25/10/2025
Yesterday I went to a Halloween festival. There were huge crowds, loud bands playing, fire dancers, people on stilts and magic shows. It was so crowded we had to squeeze through people. I enjoyed it, but I couldn't help but notice so many dogs who were really struggling.
One dog stood behind us in the crowd of the band playing. The dog was getting stood on, touched by multiple people, it was so stressed and overwhelmed it slipped its collar as it tried to get away. I saw an own owner with a Chihuahua, so terrified it absolutely broke my heart, and a malinois cross, who was also very stressed, pacing, panting and lunging at dogs. The owner didn't even seem to look at the Chihuahua, who was cowering, jumping at every nosie, running to the end of the lead and trying to flee. I saw a reactive cockpoo forced to stand in a crowd while it barked and lunged constantly at other dogs, owners not even caring to move. I even saw someone carrying a wide eyed and panting puppy, a great way to traumatize a young dog.
Why, in your right mind, would you bring a dog to an event like that? Dogs are not children, and go back just a few decades and dogs never left the farms they lived on. They were perfectly happy. Now we're dragging them to a festival to stand in a sea of people listening to deafening music?
Don't get me wrong, a few dogs ( think old labs) were absolutely fine. But they were few and far between. And I still wouldn't say they were enjoying it.
I don't get this new obsession with making everything dog friendly. Dogs want to go to the woods, stalk sheep, hunt deer , swim & be dogs. A festival like that, that is allowing dogs is not dog friendly at all in my opinion.
Here's to less " dog friendly" human events and more snuffle/ enrichment centers, private hire parks/ pools and sniff spots, open green space an trails. More kind and ethical modern trainers and dog sports focused on dog happiness and health.
I know it's nice to have your dog with you all the time. But it is not fair to drag a terrified dog around an event like that. If your dog really actually enjoys that, then go for it. But I didn't see a single one.
