People's Prejudice Against Dogs

[WreckitWhippet]

Tell them your house, your dogs, your rules and if they don't like that, they can either clean the place or find a motel.

No way on this earth would I put my dogs out or change the way they live, just because someone else doesn't like it.

[gwp4me]

Adi, ready to take on the visitors at the dinner table, love him or leave.

[sausy.dog]

My dogs are often confined behind a baby gate or put outside when I have visitors. Even doggy people cause otherwsie they hog the furniture and the people have nowhere to sit.

As if that would ever happen! *cough*

Love it!

Edited December 2, 2012 by sausy.dog

[mixeduppup]

Adi, ready to take on the visitors at the dinner table, love him or leave.

Bahaha I love that face! he looks like such a distinguished professor :laugh:

[Chezy]

My dogs are often confined behind a baby gate or put outside when I have visitors. Even doggy people cause otherwsie they hog the furniture and the people have nowhere to sit.

As if that would ever happen! *cough*

that pic is a classic

[Teebs]

I would tell them to deal with it it piss off.

I will lock kaos out if I have new visitors as she is a pita! But if I was told I had to. You can bet I would have her inside ;)

I have one friend who is allergic to cats, she has never asked me but I always lock the cats away when she is over, otherwise anyone else can go jump

[Daisys Mum]

Wow the cheek of it! as others have said , my house, my dogs, my rules.... I just can't get over the arrogance of some people.

[Greytmate]

Our german shepherd is 10 y o. He has always lived at home as a family member (as did all our dogs). At one stage we reported a suspicious person in our suburb (who knocked on doors and asked personal questions). When police came they said our dog was a very good watchdog (he is very vigilant and has a low loud bark). They said that it is a good idea to keep our dog inside for our safety. I am convinced of it hearing of attacks on elderly people.

My brother is visiting from interstate and will live with us this Christmas. I am already under stress. My brother didn't previously mind our dogs inside; but his wife is against it(and my brother started to agree with her) . They complain of my dog's hair and a doggy smell. I told my brother that perhaps his wife should not be visiting us. His reply was "it's her right to come to our house". He looks in disgust at our dog, asks us if we wash our hands after touching him. He said his wife told him there are numerous diseases people can catch from dogs. I am perplexed as I don't know of any, and if this is the case then nobody would have a dog.

I am so NOT looking forward to this year's Christmas in view of the above. I love my brother

and love to see him, but wish he and his family would stay away from our house.

I would be so grateful if someone could give me some information about dogs so I could argue my point that dogs are not dangerous to people's health.

Don't argue about dogs, this is about your sister in law. Whatever objections she puts forward, could also apply to people. Smelly, noisy, messy, disease-ridden species that we are. When it comes down to her real objection, it is about her dislike of dogs. Counter that by telling her that lucky for her, your dogs love everybody. As long as everybody behaves themselves. :)

[dancinbcs]

Lets just face it....houses that have indoor dogs DO smell. I am sure mine does but I am so used to it that I can't smell it myself, but for somebody not used to dogs the smell can be a little revolting. We don't get many visitors, probably because to them, our house smells, but if we are having visitors, I vacuum, clean, make sure all the dog beds are washed & I will spread a bit of deoderiser on my carpet before I clean. They are my guests & I feel it is my duty as a good host to make my house as comfortable as possible for them. If I was not prepared to do this then I wouldn't invite them in the first place. While my visitors are here, my dogs are kept away if they do not want to interact...dogs don't mind.. & probably don't care that they are kept outside or in their own rooms. I am sure my car also smells to others & my swimming pool has hairs floating all over the top, but if I invite someone to swim in my pool, then I make sure I keep the dogs out till after the humans have swum.

Whether a house has a dog smell depends on the breed of dog. I have been in dozens of homes with BCs and JS and never found one with a dog smell, even if they were really messy with dog hair lying around. On the other hand I have been to homes with Goldies, Labs and Cavs and immediately notice the dog smell even if the house is immaculate. GSDs usually do have a doggy smell so the OP would probably have that to deal with.

