[SA Chris]

But have I mentioned cats yet . . . 

Cats don't have owners, cats have staff.

Relatively speaking, it's not actually that bad here. I got bitten, scratched or attacked in SA more often that I can remember. Lots of people keep attack dogs there to protect homes, and they often don't like kids on bikes. Our cycle / walking routes were usually planned around avoiding going past certain houses, or picking up speed at the right time so you can get a head start. Bit mad looking back at it.

[Dolly]

Just to be clear and in case anyone named McCarthy gets involved
My original post/point was about dogs off the lead on moorland in nesting season where there are ground nesting birds
My intention wasn’t an anti dog post
I was triggered by someone swinging the dog lead whilst “Fido” romped across the heather scaring a curlew in front of me. Not for the first time


Don’t get me started on cats

[cheque]

My other half’s leg was broken in February 2022 by a dog that was off it’s lead- she was running and a nice* middle-class bloke absent-mindedly threw a tennis ball into her path for his big friendly old labrador to chase. The dog didn’t attack her, it just had tunnel vision to chase the ball, she didn’t have time to avoid it and went flying through the air when they collided, landing on her knee.

Level 6 Schatzker fracture of the tibial plateau- her knee was bent forwards and she had three months with it in an Ilizarov frame which she had to crank with spanners three times a day to move the bones back into the right place and stop them healing together before they were there. When she asked the docs how soon she’d be running again they said it would be more appropriate to think about how well she’d be able to walk in future…

That’s what made me start kicking off at dog owners for not restraining their animals.

*I say “nice” but although he and his wife sat talking to Rache as she sat shivering and crying waiting for me to come and take her to hospital (they told her about the marathons that they were booked in to run that year), he cunningly took her number instead of offering his own and never called, probably because he knew what we’ve since been told- if your dog injures someone because you didn’t restrain it, you’re legally responsible.

[Will Hunt]

I was walking down the road while canvassing the other day when a loose Tory cur ran up behind me, yapping its trap, and crashed into the back of my legs, fortunately not managing to bite through my jeans.

My father-in-law is in hospital this afternoon after being mauled by an alsation, which had run out of a house to attack him, as he walked home from the gym.

n=2 etc.

[SamT]

  I struggle to see the issue with piss at the base of lampposts/bins myself.

So I'll just piss against your bin/gatepost every morning on my to work yeah? cool.

[matt463]

  I struggle to see the issue with piss at the base of lampposts/bins myself.

So I'll just piss against your bin/gatepost every morning on my to work yeah? cool.

I literally think about this everytime my dog pisses against someones bin or car. I don't give a shit if I see pee on my car wheel (probably because I have a dog), but I don't take it for granted that it feels like a reasonable thing for someone to be upset by. Should dog walkers carry bottles of water to hose down the urine with? Serious question, it seems like the only solution to me. Similarly if they wee on wheelie bins, some people put them in their garage or whatever. But then, some people don't even manage to pick dog shit up (although I have in the past picked it up for them and chased them with it)

[SA Chris]

Good for you, I'm not a dog owner, it would make me bowk!  Anyone notice an increase in the amount of shit on the pavements when the nights are shorter. Like your dog doing a stealth shit is OK and you can pretend you didn't see it. 

[tomtom]

Top canvassers tip - always take a wooden spoon to push the leaflets through to prevent any dog related injuries...

[spidermonkey09]

  I struggle to see the issue with piss at the base of lampposts/bins myself.

So I'll just piss against your bin/gatepost every morning on my to work yeah? cool.

Sorry Sam, we aren't going to agree on this; its a bin/gatepost, it stinks, who tf cares?! Re car wheels, this is the UK, it rains every other day and cars drive through puddles! I've seen dogs piss against my car and absolutely do not give a toss.

Also this is an insane side topic but lets not degrade it further by pretending that a human pissing on something in public and a dog pissing on something in public are the same. That said, if you're dead set on it you're welcome to my bin 

Completely missed Will's post as I got distracted by dog piss; I think anyone would be fully justified in pursuing a complaint against the owner there up to and including getting the dog put down. Obviously not on. I'd probably do so myself.

[James Malloch]

  I struggle to see the issue with piss at the base of lampposts/bins myself.

So I'll just piss against your bin/gatepost every morning on my to work yeah? cool.

I literally think about this everytime my dog pisses against someones bin or car. I don't give a shit if I see pee on my car wheel (probably because I have a dog), but I don't take it for granted that it feels like a reasonable thing for someone to be upset by. Should dog walkers carry bottles of water to hose down the urine with? Serious question, it seems like the only solution to me. Similarly if they wee on wheelie bins, some people put them in their garage or whatever. But then, some people don't even manage to pick dog shit up (although I have in the past picked it up for them and chased them with it)

I just don’t let mine piss on stuff like that. If he attempts to stop he just gets pulled on.

