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  #31  
Old July 6th, 2009, 09:22 AM
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bendyfoot bendyfoot is offline
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I do let strangers say "hello", but I never feel obligated to allow them if I'm not comfortable, and I educate them on proper greeting if they need it...for example last week a neighbour came by the house with 4 young children, who immediately started reaching out for the top of the dog's heads...now this is perfectly safe with ours, but it makes Jaida a little nervous. So I showed them all how to calmly hold their hands low with the palm up and let the dog sniff, then move up to the head for pats once the dog is finished sniffing. They picked it up immediately and changed their approach. Sometimes it's easier talking to kids than their parents (this mom was totally not annoying, she just didnt' know).
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  #32  
Old July 6th, 2009, 09:30 AM
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I work for life with every dog I own so that no matter what idiot runs up they will be ok. However--IF they are attacked by untrained children or adults--they are very thoroughly defended by me. In this case, I am with those who said they would have rebuttled the stupid woman's remark with one about her untrained children. My dogs know they will be protected by me--they also know they can step in to help if I require it, but only if I require it. I know most dogs are not trained to that degree, and I agree that most people are not either. I try to encourage calm interaction between people and my dogs on a daily basis--I repeat, CALM.
Soon I will be getting a new pup, who will be small and cute. He will gets lots of socialization, but much of it will be with my 90 lb ridgeback at his side, which tends to help with idiots.
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  #33  
Old July 6th, 2009, 09:54 AM
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muggsmom muggsmom is offline
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Quote:
The mother (i am assuming) asked me if the dogs aren't friendly why bring them out???
My first thought was "Does she expect them to use the toilet?" What an idiot!

Unfortunately, I don't have this problem with Muggs, he's so leash aggressive that I really can't take him anywhere. But I would have to stop people from approaching because he doesn't like the top of his head petted and that's the first thing people reach for.
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  #34  
Old July 6th, 2009, 10:47 AM
FlamesGirl FlamesGirl is offline
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People can't seem to resist stopping to pet my dog when we're out on walks, whether or not I want them to. I've had people come up from behind us while Ranger is in a "sit-stay" and start petting him before I've even seen them!

My next door neighbour's have two young kids and they've taught their children how to approach a dog. It's great! They come over sometimes to help me "brush" Ranger and these kids have more dog-smarts at 2 and 4 than most adults I've run into.

The worst was my boyfriend's step-sister. I was sitting on the ground with Ranger and she came up to us in my blind spot(didn't even see her), SQUEALED, then threw both arms around his neck! I had only had him for about 15 days and had no idea how he was going to react. Luckily he was fine. In fact, I think I reacted worse than him!
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  #35  
Old July 6th, 2009, 04:57 PM
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TwinTails TwinTails is offline
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I think the main issue is that people assume that any dog out on a walk is a friendly dog that loves everyone and everything. They forget that animals are individuals with personal prefferences. Most people think of animals as disposable "things", not living beings. Because of this, people assume that they enjoy petting a dog so obviously it enjoys being pet There really is no common sense left in this world
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  #36  
Old July 6th, 2009, 07:23 PM
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I can put a muzzle and a 'don't touch' vest on one of our dogs and people still come over to pet her. "Oh, don't worry, I just love dogs" they say as they're bending over her, reaching over her head, and staring directly into her eyes .

So no, most times, I don't allow strangers to greet my dogs when we're out and about. On the rare occasion, if someone is standing still and looking right at me while asking for permission, I explain the dogs are in training and I'd appreciate it if they could help out. I go on to explain the appropriate way to meet our dogs, hand them a couple of treats, and allow the greeting to progress. Some times we get lucky and the ppl are more than happy to participate by following the rules. Other times, if they go to make a wrong move, I walk backwards, and have our dogs follow by facing me as I'm giving them a command ("look" followed by "let's go" in a happy tone). This way, I can quickly remove them from a negative experience while they are focused only on me and not the stranger.
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  #37  
Old July 7th, 2009, 12:54 PM
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Golden Girls Golden Girls is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lUvMyLaB<3 View Post
I do not mind at all, in fact my little dog is downright OFFENDED is ANYONE passes by without loving him up and telling him how cute he is. If someone walks by him he stops dead and watches the person with a sad face, then starts to follow them, because they must have forgot!
Mine exactly I live between two daycares so when the children are walking holding the string I'll walk iin the street otherwise I don't mind unless their really loud

But absolutely people should respect the owners wishes.
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  #38  
Old July 7th, 2009, 01:02 PM
kandy kandy is offline
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I don't automatically let just anyone pet my dogs, even if they have the courtesy to ask first. It depends on how the people are acting. My problem with Hazel is keeping her from laying down and rolling over for a belly rub. LOL She goes to work most days with DH, and she lays by the doors of the shop so that anyone who comes in has the opportunity to give her belly rubs. Because most people do, and lots of folks come in strictly to see her, I guess she assumes that no one can resist her and will pet her. Because she is big, and people think she's black (she's actually grey but you can't tell unless she is next to a black dog) some people assume that she's mean and will give her a wide berth - which breaks her heart. If she sees people ahead of us, like if they are standing on the sidewalk having a conversation or something, she'll start to pull me to get to them quicker. They see her pulling me towards them and I can tell by their body language that they think she's aggressive. I'll start calling out 'don't worry, she's friendly and just excited at the prospect of getting petted'.

People don't try to pet Malone nearly as often, and he'll shy away from anyone that approaches him too quickly. Maybe he just doesn't have the cute appeal that Hazel does. When people do ask to pet him, I always ask them to approach slowly and pet him under the chin - he really doesn't like strangers trying to pet the top of his head.

The biggest problem I have is with my son's SharPei, Lexi. When we are at our lake camp, we often have people she has never met before in our camp and people assume that because she is smaller, she doesn't present a threat to them - but she can be really iffy about strangers petting her. She especially doesn't like it if someone tries to get her to roll over for a belly rub - there's not many people she will expose her belly to, even if she likes them. She also has entropion, and has had 2 surgeries already to try to correct that. Her eyes are very small, and I think she has trouble with periphial vision so she can be easily startled. I always tell people that if she wants them to pet her, she'll approach them and otherwise to leave her alone.
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  #39  
Old July 7th, 2009, 01:16 PM
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Melinda Melinda is offline
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I've never had anyone rush to pet Brina without asking first if its "ok" or "is she cross" etc.......
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