I AM becoming extremely frustrated by the amount of cafes and shopping centres that are now allowing dogs on the premises. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big dog lover and have had them myself in the past but since my husband has a severe allergy to dogs, they are becoming harder to avoid.

Whilst I appreciate that guide/assistance dogs are permitted and I totally support that as it’s easy to avoid the odd guide dog, I can’t see why all dogs are suddenly welcome in every place I seem to go. The Sovereign Centre is the worst culprit. Although it says on the doors no dogs (except guide dogs), I counted several dogs in there. I said to some people a couple of weeks ago that they shouldn’t have a dog in there and got a lot of spitting and snarling abuse thrown at me.

People have to appreciate that a lot of people are allergic to dogs and some people have a fear of them and shopping centres are the only "safe place" for them to shop as dogs are usually not permitted.

We decided to go to the Dolphin Centre and there were even a couple of people with dogs in there. Lots of cafes are now turning a blind eye to dogs going in and we are running out of places to go.

It’s always been a big thing about no dogs in shops/cafes and shopping centres in this country but it seems to me that you can now take your dogs anywhere. Please spare a thought for people who, through no fault of their own, can’t be around dogs. I can’t stress enough that I am not anti-dogs, just not in our shops.

DEBORAH DULLAM, Northey Road, Southbourne