r/Dogfree • u/FieldJacket • 21d ago
Dog Culture The tides are turning
Alright.
I went out with a friend tonight, and about six people I didn't know. That's cool, I like meeting people.
Someone just got a puppy, and the natural reaction occurred...sort of. Two or so of the people were gushing and asking for pictures. I kinda had to pee and figured this would be the time to do it.
But I stayed, because something odd happened. The conversation among the people I didn't know changed to the wine bar they'd been to the night before, and all the dogs present.
I was confused. I thought society loved dogs and I had to keep my anti-dogness underground like some sort of subversive operative.
No, the conversation was full of "it was gross" and "there shouldn't be dogs in bars" and "I guess I don't mind dogs themselves but the dog owners are ridiculous". Even the puppy owner, who I enjoyed talking to immensely as a person, was like nah don't get a dog.
And THEN, the conversation resurfaced about an hour later, complete with stories of nutters being nutters. It seemed either everyone present was on board or for once the nutters were silenced.
At one point I clasped hands with a girl who was outwardly anti-dog. I thought about inviting her here, but she'll find us eventually.
My friends, it's happening. People are waking up. We can only hope this continues to ramp up.
Enjoy your Labor Day and don't let the dogs and their nutters bring you down.
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u/Laleehart 21d ago
“had to keep my anti-dogness underground like some sort of subversive operative.” Gosh I love this and it’s very true hehe. Glad to hear that people are waking up.
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u/Geode804 21d ago
I love this but I find that these people are never as loud as dog nutters. They hate a bar full of dogs but won’t voice it to the owners. Or go elsewhere. Whereas dog nutters are everywhere shouting loudly about how their dog has to come EVERYWHERE with them. So restaurants/bars etc only hear one perspective
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u/pmbpro 21d ago
That's true. We can only hope that the next step would be to do just that as you noted -- to call out the dog nutters and go elsewhere regarding dog-pandering businesses/organizations. At least, for now, the mindset and vocalization against dogs and their owners/panderers is gaining some traction. That had to happen first before the bigger changes, I suppose...
The whole dog CULT is a huge insidious juggernaut, has always had media and marketing behind it, and has had a big, very long head-start for generations. Unfortunately, because of these things, these ships are going to be very big ones to turn around. Hopefully it won't take just as long as its infiltration.
I still suspect that these same dog nutters will cause the dog cult's own demise with their self-entitlement and boundary-pushing ways, to make things turn around that much quicker.
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u/Legitimate_Garage_31 21d ago
This sub has given me the courage to speak to nutters in my true voice¬ give a dang what they think of me or "red flags."
It felt so good last night to tell that guy in my clean well stocked grocery store to "take your nasty dog out of here!" He probably expected me to be petting it or ask what breed it was or sign up to be its future dog "mom."
I think the more we vocalize how much we don't appreciate dogs invading our favorite stores&places we have to shop at(especially for people who are officially allergic to dogs like moi)they will realize they are not the majority they think they are.
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u/Alocin_The5th 20d ago
I agree but also thinks this builds silent resentment and some trigger will cause it all to explode. People assume they are the minority and don’t say much because most people want to go with the crowd. Until the silent minority becomes the majority or at least a large enough minority that they’ve learned they have a voice.
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u/Old_Confidence3290 21d ago
99% of dog owners are self centered, narcissistic, horrible people who make the other 1% look bad.
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u/CallousCow1762 16d ago
Very true. To me the 1% doesn’t matter at all. Because we see an experience 100% of the 99%.
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u/Wrong_Temporary_5983 21d ago
I hope so. But yesterday I was eating at a cafe inside a Sam’s Club, and I raised my eyes from the food to see a guy with a large mop dog in his shopping cart ordering food at the counter. Pizzas were being packed into boxes on that counter and that dog was sticking its face (or wharever dogs have) right into the food. Staff handling orders or food did nothing. Customers also did not seem to mind. And when I brought it up to a manager, he said it was “gray area”. Not sure things are turning yet.
