Do you ever avoid dog discussions on other websites/in RL?

[crazedACD]

Well I work in a pet store so I talk dogs a lot. I enjoy nutrition talks a lot...I love it. People actually listen to me...and I think it's because I start out pretty honestly. I tell them flat out that you are paying for the brand, not the nutrition, with Science Diet or Eukanuba. I am open about recalls and my opinion of where the Diamond foods are made.
I talk training sometimes but usually not unless I am asked.

Originally Posted by Laurelin

I told one person I do agility once and got a weird look. Tried to explain it and... yeah. If I say anything about being 'more involved' it's now 'I showed dogs'. Not exactly true but most people will accept that. They know what a dog show is.

Good lord I get the same thing. "Yeah I've delved into competition OB, looking at doing rally, etc etc"..people think I'm weird. It's ok. But other sports people are cool with like dock diving, they say oh yeah I saw that on TV the other day!

[Southpaw]

Originally Posted by crazedACD

Well I work in a pet store so I talk dogs a lot. I enjoy nutrition talks a lot...I love it. People actually listen to me...and I think it's because I start out pretty honestly. I tell them flat out that you are paying for the brand, not the nutrition, with Science Diet or Eukanuba. I am open about recalls and my opinion of where the Diamond foods are made.
I talk training sometimes but usually not unless I am asked.

See even at work I sometimes really bite my tongue depending on the situation. We do carry a couple crappy brands so I don't really want to start bad mouthing products we carry. I'll do a general talk about fillers but at that point it's the customers decision if they want to ask more questions and switch foods, or if they're happy with feeding fillers.
Now if someone asks me what they should do with their dog that is chewing out his fur, and they tell me they're feeding Iams... I'll get into it more with them (plus we don't carry Iams lol so I don't have to feel bad).

What I REALLY hate is when people are currently feeding a prescription diet, and they want my opinion of something else they could feed that is comparable. As much as I hate Rx diets, I just don't want to touch this subject with a 10 foot pole. Your pet was put on that diet for a reason, I don't know its medical history, I don't even want to attempt to tell you what you should feed. It's one of those moments where I want to just disappear and have someone else deal with it. I don't even know why it bothers me so much but I just don't like this question.

[Zhucca]

I don't like 'talking dog' in real life. It brings up aggravating subjects (for me) and I end up looking like a crazy dog lady.

Not worth it. They won't take my thoughts to heart anyways, or take my advice. My friends know I like dogs and if they ask for advice, I'm willing to give it. That's pretty much it. But starting such conversations with random people? no thank you.

[PWCorgi]

Yup. I don't even ask people what kind of dog they have most of the time anymore because when they say whatever the heck kind of doodle, etc. then I have to bite my tongue and pretend I don't think they're fools!

[crazedACD]

Originally Posted by Southpaw

See even at work I sometimes really bite my tongue depending on the situation. We do carry a couple crappy brands so I don't really want to start bad mouthing products we carry. I'll do a general talk about fillers but at that point it's the customers decision if they want to ask more questions and switch foods, or if they're happy with feeding fillers.
Now if someone asks me what they should do with their dog that is chewing out his fur, and they tell me they're feeding Iams... I'll get into it more with them (plus we don't carry Iams lol so I don't have to feel bad).

Oh yeah, we do carry a few crappy brands too (like the Science Diet, Nutro, and Eukanuba). I don't want to get in trouble, but usually I say something like "The food used to be great and has been around for a long time, but there have been a lot of advances in nutrition since then. These brands (Fromm, Earthborn, etc) are a little more current in their ingredients and nutrition." If the person is pretty cool I'll say you are paying more for the brand than the nutrition, but some people do swear by it, etc etc.

I guess I really leave it open to the person on how the conversation will go...if someone asks about TOTW, I'll say it is a good food, but was recently involved in a recall...some people will ask for more information on the recall, if I would still feed it, etc. As much as I want to have faith in ALL the products we carry, I couldn't consciously send someone on their way without letting them know about something like the Diamond recall. IMO that recall was not an 'oops'...it was a preventable cleanliness issue in the plant, with almost zero communication and they have not done a thing to get their customers back. I would expect a company that large to have offered discounts or an apology or something to their consumers.

Sorry I just went off on a big pet food tangent...see how much I love talking about it?!

[PWCorgi]

Originally Posted by crazedACD

Oh yeah, we do carry a few crappy brands too (like the Science Diet, Nutro, and Eukanuba). I don't want to get in trouble, but usually I say something like "The food used to be great and has been around for a long time, but there have been a lot of advances in nutrition since then. These brands (Fromm, Earthborn, etc) are a little more current in their ingredients and nutrition." If the person is pretty cool I'll say you are paying more for the brand than the nutrition, but some people do swear by it, etc etc.

