Has anyone a problem with people not wanting to come over

ORIGINAL: leslie__chessies
I tried to explain to Nick that it doesn't matter if his friend likes them or not, that they're just dogs.  But he said he can't be friends with someone who hates his sister.

That is the sweetest thing ever.

I've never had anyone not want to come over, but my dad and sister can't be in my apartment for very long because they're very allergic to cats.   We've lived thousands of miles apart for years, though, so it's not a big problem.   They just stay at a hotel when they visit.  But I still feel sort of guilty about it.

I agree with Rwbeagles.  I love animals but alot of people I know have poorly mannered dogs, from jumping to biting, crowding and just plain bold.  I love visiting well mannered pets but not poorly behaved pets....that is just aggravating and unnecessary.

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Mostly I feel alienated from my female friends. Most females think I'm an oddity and, unfortunately, commonalities are hard to find. I guess I'm the antithesis of traditonal femininity. I don't do jewelry, knick knacks, sewing.....or any of the lovely intricate detailed things that many of my friends do. I wish I did. I'd rather be hiking in the dirt with teh dogs! They wonder why I would take up so much of my time and energy on walking, training, being with my dogs. That, my dear I-doggers, is why I am here as much as I can be. How nice is it to "talk" to others who understand our obsession! ]
 
 
I only have one female friend who enjoys dogs and even she doesn't get how I can stay home on a Friday night because I didn't tire out Ash enough. I will not leave Ash alone if I know she wasn't exercised or is not tired enough. I have lost friends because of my dog. I had many arguments with my ex over my dog (he believed in negative training methods, he didn't agree with me feeding higher priced food, he didn't agree with me spending almost $400 on training).
 
I'm 24 years old and live alone with Ash. To my friends, I should be out doing what other people my age do. I should be going to a club or a bar or whatever. They don't understand how I could put "a dog" before everything else. I get made fun of for it, but I don't care. If I had a child, it would be the same way.
 
When you walk into my apartment, you see this: a couch with a throw over it. The throw is of dog paw prints. You see pictures all over the walls and in frames of me and my dogs. You see doggie toys on scattered on floors a toy box in the shape of a bone. There is a crate right next to my sofa chair. There are books in my bookcase about ACD's, Rottweilers, Dobermans, and GSD's. There are books about training, dog nutrition, novels (Marley and Me, Where the Red Fern Grows, White Fang), a dog vet bookm, etc. There are magazines about dogs mixed in with Shape, People and US Weekly. In the bathroom, right next to my shampoo is Ash's shampoo. Next to my toothbrush is hers. My pantry is is filled with treats, peanut butter, and cheese for her. My refrigerator is filled with cottage cheese and yogurt FOR HER. My kitchen magnets are of dogs and quotes about dogs. My freezer always has frozen kongs in it.  . . . . . .This is beyond most people's understanding. They laugh at me. They call me ridiculous. They say all kinds of things, these friends of mine. I don't care. Not one bit. I have never had a more rewarding relationship, on so many levels, then the ones I have with my dogs.

YES YES my neighbor used to bring her kids over to play every night. I havn't seen her in a year and a half. Hmmmm how old is Sara?? 1.5 years. She pulled in my drive way and says, (real snobby) "Oh you have a dog?" So she doesn't come around because she hates animals and now her kids are deathly afraid.
 
We also go to my mothers every weekend for diner. She has 2 big sized dogs that will lay on the kitchen floor in the way of everything. My Aunt gets so mad and tells my mother to lock the dogs in the bedroom, to which she will not but it really upsets her. It upsets me that someone would actually ask you in your own house to lock your pet up.

ORIGINAL: marynh

DH and myself are the King and Queen of anti-social behavior. So if someone doesn't want to come to my house due to my pets...works for me []

 
WAIT A MINUTE! MY dh and I are the Queen and King of Anti-Social. LOL
OK, we can share the title! Honestly, and this is something I say all the time, I would rather spend time with my dogs than most humans. []

I really don't have a problem with people not wanting to come over, LOL. I'd rather spend my time with the dogs, most of the time. Anybody I like enough to invite over knows that I have dogs, dog hair, and lots of kisses to go around. 

I won't lock our dogs up for long periods because someone just doesn't want to see our dogs. I will however crate them for a short visit if they ask. Because we have a couple larger dogs I can understand some being intimidated, but they are also well-behaved so you come in they give you a sniff and if you don't want to be bothered they will go lay down and not bother you. If this is still too much you can find the closest exit! Our dogs are part of the family and they are very friendly. I also agree that I wouldn't stay in a house that smelt of pee or poo that's not good. I think it all boils down to some people are dog people and some aren't. I know if I go to someones house who has a dog, My wife says I pay more attention to the dog then the couple we went to visit. Oh well that's just me. I will always have at least 1 dog and don't believe I should alter my life to have visitors into my home!
I'd be more then happy to visit a home with multiple well-behaved dogs.

