Dogs everywhere !

Imagine a perfect world where we can just bring our dogs everywhere! We don’t have to leave our furry friends at home, and can have them with us all the time! Wouldn’t that be amazing?

Unfortunately, that’s an imaginary world .. actually, not for all of us! Owners of service dogs do live in such a world! And it works, there don’t seem to be too many problems. So why can’t the rest of us bring their dogs everywhere too?

Of course, there is the problem of uneducated dogs. No one – corporate environments even less – wants to have crazy dogs around that are biting, barking and disturbing everyone. So, no one wants to take this risk and therefore the safe option is usually opted for that forbids dogs categorically.

But I believe there is also a vicious cycle to that problem that goes as follows:

• As dogs are banned from public places, people have to leave their dogs at home.
• When the dog gets out it has lots of energy and maybe hasn’t been exposed to lots of different situations because they are not allowed in certain places. It goes crazy because of fear or excess energy.
• People get these images in their head of crazy dogs.
• Next time the decision needs to be taken to allow dogs or not, the decision will be ‘no’ with higher probability.
• The cycle starts over.

If it’s such a hassle, are there actually any reasons to selfishly bring your dog everywhere and annoy everyone?

The average dog owner is collecting evidence for ‘yes’ on a daily basis: walking down the street with your dog, you will make some people stop, take the time to give it a stroke, smile and enter a one-minute friendly conversation (which is obviously good for everyone).

On a bigger scale than just your smiling neighbour, there are also lots of other advantages to having dogs around! Dogs have a calming and therapeutic effect on people, not only their owners but also on strangers. I cannot find scientific studies on the effects of dogs on strangers, but there are big efforts invested in hospital, school (and other schools), airport and even film set dogs, which aim at helping people that are stressed, ill or in pain. These movements gain more and more popularity because people seem to react really well to it.

Not only are dogs nice to have around, but for some people, they really make a difference.

There are new types of service dogs emerging like dogs that can predict a diabetic shock or sleep disease attacks. Also, dogs not only help in health matters, they also support people psychologically: people feel more self-confident and sure of themselves with their dogs. (Again, I cannot find scientific research about this, but lots of real–life experience supports that thesis.) These dogs may or may not yet have been recognized as official service dogs acquiring universal access rights, especially at the birth of new service disciplines. But even if they haven’t, they don’t necessarily present a danger to the public, but they would change the life for their owner!

Even in cases where the fight for universal access rights has already been won, the war is not over. When I asked to bring a guide dog in training, my company denied it to me. As one requirement for guide dogs in training is that you have to bring them to work, this interdiction means that (at least) one less guide dog can be trained. This is not only a pity for me or a dog, this is the opportunity of a different life for a visually impaired person taken away! This occurrence convinced me that dogs are not placed in people’s minds and opinions where they deserve to be, nor should be, for the sake of society.

So, what can we dog owners do to convince the public that the average dog is not crazy and dirty but nice to have around?

There is a reason the article started with service dogs: They represent a social contract that works. They don’t bite, go crazy and make the whole place dirty, and people trust in this.

So, why do we not just take an example in them? Even if your dog won’t make a perfect service dog, you can already start by picking up after your dog, only letting it pee in appropriate places (like trees), giving it sufficient exercise and educating it well. There are always dog schools and specialists that you can consult when you have troubles.

I am sure that if the dog owner population respected these rules, the public opinion about dogs would improve considerably and hopefully in the future reflect in relaxed access rules. It would also have the great side effect that people would not need to be afraid of dogs anymore!

Imagine we managed to allow dogs access to most of the places. Are there actual problems that arise when public life is invaded by an unlimited amount of dogs everywhere?

Actually, I saw a great proof that no, recently when I went to a dog event. There were dogs literally everywhere, even too much for the available space. It was no dog show or sports event, so the dogs did not have any particular skill or education. Just normal everyday dogs. But everything went perfectly fine! No fights, not even excessive barking (even though it wasn’t exactly calm either .. ) and just everyone being happy! Everyone who ever went to a dog exhibition or some dog sports event will have made similar experiences.

So, my call to people is: Educate your dog properly, and then take him out with you as much as you can! Ask in your work and other public places whether it is not possible to take a dog, and let’s slowly infiltrate in people’s minds that dogs in the public are a good thing and to everyone’s benefits!

The result would be the real world but made a truly better place: No more people getting bitten because dogs would be used to people. No more dogs scarily lunging on the leash as they would get sufficient exercise. No more barking until the neighbours’ ears fall off as they wouldn’t need to be left home alone with separation anxiety. And you would get to spend all day with your most loyal companion!

 

 

I finally want to leave some thoughts on allergic people.

Guide dogs have the right to go everywhere. So it could absolutely happen that someone with a severe dog allergy has boarded the same plane where there is a guide dog, without knowing it. Once the plane took off, he cannot just get away. What would be the protocol there?

Also, the projects with dogs in public places (airports, hospitals etc) that I heard of function very well, and there are probably as many people allergic to and afraid of dogs there as anywhere else. There seems to be no substantial problem with that.

However, when I talk about bringing my dog anywhere (e.g. my company), allergy is always the main argument people confront me with when I dissipated all their other concerns. As I don’t have counterarguments to that, I’d really like to know how this is handled in any of those public dog projects, but unfortunately, there is no word to be found about that in any of those projects. However, it doesn’t seem to constitute any major concern or inconveniences.

 

Subscribers of the Süddeutsche Zeitung will find a humoristic plea for the same cause here.