When shopping, leave your dogs at home

To all dog owners, leave your dogs at home when you come to Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores. To my knowledge, Lowe’s has not posted signs at the door stating they are pet friendly and there are many of us who do not own dogs and who don’t want to be around your dog while we shop. And I am not speaking of service dogs, which serve a necessary service to the owner and are trained to be around people.

I am bringing this matter to your attention because I am seeing an increasing number of you bringing your dogs into the La Plata store. Do you assume all liabilities if your dog bites a customer? Do the Charles County or state of Maryland departments of health know that you’re bringing your dogs into the store and, in some cases, putting them in the shopping carts? Should you bring your dog uninvited into a retail store and to be near other customers who may be allergic to dog hair or dander?

A couple of irritating instances in recent months: I saw a couple with a large dog on a leash in the window treatment aisle. While they were looking at curtains, the dog was standing on the other side of the aisle looking around and blocking the aisle. Am I supposed to ask the dog to excuse me while I pass? I was in a hardware aisle looking at items on one side and when I turn around, a dog is sniffing my behind while the dog’s owner is on the other side of the aisle. I don’t own a dog and I don’t want another’s dog smelling me. I was a bit surprised at the encounter and the owner’s lack of apology for her dog sniffing me up while I shopped. I saw a man at the store entrance pick up his large dog and sit it in a shopping cart. Was the dog sick? And I have seen many smaller dogs sitting in carts, especially in the children’s seat area. I know the carts are not too sanitary to start with, but now many carts are even less so.

Let your dogs out into your own fenced yard, take your dogs on a leash for a walk in the park where there’s plenty of open space, take your dogs to pet stores, but leave your dogs (or any other pet) at home when you come to Lowe’s. Ricky Gibson, La Plata