I’m not a dog person but I certainly have no problem with the dogs and owners I’ve encountered here. Aside from the occasional ax-grinder you will find that most Villagers are the live-and-let-live variety. As long as Rover minds his P’s and Q’s he is welcome pretty much everywhere and very few folks will say anything. Some stores have banned dogs (Publix, a hardware store I’ve been to) from their premises except for boba ride service dogs but it isn’t uncommon at all to see dogs at Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, etc. either in a cart or on a leash. In our going-on-four-years now I’ve seen precisely ONE dog that was disruptive, and that was at some town square festival or other with the dog in question yapping at people and other dogs. Noisy and disruptive, but the dog wasn’t aggressive. He didn’t stay there long…I think someone talked to the owner about it.
Owners too seem pretty amenable to suggestions if their dog is causing a problem. A few years back a neighbor (lady across the street) was letting her dog whiz on my grass. I spoke good-naturedly to her about it and she had no problem keeping her dog off my grass. I imagine the majority of owners would be as open to something like that. Keep things civil and friendly and a lot of problems can be nipped in the bud.
On the plus side, they’re great conversation-starters.
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