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I sit here now having listened to near-continuous barking since waking up. Owners do nothing about it. Landlords do nothing about it. Noise complaint line does nothing about it.
Common sense rules already exist: dog-free housing, leash laws, noise ordinances, restrictions on pets in places that serve food, pick-up-feces laws, etc. A certain subset of dog owners simply takes it upon themselves to consistently ignore these rules. They pull up “Emotional Support” certificates or just indignantly grandstand any time someone calls them out. There are effectively no dog-free spaces left. You'd think it'd be easy to find at least one apartment building that categorically denies them but it simply doesn't exist in my city. From what I've read, it doesn't really exist in any city in the US.
On some level it makes sense. An animal that was selectively bred for unquestioning loyalty is obviously appealing to the kind of person that any thinking human would find selfish and detestable — someone so insufferable it took thousands of years of genetic engineering to create something that responds not with the disgust they deserve but instead some facsimile of love and adoration. Of course the kind of person to believe rules are beneath them would have significant overlap with dog-lovers.
But at the end of the day, dog-ownership, even by good owners, has to be one of the highest negative-externality hobbies in developed society. I can’t walk on the grass in my city because it’s invariably soaked in urine and feces. Every sidewalk smells of urine constantly. My head has to be angled down when walking anywhere to watch out for the feces piles and skid marks. There is rarely an hour that goes by in my home without a cacophony of barking nearby. Both of the nearest parks reek of wet dog. Dog-walkers take up the entire sidewalk and make no effort to keep their pet from slobbering over you. They bring their dogs into grocery stores and feign ignorance while they lick boxes.
I’m utterly sick of it. If I woke up to find a Thanos glove I’d snap dogs out of existence permanently. I have minimal doubts the world would be better for it.
Urine is harder, but anyone who isn't cleaning up their dog's poop is by no means a good owner. They are a terrible owner who shouldn't be allowed to have a dog.
This is completely false.
Please steelman leaving dogshit in public places.
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Yeah no. Clean up your dog's poop in public places. If you can't handle that, then don't have a dog.
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Some non-negligible fraction of the time, feces are not fully solid, which means even a decent effort leaves quite a bit of residue behind. I'd say my walks are 50/50 chunks and skid marks. It simply disgusts me that we as a society see dog owners covering our cities in literal piss and shit daily and simply tolerate it.
There are no rules that are sufficiently enforceable. Look at the ineffectiveness of the laws that already exist. These people don't even have the decency to stay out of non-dog buildings despite the abundance of dog-friendly ones. The one time I lived in one that purported to be so an emotional support pitbull moved in across the hall within a year and would bark violently every time I even got close to my own door. The only solution is a blanket ban, but too many Americans would rather drown in slobber, barking, and excrement than give up the one thing too stupid to realize they don't deserve affection.
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