I guess I really leave it open to the person on how the conversation will go...if someone asks about TOTW, I'll say it is a good food, but was recently involved in a recall...some people will ask for more information on the recall, if I would still feed it, etc. As much as I want to have faith in ALL the products we carry, I couldn't consciously send someone on their way without letting them know about something like the Diamond recall. IMO that recall was not an 'oops'...it was a preventable cleanliness issue in the plant, with almost zero communication and they have not done a thing to get their customers back. I would expect a company that large to have offered discounts or an apology or something to their consumers.

Sorry I just went off on a big pet food tangent...see how much I love talking about it?!

Whenever people ask about Wellness or Blue Buffalo they get that speech from me. It's like buying designer jeans, the jeans are great but you're also paying for the name! *walks them to $20 less expensive Fromm*

ETA: The point of this whole thing was to say that I don't think this is bad to say about a company. I still said it was good food!

[ACooper]

Yes. I avoid most pet discussions in RL...and I don't frequent other pet sites....and I REALLY don't discuss dogs on FB unless it's commenting on a photo.

I learned that lesson the hard way. Been made fun of, laughed at, ridiculed, and down right humiliated so I try keep it to myself unless DIRECTLY asked specific questions. Though I know things only change when knowledge is shared...I agree with whoever was saying "I do if there's space to educate" Most of the time I find people don't want knowledge, they only want validation.

[Dekka]

Originally Posted by SevenSins

If you want to avoid being depressed and frustrated...stop looking at Reddit. Posting there with the intention of actually educating anyone is a lesson in masochism.

Hell, I avoid posting about dogs on most dog sites (especially breed specific) anymore because it's depressing.

Depends on where you post on reddit.. I posted this and it was a pretty good discussion http://www.reddit.com/r/dogs/comment...dominancepack/

Overall I have had good luck with reddit.

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

I work at a pet food store, so all my co-workers are into dogs to some degree. We all have similar feelings about nutrition (good brands, raw feeding, etc), and overall health/care, but we disagree about training methods and (occassionally) breeding practices/ethics. I don't want to start an argument at work, so I avoid those discussions.

I give customers at work honest advice (without downgrading any particular food or trainer or whatever) when they ask - but I don't give them unsolicited advice. For example, if a customer comes in with their unruly, ill-mannered dog, I'm not going to recommend training classes out of the blue. If that same customer comes in asking for training advice, though, I'll give them the bare minimum, and then recommend a class or private training, and give them some contact information - I am not a dog trainer, and I'll gladly leave that up to the professionals. Same with food. If someone comes in with their clearly unhealthy dog, covered with dandruff and smelly and all that, and brings Nutro up to the counter, I won't say anything. But if that same customer comes in and is like "I want to switch dog foods, my dog is itching all the time", then we'll have a conversation about it. I never, ever, ever say "Science Diet is a bad food. You should feed Orijen" - I normally go with the "Every dog is different, and not every dog does well on every food. It looks like your dog isn't doing well on Science Diet, let's try some other foods."

My classmates at school are all really into dogs and cats (obviously), but most aren't very knowledgeable about training or nutrition or behavior or anything. We'll talk about the cute thing our cats did the other day, or what kind of dogs we have, or stories about idiot clients, but I won't get into the other stuff.

My friends and family that aren't into dogs...well, we don't really talk about dogs that much. Unless they ask me a specific question, I just let it go. My friend was telling me that her boyfriend just got a doodle-thing from a breeder, and I just said "Oh, puppies are so much fun!" and we moved on. It's not worth fighting over.

[Southpaw]

When I worked at the clinic I was always quiet about things, because my opinion was never shared. I would hear a lot of remarks about raw diets and how bad they are blah blah and most times I wouldn't say a word - sometimes, depending on who was saying it, I would pipe up that my cat is fed raw and it's basically saving his life. Then they would usually get all concerned about nutrition and want to know what I was feeding him and how I make sure it's balanced etc etc but once they realized I'm not an idiot about it, they'd have nothing more to say. I didn't like to get into it though and the first time they asked me "how's your cat been doing? What are you feeding him?" I was sooo reluctant to tell the truth because I didn't want the discussion that I thought would follow.

Same with one time, some of the techs were talking about some product and one of them said "all the sheltie people I know swear by it, but these are also people that think it's okay to give bones and antlers, so how much do they really know?" Umm I give bones and antlers! I felt a little insulted lol but again, wasn't something I wanted to get into!

That's pretty much how I am about all subjects though. Unless you clearly ask me about something, I'm probably not going to give my opinion or advice. Especially when it comes to animals, it's like half the time even if people ask, they don't really care unless you tell them what they want to hear.