Personally, bringing your dog into a store where I am is no biggie. I don't think it's right, but I also don't really care. I don't think that this topic is worth going to war over. We should have some sort of drinking fest when this is all over.
I think it is a lot like the other small little rule breaks that others have mentioned, like speeding or sneaking candy into a movie theatre. We have all done it, but the point of "we all break rules" does not justify at all the breaking of another rule. Maybe we'll get in trouble for it. Maybe we won't. But we can't argue about it on principle that we aren't doing anything that can hurt somebody else. I speed about 7 mph over the speed limit (sorta the gold standard), but if a cop stops me, I don't start arguing with him about how its late and there are no cars out and in this case it is okay. If I was caught by a movie theatre trying to sneak in candy and got kicked out, I'd probably be muttering about how I can't afford 10 dollar popcorn as I left, but I couldn't argue with them on principle about their right to make the rules. I don't have a right to speed, and I don't have a right to sneak things into someone's place of business, and I don't have a right to take my dog into places that they aren't allowed.
In a practical sense, chances are that you speeding or you sneaking your dog into stores will never ever hurt anyone or cause someone to be really uncomfortable. But if it ever does, or a store gets in trouble because of you, you have to be the one to say "yes, it was my fault," because you should accept the responsibility of your own actions.
Take care, everyone.
Dan
ps-try not to let yourselves get combative, ladies. take a deep breath and go play with your dog, because nothing gets accomplished once we just start going after each other, especially about tangents |