Following the Post about dogs being allowed in shops, restaurants etc. The usual reason given is the catch all H&S. Perhaps members could say what they have caught, happened to them or member of the household because they have a dog, that could be classed as H&S. You could break the response down to: 1) Physical damage, e.g. bites, trips, damaged caused by dog pulling on lead. 2) Diseases e.g food poisoning rabies etc 3) Parasites, e.g flea bites, worms etc. The only problem that I can blame on the pets is flea bites.Not sure I can pin this on the dog.
In places that serve food, I suppose you could end up with hair getting into the dishes. My dogs don't go on my kitchen counters, yet their hair still manages to get on my food. I don't mind, but I can understand other people wouldn't like it, especially in a restaurant! Since the hairs are potentially going to be ingested, that could certainly count as H&S.
I have had due to having dogs: 1) Broken finger, painful shoulder (for months) and sprained wrist! Have never caught anything from dogs, so far!
With my previous dog I had numerous bruises and grazes from him pulling on lead and pulling me over or into bushes. Fleas I would have to lay blame on our previous cats when the children were young. I ended up contacting the council and they came and sprayed all the house.
I have not caught anything but humans can get conjunctivitis (pink eye), various worms and skin diseases from their dog but sensible hand washing greatly reduces the risk. Rabies risk here is also much reduced due to vaccinations. No serious injuries for me but I do know of a broken hip and a knee so badly damaged the unlucky lady could not return to work. How about the health benefits? http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/features/health-benefits-of-pets
I have lived with labs/lab crosses intermittently for over half a century and have never caught a communicable disease or any infection from any of them - the most risk I've ever had been at is when I have inadvertently (and stupidly) taken George's 'not for human consumption' Synoquin. Have done this 3 times now - really must move it from next to the brufen. What a fatwit - it's not even packaged like brufen!
I've not caught anything from the dogs but have received loads of injuries over the years :- badly sprained ankle broken fingers broken nose swollen knee black eyes split lip pulled muscles in shoulders, back, arms cuts, grazes & bruises. I think every dog I've ever owned has caused at least one injury.
Does tripping over a dog bed count? But I've tripped over loads of things in my life, and that hasn't been my dog's fault either. Charlie banged into my knee once when he was playing - but then, loads more humans have knocked into me over the years. Honestly, I have never caught anything or been injured in any way from keeping a dog! And I'm quite sure I am more likely to find human hair/human skin fleck/infection passed human to human from kitchen workers/the waiter in my soup than a Labrador lying on the floor of a pub!
I guess for me it's not so much the potential dog hair in my food which is a bit icky whether it's here or in a restaurant (but much more icky in a restaurant), it's the potential for a dog to lift a leg and pee on something. I realize that most dogs won't so this, but there still are some that will.
Since I walk a dog that lifts his leg and pees on every vertical structure in the entire universe, I've sort of got used to dogs peeing. I've never seen a dog pee in a pub or restaurant, but if it happened, so long as the owner was suitably embarrassed and got busy with the flash wipes, I can't say it would trouble me, really. I spent 3 days in a hotel with loads of other dogs at clickerexpo, I'd say Charlie was the dog most likely to pee on things (he was pretty much the dog there with the least training), and I got by ok without any accidents. Although, my room was at the back of the hotel, and to get to it I had to walk through the area where the VIP trainers relaxed and were fed, away from the 'normal' people. It was always fraught walking my dog, who didn't walk fantastically well down hotel corridors, through Ken, Kay, Kathy, etc...and once, he seriously did a dive for the corner of their lunch table for a quick pee! Thankfully I spotted it and did a quick march on a short lead - and sorry if that didn't look all that positive - but no way he was weeing on the trainers' lunch table at Clickerexpo!
When my son was a baby able to crawl, I caught him behind the sofa with our springer spaniel sharing sucks of a rubber duck. He survived - in fact he's in his thirties and has only had one course of antibiotics in his life. What doesn't kill you makes you strong?? On the other hand I owned a cafe for a short period and you wouldn't believe the hygiene regs you have to comply with. In England dogs are allowed in areas serving food but not food preparation areas and as mine were right next to each other I decided we couldn't have dogs in the cafe. I used to wear a hair net when preparing food - I was operating on a shoestring and didn't dare take any risks with environmental health - they were fearsome.
Mandy you sound like you've been in a fight not on a dog walk My joints can ache in my hand ,I don't think Dexter caused this but if we are on a new walk and he's pulling he can aggravate it.... Put my neck out a few times trying not to fall over him ,I suppose he'd forget he got his paw flattened when it stopped hurting but I would still rather put my neck out in an unattractive swerve than hurt him :: Oh and standing on his blummin' chew toys in bare feet ,especially the nylabone ones with those bumps on .....they are worse than Lego!
Oh yes, been there! The worst for me was when I stood on her food bowl (she's got one of those slow feed ones in the shape of a flower), got so angry, kicked the bloomin' thing across the floor and nearly broke my toe!! My only other injury (so far) was a great big phone sized bruise on my backside from when Ella pulled me over and I had my phone in my back pocket!
Apart from the usual bumps, bruises and scratches, I've never caught anything from Labs in the last 45 years. I did have to replace a pair of spectacles that got irreparably bent, but that was my own stupid fault for not taking them off before wrestling with Cocoa. She had a hard head!
I've never caught anything from a dog. But lots of bumps with Coco - bruised knees, hips, scraped hands, chin and a broken finger. Crikey, how far have I come with him? I feel proud
I sometimes wish my sense of smell was more broken than it already is... the smells that come out of them on occasion - woah.
never caught anything from my pets, but I do fall over regularly and dog walking has openned up a new world of potential hazards. rivers, I fell in and did a lot of nerve damage to my arm. Bent over to pick up a poo and a stick went up my noses and made it bleed, had to fish it out while my "friend" nearly died from laughing. Broke my collar bone walking on a flat golf course, walked 3 miles home fed and sorted the dogs then to hospital it hurt a bit. fell into ditch and had to walk home looking like a Swamp Donkey 4 miles! but i fall bump and regulary do stuff at home work everywhere. I've even stabbed myself in the stomach with a knife don't even know how I managed that luckily it didn't need hospital attention. I have no idea where my body is and what it doing so i have to be really careful all my dogs have been taught to stand still when I grab their collars or harnesses for support and Doug would pull me out of trouble. On the whole its made my healthier if i just forget all the wear and tear. I walk between 4 and 8 miles a day and its helped with my heart problems and bone density. I think its helped with my mental health too getting out and having structure is a good thing.
