Is your railway dog friendly ?

I regularly take my dog out to heritage railways. She loves the fuss and attention from staff and other passengers. It's also good for her to get out and about and be exposed to different sounds and smells.

On our most recent visit to the SVR, she got incredibly excited when we got off the main line train at Kidderminster and she realised where we were going!

The only railways we've come across that don't allow dogs are Snowdon Mountain Railway (understandable given the space constraints) and Bressingham.

Churnet Valley seems to tolerate rather than welcome dogs, charging £10 when most railways have a nominal fee or are free.
TripAdvisor suggests it's an over-reaction after a bad experience.

We don't take her into dining areas and if we end up sharing a compartment/table we ask the other occupants if they are OK with dogs first. I'd hope all other responsible owners do the same.

 

If you cannot differentiate between dogs(animals) and children(human) that is indeed a problem. Two lovely dogs just mauled an 80yrs old lady to death in a Calgary Park. I blame that Whitehouse woman for all this lol!! Bottom line is i do not want them in my coach on which i am now paying eye watering sums for a seat. Shouldn't be too hard to designate a dog free coach should it??

 

Were they lovely dogs? We get those stories over here from time to time, and they are consistently far from lovely dogs with equally unlovely owners.

Ultimately, if you don't want to go where dogs are, that's your choice.

 

Human considerations first!! If I have to ask to be moved to First Class to avoid sitting in a pet zoo is that too much to ask? If you all love dogs so much what is wrong with you all sitting together and telling each other what lovely animals you possess.

 

But that is the issue. I accept that many dogs ( and their owners !) are perfectly well behaved but not all are. For people who, for whatever reason, don't want to mingle with dogs why should they have to modify their behaviour because of somebody else's pet ?

 

Your argument works both ways though, the person with the dog isn't the one with the problem, the person with with a phobia of dogs is, so why should someone with a dog have to modify their behaviour to suit them?

 

And what about the rest of the occupants? in your coach, should they not also be given a choice, ? a valid case could be said about out of control children, I've had many a day ruined by someone else's out of control kids, and parents who, allow them to ruin other peoples enjoyment, if we are going to go down the route of segregation, perhaps have child free coaches, then if your a women, scared of men, should we have Women only coaches, it leads to a very slippery slope, where you could even start segregating people , going back to the Apartide era, Whites only signs on trains and buses, non whites leave by rear door etc,

 

Because if you have a genuine phobia of dogs, that's not something you can modify? It would be similar to asking someone who's allergic to just be less effected for a while.

 

And so it came to pass…

 

Well said! If dog owners want the rest of the world to accommodate their pets, then they should show that they are ready, in return, to be mindful of those who may not like dogs, and keep their pets under control.

Dog allergies or phobias are also an issue for some people, of course. For that reason, I would in principle support the idea of a designated dog-free coach on each train, although in practice I suspect it would be difficult to enforce.

At the end of the day, it's all about being considerate, on both sides. I've nothing against dogs on the whole, but they can be irksome sometimes: they can be noisy, and they're infamous for invading your personal space. But I'm willing to tolerate them because I know they are important to many people. All I ask in return is that dog owners show equal tolerance and consideration for those who may not be so keen on pets: respect designated dog-free spaces, keep your pets under control, and above all, clean up after the little blighters! Not too much to ask, surely; and indeed, I know many dog owners do these things. But sadly there are also many who don't - and I'm afraid that's why I get a little bit defensive when people start pressing for more dog-access.

(Just to illustrate thr point, I'll never forget the occasion, in my National Trust days, when a visitor allowed their dog to leave a little present in the middle of the cafe seating area - and left it for yours truly to clean up! If your dog is part of your family, you should ensure it behaves as well as any other member of your family. You wouldn't allow your children to defecate in the middle of a cafe...would you?! )

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There's no rational answer to that which could satisfy everyone, just as not everyone can ever be satisfied by the compromises inherent in having children around when adults are trying to enjoy a day out. But, ultimately, society accepts dogs are companion animals and that they may generally go where their owners go with some specific, generally hygiene related, exceptions. Dog owners have exercised their influence to persuade visitor attractions and hotels that they are losing more than they are gaining by excluding dogs, hence the generality of policies.

