Dogs, mans best friend. The loyal companion, always by your side. Unconditional Love, always there for you and a protector making the owner feel safe. Some people care for their dogs and see their dogs with the same esteem as they would a child. Their unconditional love back for them is unbreakable and makes it impossible for them to even comprehend how anyone can dislike dogs.
Where I live is dog centric. Just about everyone has a canine companion. So not being a dog person makes me an oddball.
So why do some people not like dogs? Such as myself. We don’t hate dogs. They’re just not for us.
It all boils down to lifestyle choices. A dog is demanding. They require walks multiple times a day. Those walks become a job, and in today’s fast paced high stress world. Not everyone has time for that. Dogs cannot be left alone for too long, otherwise they will defecate or urinate in your house. Some dogs may take out anxiety and frustrations on furniture and start destroying the house. This makes spontaneity impossible in ones life. Not everyone can justify having to make such sacrifices, “Sorry, I can’t stay over, I have to get back to a dog” What a drag! I have known dog owners having to leave concerts and events in the middle because, “I need to check on the dogs”
Not everyone enjoys the prospect of having to pick feces up off the floor. What a way to start the day. Just taking the dog out and when it takes a dump, i will have to handle the poo.
Next up is the barking. Dogs are loud. The bark sound is not pleasant at all to a lot of people. Its a back of the throat scratch and it goes on endlessly when a dog is barking. Something dog owners turn seem to become deaf too. Outside barking dogs are a major issue and are a cause of many neighbours falling out and escalating tensions in apartment blocks and estates when there is a problem dog.
Dogs require a lot of training and work in order for them to be civilised enough to cope in society. Whether it is house training so they don’t poop and pee everywhere, to recall, leash training, and training them to be obedient takes time and a lot of patience. Again, not everyone has time, patience or even skills to be able to accomplish this.
Some dogs are aggressive. Children get killed by dogs every year when they are attacked. Dogs do attack people. Some people cant shake the memory of a dog attack and may find themselves afraid of dogs. Dogs are unpredictable. Bubbles here is such a cute loving dog, until that one day he decides for no known reason that he’s going to shake a baby up like a rag doll killing it.
Most dogs are absolute attention seekers. Someone comes into the room, bam the dog is jumping all over them, gets over excited. You get up to make a coffee, or go to the toilet.. the dog gets up too. The dog wimpers and whines if its not getting attention. They must make their presence known. You cannot go to someones house who has a dog and not realise they have a dog. The dog will make itself present.
For some people, these hang ups are only mild inconveniences based on the joys a dog can bring to someone. “Dangerous dogs are a certain breed or a certain size so doesn’t apply to the dog I want!” But for other people (like myself) they are a serious drag on life. It is with those feelings that some people choose not to entertain dogs as pets.
Dog Owners
Another reason for some people disliking dogs actually boils down to the dog owners. A lot of issues surrounding a dog is actually due to poor management of an animal that requires so much time and attention. This may boil down to simply a barking dog outside all night. The dog is keeping you awake, it is making an awful noise and won’t stop. You know its the owners responsibility but it is the dog keeping you awake, so you naturally blame the dog. What the hell is it yapping at? Why won’t it stop?
You go outside, and step in dog shit. Its all over your shoe. You have to clean it off. Some dog owner hasn’t cleaned up the crap. Now your scraping off poo off your shoes. You also now stink of dog poo. You may walk down a walkway and smell dog pee. It makes you want to throw your breakfast back up. Some owners do not clean up after their dogs. But again, its the dogs poo and pee that you’re having to deal with, not the owners. So you get negative feelings about a dog.
Some dog owners will put their dogs before anything and anyone else. “Sorry I can’t come over for your birthday because I’m looking after the dog” “So a dog is more important than your friends birthday. OK fine, no problem!”
Some dog owners will go as far as gaining more emotional support out of an animal than they would do a partner or close family relation. Comments such as “Well if he made me choose between him and the dog, he’d be straight out. ha ha ha ha ha!” no its not ha ha ha ha. You’re putting a dog over your partner. Someone who loves you for you, not because you feed them and give them shelter and survival.
Walk into a dog owners house, and the first thing that will hit you is the smell. The second is a charging dog that will start jumping up on you without being invited to do so. The owner laughs. But that dog has probably just walked through its own pee and is now putting dirty paws on someone else without invitation. The disobedience of some dogs is astonishing because the owners do not know or do not care to train them. Some owners even enjoy the fact that their dogs are “crazy and fun!” A person who doesn’t care for dogs, doesnt see the crazy and fun in the same light. They see it as an annoyance. You’re trying to say hi to your friend and the dog is getting in the way. Or maybe you didnt block the door properly and now the dog has ran off, so instead of sitting down for a beer with your friend. Youre now helping him search the neighbourhood for a dog that has ran off and won’t recall back when shouting him.
Worse is when you’re at a dog owners house having dinner. At best you have a dog staring at your every move eating despite the fact the dog has been fed already. Worst you’ll have the dog trying to jump on you to take your food off your plate. Why do dogs do this? because the owners have trained the dog by giving them food off their own plate when they sit down for a meal. So mealtime for you is also mealtime for the dog and of course, the dog is going to come for his food. Not everyone finds a smelly dog sticking their dirty nose onto a plate appetising and if anything, it is enough to put someone off their food.
Some dog owners excuse atrocious dog behavior as the dog being funny or cute. This includes seperation anxiety where the dog can’t even be in a different room than the owner. It also works both ways. “oh i cant sleep without my dogs with me in bed” People who dont care for dogs, find a dog sleeping in a bed as dirty. Their hairs shedding everywhere and the smell being terrible. But dog owners will become nose blind to the horrid smell in their house. People who don’t care for dogs find the smell nauseating and could not stand the prospect of their own house becoming like that.
Dog owners cannot understand at all why a non dog person is having difficulty accepting their dog. Instead they will look dimly at the “dog hater” and cannot appreciate or respect at all that their dog and their attitude towards their dog is not likeable by everyone. They are completely oblivious to the fact that some people around them are simply being tolerant to their dog and infact are not impressed by the dogs or the owners behaviour
Conclusion
So that is the best way I can try and explain how not everyone, myself included has the connection with dogs as others do. Dogs and the associated lifestyle and responsibilities they bring are not a desirable choice for everyone. People like myself who aren’t “Dog People” don’t hate dogs. But simply don’t care to have them in their lives. We are frustrated by some dog owners who seem to think there is something wrong with us “dog haters” for not liking dogs. I have been called out on numerous occasions for stating I dislike dogs, and even insulted by some.
So if you are a dog owner, You should appreciate that not everyone likes or can tolerate your precious ‘Snuffles.’ You should perhaps abstein from harping on about how he one of your children, because it sounds ridiculous and pathetic to some people. You should also make sure that the dog doesn’t impose itself on random people because they may not appreciate it. And they definitely don’t appreciate it when you think its funny and cute. You should also respect the fact that some people don’t like dogs, and that doesn’t make them a bad person. Dogs are simply not for them. People who don’t like dogs would not want to harm a dog at all. That would be wrong. But they would choose to ignore a dogs attention. You should not berate them for ignoring your dog. They’re just not interested in your dog. They have other interests, like adult conversation. It’s as simple as that.