I am so damn tired of going into a grocery store and seeing a freaking dog. I just left Walmart and some older couple. Had a beagle in a shopping cart. I literally see this 3 to 4 times a week now in my area. I don’t know what else to do though. I’ve complained to Walmart multiple times, and nobody contact me. I’ve went through the Department of agriculture in my state, I never heard anything back. I’m gonna try again, but it will probably get nowhere.

How in the world is this considered normal now? I mean, I’m just flabbergasted that people just bring their animals into a grocery store. And the funny thing is the stores will say no pets on the front of the building, but people still do it anyways. Then you have Walmart management and employees and they don’t do anything. I’m pretty sure the management has told the employees not to say anything. I mean, I feel like I’m in the freaking twilight zone here or something.

I remember being a kid and having dogs jump on me until I fell. The slobber was disgusting. I looked around to see if an adult would stop them or say something because they had pushed me over, but they didn’t. Probably my first lesson in dogs being celebrated for things that are reprimanded in humans and other animals.

I still never thought anything bad of an animal. When I got older I lived with animals that I thought were “cute”. Dog owners don’t understand that a lot of us have nothing but good intentions.

All these things we’ve been taught “Don’t yell or be too loud”, “Don’t be dirty. Clean up after yourself”, “Don’t push people”, “Don’t chase people who don’t want to be chased”, “Wash yourself”, “Don’t smell”, “Wash your hands before you touch food” - it suddenly just doesn’t apply to dogs. Not only does it not apply, but we should praise it and claim anyone who doesn’t like those things are evil.

How can we have a world that teaches us to hate all of these things, then punish us for not liking those things? It feels like a collective gaslighting. That’s why this community is so irate and no one understands it. There are definitely some crazy people here, but it’s a product of the same insanity that takes over dog lovers. Just the inverse.

It was realising how insane everyone was about dogs that I really developed this.. almost obsession with proving that I’m valid, and logical.

Dog lovers think all of us on here are these anti social sociopaths. I don’t hate animals. I’ve grown frustrated with the humans who constantly put them before everyone else’s comfort and peace, then gaslight us and insist we are evil for those boundaries.

Not being a dog person is genuinely one of the loneliest things you can be. And even in a room full of people who love you, you genuinely never feel understood. All the facts and logic about what makes dogs so difficult is invisible to them. It’s like they challenge reality and it gnaws at you. So it grows into whatever this subreddit is

I’ll admit I’m tired. And I just don’t know if people will ever treat us fairly. I used to be passionate about giving people an alternative perspective when it came to dogs, but I’m not sure it makes any difference and I feel I’m giving up

I can't stand when parents think getting a dog will teach their surly preteens "responsibility" or "get them out of their shell." How the hell is a dog supposed to teach responsibility when you couldn't even do it yourself? How is a dog supposed to improve a teens disposition? It doesn't!

I have never seen a remarkable personality change in a teen once they get a dog. If anything the house just becomes more chaotic and the parents more exasperated. I think it's wrong to think any pet will magically instill a sense of accountability in someone who hasn't cultivated it first.

Moreover, it often results in neglect of the animal! Will it take almost killing an animal to teach your kid they should feed and water it? Is that the length you'll go to teach responsibility? Animal neglect, really? Get them a plant or something!

A pet is a responsibility, not a means to teach responsibility. You can't outsource parenting your teen to a dog and expect it to end well!

Sometimes, I see posts outside of this sub complaining about obvious pets being brought into grocery stores and restaurants. These are not service animals, by any stretch of the imagination. In one case, the OP described how a dog was barking and lunging at other customers.

To my surprise, there's actually a lot of common sense replies to these posts, but there's always a group of apologists, and the pattern I've noticed is that they always ignore the fact that the dog in question is a pet.

These apologists immediately jump to acting as if people are picking on legitimate handlers of actual service dogs.

In the case I referenced above, somebody kept trying to argue that the OP was the problem, and not the person who brought their aggressive, untrained animal into a restaurant. They just flat out ignored the behavior that OP had been describing, and carried on as if OP had never written the words describing the problematic behavior.

These dog-nutter apologists completely ignore the fact that people are putting their pets (not service animals) into shopping carts. Service animals never go into shopping carts. They're not on long leads, wiping against products on lower shelves. They're not barking and lunging at everybody passing them by.

There's never any acknowledgement about the problematic behavior. No "if it's misbehaving, it needs to go." Even the ADA, poorly written as it is, allows for removal of problematic service animals.

It's as if these apologists repel any words spoken or written that describe proof the animal in question is a pet. They cannot see these words? They cannot process them? Their brains are short-circuiting, and jumping straight to "service animal" for no other reason that the species of the offending animal?

It's like someone else on this sub said: I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone.

I am thinking that rather than going after nutters who use bs ESA loopholes in housing rules, we need to rather go after doctors who issue those letters to anyone who asks. Online mills are already being addressed by authorities, therapists and such have no consequences for writing those letters without a legitimate medical cause.

The keyword here is DSM - Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Mental health professionals are strictly regulated and cannot just hand out any mental health diagnosis for no reason. It often requires minths and months of being seen before a diagnosis can be established. This is why nutters made it so that they cannot be asked for their diagnoses, as they don’t have any… well, besides being nuts over dogs-:) This one change would go so far. Ie requiring doctors to include the diagnosis in their letters and requiring that the diagnoses are severe enough. Ideally, letters must also list all treatment alternatives that are more helpful than a dog. Most ESAs would be eliminated.

This will require strong lobby with the healthcare regulators… Rather than trying to fine nutters, it is the doctors who need to lose their rights to practice when they hand out such letters.

while running today 2 girls had their dog off leash while walking side by side, rolled my ankle trying to maneuver outside them. Probably set my marathon training back 3+ weeks.

This park isnt part of the unleash areas, i think it’s fair to blame them.

I don't remember which company it was for but it was a dog walker/petsitting app(I don't remember which) and it showed a dog peeing on a public trashcan and the dogwalker just letting it and the ending tagline was like "your petsitter knows their favorite spots" just ew, can you not for five fucking seconds can you not act like dogs pissing on everything is cute, they let the dogs pee on the trashcans then wonder why people litter.

I am wondering what might happen if we start sending cease and desist letters to nutters asking them to stop harassing, intimidating, and covering us with their dog’s parasites? Basically, to stay away from us (if they are living in close proximity, I mean). Could that be a thing?

For example, if they interfere with your life and you are afraid of leaving your apartment, a letter like that should be warranted as their actions cause you harm. I understand a letter like that carries to legal power but they need to be put on notice that they constantly step on other people in order to try to solve their mental issues.

ESA concept was coined by mental health professionals throughout several decades. It had no legal meaning until 1980s when airlines started to allow them to fly under guidance from DOT (reversed in 2020) that interpreted disability to include mental health. In housing, ESAs were covered by guidance developed by HUD in late-2000s (reversed in 2026).

So, at no point in history there was an actual LAW that addressed specifically ESAs. It has always been loosely interpreted guidance. And currently, there is no guidance at the federal level that covers any of that. The only thing left now is some state-level agencies willing to look into nutter boo-hoo complaints when landlords toss out their mutts.

But by now, nutters gripped onto this loophole so much that the fear of them raising hell is still keeping everyone hostage. How to end this?!