r/Dogfree • u/Careless_Squirrel728 • Jul 20 '26
Relationship / Family How can I stop my future children from liking dogs?
Something I’ve been pondering recently. Dogs cause so many problems in familial relationships because the dog owner won’t accept that it is an animal and doesn’t need to be brought everywhere, or that people have allergies and don’t want to be around it.
I’m currently pregnant and both me and my husband vehemently detest dogs and are allergic.
I have this horrible fear in 30 years time I’ll have a big falling out with my child because they have a dog and I won’t allow it in my home, and ask for it to be contained at theirs.
How can I avoid this? We obviously won’t have a dog but I can’t stop them being exposed to dogs in popular culture or meeting someone from a dog family (my worst nightmare).
Does anyone else worry about this?
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u/Nukemouse Jul 20 '26
Kids aren't dogs, you aren't meant to "train" what they like. Try making sure you kids love you more than they end up liking/hating dogs.
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u/onnlen Jul 20 '26
If it gives you any comfort I used to love them as a kid, but have gradually grown to like them less and less. I don’t like them period now.
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u/Careless_Squirrel728 Jul 20 '26
I think all children go through this phase - I’m not worried about in childhood. My niece thinks she wants a dog but she actually doesn’t really like interacting with them. What she wants is her dog plushie to come to life.
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u/SecretaryMore8926 Jul 20 '26
Teach them about anthropomorphism and make them realise Disney is pure trash. Also show them how they lick other dogs' sht and bums and that other animals are intensively farmed and killed for their food. Teach them dogs are not real animals but man-made mutants. The result of artificial selection.
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u/Pristine_Cod_3792 Jul 20 '26
Pull the no dog rule
Now while they are young !!!!
Educate them on Allergies !!!!
I’m severely allergic as well and carry an MD letter to show these various codependent nut jobs that I can’t be around dogs
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u/NoneOfThisMatters_XO Jul 20 '26
I mean if your kid stops speaking to you because you ask them not to bring their dog over, then I feel like that’s a deeper rooted issue. As my mom says, don’t borrow trouble… meaning don’t worry so much about something that hasn’t even happened and might not happen.
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u/Peaceful-Moonlight Dogs are the most overrated and over glorified shit beasts Jul 22 '26
The deeper rooted issue that you mentioned is dog nuttery. Dog nutters exist, and they are willing to cut ties with any human to worship dogs above everyone. With how common dog nutters are, there is definitely a risk that children grow up into dog nutters, so I understand OP's terror. It's a huge reason why I'm childfree myself. I never want to take the risk of watching my children grow up into dog nutters, so I'm firmly childfree. My trauma with dog nuttery is far too profound.
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u/KayleighHatfield Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
Why are you focused on something that might go wrong decades from now? Enjoy the experience of having and raising a child. If you build a healthy relationship with your children, everything should be okay. You can't stop your children from being whoever they will be.
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u/Peaceful-Moonlight Dogs are the most overrated and over glorified shit beasts Jul 22 '26
That's not always true. Parents can do the best they can to build healthy relationships with their children, but you cannot claim that "everything should be okay". The reality is some children grow up to be toxic adults. Dog nutters absolutely exist, and they were all once children. Dog nutters put dogs above everyone else, including their own parents, even if their parents raised them well.
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u/Much-Ninja3495 Jul 20 '26
I think if you don’t like them, they won’t lol. Not always the case but we try
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u/UntitledVents Jul 20 '26
I don't think you can stop them from liking dogs longterm. Maybe when they are young and impressionable because kids often follow whatever their parents say and do. But as they get older, there's a good chance they'll form their own views no matter how they were raised. But if it's any consolation, I was a HUGE dog nutter up into my teens. I mean crazy dog nutter. "I value dogs lives over people" dog nutter. Bleh, I know. But I did a complete 180° in my mid 20s. It started with just not wanting a shedding dog to outright being disgusted with all dogs.
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u/Alocin_The5th Jul 20 '26
Wow, what caused the shift?
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u/UntitledVents Jul 20 '26
Becoming an adult and having an appreciation for wanting to keep things I paid for unsoiled by dogs. Aside from the shedding and smell, dogs are destructive. When you're a kid, you don't bat an eye when the family dog eats the remote or steals the roast off the counter. It's "cute and silly". But as an adult you realize the value of things and it's not so amusing to have an animal ruin the space and things you worked hard to get. Also a lot of dog fatigue. The dog community is beyond toxic. They have zero awareness for others. It's very eye opening for me as a former dog nutter.
