r/Dogfree

Everywhere you look it’s “dogs are better than humans,” or “I get suspicious if my dog doesn’t like the person I’m dating.” Imagine being gifted the most sophisticated brain on the planet and still outsourcing your judgment of someone’s character to an animal that thinks a random sock is worth fighting over. Anyway, I had no idea this subreddit existed and I’m genuinely delighted to discover that I’m not alone.

There is a rising trend of big dog "influencers" who are bringing the dogs everywhere, letting the dogs run around & jump up on things and people. They call them service dogs but they are obviously not. There is one influencer, a man who coerced women & children to interact with the dog. The dog has not bitten or attacked anyone yet, but he has been allowed to knock two women down and start humping them while the owner just laughs about it, not even helping or getting the dog away. The last case made me post here, there was a preteen child who looked to me to be autistic. This man was trying to coerce the child into interacting with the dog but the kid was scared and ran off, hope his mother found him!

Of course all these interactions are recorded and uploaded, no consent given. These men are very dangerous! Look out for yourselves and your kids!​

I am so sick and tired of dog owners taking their dog to other people’s property to let them shit and piss all over their lawn, plants, flowers and landscaping. It infuriates me to no end.

Who TF do these people think they are to trespass and let their dogs shit on people’s hard work? People spend a lot of time and money to make their yards look beautiful. Yet disgusting scumbag dog owners take their dogs to PISS AND SHIT on plants that people have paid a lot of money for.

I’m sick of this shit. I have stopped while driving home and gave these people an ear full when I see them letting their dogs piss on people’s landscaping. They never have anything to say and always stand there looking like idiots because they never think anyone is going to say anything. They think ITS NORMAL!

I have no trespassing signs posted on my property yet I saw a woman on my ring camera walking her dog in the middle of my lawn and she made her way into my backyard with her fucking dog!!!

I ended up running into this woman weeks later, lost it on her and told her to stay TF off my property! HER AND HER DOG! She goes “How neighborly!” I said lady idgaf about neighborly! What’s not neighborly is trespassing and letting your animal shit and piss wherever it pleases! F*ck these people!

i’m not saying you have to like kids. but holy fuck the amount of videos i keep getting of kids just being kids in public (im not talking about poorly raised ones) being filmed and then filming their dog and being like “oh look how good my 15kg drooling dog is in comparison ☺️” is crazy to me.
the last one i saw was of a little girl laughing in the train, seriously how is your first thought to pull your phone out and record a complete stranger let alone a child to post online and get approval from random people online?

I used to be a very pro-dog person but the older I get and the more dogs I spend time around, the less it makes sense to me that we keep them as pets. They’re a sensory nightmare for me personally, but on top of that they don’t seem to add much to the world.
I’ve been house-sitting for a friend this last week and their dog is a very untrained 3yo lab mix who is a complete nightmare. Follows me around the house all day, is always just STARING at me, constantly tries to lick me or get up in my face like it’s never been fed or had any affection before.
I hate dealing with untrained dogs, especially larger ones. I used to be a professional dog walker and I realized all we’re doing with dogs is giving them exercise while they piss & shit all over the place, and the reason they need the exercise is because they are trapped in our houses all day. Bringing a living being into your home just to treat it like furniture with more complex needs and leave it home alone all day is insane to me.
And outside of service pets, what are people really getting out of their relationship with their pets? It’s never felt like companionship to me, just another being you’re responsible for keeping alive who can’t even have a conversation with you and won’t live more than a decade and a half at most.
Idk, I’ve never identified as dog-free and I’m okay with trained dogs, but this latest dog experience may have pushed me over the edge.

Was this always a thing? It seems that more and more therapists, without fail, bring up dogs during the very first appointment with a new patient.

I try to set boundaries with that QUICK…. but it can be hard to think of words to use in the moment, and my mind is so pre-occupied with other things.

I finally got my first appt with a counsellor after waiting months. I’ve seen counsellors on and off in the past. While I’m grateful for any kind of help at this point, it’s the same pattern almost every time.

“You’re alone often? Do you have any friends or hobbies? Oh ok, no close friends? What about pets, like a dog? Do you have/would consider getting a dog to help with your issues? Walking a dog everyday can really help your mental—“

NO!!

No, I would NEVER consider getting a dog. Not only are they annoying as fuck and extremely high maintenance, but they cost tons of money and require constant validation. I also just never liked them much.

Can these mental health “professionals” please tell me how exactly I’m supposed to be responsible for a dog when I can’t even shower for months at a time? When I can’t even move my body for days on end? When I can’t even form a coherent thought half the time? When I can’t even work a steady job?

And they’ll say this after I’m honest about my symptoms too. Now days I try to be as honest as possible with therapists. They hear stuff like “can’t move” “can’t take care of myself when in those states” “I’m very sensitive to noise/will go into fight or flight when I hear certain loud noises” and suddenly thinks “DAMN, what this patient needs is a DOG”.

I didn’t snap or anything, but said something like “I was never much of a dog person. I like aquariums though”. She kinda just said “ohhh okay, I wasn’t sure if you had a pup” then I reiterated no, I don’t. Not a big fan of dogs. She said aquariums are beautiful, which was nice.

Luckily she dropped the subject after that and we moved on.

I try to stick firm to my boundaries with any dog discussion and if she happens to bring it up again at the next appointment I intend to be clear about how I do not like dogs, and that discussing dogs is not a good use of my time when I’m trying to explore treatment options for my deteriorating mental health and how to slowly get back on track with my life. Dog discussion is unhelpful.

Not sure if there’s any therapists here who can weigh in on this. I try to make it clear when I feel uncomfortable in therapy, or if something isn’t helping. I oftentimes have trouble advocating for myself. But I’m happy I said something right away to her about not being big on dogs…. and she seemed to get the hint.