\n<\/p>\n
Your article on dogs was uncannily timely (\u2018She compared her dachshund to my newborn baby\u2019: should you be able to take your dog everywhere?, 19 May). I have had a phobia of dogs since childhood and can\u2019t get past an unleashed dog. This causes me a problem every couple of years, but in the last week I\u2019ve twice been inconvenienced by thoughtless owners who don\u2019t see the need for a lead while walking dogs on public\u00a0highways.<\/p>\n
The first time I was trapped in a restaurant until the staff managed to persuade the owner to move (my panic attack alerted them to the problem), and a day or two later it was a market stallholder who was letting a dog run loose. The dog was jumping up at passersby and investigating the occupants of passing pushchairs. A\u00a0kindly passerby noticed me crying and came to help.<\/p>\n
Why do dog owners feel their pets can run loose in public? I suffer from a serious dog allergy, sometimes so severe that my trusty asthma spray simply can\u2019t cope. No matter how friendly, how lovable, how cute, if it\u2019s a dog with a standard dog\u2019s coat, I can\u2019t risk being near it. Yes, there is a prophylactic drug to prevent the worst attack, but that has quite severe side effects.<\/p>\n Surely there must be some dog-free places \u2013\u00a0and surely they should\u00a0start with\u00a0planes? Dogs do not belong in any public place where food is sold, prepared or eaten. Bring back the dog licence, priced at a high rate and ringfenced to pay for dog wardens\u00a0enforce it. Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/em><\/strong>email<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/em><\/strong>letters<\/em><\/strong> section.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Your article on dogs was uncannily timely (\u2018She compared her dachshund to my newborn baby\u2019: should you be able to take your dog everywhere?, 19 May). I have had a phobia of dogs since childhood and can\u2019t get past an unleashed dog. This causes me a problem every couple of years, but in the last<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[841,2752,8977,3558,1651],"class_list":{"0":"post-49715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-britains","9":"tag-dog","10":"tag-dogs","11":"tag-obsession","12":"tag-problem"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Elaine Fraser<\/strong>
London<\/em><\/p>\n
Judith Cutler<\/strong>
Cirenceste<\/em>r, Gloucestershire<\/em><\/p>\n
Marlene Godfrey<\/strong>
Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire<\/em><\/p>\n