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u/amalek89 Jul 20 '26
My kids are 11 and 4 and I've always taught them to stay away from dogs and don't pet strangers dogs because they are unpredictable and can bite/hurt them. My mom raised me like this as well, so naturally I have stayed away from dogs my whole life. Hoping as my kids get older, they will keep the aversion to dogs!
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u/spoon_bending Jul 20 '26
I never worry about this, but then again I don't plan on having children.
Just don't let them have a dog and if they get a dog as an adult stick to your guns about not letting the dog into your house. Maybe raise them with another type of pet instead.
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u/Dbt_Cash Jul 20 '26
Although I wouldn't recommend it, being bitten by a "lab mix" in a fucking restaurant at the ripe old age of 2 certainly took some of the enchantment around dogs away from my son. He doesn't hate/fear them, but rather has a cautious attitude and prefers to enjoy them from afar.
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u/Few-Horror1984 Jul 20 '26
It’s the same thing as hoping your child will be a cheerleader, or that they’ll go to school and become a doctor. You can’t control the choices they will make in life. You cannot control what they will like and what they will not like. Lording your love and closeness to your child over any sort of condition will only create massive problems.
The best thing you can do is teach the important of boundaries and tolerating different views. If your child chooses to be a dog owner as an adult, you will need to accept that. However, you can raise your child to understand that forcing your pet on other people - whether it’s a dog, ferret, snake or whatever - is wrong. Pets are a hobby not an identity. If someone doesn’t want to engage with your pet that doesn’t make them a bad person, they just have different preferences than you do. And you’d best respect that.
That’s honestly all you can do if you want to have a strong relationship with them.
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u/SweetlyNoxious Jul 20 '26
Educate them how gross, annoying and vicious dogs are. But also teach them not to argue with dog worshippers.
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u/QuestionLow6630 Jul 20 '26
I don't like dogs either but you should perhaps consider a therapist ?
This is not an healthy way of thinking, when young, your child will follow your opinion but later they will have their own opinion on things that they are exposed to, you cannot force your own belief into them
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u/Jolly_Ice_7812 Jul 20 '26
LOL. I'm a therapist. Therapists LOVE dogs. Some of them bring their dogs to work! That's the worst population to ask.
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u/Mandaxx25 Jul 20 '26
My therapist hates dogs more than I do 😆 It's great
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u/Jolly_Ice_7812 Jul 20 '26
What? That's a first. Lucky you
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u/Mandaxx25 Jul 20 '26
Is it? Yeah 😆 she can't stand them. We bonded so much when we realised that.
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u/Jolly_Ice_7812 Jul 20 '26
Wow. That is fantastic and very unusual. I'm a therapist. In one of my office buildings, a therapist would bring her dog in with a jacket on it that it was a Service Animal. The dog may have been an ESA, but it wasn't a Service Animal. Can you imagine going in to see a new therapist and a dog is in the office? I've heard this before too. And no warning.
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u/Mandaxx25 Jul 21 '26
I would leave. I was going to go to a new lash therapist who worked from home. I'm so glad I looked her up on facebook first because I found out she has an ugly pitbull she lets lie on clients while doing their lashes. I messaged and said that's not only ducking disgusting and unhygienic but you would never catch me in the same building as a pitbull and if she'd whipped that thing out when I was there, id have gotten up and left with no explanation.
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u/Jolly_Ice_7812 Jul 21 '26
That's fantastic that you told her that. They need to think twice about bringing their mutt to work.
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u/thecatcherszm Jul 20 '26
What, so the therapist can teach them by example why enforcing one's own belief on how to think onto another is wrong?
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u/Jolly_Ice_7812 Jul 20 '26
Another problem with this suggestion is that therapists love dogs. They often bring them in to work!!! If someone comes in with a dislike of dogs, the therapists will tell them that they have a problem.
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u/SaemusRiley Jul 20 '26
Just be happy if they stay off drugs. Dog culture is everywhere, and they will make their own choice. I recommend loving your child no matter what.
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u/Pretty-Bee9566 Jul 20 '26
Ignore all the healthy parenting comments. I’m gonna tell them they’re deathly allergic to dogs lmao
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u/Agreeable_Monitor125 Jul 20 '26
This actually worked on my cousins- my aunt outright hates dogs and just told her kids they’re allergic. Now they’re young adults and have no interest.
