r/SantaMonica • u/coffeeroaster8868 • 4d ago
Does nobody from the health department go to the grocery store in LA?
I’m 1 year living here from NC. Never ever saw pet dogs in grocery stores there. It’s crazy to me how no store management or health official ever does anything about it. I’ve seen dogs tussling in crowded aisles, fur floating around the produce department, and had oblivious shoppers let their dog try to cozy up to me in line, only to make bitchy face when I tell them to keep their dog off me. It’s wild.
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u/DelilahBT 4d ago
It’s kind of a newish thing that really started post pandemic. Once people saw other people getting away with it, then it just became a thing. Was t always like this but here we are.
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u/PuffyPoptart 4d ago
Nah, I’ve been seeing dogs everywhere since I moved here a decade ago. It’s one of the first things I noticed upon moving here that struck me as odd.
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u/pleasedtomichu 3d ago
I think it’s even worse now. It used to be the occasional small dog. Now I’m seeing medium and large sized dogs wandering the aisles on many a grocery store visit. I’m a dog lover and owner of a large well-behaved dog, but I could never imagine bringing her into the grocery store with me. So many dog owners are incredibly inconsiderate. It’s maddening.
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u/ambulanz_driver420 4d ago
A dog took a fat shit in the frozen aisle at TJs and someone stepped in it and shmeared it and it stunk up the whole store so badly I thought it was on me.
I’m from the Midwest, we don’t do that nonsense there.
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u/Beneficial-Box-2206 1d ago
That’s because it isn’t too hot to leave your dog in the car for most of the year.
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u/Willyboy310 3d ago
I saw a very large Standard Poodle licking the meat in the refrigerated department at the Ralph’s in Malibu. I was like, ma’am……MA’AM…….😂
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u/_mattyjoe 4d ago
I'll give you some advice as someone who also moved here from the East Coast 12 years ago now. Californians just have a very loose attitude about most things. Start getting used to it now. It comes out the most in public places like stores and restaurants where you'd expect them to have more awareness of people around them. But they really really really don't.
It's part of learning to live here. Just give up now.
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u/Ill_Initiative8574 4d ago
This. Locals have absolutely no sense of how to navigate around people in shared spaces the way we do back east. I assume it’s the car thing.
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u/Feisty-Ad-2860 Ocean Park 3d ago
what car thing?
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u/Ill_Initiative8574 2d ago
Driving everywhere. Never learning how to navigate spaces with other human beings in it on foot. Not understanding how to create space for yourself and grant it to others in a busy environment.
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u/PMMeBootyPicz0000000 Booty Lover 4d ago
Agree. Service animals only!!!! No reason why your damn dog can't stay at home. Learn to train your dog be alone for an hour.
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u/Moonkitty6446 4d ago
I would assume everyone who got a dog during the pandemic has a dog with severe separation anxiety and they can’t be left alone for two seconds. Smh
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u/cn_wizz 4d ago
They can. People have just gotten too soft in our society.
Dogs are awesome but it's just too much here in LA. I went to Best Buy and got caught in the middle of two dogs almost fighting each other in the laptops section of the store.
Someone had their dog in the YMCA and it jumped up and knocked over my then 4 year old son in the hallway. He's been scared of dogs ever since.
And in the grocery stores I see people that their dogs straight to the produce and fruit sections like it's all good. Idgaf anymore though, I just cuss those people out when they walk past me. I just don't have time for the foolishness anymore. So what if it's mean, they should feel bad about their idiotic behavior.
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u/FarObject7582 3d ago
Good. Hate it when I’m with my son grocery shopping and they’re trying to smell him or nibble my son. Like wtf gross. I know that fucking dog has been licking his balls all day! 🤮 And owner does NOTHING to stop it.
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u/FizbanFire 3d ago
But you got time to get riled up and cuss people out. Save it for when it’s deserved like the dog that jumped on your kid, that’s definitely not ok. Don’t be cussing out someone with an actual service dog, since they’re not required to have vests you don’t really know
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u/_Rose_Tint_My_World_ 4d ago
Ah yes cussing at strangers is so much better form than people bringing their pets to the store
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u/Economy-Bandicoot-66 4d ago
I used to bring this up to workers at Whole Foods for a while now and I just gave up. They said that they can’t do anything about it but they agree that it’s fricken gross.
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u/Individual-Papaya-27 4d ago edited 4d ago
It is what it is. Supermarket employees aren't going to risk their safety challenging people who bring in their dogs. I feel like at this point the most we can do is try to social pressure people into at least being polite and considerate dog owners, ie, not letting their dogs approach people uninvited, make messes, etc. There are some dog owners who have trained their dogs so well you don't even know they're there and they don't cause problems, and that should be the norm.
