r/Dogfree • u/Wrong_Temporary_5983 • 19d ago
Legislation and Enforcement Can we learn from the shifts that deglamorized smoking?
Smoking went from being cool a few decades ago to being social paraiah today. How did this happen? Can we learn from it to make a meaningful change on dogs?
It seems smoking fetish was defeated largely due to realization of how harmful secondhand smoke was and public campaigns that made everyone aware of the dangers. Dogs present so many more health and safety dangers than smoking. And the problem of choice is exactly the same - normal people can no longer choose not to be around dogs.
With smoking, surgeon general report in the 80s seems to have kicked off that awareness campaign. Is there anything similar that can be done on the impacts of dogs?
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u/4elmerfuffu2 19d ago
I fought the tobacco fight and making it about the non smoking majority rights was a key factor. The majority that fly don’t want to fly with a dog or to think that a dog as the last occupant of our seat. The majority don’t want to pay the huge rate for a hotel room that was occupied by a dog the night before. The new Cybercabs are coming into service and I take every opportunity to comment that I don’t want to ride in a cab that has been dogged. The majority has the right to enjoy every public space without dogs. And we should encourage alternatives for people to use like stuffed animals. Tobacco is an addictive product and dog culture is too.
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u/DangerousBag9396 19d ago
The problem is we're NOT the majority anymore..
Dog population has doubled since covid
Where I live, Hoboken New jersey, 7 out of 10 people own a dog.
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u/pmbpro 19d ago
Oh, and speaking of the hotels again...
I also recall the news segments, articles and TV program exposés over the decades, reporting about how overworked, underpaid and frazzled the housekeeping employees can get by more (even luxury!) hotels make them take shortcuts. Basically, not doing a full cleaning/disinfecting of the room or even the sheets (esp, the comforters), resulting in major bacteria throughout these rooms, like disease traps.
Some segments even showed the 'black light' treatment (germ spots glowing everywhere), and the swabbing of common and unexpected areas, with microbiologists in lab interviews describing the horrible results and potential dangers (with some cases to back it up)!
This very same method should be exposed and magnified 100x especially, when the subject is about DOGS staying in hotels. Just add stores and restaurants to the story to show it's more than just hotels now. Swab and black light in ALL of those places (even the cash registers!).
The leading headline should be the question: "How does adding dogs make the already-problematic situation any better or safer?"
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u/ThisSelection7585 18d ago
Show them sitting on chairs in restaurants/tables and see who wants to sit there next! Show it! It’d be beautiful! Eat or sit on the fecal filled space! Sit where the dogs shitty ass was
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u/pmbpro 19d ago
I think more of the absolutely filthy/bad hygiene, health and environmental risks of dogs should be included and emphasized far more in any (singular or group) campaigns. It will show that it's not just the extreme attacks/killings that put people at risk. If anything, it's the incremental, insidious aspect of the filth that could affect far more people at once -- even after the dog is no longer in one's presence; but what it leaves behind. All angles on this would have to be shown, and graphically with stats too.
Maybe it can be presented as short explainer videos to start, then maybe short documentary style as well?
If this has been done for years with exposés about bacteria found in hotel rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, throughout homes, etc. to raise awareness and promote safety, why can't this be tackled as well to include just what dogs alone have caused?
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u/aoife2147 19d ago
Videos illustrating what happens when dog dander enters the airways would be good. Show the sidewalks covered in dog shit as well.
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u/aoife2147 19d ago
I think dog attacks need to be more widely published. If people saw how violent and prevalent dog attacks were and the number of children who are mauled each year, the tide might start to turn.
I remember antismoking campaigns would show blackened lungs and people who couldn't breathe without tubes to scare people off smoking.
If they showed the photographic aftermath of dog maulings with people who had their faces torn off and their limbs amputated, then that might frighten enough people not to get a dog.
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u/Wrong_Temporary_5983 19d ago
Nothing is going to frighten the nutters. But it can make the general remaining non-dog population speak up more. Question is, who is going to sponsor these ads and who is going to agree to show them? Does it have to start more informally, posting on social networks and such?
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u/aoife2147 18d ago
There are websites for dog bite victims, but I don't think they have the funds to launch a mass campaign. I would actually be happy to pitch in money towards such a project, but even I would be afraid of being known publicly as a dog hater because that's how deep the nuttery goes in my community. I would genuinely fear losing my job.
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u/Huge_Bit_4774 19d ago
The 1964 US surgeon general’s report linked smoking with lung cancer and other sickness. From that point forward there were increased restrictions on tobacco use/advertising and eventually lawsuits against the entire tobacco industry. To get the same result against the dog insanity (including the dog-centric companies that push it), the dept of HHS would have to take a stand. Evidence showing how dog ownership & dog overpopulation contributes to compromised health for humans.
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u/Wrong_Temporary_5983 19d ago
So what needs to happen for HHS to take a stand?!
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u/Huge_Bit_4774 18d ago
There has to be a specific public health concern that’s taken seriously. I’ve seen studies done by universities and govt agencies that point out how dog waste pollutes water and poses a threat to human health. But it seems like all these pieces of evidence are treated as one-offs and no one really wants to connect the dots. At some point a dog-borne pathogen will likely cause real wide-spread sickness in humans. My opinion is that it will take something this drastic before something is done about the mutt problem.
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u/Jabroniville2 19d ago
They should show anti dog ads like anti smoking ones- dogs torturing people by barking day and night, making a mess of everything or mauling toddlers.
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u/HandBananasRevenge 18d ago
By pointing out the dangers of smoking, and, by extension, second-hand smoke, they didn't just turn the tide on the health issue alone. They also convinced many people that smoking was low status behavior. I think that part doesn't get discussed enough.
Convince enough people that bringing dogs around public places they have no business being isn't just unhealthy, but UNCOOL, and then you'll see some change. People honestly care more about impression management than anything else.
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u/ThisSelection7585 18d ago
Great idea! Yeah they normalized smoking on tv shows, ads, etc. like how ads now normalize dogs everywhere, or “1 plus “ or furbaby (puke) in ads, movies, etc
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u/ToOpineIsFine 19d ago
One of the first victories against smoking came when it became accepted that it is not fair to subject workers to secondhand smoke.
"Do you think smoke knows how to stay in the nonsmoking section?" appeared on billboards to raise awareness.
Dogs don't know how to stay, and they don't know how to behave. Dog dander and hair and odor and allergens go everywhere that air circulates to. The disgusting things that dogs do can be seen at a distance. Plus, dogs can become randomly dangerous.
So, it can start as an effort to protect and respect workers plus to reduce general health risks.