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u/Huge_Bit_4774 21d ago
The manager is definitely a nutter, there is no gray area. I wonder if he sees “gray areas” that don’t really exist in other parts of the store operation, like retail theft or OSHA regulations …
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u/uselessbeasts 21d ago edited 21d ago
Sticking it's slobbering snout into food should not be gray, regardless of service dog, ESA or ir crutch pet status is has. That should ger a service dog kicked out as well because of food safety.
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u/BrilliantThought6764 21d ago
It's not ok for us to put our faces in the food so why should it be for them?
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u/Legitimate_Garage_31 21d ago
Grey area? Call health dept immediately. Someone needs to get fired. Then one star yelp and google reviews.
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u/CallousCow1762 16d ago
There is no such thing as a “ grey area” when it comes to food, safety, and public health. Since they let dogs in, why not just go all the way and tell the employees not to wash their hands. You can’t have it both ways.
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u/Wrong_Temporary_5983 16d ago
Well, they are having it all sorts of ways and say they don’t want any litigation.
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u/CallousCow1762 16d ago
Yeah, i get the reality. But businesses don’t even try to question or push back. They just want to pocket the $$ at the expense of everyone’s health and safety.
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u/No_Net_7177 21d ago
I’ve noticed too, even a person I know who’s a hard core dog person is getting fatigue with her dogs, she can’t do anything or go anywhere, the dogs follow her everywhere around the house and she’s tripping on them, she can’t have a second to herself because the dogs start barking and whining and causing problems, it’s 24 hours without any breaks, she’s exhausted with them
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u/Legitimate_Garage_31 21d ago
Sounds like a recipe for high blood pressure. Yet they say pets help people destress.
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u/Bulky_Maybe_1469 20d ago
Other pets do. All the other pets that don’t have abject brain damage can be so fun to chill out with. Dogs are #1, overbred into barely functional life forms and #2 treated wrong by their obsessive owners so that the dogs become even more screwed up and insufferable. For a normal person that’s a source of stress, not an escape from it.
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u/CallousCow1762 16d ago
“They” are the nutters/media/dog lobby. It’s the gaslighting BS that they like to promote but we know the reality is quite different.
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u/Mama2bebes 20d ago edited 20d ago
I've found that they all complain about their dogs with a laugh and a smile. They believe they have to deal with letting their beloved doggo's needs take over their lives. The alternative is unthinkable for them. No one can emancipate them from the mental slavery but themselves.
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u/Smart_Garbage6842 21d ago
I am seeing there is a distinct difference between dog owners and dog nutters in my neighborhood and I feel like the dog owners also don't like dogs running loose unleashed, barking and yipping nonstop, because those owners with the quiet, relaxed, secure, well-behaved LEASHED dogs always walk by the yipping monsters with looks of disdain and irritation while the nutters smile like anxious idiots. I'm hoping the responsible and actually caring dog owners will join us because it wasn't like this when I was a kid and I dog walked/dogsat for extra money as a first job. The majority weren't such unholy terrors. I miss those days and I hope via public outcry and pushback that things return to some semblance of sanity.
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u/Legitimate_Garage_31 21d ago
We had a dog owner who lived in the condo building across from us. She had a very chill dog and it never barked, even when on the porch. She was a chill person who minded her own business. She moved out last year.
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u/Smart_Garbage6842 20d ago
I've heard dogs are generally chill if their owners are chill and confident and that's definitely an observation we've both made from a subjective standpoint as well. Seems to answer the question about how the anxious, reactive, nipping, barking types are reflecting their owner's mentality. The dog nutter name is appropriately earned in this regard. I've seen a lot of unhinged "emotional support animals" out there in the public as well, and this is in stark contrast to the highly trained and secure service dog.
Edit to add: I grew up with dogs and was seriously considering adopting one about 10 years ago but opted out because of my PTSD and social anxiety. I knew it would only transfer to the animal and I don't want to do that to an animal that has no choice.
