Dog Etiquette Question/Thread

[fishbrains]

I think it goes without saying (or should) that you do not bring dogs or any pets to someone's house without expression permission to do so, and certainly not unannounced.

Who does this, anyway?  I've never known anyone that rude or clueless.

fishbrains, can you share this ridiculous anecdote with us?

My self centered, egotistical, dumbass, clueless cousin did it to me.  After being an hour late, she and hubby  brought their dog to my house.  I very quietly put my dogs in my bedroom and closed the door. 

Pretty much the same story; but these folks have done nothing to train their dogs, so the dogs get into everything and/or stand there and bark at us incessantly.

A couple of other family members have asked if they could bring their well-behaved dogs, and we've let them.

Our shelter dog doesn't tolerate other dogs, so any doggy visit stresses her out.

Side note: I've found that 95% of my complaints about dogs in any situation is actually about the people who own them, so my apologies to any pooches on the fora. 🦮

[apl68]

Some of my in-laws once had me sleep on the floor with their dog when I was their guest.  And these were my favorite in-laws, too!  It was a challenging family in some ways.

[RatGuy]

Weirdly, no one ever asks me to bring my pet rats to dinner. Don't they know that Rodney has excellent table manners?

[Chemystery]

While we haven't seen it here, I'm told by colleagues that some urban libraries have been hit hard by getting caught between people trying to pass their (often very poorly disciplined) pets off as service animals on the one hand, and people who lose their minds at the very sight of a dog and demand that the whole building be deep-cleaned for alleged allergens and dog-germs before they will come back.  The current American genius for polarized attitudes around things is evidently not limited to politics.

The standard professional advice is to accommodate service animals where the owner can demonstrate that the animal is actually certified for that purpose.  One of my nieces once worked for an agency that placed service animals, and could testify that true service animals and their owners had to go through a pretty serious process of certification.

While I take your point on overreaction and polarized sides, please don't just dismiss "alleged" allergies.
I am allergic to some dogs.  Some dogs don't bother me at all.  Some bother me a little, but taking allergy medication can control it.  Some dogs (notably one of the therapy dogs they used to bring to campus during finals week) cause me to react if they are anywhere near me for even a short time.  I don't know which dogs belong in each category, so I would never allow a dog in my home and would choose a different restaurant or store if one I had planned to go to allowed non-service animals.  I would not throw a fit or demand deep cleaning.  I would go elsewhere. 

I really wish everyone that likes to pooh-pooh pet allergies could see how sick my brother got when we were kids and got an indoor cat.  Yes, some people are making it up and my very real allergies don't reach that level, but for some people an animal allergy can cause very serious illness.  Please don't be so dismissive of them.

[Langue_doc]

While we haven't seen it here, I'm told by colleagues that some urban libraries have been hit hard by getting caught between people trying to pass their (often very poorly disciplined) pets off as service animals on the one hand, and people who lose their minds at the very sight of a dog and demand that the whole building be deep-cleaned for alleged allergens and dog-germs before they will come back.  The current American genius for polarized attitudes around things is evidently not limited to politics.

The standard professional advice is to accommodate service animals where the owner can demonstrate that the animal is actually certified for that purpose.  One of my nieces once worked for an agency that placed service animals, and could testify that true service animals and their owners had to go through a pretty serious process of certification.

While I take your point on overreaction and polarized sides, please don't just dismiss "alleged" allergies.
I am allergic to some dogs.  Some dogs don't bother me at all.  Some bother me a little, but taking allergy medication can control it.  Some dogs (notably one of the therapy dogs they used to bring to campus during finals week) cause me to react if they are anywhere near me for even a short time.  I don't know which dogs belong in each category, so I would never allow a dog in my home and would choose a different restaurant or store if one I had planned to go to allowed non-service animals.  I would not throw a fit or demand deep cleaning.  I would go elsewhere. 

I really wish everyone that likes to pooh-pooh pet allergies could see how sick my brother got when we were kids and got an indoor cat.  Yes, some people are making it up and my very real allergies don't reach that level, but for some people an animal allergy can cause very serious illness.  Please don't be so dismissive of them.

Most allergies are silent, as they affect breathing. Onlookers/bystanders who claim that the sufferer is overreacting are unaware of the silent symptoms such as inability to breathe, brain fog, inability to articulate how the person is feeling, and so on. As with most allergies the serverity of the symptoms can vary from day to day and can be dependent on factors that are too numerous to enumerate.

[apl68]

I apologize if I came across as dismissive of all allergy sufferers.  I've had mild pet allergies (mainly toward cats--my parents' cat still gives me trouble when I visit) all my own life, and I do know that some people have more serious ones.  I was referring to situations reported by library colleagues where patrons' reactions to the presence, or even reported presence, of animals gave a definite impression of hysteria.  That sort of boy-who-cried-wolf behavior hurts those who have genuine allergy concerns.