That's interesting Aussie, and it tweaked me. I find people's kids very annoying in many places. Enough to just want to leave. I'm sure some people on this board can relate to this. Somebody's precocious kid may be cute to them but they are nothing but a pain in the arse to just about everybody else. I'm sure many people feel the same way about other people's dogs as well. If I had to go enclosed places where EVERYBODY had their kids with them, I would lose my mind. So I can relate to those people who would feel the same way about EVERYBODY having their dogs with them in public places.
We imagine the ideal, such as a department store full of sweet, obedient dogs with their responsible owners, when in fact, what we would have is chaos, dog poop and lots of noise and fur everywhere. Let's face it, one obnoxious kid can ruin the day, so can one out of control dog. The only difference is kids don't shed, and nobody is allergic to them, well....I'm not so sure if I'm not allergic to them. lol.
Those are irresponsible, rude people. Unless a kid is causing really damage, no one is going to ask the parents to leave. Which is why people SHOULD have some tact and remove a wailing three year old from the supermarket to the car.
Same with dogs. If you let dogs into the public stores, it's going to mean ALL DOGS, generally speaking. Now, obviously it wouldn't be uncouth to ask someone with a large dog knocking people over or one attacking other dogs to leave. But what about the dogs just being ANNOYING? Barking, pulling, running around like crazy, trying to jump on people, etc? If you say "oh your dog isn't trained, leave." you're going to have a LAWSUIT.
It's kind of like weddings. If someone writes on the invitation "no children", they don't mean "no bratty children". And they probably have a niece or friend's kid or someone they babysit who they love and would glady invite to the wedding. But then the nephew, other friend's kid, boss's grandaughter who will scream, cry, and throw food everywhere ruins it for the good kids.
If Milo and I are out, and he starts barking, jumping, being crazy, misbehaving, whatever, we step outside until he calms down or we leave. I would do the same in any situation with a child.
