The old showbiz adage of “never work with children or animals” should be hastily rewritten, in 2026, to “never express an unfavourable opinion about children or animals”, because you shall be savaged. And the scars really will last forever.
Take, for example, a column I once wrote for a newspaper which explored the idea – after a spate of horrific XL bully attacks – that dogs should always be kept on the lead; whether they’re in parks, forests or gardens. To say it was an “unpopular opinion” would be an understatement: I even lost a friend over it. She was a dog-owner, and dog-owners – I now realise – treat their pets like family. It’s a bit like growing up in the East End, which I did: blood (by which I mean canine) is thicker than water, every time.
So, I’m not going to win myself any fans, I realise, with my next statement: please don’t compare your dog to my baby. They are not the same.
If you’re now thinking that you haven’t – that you wouldn’t – well, there are plenty of people who do, and would. This week, a furore broke out when Gizzelle Cade, a US-born influencer living in the UK with her husband and two-month-old son, ranted on TikTok about a woman she claims sat down at a neighbouring table at Gordon Ramsay’s Street Pizza restaurant in London, and placed her dachshund on top of an absorbent puppy mat on the floor next to her – because it was being toilet trained.
Outraged, Cade complained to staff before confronting the woman, who allegedly retorted with: “Well, your baby shits and pisses. My dog needs to shit and piss too.” The reason Cade was so affronted, she later told the Guardian, is because of her concerns around dogs and public spaces; boundaries and hygiene. “To see pretty much an open bathroom where I was dining with my newborn,” she said, “was insulting.” Gordon Ramsay himself said that “under no circumstances” did the dog actually use the matt, when asked about Cade’s claims.
Still I get it. I’m no fan of dogs; I didn’t grow up with one, and to me, the idea of having a lumbering (and often huge) animal living with you, let alone dining with you — one that slobbers and smells and drools, and licks and steals food, and humps things and wees on other things, and demands so much time and attention and money — sounds more like punishment, than pleasure.
I know people whose pets wake them up without fail every single morning at 5am, others whose dogs regularly have to be rushed to an eyewateringly expensive doggy hospital because they literally eat anything: sweets (naturally); but also screws, bits of material, even pens. Is it like living with a sentient Hoover? Because that’s what it sounds like.
Look, I appreciate the depth of feeling: to some people, a dog is much more than just a “pet” – it is a loyal companion; a joyful, barking antidote to loneliness and a bestower of warmth, exercise, emotional/physical support and the occasional flea. But a newborn baby, it is not.
And while it may act like one — whining and crying and not wanting to be left alone, plus having to be toilet trained, even wearing nappies — should we really be giving dogs the same freedoms as children in restaurants?
Even discussing eateries when it comes to dogs and kids is controversial – you can barely pass a decent hour doomscrolling without being caught up in a debate raging about “child-friendly” v “child-free” establishments, and whether it’s breaching a child’s human rights to bar them from… well, a bar. (In my view, kids need to learn how to become well-behaved adults, and should practice that in situ – but only until 7pm. Then, I’m with the landlord of my local pub, who told my teenager this weekend it was time to go home. Fair.)
I must also declare an interest, because my (human) child – who isn’t quite a baby, any more, but was once – is downright terrified of dogs. It’s now reached the point where we can’t even go into a grassy area if he sees one. Why? Well, because on numerous occasions, while walking or cycling around our local park, boisterous dogs have made a beeline for him and knocked him over.
At which point, a dog owner will always say the predictable phrase: “He’s friendly! He won’t hurt you!” Except, lady, he already did. Hence the column about keeping your damn dog on the lead, thank you very much (and I don’t really care if that offends you – last weekend, a friend of mine was bitten in the same park by a pit bull).
But it’s not even just the biggest dogs who can behave dangerously and unpredictably, as clinical animal behaviourist Roz Pooley told The i Paper: “Look at a dog’s body language and behaviour, and the handler’s behaviour – this should apply to every dog. You could get bitten by a dachshund pulling on the lead barking at you.”
With that in mind, I think we should all sympathise with Cade’s reaction to a dachshund in a diner. And my final, unpopular opinion on it is that if we are getting to the stage where dogs are more welcome than children are – and are being compared to actual babies, rights and all – then I’d say we’ve gone a little too far chasing the fluffy rabbit down the hole (“down, boy, put it down!”), wouldn’t you?
Hence then, the article about no your dog is not as important as my baby was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( No, your dog is not as important as my baby )
Also on site :