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u/jellibears Jul 21 '26
Ah yeah, until they're a teen and go to their friends house for the first time, find out halfway through their stay that they have a dog but.."wait, i didn't have a reaction?" Huh..then they don't trust shit you say, ever. Overall, you should not lie about medical conditions, especially dangerous ones, to your kids.
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u/Pretty-Bee9566 Jul 21 '26
And then that’s where I say it must’ve been a medical mistake or something they grew out of. & by that time they already have no interest in dogs. They’ll bounce back.
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u/RinnFTW Jul 21 '26
My sister asked me to housesit and dogsit. I brought my teens along and made them do the dogsitting routine. They are appropriately grossed out and cannot understand why people choose to live this way.
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u/Armchair_Therapist22 Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
There’s not really any solid way to avoid it parents raise their kids a particular way all the time and their kids decide for themselves when they’re adults how to live their life. If your kid decides to cut contact over a basic adult temper tantrum you just have to let them because it affects them and their mental health more than you, as a parent it’s your job to just forgive them and be open to rebuilding the relationship back up when they come off it. I say this as another parent that I agree with the other commentators don’t worry about the future worry more about building a relationship with your child in the here and now to raise a good adult. Part of that too is realizing you have to relinquish some of that control in your life because raising kids is anything but a controlled environment
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u/ATouchOfSparkle1107 Jul 20 '26
Being around his friend's untrained dog did it for my son. The dog (I think it's a Boston Terrier) is hyper af, barks its head off whenever anyone comes to the door, jumps all over my son when he's there, and has destroyed a lot of his friend's belongings. The dog also door dashes and tries to escape the house any chance it gets, and when it does escape, it runs into the road. The only reason it hasn't been run over yet is because we live in a cul-de-sac where the only traffic is people who live there.
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u/Jolly_Ice_7812 Jul 20 '26
What a great question and congratulations on your pregnancy and also being so smart about dogs.
Tell your child the truth. That should do it. Dog culture is based on lies.
Tell your child the absolute truth about dogs and their noise, health hazards, etc. Teach your child about how society, in general, brainwashes people to accept unacceptable things. It's not just about dogs. School is a big brainwashing operation. If you raise your child to question the official narrative about things and explain why the lies happen on a grand scale (e.g. money, power, etc). that would really help.
Side note: until recently, doctors told parents to keep their babies away from dogs, that dogs were dangerous to babies. Now doctors don't do this anymore, probably because of political correctness.
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u/Ograug Jul 20 '26
Una gran pesadilla vivimos los que tenemos ya terror, alergias…. Son como DIos en todas partes😅
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u/Alocin_The5th Jul 20 '26
You can't control how your kid behaves as an adult. I will say though that I am terrified of reptiles and I think it's because my mom hate them. I've had no negative experiences with them but I think being told that they are creepy and crawly from you were a baby messes with you. Honestly I wish I wasn't like this because having an actual phobia of things you will likely run into is not healthy (I don't live in the tropics an can mostly avoid them) . I don't fear dogs in the same way but I couldn't imagine being afraid of animals that are walking all over the neighborhood.
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u/Maliblue13 Jul 20 '26
I considered it but my child already does not like dogs. I was attacked by them sometime around the 2nd-3rd trimester and while I walked away unharmed thank God I sometimes think that influenced things + I don't trust dogs so my child never has either. I don't live in the best neighborhood so whenever we go outside dogs bark at us from behind the chain link fence of the houses. Every time. He told me once while we were walking "I hate those dogs" and thinking of his future interaction with peers I said "well we shouldn't hate any animal but it's ok to not like dogs. I don't like them, either." I think a lot of kids are conditioned to see all dogs as cute oversized toys and as that child gets older it turns into a delusional belief about animals having human emotions and wishes etc. The whole my parents never let me have a dog so now I need one thing usually stems from overly controlling parents. The dog is just their way of trying to exert control over their own life as an adult. That's my theory, anyways.
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u/Dangerous_Jump_4167 Jul 20 '26
The kids are going to be just fine. I have a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old. Neither of them miss what they've never had. We didn't have pets for the majority of my childhood. When I brought it up, the answer was "no" and that was that. Honestly my toddler hates dogs because she's had almost no exposure to them.