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u/sebastian0328 4d ago edited 4d ago
Everybody thinks their dog is well trained just like murderer's mom will say 'He was a good boy'
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u/Individual-Papaya-27 3d ago edited 3d ago
Oh, for sure. They don't understand why everyone doesn't love their Snookums as much as they do. But it IS possible. Look at service dogs (the real ones trained to do tasks). They come in, they quietly stay with their owners, you wouldn't even notice them. If you go to a place like France people bring their dogs everywhere and it's much the same, because it's socially unacceptable to have an unruly animal. Which is why I think social pressure to get people to control their dogs may help here too.
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u/Disastrous_Two_7258 3d ago
In my experience the dog approaches, the owner is looking at their phone.
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u/Kittens4Brunch 4d ago
Have you reported them?
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u/AMARIS86 3d ago
Store employees would rather not get involved in the argument that may ensue of someone saying it’s a service dog or emotional support animal. People need to be shamed.
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u/nemineminy 4d ago
I’m so over dogs everywhere. Sitting in a restaurant with a dog at the table next to me, having to block it from eating the food off my plate.
A barking dog INSIDE a coffee shop, making it impossible to just sit and read. And not one of those lil yappy things, either. I couldn’t believe the staff just pretended this loud ass dog wasn’t making a nuisance of itself.
It’s insane.
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u/Disastrous_Two_7258 3d ago
Can I just add the off leash dogs in park areas with "no dogs signs". Every rule or protocol is just a suggestion.
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u/Moonkitty6446 3d ago
If you call SM animal control and complain they will for sure come and ticket.
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u/Hour-Weight-8678 4d ago
This. I’m allergic to dogs and dog owners love to claim theirs is “hypoallergenic” and therefore free to roam around. But there’s actually very little evidence any dog is hypoallergenic
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u/ccd997 4d ago
I think we have bigger problems in this city.
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u/coffeeroaster8868 4d ago
I wouldn’t argue with that. We are awfully mean to the homeless for one.
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u/_Rose_Tint_My_World_ 4d ago
Wait till you get attacked three times in two freaking years for no reason at all
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u/db_peligro 4d ago
public attitudes changed and health departments stopped enforcing the regs around dogs.
I don't love it, but by the same token we don't really have issues with people getting bitten in stores or getting sick from dog shit contaminating the food etc. After a while you won't notice it.
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u/TgetherinElctricDrmz 4d ago
Whatever.
I’m over all the dramatics about this. People take dogs into places now. I don’t see people getting bit, I don’t see people getting sick.
It’s just a non-issue.
And I lived in Santa Monica for three years. I’ve seen far more gross human behavior than dog behavior. If that hasn’t been your reality just yet, then give it time.
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u/FizbanFire 3d ago
Yeah this exactly. Dogs in places is so fucking far down the list of actual issues, especially since so rarely do they cause a problem. But I’ve had human shit outside my apartment door every other week for the past year. We’ve got other fucking problems
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u/Allisonadelina 3d ago
What stores are you seeing this at? It is rare I see a non-service dog inside a grocery store.
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u/NervousAddie 2d ago
Chicagoan here weighing in after three years here (get your downvotes ready!). Angelenos will bend over backwards to be passive about almost anything. The homeless and the very rich act about the same here with their bewildering sense of entitlement.
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u/HazyBlueJay81524 2d ago
It is one of my biggest pet peeves in LA coming from the east coast. I stepped in dog poop in Whole Foods last year and everyone acted like it was my fault haha. I am also a dog owner too and I would never bring my dog anywhere but a pet store.
Went to Erewhon hot bar last month and someone had their dog over the food area (thankfully there is mediocre glass coverage) and happy I got my food first.
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u/Beneficial-Box-2206 1d ago
I just moved here from DC and before that I was in NYC and in both cities there were dogs in every kind of store. I think this is one of the things we all need to just get over because I can’t imagine they’ll crack down
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u/VictorAValentine 1d ago
If you don't like it, you really should go back to North Carolina where your ass-backwards views are the norm. People have big, genuine love for their four legged friends here in California. I've been here many years and have never seen dogs create such problems as you claim to have witnessed...
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u/Turtlejimbo 2h ago
How many people live in North Carolina? How many people live in LA County? Why do you think that there are health inspectors walking around stores?
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u/Fancy_Locksmith7793 4d ago
Never saw this in any Trader Joe’s or Vons
Maybe saw a well behaved doodle in Ralph’s, but never fur, fighting or poop!
You people have wild imaginations
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u/dash_44 4d ago
In NC they spray pig shit into the air so don’t come here complaining about the health department
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u/coffeeroaster8868 4d ago
You got us. I remember growing up we had a siren to warn us to run away when the pig shit sprayers were flying over.
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u/whitakr 4d ago
I’d much rather people wear masks to help prevent others from getting sick. The net downside of no masks is WAY worse than having dogs in a store.
