PSA: please do not approach dogs and try to pet them without consulting their owners

[Anonymous]

"Go see the dog!" Yells a parent to a toddler and my golden is so cute.... and toddler runs full pace at my dog(who is trained, but not to play with toddlers) and my beautiful golden is so excited he acts like a toddler as well! Look someone to play with, to jump around, to go crazy at their feet. I've been waiting all day for this joyful occasion! He is a crazy mess of 65lbs excitement. And then they say my dogs can't behave.
Seeing how my golden is not a service dog trained to interact with kids, should I ask daycare to bring him in every day so he gets used to being peaceful with kids running full pace at him? There is only one thing people need to know to have a dog behave, ignore the dog. Why is this so hard?
And no I don't let my dog become a happy mess when your kid runs at him. I move and take him away before contact is made, and then I am the bad guy again, because your cute kid just wants to play with my dog. But, guess what? My dog is not a toy. I advise all people to watch videos of how dogs play with other dogs.

[Anonymous]

You parents should be training YOUR KIDS: DONT run up to strange dogs not matter how cute. You have responsibilities too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just want a simple answer to the question, why do you feel you have the right to touch a strange dog? The dog is not public property. Stay away from it and all will be well

why are there one or two posters on here insisting that they have the right to touch a dog?

Answer that question and then maybe we can have a conversation.

If you're talking about a dog in a yard, then yes, it isn't public property. If you're talking about a dog on a sidewalk, it is in public. A fluffy doggie who is smiling, wagging his tail? Stay away from it?

I think this "ask before touching a dog" is probably wise but it's also new. Some children know it (in my experience many children know it), some parents know it. But not all children remember every single time. They're kids, they're impulsive, they don't always follow the rules.

ASK FIRST, idiot. Is it OK for people to stroke you when you walk down the sidewalk? I mean you can say no in your own yard.

If I'm jogging past a dog walker, I'm supposed to ask "is your dog crazy or can I jog past at a normal distance"?

If you just jog on by the dog you are fine. A dog that can’t handle that needs to be kept out of public. But kids should not go up and pet strange dogs without asking. We have a delightful dog but I have hammered into my kids from a young age to never touch a dog without asking it’s owner if it is OK. No one should. Basic safety issue my parents taught me 40 years ago too.

[Anonymous]

Just because your dog is cute and fluffy does not give kids the right to rush up to him. That’s asking for trouble.
On the other hand I keep my dog out of the children’s playground. Dogs don’t need to be there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just want a simple answer to the question, why do you feel you have the right to touch a strange dog? The dog is not public property. Stay away from it and all will be well

why are there one or two posters on here insisting that they have the right to touch a dog?

Answer that question and then maybe we can have a conversation.

If you're talking about a dog in a yard, then yes, it isn't public property. If you're talking about a dog on a sidewalk, it is in public. A fluffy doggie who is smiling, wagging his tail? Stay away from it?

I think this "ask before touching a dog" is probably wise but it's also new. Some children know it (in my experience many children know it), some parents know it. But not all children remember every single time. They're kids, they're impulsive, they don't always follow the rules.

Just because something is out in public does not mean it's public property...incredible that this needs to be said.

+1000

Sometimes I really wonder about the mindset of some people on here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Go see the dog!" Yells a parent to a toddler and my golden is so cute.... and toddler runs full pace at my dog(who is trained, but not to play with toddlers) and my beautiful golden is so excited he acts like a toddler as well! Look someone to play with, to jump around, to go crazy at their feet. I've been waiting all day for this joyful occasion! He is a crazy mess of 65lbs excitement. And then they say my dogs can't behave.
Seeing how my golden is not a service dog trained to interact with kids, should I ask daycare to bring him in every day so he gets used to being peaceful with kids running full pace at him? There is only one thing people need to know to have a dog behave, ignore the dog. Why is this so hard?
And no I don't let my dog become a happy mess when your kid runs at him. I move and take him away before contact is made, and then I am the bad guy again, because your cute kid just wants to play with my dog. But, guess what? My dog is not a toy. I advise all people to watch videos of how dogs play with other dogs.

