[All Systems Go]

Originally Posted by Dante Hicks

I'm not really sure what living on a council estate has to do anything, a good proportion of council houses (or ground floor maisonettes/flats) on estates would have some sort of garden, while there are obviously many owner occupiers who live in flats or houses without particularly huge gardens (although dogs roaming free sounds a bad idea anyway). Anyway, I know you said "or anywhere where they are unable to roam free" but it just seems a bit weird that you selected the 11% or so of the population who live in local authority owned housing.

there's no great mystery. I live on a council estate so it's where my attention is focused on the attention. If dogs were bnned in cities or blocks of flats it wouldn't really have any impact on my situation.

Generally social housing tenancy agreements would contain a clause about only owning pets if they doesn't cause a nuisance to your neighbours. Some might go further and say you're not allowed one in a flat at all, but I'm not sure. I know our housing officers are always getting complaints about noisy dogs, but it's difficult to know what do ("Hey, let's threaten to evict an entire family including young children because their dog barks too much"). Although I despise all pet ownership, it does seem some complaints seem to be down to neurotic neighbours too. Obviously evil dog usually = evil owner.

Pretty much all of my neighbours seem to own a dog. All day they are barking, either at people passing by when they are in the garden or dogs barking at each other. I don't think there is anything wrong with the dogs as such, there's just too many of them so it doesn't stop.

Anyway yeah, dogs are pretty terrible on a number of levels, but it's one of the collective mental illnesses we seem to have in this country. Additionally, one of the rather tragi-pathetic consequences of the glorious society we've developed is that quite a lot of vulnerable/old type people seem to rely on pets for "companionship".

Why spend time with your eldery mother when you can buy her a dog?

Conversely perhaps one of the few benefits for a society where people move more often, work more hours, marry later and live in higher density housing patterns is that dog ownership will decline. I'm not sure, I don't know anyone under the age of thirty who owns a dog or cat, it seems to be something you do when you become (even more) dull & middle aged, or just before senility kicks in.

Of course, perhaps the great European famine of 2037 will solve the issue once and for all.

Old people having to slay their dog, the only thing that keeps them going, for one final meal. there's a film in there somewhere.