If it was me I would offer to wash the dog and keep him in part of the house with baby gates and if they aren't happy with that tell them to find somewhere else to stay.

[juice]

My brother is scared of dogs, mine live outside ,but one sleeps inside.

If my brother comes over i wait till he has gone before i let the old guy in, unless it gets late, then i let him in.

I try to be as accomadating to my brother, but not at my dogs expense.

I find your rellies very rude.

Perhaps an email, gives them time to think before they arrive would be a good idea, explain that you won't be making the dog stay outside so its not up for discussion when they arrive.

Sorts it all out beforehand.

[Staff'n'Mutt]

I'd tell them to sod off but that's me not you. I have friends I have and will put our dog/s outside for as the wife is afraid of dogs and is a touch ocd about the whole animals inside thing. I put the dog out happily they however weren't rude or demanding and it was and is my call.

These people are your family, only you know how close you are to them and how much that relationship means to you. If they are close to you and you value having their visit, try compromise if that doesn't work and they still demand more than you want to give, give them the number of a few hotels and let them have at it.

As to house smells, ours smells of kids & frankly hubby's work boots and socks smell worse than the dog ever could. :laugh:

[Sheridan]

<br />While it is your house and your rules your brother and his wife will be your guests. Some people really don't like dogs (I wonder how Ayen Chol's siblings feel about dogs, and some countries have rabies). I agree with Coogie and think it is better to try to meet them half way. Last Christmas my son and daughter-in-law were visiting with their twelve month old son. They did not ask me to remove my dogs from the house but I did unless I was there to supervise. My dogs spent most of their day outside happily chasing birds and lying around sleeping. At night they came in but slept in my room and I closed the door.<br />

Seriously? What relevance is this?

[nawnim]

<br />While it is your house and your rules your brother and his wife will be your guests. Some people really don't like dogs (I wonder how Ayen Chol's siblings feel about dogs, and some countries have rabies). I agree with Coogie and think it is better to try to meet them half way. Last Christmas my son and daughter-in-law were visiting with their twelve month old son. They did not ask me to remove my dogs from the house but I did unless I was there to supervise. My dogs spent most of their day outside happily chasing birds and lying around sleeping. At night they came in but slept in my room and I closed the door.<br />

Seriously? What relevance is this?

I'm saying that we don't know what past experience people have had with dogs. Some may have very good reasons for not wanting to associate with them. Some people may have been attacked or witnessed an attack and some may have come from countries where rabies is a problem.

This is an Internet forum not a university seminar and I don't have any articles or studies to support what I say, so please don't start beating me up for what you consider to be a sloppy use of language or a lack of academic research. I am just giving an opinion FWIW.

Edited December 2, 2012 by nawnim

[Sheridan]

<br />While it is your house and your rules your brother and his wife will be your guests. Some people really don't like dogs (I wonder how Ayen Chol's siblings feel about dogs, and some countries have rabies). I agree with Coogie and think it is better to try to meet them half way. Last Christmas my son and daughter-in-law were visiting with their twelve month old son. They did not ask me to remove my dogs from the house but I did unless I was there to supervise. My dogs spent most of their day outside happily chasing birds and lying around sleeping. At night they came in but slept in my room and I closed the door.<br />

Seriously? What relevance is this?

I'm saying that we don't know what past experience people have had with dogs. Some may have very good reasons for not wanting to associate with them. Some people may have been attacked or witnessed an attack and some may have come from countries where rabies is a problem.

This is an Internet forum not a university seminar and I don't have any articles or studies to support what I say, so please don't start beating me up for what you consider to be a sloppy use of language or a lack of academic research. I am just giving an opinion FWIW.

I am not 'beating up' on your because you haven't done your research, I am simply astonished at the choice of examples you have used.

[noisymina]

My father would never let us have animals. Supposedly it had something to do with him having a dog as a kid (so like about 80 years ago now)and he happened to see it run over by a car. Apparently he was pretty traumatised and his answer was just to not have dogs - or cats etc.