I agree kids should not do this and parents should watch them, but you really should teach your dog to lie down on command, without fail. It can save his life (if he is running toward the road, etc.). Even my chihuahua has a strong down stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had children literally run up and start petting our dogs while we were on a walk. Once a tall, male jogger ran up to me and my dog - causing my dog to bristle and become wary. I finally had to stop walking them because, while our dogs are friendly, having strangers run up to them is startling and I didn't want incidents like that to create a phobia in my dogs.

I honestly don't know what people are thinking. Always ask before you pet a dog.

Yeah, if your dogs "bristle" at totally normal and predicatable sidewalk encounters (joggers passing you) then you did the right thing to stop walking them.

I think a big issue here that we're not discussing is the terrible trend in people "rescuing" dangerous dogs in an urban setting. I get that you want to be an animal savior, but maybe stop and think a minute about whether it's really a good idea to put your "rescue" in a setting where there'a no way to avoid close contact with a lot of people.

My dog became wary when a tall man ran up to us on a walk. My dog was being protective of me which is totally normal for her breed. She is a sweetheart and if that jogger had just jogged past us it would not have been an issue. But running straight up to us like that was startling to both me and my dog. I bristled a bit too, tbh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Animals (all animals) have a degree of unpredictability and are capable of biting under the right circumstances. How many of cases of "the dog has never bitten anyone" then suddenly gets startled feels threatened and bites?

It's really important both for the sake of the person and sake of the dog that people do not approach strange dogs without permission and advance warning.

Some of these answers surprise me. When I am on walks, even four year old children do not run up to my dog without permission. They ask and I always say "no" and compliment them on how smart and well mannered they are for asking.

Kids usually ask before petting our dog. But I do think the problem is on the dog owner's end. People seem to have forgotten why we have pets. I see no reason to have or keep a problematic dog that after years of love will bite a stranger or anyone badly enough to break the skin, let alone require significant medical attention.

Why do people want these crazy dangerous pets?

pp here- most dogs aren't crazy/dangerous, and I agree with you there. A dangerous, aggressive dog is not appropriate to have as a pet....but I think *people* anthropomorphize dogs and forget that they are animals, with animal instincts, and will respond as such under the right circumstances.

I am the owner of a “crazy” dog. I keep him because when I took him home I made a commitment to give him a good life. He has gotten significantly better over time, but is not perfect. All these posters saying people should dump their dogs - have you ever trained a dog? It is not an instantaneous process. It takes months and sometimes years, and training a dog to be desensitized to strangers cannot he accomplished if their owner does not take them outside in the general vicinity of people. When I take my dog out, I stay well off the sidewalk to signal that we do not want to interact with you. I have my eyes trained on him constantly and he wears a “do not pet” harness. If people try to talk to us, I tell them he is not formerly. What else do you want? Because he hasn’t healed overnight, you think I should kill him?

I mean, if your dog is so vicious that he has to wear a "do not pet" vest and you literally can't walk past people on the sidewalk at a normal distance ... then yeah, I think your responsibility is to keep him out of public. If you're that dedicated to "saving" dogs, then go move out to a rural property where you don't have to encounter people. You make it sound like you're walking a loaded weapon down the sidewalk, which is hardly convincing me.

I stay off the sidewalk so YOU know not to come up to us. My dog is fine sharing the sidewalk at normal distance until some idiot tries to get in his face because he is cute. The do not pet sign is also for YOU. He is not public property and all is well if you don’t try to pet him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had children literally run up and start petting our dogs while we were on a walk. Once a tall, male jogger ran up to me and my dog - causing my dog to bristle and become wary. I finally had to stop walking them because, while our dogs are friendly, having strangers run up to them is startling and I didn't want incidents like that to create a phobia in my dogs.

I honestly don't know what people are thinking. Always ask before you pet a dog.

Yeah, if your dogs "bristle" at totally normal and predicatable sidewalk encounters (joggers passing you) then you did the right thing to stop walking them.