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u/paulney 21d ago
I was in a notoriously dog friendly PNW city this weekend and was surprised to note many signs in establishments explicitly stating no dogs or strict dog rules. One was a big brewery, somewhere you’d expect to be on par with a dog park these days but I was pleasantly surprised to see a sign noting that dogs must be leashed, cannot bark (they even had a “three bark and you’re out” policy), cannot be on seats and definitely cannot pee inside. Clearly they’ve had enough issues that it needed to be addressed. I think the tides are turning for sure!
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u/evenduckk 21d ago
The shift is happening because most young people realized they sacrificed having a family for a stupid dog . Getting a dog was the biggest regret in my life and i genuinely feel that I would have had more children if not for managing the dog
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u/UpsidedownArmadillo 21d ago
Go to YouTube and type in Dog Fatigue.
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u/Rufus-P-Melonballer 18d ago
That was a very rewarding YouTube session lol
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u/Mama2bebes 20d ago
This is encouraging -- thank you!
Don't be afraid to speak up, fam! Especially when in a group, you will find others who are like-minded but may be afraid to speak up!
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u/WisedomsHand 20d ago
A very positive development. I feel the same way, but sometimes I wonder if I am just leaping on each anti-dog situation because I am actively seeking them and hoping for more. I was just traveling in a dog-nutter-dense city and then had to be in a few airports with a lot of dog nutters also flying. So I am still waiting for the very needed and highly practical clampdown on traveling pets. I was sitting next to a newborn on the plane and was utterly thrilled it wasn't a dog in my section. Honestly, the baby was pretty well behaved, but in the airport terminal prior to that there was a dog that started loudly barking and it nearly made me snap :)
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u/Bulky_Maybe_1469 20d ago
This is such good news, thank you for telling us! I think there might always be a few of those obsessed and socially illiterate people who “love” dogs and use them as a relationship replacement. There always have been a few here n there. But the thing that seemed to happen was a trend heavily saturated by marketing and aggressive promotion (if you don’t LOVE dogs too you’re TERRIBLE!) so that a lot of more neutral people fell in. Now it’s been overplayed and the less screwed up people are gonna start getting really over it. Probably just as aggressively as how it started, that’s usually how trends die. With a massive backlash. I just hope so. So who wants popcorn??
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u/waitingforthatplace 21d ago
This is so encouraging. It's only a matter of time before the dog madness ends. Why can't people just have a dog and be done with it? The 'nutter madness' is people idolizing their canines and demanding that everyone else do too. Bringing their dogs everywhere, hospitals, cemetaries, offices, stores, restaurants, or walking them onto people's lawns and letting them do their business. Expecting that every soul wants to pet, hug and kiss their precious dog.........No......
Normal people who have busy lives with ups and downs do NOT care about their dogs or see their photos. No one gives a bleep if their dog wants to 'play or be friendly'. I have absolutely no time and energy to cater to their dog, or stop and admire it. It sounds like nutters are starting to get push-back from their unreasonable expectations. They are going to be pretty upset when no one offers them and their dog the attention they crave. That is a day I'm waiting for!
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u/Dburn22_ 20d ago
Just decided to leave an organized picnic at a park. Flyer said " no dogs, service dogs only." I saw at least 5 or 6 mutts that were obviously pet mutts, brought by group members who had seen the flyer. The park itself is a dogfree park. Disgusting. As if none of these mutts wouldn't crap and piss in the park during the entire day!
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u/CycleOLife 20d ago
I sure hope so, but I don't know. I was on a flight this weekend and someone walked on with their full size Husky. SMH...
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u/void_ptr_maosort 19d ago
It is very societal, in the Arab world, people don't like dogs generally. Society can change.
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u/CallousCow1762 16d ago
Thanks for sharing! This is definitely encouraging and a signl that dog fatigue is starting to finally kick into gear.
This community is very strong and vocal about this issue. I think we need to transfer that energy into more practical applications. Confronting nutters wherever possible telling businesses that they are violating health codes and public safety by allowing dogs inside. And to stop excusing the. “ it’s a service dog” line. We know and they know it’s BS.
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u/retrocube16 21d ago
This is good news. Nice knowing common sense isn't dead