When I and my DH set up home, the M-i-L gave us a cat. When my Dad visited, no matter where puss was, she'd make a beeline and jump up on his lap.

He survived. :D

I also came across a lady at my vet's one day who was obviously scared of my Dobe. I kept the dog well away and we had a chat. She had been traumatised by a CHI as a child - bites all over her. Eventually she had the courage to pat my dog, but she was really pushing it.

I'd go with trying to chat with the S-i-L and take it from there.

[nawnim]

.

Edited December 6, 2012 by nawnim

[GSDowner]

My dog is a reserved dog, so does not come up to our guests.

My brother used to be ok with our dogs inside, but adopted his wife's way of thinking.

He sometimes says that inside dogs should be washed often and said his wife knows of a lady who washes her dog every day My vet is of the opinion that too often is bad, as dogs lose their natural skin oil.

Thanks so much for such helpful responses; It helped me to realise that my way of thinking is not strange. Our dog is very much part of the family and a constant companion to an elderly family member.

[aussielover]

Lets just face it....houses that have indoor dogs DO smell. I am sure mine does but I am so used to it that I can't smell it myself, but for somebody not used to dogs the smell can be a little revolting. We don't get many visitors, probably because to them, our house smells, but if we are having visitors, I vacuum, clean, make sure all the dog beds are washed & I will spread a bit of deoderiser on my carpet before I clean. They are my guests & I feel it is my duty as a good host to make my house as comfortable as possible for them. If I was not prepared to do this then I wouldn't invite them in the first place. While my visitors are here, my dogs are kept away if they do not want to interact...dogs don't mind.. & probably don't care that they are kept outside or in their own rooms. I am sure my car also smells to others & my swimming pool has hairs floating all over the top, but if I invite someone to swim in my pool, then I make sure I keep the dogs out till after the humans have swum.

Whether a house has a dog smell depends on the breed of dog. I have been in dozens of homes with BCs and JS and never found one with a dog smell, even if they were really messy with dog hair lying around. On the other hand I have been to homes with Goldies, Labs and Cavs and immediately notice the dog smell even if the house is immaculate. GSDs usually do have a doggy smell so the OP would probably have that to deal with.

If it was me I would offer to wash the dog and keep him in part of the house with baby gates and if they aren't happy with that tell them to find somewhere else to stay.

I think it depends on more than breed.

How often the dog is bathed, how often it goes outside and actually gets dirty/smelly, the type of house it lives in, how often the house itself is cleaned are all factors into whether the house will have a doggy smell or not.

I have been to friends home with border collies, poodles and sibes and some of them have a doggy smell.

I admit than some breeds do have more of a tendency to have a doggy smell- labs, cockers, GRs and GSDs in particular but I think its incorrect in saying that breed is the only factor involved in whether a house will smell!

My house doesn't smell (its very open plan and airy) but yeah, my car smells like dog!

addressing the OP: I would compromise to some degree eg. the dog will only stay in a few rooms, but is they want the dog outside or gone entirely- they can find somewhere else to stay!

It is your house right?

[Bilbo_Baggins_Junior]

"it's her right to come to our house".

Whilst I understand where people are coming from with compromising, it is this that makes me say.

Stuff it your house your rules.

[tdierikx]

I have found that "doggy smell" is more often related to diet than breed or coat type.

My mother is a complete neat freak, and I have dogs that shed coat all year around. My Mum is happy to abide by the fact that the dogs live inside and sleep on my bed if she comes to visit. She does go a little OCD on the cleaning though... lol!

I suggested that she may be more comfortable staying with my aunt (her sister), and I could come over and visit with them both. Two happy older ladies, and I don't have to spend a week cleaning my house for my mum's comfort... *grin*

When I was looking for a new couch, I got 2 the same (well, gotta have matching furniture) - one for me, and one for the dogs... if friends come over, I sit on the dogs' couch, and they sit on mine. The dogs know they aren't allowed on mine unless invited, so visitors are a bit more comfortable and not sitting in dog hair... errr!

T.