I think in a way I phrased my whole question wrong...I just think that the people that call me about taking a pet and asking me to take it in that they are animallovers. I would assume...and their reaction later is what throws me off. I don't get it.
My other friends which are mostly non-animal owners are actually fine with it. They will come over any time. Only rule is call me a few minutes ahead of time so I can put the dogs up. That way you don't have to be standing in front of my door listening to a lot of barking and waiting for me to put them up. The woman that we took in that one time ended up being one of my closest friends. She called anytime she wanted to come over for coffee or lunch until she moved out of state. Our other friends come regularly and bring their dog. I am just upset with the ones that call me about them and then say something about me having dogs. Or tell me: I don't understand why you have them. Or I won't come over because I am allergic to a cat. Which is something that actually happened. This one family got a cat, had it for years then told us because of their allergies they could not keep the cat and they had to get rid of it right then. We took the cat so it would not end up in the pound. They got another cat, same story..and another one. And each time they called us.I can't say yes to every animal. But they think I should. They moved a while back and have since had another cat from Petsmart and returned it after almost a year, then got a little puppy from the human society and recently returned that one as well. Just like it is again this time and we took the dog from our greataunt in. She felt like she did not want her anymore and she calls us. And she already has another dog. I understand that our dogs were a bit much for her, but the situation was extreme at the time and we were "cooking" in the house without any power. It was so humid. I was not going to put my dogs through anymore distress by locking them up.
I guess I can't please everyone.
Was just wondering if anyone experiences certain reactions as well. Don't feel quite so alone anymore and also got some different views now. It's always neat for me to get different points of views. To me it's always a learningexperience.

I've been an animal lover my entire life, but I still don't enjoy visiting a house with animals that are overly friendly, etc. There's no way to put it other than it's annoying. I remember once my best friend and I visited an aquaintance. Well, the family Boxer was extremely friendly, kept putting his paws on my lap and pestering me for attention. It put me in a really uncomfortable position because I wanted to tell him "off!", but I didn't want to be rude. So, I would sort of smile and push him away, he kept coming back and the owner didn't really see anything wrong with it. I definitely never went back!

Now, I have a different situation where I don't even want to visit my BEST FRIEND of over 10 years because of her new dog. He's a complete pest at dinner, inching his way to my best friend's plate and practically having his head on the dinner table (he's a Coonhound so he's fairly tall). I find it completely obnoxious. Not to mention, a large part of the visit ends up revolving around the dog in some way or another. It's like when people can only talk about their kids, but there's a fine line of what's "too much". So it's gotten to the point that I'd rather we go out to dinner at a restaurant and that way even if we're talking about her dog a lot of the time, at least he's not a constant physical presence.

I tend to think that if this is an ongoing issue of people not wanting to visit because of your animals, then there is a reason. Sorry to be blunt, but I figure you started this post because you were looking for answers. If I had to guess what the issue is, I would say (by reading your posts) that perhaps you have some dogs that are "overly friendly" aka pestering people for attention and/or your home smells somewhat doggy. That's pure speculation on my part, so please forgive me if I'm wrong!

Amen, brother.
 

That's why I have said that I phrased the whole thing wrong. Did not come out the way I had intended it to. Okay...I will try this again...I meet people and they ask me about my pets and then go: Oh!
I assume they don't come around because it's too many for them. Don't know why because they have never been to my house( in my house) were I would know or where they could meet our dogs...but then it's those very same people that apparently have an issue with the number of dogs or having dogs in general that will call me since they know I like animals and ask me to take a dog or a cat. But once I take it I don't hear from them again. They drop the pet off and go on. That is what I am getting at. I know I am so complicated when it comes to getting to the point. Sorry.
And I guess I shouldn't have used the term friends, more aquaintances maybe..I guess. That would be a better word I guess.
My other friends don't have a problem with my dogs, but like I have said I put them up for a while but don't want to do that for several days and I don't want to burden them with animals either so I offer an alternative for them to stay somewhere else and pay for it if necessary.
My dogs bark when someone first knocks on the door and it takes a few minutes for them to calm down. Then they just sniff and I have only let them stay with us and let them sit on the couch if the visitor wants them to stay.(Besides the one time we had to have our relative stay with us because of the weather situation). Other than that they are very calm dogs and just lie on the floor when someone is here.
 
 

DH and I dislike company. If family is coming over, we put the dogs up during their visit. We also put the cats in their room. We usually meet friends for dinner somewhere other then our home. Being a hostess makes me tired and grumpy, I would rather just hang out with the pets.
 
Visitors are often surprised that I own so many cats and dogs. I love to clean, and cannot stand to have anything out of place. Sometimes I feel like my neat freak tendancy makes visitors more uncomfortable then the pets. (Imagine Monica from 'Friends' with lots of pets.)

I have definately run into this problem!!  I have 7 dogs. People get on to me and look down on me all the time..I feel exactly like you describe.  eople have actually told me to get rid of some of my dogs. I usually respond to them,
"1.My dogs are extremely well cared for. They are UTD on all shots, They are fed properly, they are happy and healthy.
2. Do you live with me?
3. Would you ever consider telling of of your friends with 7children that they have too many kids?"
There is something else I normally say.. but it is 2am and i can not remember.  I think people are just put off by anything different than the norm or perhaps something they would not do themselves. I figure if they were not put off by the number of animals I have, they woudl find something else... At least this issues has hage amounts of rewards.
Everytime I see a particular one of my "friends," he tells me, "You need to spend less time with your dogs. But to be completely frank, I enjoy the company of my dogs more than I enjoy the company of most people.
 
 

I never have this problem, even with five dogs.  That's because I have no friends who aren't nutty dog people like me LOL!!!!!
The sign on my front door reads, "This house is maintained for the comfort and security of my dogs.  If you don't like that, go away."

we have some friends/family who don't care to come over because of either the pets, 2 multi-disabled individuals or the general clutter. We decorate in early hairball... I have plenty of folks who won't sleep here, but will visit.
 
To all of them who dare make a comment at the thought of my home or anyone in it, I just say "Well, you can kiss my rosey Irish a*#!"
 
I say family first, and my pets are definately family! Just tell em to go to he double hockey sticks.