[SamT]

   I haven't got the excuse of alcohol radge, but I don't see it as a side issue really, its just wrapped up in the whole idea that dogs urine/fecal matter is different from human waste, and that its somehow alright for dogs to do it but not humans.

If I see a dog piss against a tree/bracken/heather then I don't bat an eyelid, I do the same when out in the countryside/cragging, dont we all.  It soaks away into the earth, gets washed by the rain etc etc.

But in urban environments, lamp posts/gate posts/bins etc.  its a bit rank really, and my point is that it wouldn't be tollerated by humans, so why should it be tollerated by dogs.  That's all.  Nothing anybody says is going to change my view on that. But @spidy.. just admit that you wouldn't really be ok with my pissing on your bin every other day.

[spidermonkey09]

my point is that it wouldn't be tollerated by humans, so why should it be tollerated by dogs.  That's all. 

Obviously I'm not in favour of you pissing on my bin every other day, but I disagree with the premise above which is what its based on.  There are all sorts of reasons to not like dogs in modern society, not least Will's anecdotes (!), but this seems a bit of an absurd philosophical position to take. Different codes of behaviour apply to animals and humans, obviously enough. Horses shit where they stand, if they happen to be out on the road thats where it stays. Should we make them all wear gigantic horse nappies? Cats shit wherever they want and with any luck humans never come across it (big piles of sand, I'm looking at you). Humans aren't typically permitted to lick their own/others genitals in public. Will you be reporting two labradors for offences against public decency? Won't somebody think of the children!

Obviously the above is absurd but I'm just using it to illustrate the point. It just seems a really odd hill to die on to me, all to stop dogs pissing on bins!?

[SA Chris]

I think anyone would be fully justified in pursuing a complaint against the owner there up to and including getting the dog put down. Obviously not on. I'd probably do so myself.

Next time it could be a small child. Doesn't bear thinking about..

[andy popp]

But in urban environments, lamp posts/gate posts/bins etc.  its a bit rank really, and my point is that it wouldn't be tollerated by humans, so why should it be tollerated by dogs.

Weirdly, to drag things even further off topic, public urination does seem broadly tolerated in Denmark. I see men pissing in the street quite often, and I don't mean down an alley at 3am. The other day I saw someone take a casual daytime piss in a busy street not more than 50 yards from a public urinal. Just goes to show that everything is culturally relative.

[SamT]

See police horses with nappies on here in Sheffield on match day.

But it ties in to dogs being treated like one of the family, this elevated status in society, treated like humans, being brought in to pub, and allowed to sit on the seat next to it, etc that lets them behave in ways we wouldn't deem acceptable in anything other than a dog.

I can't see it as absurd that I don't like piss on my gate post, car wheel, bin, lampost by my house, and I find it absured that  people are ok with cause, just cause a dogs done it.

Yes the foxes piss round here too, and by god that stinks, but they're wild animals, they're not under anybodys charge, they're not being watched by an owner, so its different.

Obviously there is no law agaist dogs liking each other balls/arseholes, but it does churn my stomach a bit when you see people in pubs feeding their dogs from their plates, or kissing them etc etc when minutes before its been licking its own arse and or some other dogs arse. 

Not really dying on any hills  .  We could obviously arugue about this all day, so we'll have to agree to dis-agree  whether its acceptable or not in society for dogs to piss against other peoples property.

Old blokes pissing in the street in europe is not exactly everyday commonplace, but definitely a thing, though is generally viewed with a slight air of distaste by passers by non?

[Dac]

My general rule of thumb (with my wife’s dog*) is that if it is permanent ‘street furniture’ then I let the dog piss on it, if it is mobile then I don’t.

So lamp posts, street corners, trees and the like are all fair game, wheelie bins, cars, and signs outside shops are not.

* As I have explained to my wife on several occasions in the unlikely event of the dog ever performing any brave or heroic acts I will be happy to consider it ‘our dog’, but until that day it remains her dog. All indications are that it will see out its days without generating any ‘hero dog saves baby from fire’ type copy for the local paper; and he will stick to his regular ‘dog eats knitting then vomits onto carpet’ or ‘dog eats bookmark, remains of which have to be pulled out of anus’ type exploits.

[Fiend]

All indications are that it will see out its days without generating any ‘hero dog saves baby from fire’ type copy for the local paper; and he will stick to his regular ‘dog eats knitting then vomits onto carpet’ or ‘dog eats bookmark, remains of which have to be pulled out of anus’ type exploits.

But it ties in to dogs being treated like one of the family, this elevated status in society, treated like humans, being brought in to pub, and allowed to sit on the seat next to it, etc that lets them behave in ways we wouldn't deem acceptable in anything other than a dog.

This is an attitude that as a non-dog owner, I still entirely approve of. Dogs are often great, better than people in many ways, and having been out with a dog walker for a few years, I've come to appreciate and respect their importance (as animal companions, not possessions).