respect my opinion that I don't want people's children near me?

I understand that I have to obey the requests of shopping centre management, or risk never being allowed back in K-Mart again, but there is no respect there.

I do think dogs should be allowed anywhere except for food preparation areas, and only dogs that are inadequately controlled be asked to leave. My dog won't affect you, and so it is irrational for you to demand I don't have it near you.

what about people that are allergic?

[Red Fox]

I think the problem is that some "dog people" sometimes do not respect the opinions and requests of non dog people.

Do you actually think dogs should be allowed everywhere?

Why would I respect the opinion of somebody that doesn't want dogs in their vicinity?

Would you respect my opinion that I don't want people's children near me?

I understand that I have to obey the requests of shopping centre management, or risk never being allowed back in K-Mart again, but there is no respect there.

I do think dogs should be allowed anywhere except for food preparation areas, and only dogs that are inadequately controlled be asked to leave. My dog won't affect you, and so it is irrational for you to demand I don't have it near you.

what about people that are allergic?

Well I'm sure those people would be just as allergic to guide dogs, or dog owners who are covered in dog hair (both allowed in shops BTW), or dogs they pass in the street....