There is, as @MuzTrem highlights, an issue with some owners and how they look after their dogs. Behaviour like that is, and should be treated as, unacceptable - as a former dog owner, I'm appalled that any owner would act as that one did.

But the underlying approach should be one of tolerance, with reciprocal expectations about live and let live.

Oh - and regarding allergies. I'm afraid I've no sympathy with calls for dog free spaces in public places while it's still legal to do things that can kill, like eat peanuts in the same surroundings as someone with a peanut allergy.

 

How is it a problem? There are some human beings I don’t particularly like and can’t stand being around, there are some I rather like and enjoy their company the same goes for the other creatures we share our planet with.
Personally I’d be all for a separate carriage, for Trolls who spam other threads with utter drivel and refuse to acknowledge simple facts from people far more knowledgeable on the subjects they clearly know little about.
But to quote Sir Mick ‘You can’t always get what you want’

 

We always take our dog on a train but we normally either all sit at one group of 4 seats or in a compartment, with dog sitting on the floor peacefully. She gets excited when we get near a train and can't wait to get on, we think the train ride must be a soothing experience ! The main problem we have is with other dog owners who think their dog is friendly and everybody should be admiring it including our dog. Not really had any passengers have an issue to date, generally there are plenty of seats away from dogs for those uncomfortable with them anyway. If we didn,t take the dog on when we are on holiday then it would have to stay in the car and that equally causes offence to many people and not viable anyway in hot weather, so if all of us in that situation couldn't take dogs on I suspect the railways would lose a lot of custom. I estimate that when we last went on Bluebell about 10% of the passengers had dogs. I Don,t think a loss of 10% revenue is goog business sense especially in the current situation. To give credit our dog is usually given a good welcome on Bluebell, KESR, SVR amongst others

 

At work one of our bosses isn’t particularly keen on dogs (I think he has allergies?)
But being the canny businessman he is, he’s also recognised that a fair number of our customers enjoy a pint whilst walking their pooch’s hence us being dog friendly and a bowl of water being available…
It certainly encourages our customers with pets make return visits.

 

From a Carriage & Wagon perspective, dogs (with bad owners) occasionally sit on seats which then need the hairs brushing off etc.... However dogs tend to bring owners/families with them, who buy tickets who pay for those seats. The good outweighs the bad many many times over.

Children (with bad parents) do far more damage than dogs in my experience, but again they bring parents/cash with them, so well worth encouraging the 90% well behaved and cleaning up after the 10% poorly behaved.

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People tend to be more sociable when they have a dog with them, and often that means more spend, they will ( from speaking from experience ), have several more pints, than just the quick one, especially if theres a group of well behaved dog owners, and their pets, Near where i live, a Pub opened up one of their dining areas to well behaved dogs, you could eat there, and as long as your dog was under control, you could eat with them at your table, and it was packed, and there were no problems, I took some friends there for a meal , and they all said we must, eat here when we are next walking past, the staff all made a fuss of and were friendly of my dog, so it can work, but ,its not for everyone, some people will say having dogs in an eating area is a no no, but here's the thing, at home we eat with our dogs, and as ever its down to how we control our dogs, A well socialised dog, can lighten most peoples moods, and can be very beneficial to a persons well being.

 

Places that advertise themselves as dog friendly are divisive. I choose to go elsewhere if l can and l am not the only one, does it really make business sense in the long run?I have even seen dogs being allowed to sit on tables ! Its particularly an issue in compartments where the infamous inability of some dog owners to detect their own dog odour has consequences. Perhaps it may come as a surprise that l have taken a dog on a mainline train, however it sat on the floor in an open carriage and is trained not to be 'friendly' and harass others.

 

Err yes it does actually. I’m guessing you’ve never managed a hospitality business where you have to be as inclusive as you can?

 

As a dog owner who won't let our dog sit on tables or seats then I would be quite happy to see the guards etc requesting those that do to go on the floor, perhaps with an explanation it is for cleanliness and consideration for the next people to sit there.