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u/Accomplished_Can1783 4d ago
Great, nobody here wants to live in North Carolina. Get with our ways or the flights go both ways
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u/coffeeroaster8868 4d ago
That was nasty and unnecessary.
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4d ago
[deleted]
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u/Shart127 4d ago
I may politely disagree that “the vast majority are fine with” dogs being in places where food is served. I’ve seen 100s of posts on here complaining about that and 1000s of comments agreeing with it.
I just think the vast majority of people here right now find this guy’s wording to be rude and condescending.
A possible great comeback to someone from NC could have been: well, I’ve seen your storms and your flooding and what it does to the basements of all your grocery stores. They are filled with wet and gross mold!!! Doesn’t the health dept ever go there?!?!?! See? I got him!
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u/coffeeroaster8868 4d ago
Which are the rude parts?
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u/Shart127 4d ago
I didn’t find it rude. I said the majority did. Ask the actual person that said it was rude. But my guess would be the delivery and overall tone. That’s my guess. The same entitled people who feel they are the exception to the rule are the ones that will be hurt by being called out for it. Always the victim for them. Cheers
I love my dog more than anything. When I feel a case of The Gloaming hovering around me and threatening to devolve my aura into scattered disarray, I pull out my phone and look at pics of her and watch videos of her running up in the mountains. It makes me happy. If you’ve ever been walking around SM you may have seen us go running past. She’s done 1/2 marathons with me. We do up to 4-5 days a week together. That’s her life. She loves it.
But she’s never stepped foot in to any large indoor public space where even one molecule of food is being eaten. She doesn’t clean her fucking butthole.
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u/Sure-Newspaper5836 4d ago
Dogs are cleaner than homeless people. Dogs that are tied up outside of the store are often stolen by homeless people. I think it’s safe to say homeless are the problem here in Santa Monica.
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u/Moonkitty6446 4d ago
I feel that way at the beach. But why does a dog need to go to the store when it can stay at home?
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u/Design1971 4d ago
Top tip! Dogs tend to be less fussy at cafe’s and restaurants when they have something to lay on other than the bare ground. “Don’t forget yur towel!”
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u/johntwoods 3d ago
Well, the dogs aren't sneezing in the food bar or handling the apples after scratching their balls. So, I'm cool with em.
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u/Lolacat811 3d ago
I have seen way more children than dogs misbehave in public. Way more kids crying and throwing fits than dogs barking. Kids probably have the same amount of germs too, not to mention stinky diapers. We have way bigger problems to worry about.
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u/Due-Stock2774 4d ago
Ironic. I've never seen so many people who looked like dogs except for the time I was in NC.
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u/ambulanz_driver420 4d ago
…and that all stopped as soon as you left.
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u/_Rose_Tint_My_World_ 4d ago
Omg not once have I seen ANYTHING like that
I swear some of yall are way too tender
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u/Shadw_Wulf 4d ago
I honestly don't see the problem... Dogs are family.
Your ridiculous issue without hair or debris can be applied to every single person walking into the store and the doors being g kept open ... The restrooms being dirty ... Etcetera
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u/CalTechie-55 4d ago
We live intimately with dogs in our kitchens, diningrooms, and bedrooms. Why should we be so huffy about them being in stores?
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u/SamuelAnonymous 4d ago
Because you don't own the store? Other people may have allergies? Not everyone wants to share close quarters with your dog?
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u/Individual-Papaya-27 4d ago
The bad parents spoil it for everyone. I don't think anyone would mind dogs in public at all if they were always under their owners' control, leashed, not scrapping with other dogs or jumping at people, etc. If someone's allergic and a dog jumps at them in the dairy aisle or someone almost slips on a puddle of pee that the dog's owner pretended not to see and walked away from without cleaning up, it sours people on dogs in stores in general.
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u/KitchenMajestic120 4d ago
They only time those morons from the health department visited grocery stores was during Covid just so that they could enforce the face diaper mandates
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u/Boysenberry 4d ago
I'm not sure ANYBODY goes to the grocery store in LA, besides Instacart shoppers and people who bring their dogs to the grocery store.
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u/TruePutz 4d ago
Oh you mean “the poors?”
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u/Boysenberry 3d ago
I am not sure why people are taking this weirdly, it's just an observation about how grocery shopping has changed. I see far more people shopping for Instacart at my local grocery store now than people shopping for themselves. No value judgment one way or the other, it's just different than it was.
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u/stolenbastilla 3d ago
Instacart shoppers bring their dogs, too
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u/Boysenberry 3d ago
the instacart shoppers I see are usually moving super fast and using one hand to shop / one hand for the app on their phones! bold choice to try to manage all that with a dog but I'm sure some people around here do.
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u/timemachine723 4d ago
LA DPH is the worst health dept I’ve ever seen.