re:Is the UK too Dog-Friendly? - You're asking the wrong question.
I just read this post by strategictree, and it reminded me of a very stupid misconception i often see in a lot of online discussions:
Trying to "balance things out" by just making the problem worse for everyone. It's like... The really weird inverse of that whole 'fuck you, i got mine' mentality that a lot of conservatives have.
"Simply put, can we have less dogs and more appreciation of parents please? This might help improve the declining birthrates too."
Like... We can have both? People can be more considerate when it comes to children in public spaces while still liking dogs.
"You could save your cash, buy an adorable dog, get constantly approached by strangers fawning over it in the street, and still feel like you're caring for a living creature."
This also just seems really weird to me. Like... It seems pretty fucked up to me to view raising a child as some sort of transactional relationship where you get lots of praise from strangers and an inflated sense of self-worth in exchange for paying a monthly fee. Maybe I'm reading into this too much, i don't know this person beyond this one post, but this reads really weird. I certainly wouldn't want a system that incentivizes people to have children instead of pets just because it's 'more economically viable'. Children are not pets.
"But I can't help wonder whether increasing dog ownership is a symptom of a society that has under appreciated parenthood for a number of years, and created some serious economic disincentives to be a parent as well."
Really, the question you should be asking is 'Why doesn't the UK have better support systems for parents?'. Don't drag down random other groups of people just so you can both have it equally bad.
Just to be clear. I don't live in the UK. I am also obviously not a parent. The points im discussing here don't require deep knowledge on either of those things though. If I were to try and examine whether or not being a parent in the UK is difficult, it'd be a different story.