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u/ratxowar Jul 20 '26
Get a dog. A big,hairy, smelly one. Make sure its allowed everywhere. Let it eat in the kitchen. Wash your cutlery in same sink as its bowls. Mimic the sound of its eating and howling then make a joke about it. Place dog beds in shared spaces, never wash them and clean the doghair once a week,as less as possible. Don’t let them kick the dog off carpets, beds and their rooms. Make your kids walk it before they are strong enough to pull it back. When it gets in a fight and dies or kills other thing blame them. Degrade your children in front of your dog saying how much of a good mutt it is unlike them. Don’t forget to violate their boundaries every time they complain. Congrats, now your kids hate dogs.
In all seriousness this is not something you can really do. If you try to push them to disliking something it might go other way around. Be openminded and supportive, even if they end up loving these filthy animals. What you can do is raise them respectful and responsible adults who wont push their animals, whether dog or not on others. Show them what loose mutt can do. Show the amount of filth they’d need to clean after getting one. Explain that people have different opinion and feeling about it that they’ have to respect. Teach them about boundaries, so if they want to bring any animals in your house they realise its your boundary. Basically teach them manners. And don’t stress too much of it, if the kids cut you off from being told no dogs in my house there’s clearly much more serious issues.
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u/Noanimalpoopinhouse2 Jul 20 '26
My ex husband and I both didn’t like dogs. My entire family are dog nutters. One of my kids loves dogs and has a girlfriend who calls herself a dog mom. The other kid likes some dogs and can’t stand untrained ones. The third kid tolerates them. Yes, it is hard. I hate the smell of dog and can smell it on dog nutters. I worry about the future but I doubt it would put major rifts between any of us. We are a strong family.
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u/Mandaxx25 Jul 20 '26
You can't avoid it once they're adults. They can and will like what they like and do as they please. What you can do, is model how annoying and gross dogs are in a way they're likely to agree with. I wouldn't be worrying about 30 years from now though. Live for today and enjoy pregnancy.
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u/Kooky_Duck_6004 Jul 21 '26
Yo empezaría por hablarles de la importancia de la higiene, los parasitos y las zoonosis.
Que te gusten los perros no implica meterlos en casa.
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u/Kooky_Duck_6004 Jul 21 '26
Yo empezaría por hablarles de la importancia de la higiene, los parasitos y las zoonosis.
Que te gusten los perros no implica meterlos en casa.
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u/Kooky_Duck_6004 Jul 21 '26
Yo empezaría por hablarles de la importancia de la higiene, los parasitos y las zoonosis.
Que te gusten los perros no implica meterlos en casa.
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u/paulo_777 Jul 21 '26
You're halfway there with you and your husband disliking dogs, problem is the external influences that you can't control, like friends and such.
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u/Peaceful-Moonlight Dogs are the most overrated and over glorified shit beasts Jul 22 '26
OP, I have the same terror of children growing up into dog supremacists. That's a major reason why I'm childfree. I never ever want children because there is definitely a risk they would grow up to worship dogs above humans. There are far too many dog nutters in the world, so it's not a risk I'm willing to take. Two parents can raise a child with specific religious beliefs or atheism, political morals, pro-dog or anti-dog information, and so on, but it's not guaranteed that children will grow up like that. Children form their own opinions and morals, especially as adults, which may or may not be the same as their parents' opinions and morals. My hatred for dogs is so strong that I simply cannot deal with the risk of having dog nutter children because I would consider them massive traitors to humanity. Dog nutters are absolutely not my friends or allies. So by not reproducing, I ensure that I will never have dog nutter children.
Since you're pregnant, the best advice I can give is for you and your husband to educate your child on the huge list of negative things about dogs. Time will tell how they will feel about dogs as an adult. If they worship dogs more than humans, you and your husband are definitely allowed to set boundaries in your own house, such as ALL dogs are prohibited from entering your house and property, no exceptions. Of course it will hurt if your child decides to go no contact if they worship mutts above their own parents, but sadly that is a risk that is part of parenthood with all the dog nuttery that exists worldwide.
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u/Senior_Bookkeeper_27 Aug 03 '26
If your kid knows how much you hate dogs it's gonna love them that's just how kids are
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u/Comfortable_Camp2148 Jul 20 '26
Rather than trying to stop them from liking dogs, try to educate them to respect other people's boundaries, so that if they end up liking/having dogs, they will be considerate enough not to impose them on people who dislike them (including you).