Pets in stores (slight rant)

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Xanthippe_Voorhees

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I was grocery shopping today an older lady had an nervous, jittery and unhappy little yippy dog in her cart. It was not leashed and clearly not a legally protected service animal. (service animals do not yip, do not pace, etc).

As a note, I love service animals. I’m very grateful for that dogs have given people the ability to live on their own or without expensive human caretakers or costly medicines.

My little one knows a few words among them dog. So, seeing a dog she yelled “dog dog dog!!” happily.

The lady gave me the nastiest look, I assume for calling attention to her dog. I really didn’t care, because she was in the wrong…and I do hope an associate asked her to leave. I’ve made peace with the fact that while it’s posted on the door to the hardware store “no pets” now completely ignores their own rules and has biscuits for the illicit animals.

But a grocery store? Come on!

What is with this inappropriate desire to bring your pets everywhere? I cannot stand it!
 
It should be up to the grocery store. If they want to allow people to ride water buffaloes through the store, so be it. I suggest finding a different store. I don’t think dogs belong in grocery stores either.
 
jaygunther said:
It should be up to the grocery store. If they want to allow people to ride water buffaloes through the store, so be it. I suggest finding a different store. I don’t think dogs belong in grocery stores either.
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It’s clearly posted on the door “no pets”. If they change the policy, then I agree…it’s whatever. But I don’t think it’s asking much to expect stores to follow their own rules…especially ones that involve food.
 
Animal lover that I am…I agree. I glared at a woman with her dog (not an assist dog) the other day in the grocery store. I can handle public transportation - I say hi to the dog, pet it, etc. And include non assist dogs in this. But I agree on the food part. Grocery stores?

I even got kind of irritated on a hiking trail the other day - I mean a real hiking trail, real mountains, what with snowcaps and all…and dogs on the trail, with, yes, you guessed it, a little bag of poo poo nicely tied up sitting on a rock along the trail. (alpine basin) I drove for hours to get there - as did most people on the trail, right? It is the wilderness after all. National Forest.
 
I bring a garden shovel and bury poo when hiking…I wish more people did.
 
If there’s a sign on the door I believe you have reasonable expectations but if they don’t enforce the rules, what can you do? I would just take my money elsewhere and let them know on my way out the door.
 
It really bothers me too. Especially when they put the dog in the cart where food normally goes.

Yuck.
 
Don’t get me started. Where I live dogs are more coveted and treated better by the public than children are treated. They’re in the grocery store, restaurants (yes, inside, not just on the patios), and other types of stores. The signs all say service animals only, but people around here don’t care because they just looooove their dogs so much. I wish it were as simple as finding another establishment to shop, but it’s the norm here for dogs to be welcomed.
 
Vote with your feet, note to the manager you think its unsanitary and a health code violation, then take your business elsewhere.
 
I tend to agree, but I do have a friend with anxiety problems who takes her little dog everywhere with her. She even brought him (in a bag/suitcase) to the movies when we went together. There are legitimate service dogs who help people with mental issues, such as PTSD, anxiety, suicidal ideation, schizophrenia. I would be careful about assuming a dog is not doing a job.
 
Viki63 said:
I tend to agree, but I do have a friend with anxiety problems who takes her little dog everywhere with her. She even brought him (in a bag/suitcase) to the movies when we went together. There are legitimate service dogs who help people with mental issues, such as PTSD, anxiety, suicidal ideation, schizophrenia. I would be careful about assuming a dog is not doing a job.
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Service dogs are protected by law. ESA (emotional support dogs) while wonderful are NOT. They are not as well trained, either, which can lead to dangerous situations for themselves.

Like I said the dog yipped, was pacing in the basket and extremely uncomfortable looking. That is NOT a service dog. Service dogs do none of that.
 
And I would prefer the dog in the store than in the hot car in the parking lot too. Some people just can’t figure that one out. If it’s a warm day and you are running errands…leave Spot at home if at all possible. The inside of a car is like 10 or even 20 degrees hotter than the temperature outside. Roll up the windows and sit in your car sometime on a hot day - no air conditioning, in the sun.
 
If a grocery store (or other stores) have posted signs prohibiting non-service animals, and choose to let bad customers flout the policy (and customers who flout policies are bad customers), then I will choose to patronize places that do enforce their policies–and I’ll let the places that I’m no longer doing business with know the reason why.

I do think that it’s a bit off for people to make it seem like there’s only a choice between “dog in store” or “dog in car” (and you might be surprised at just how cool it can be and still get dangerously warm inside the locked car). There’s another choice: leave the dog home (which should be the choice unless going to the vet, dog park, groomer, or a pet store that specifically welcomes them–or, since St Francis’ feast day is approaching, the blessing of animals at your local parish).
 
Hey, I dislike non-service animals being brought into stores as much as anyone. Give the store a break, however. They can post it all they want, but from my understanding (as told to me by my store managers), by law (at least in our state), all we can do is ask if it’s a service animal. If the owner says it is, we have to accept that no matter how absurd we think it is or how much we may doubt them. There is nothing that requires the owner to prove it’s a service animal - all they have to do is say it’s a service animal and we can do nothing.
 
I’ve heard a lot of people with service dogs strongly complain about this, because it makes people more hostile to those with dogs but lacking visible disabilities.
 
It bothers me when I see kids or babies put inside the cart where food normally goes .very nasty
 
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I normally don’t think “nasty” when I see a kid or a baby in the cart. Babies are cute! :baby:t3:
Moms often have those seat protectors so baby doesn’t come in contact with salmonella or dog hairs.

Are we comparing babies and kids to dogs by the way? I’ve never seen a supermarket where it says children not permitted.
 
For those taking issue with little dogs in the cart, they do have those sanitary wipes near the front. They have them here, so I’m sure your store has them too. I would recommend utilizing them every time you use a cart even if you don’t know if an animal has been in them. Kids and even adults likely wipe boogers on the carts or whatever. Some people are more unsanitary than animals .

I’ve read that the average American has more dogs/pets than children. That has become the norm here and pets are treated like kids. So they are taking them everywhere now. I’ve even read that within 20 years it will be pretty common to see many people taking their dogs to work with them.
 
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