I think a big issue here that we're not discussing is the terrible trend in people "rescuing" dangerous dogs in an urban setting. I get that you want to be an animal savior, but maybe stop and think a minute about whether it's really a good idea to put your "rescue" in a setting where there'a no way to avoid close contact with a lot of people.

My dog became wary when a tall man ran up to us on a walk. My dog was being protective of me which is totally normal for her breed. She is a sweetheart and if that jogger had just jogged past us it would not have been an issue. But running straight up to us like that was startling to both me and my dog. I bristled a bit too, tbh.

Oh, and for the record, we generally walk in the street. So children were literally running out into the street to pet my dogs. In the incident with the male jogger, we were walking on the sidewalk along a main drag in our neighborhood, not in front of houses, when a man who was jogging in the street suddenly made a beeline towards us to pet my dog. He was bigger and faster than me so trying to get away from him was not that easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Animals (all animals) have a degree of unpredictability and are capable of biting under the right circumstances. How many of cases of "the dog has never bitten anyone" then suddenly gets startled feels threatened and bites?

It's really important both for the sake of the person and sake of the dog that people do not approach strange dogs without permission and advance warning.

Some of these answers surprise me. When I am on walks, even four year old children do not run up to my dog without permission. They ask and I always say "no" and compliment them on how smart and well mannered they are for asking.

Kids usually ask before petting our dog. But I do think the problem is on the dog owner's end. People seem to have forgotten why we have pets. I see no reason to have or keep a problematic dog that after years of love will bite a stranger or anyone badly enough to break the skin, let alone require significant medical attention.

Why do people want these crazy dangerous pets?

pp here- most dogs aren't crazy/dangerous, and I agree with you there. A dangerous, aggressive dog is not appropriate to have as a pet....but I think *people* anthropomorphize dogs and forget that they are animals, with animal instincts, and will respond as such under the right circumstances.

I am the owner of a “crazy” dog. I keep him because when I took him home I made a commitment to give him a good life. He has gotten significantly better over time, but is not perfect. All these posters saying people should dump their dogs - have you ever trained a dog? It is not an instantaneous process. It takes months and sometimes years, and training a dog to be desensitized to strangers cannot he accomplished if their owner does not take them outside in the general vicinity of people. When I take my dog out, I stay well off the sidewalk to signal that we do not want to interact with you. I have my eyes trained on him constantly and he wears a “do not pet” harness. If people try to talk to us, I tell them he is not formerly. What else do you want? Because he hasn’t healed overnight, you think I should kill him?

I mean, if your dog is so vicious that he has to wear a "do not pet" vest and you literally can't walk past people on the sidewalk at a normal distance ... then yeah, I think your responsibility is to keep him out of public. If you're that dedicated to "saving" dogs, then go move out to a rural property where you don't have to encounter people. You make it sound like you're walking a loaded weapon down the sidewalk, which is hardly convincing me.

I stay off the sidewalk so YOU know not to come up to us. My dog is fine sharing the sidewalk at normal distance until some idiot tries to get in his face because he is cute. The do not pet sign is also for YOU. He is not public property and all is well if you don’t try to pet him.

Where did you find your "do not pet" vest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Animals (all animals) have a degree of unpredictability and are capable of biting under the right circumstances. How many of cases of "the dog has never bitten anyone" then suddenly gets startled feels threatened and bites?

It's really important both for the sake of the person and sake of the dog that people do not approach strange dogs without permission and advance warning.

Some of these answers surprise me. When I am on walks, even four year old children do not run up to my dog without permission. They ask and I always say "no" and compliment them on how smart and well mannered they are for asking.

Kids usually ask before petting our dog. But I do think the problem is on the dog owner's end. People seem to have forgotten why we have pets. I see no reason to have or keep a problematic dog that after years of love will bite a stranger or anyone badly enough to break the skin, let alone require significant medical attention.

Why do people want these crazy dangerous pets?

pp here- most dogs aren't crazy/dangerous, and I agree with you there. A dangerous, aggressive dog is not appropriate to have as a pet....but I think *people* anthropomorphize dogs and forget that they are animals, with animal instincts, and will respond as such under the right circumstances.

I am the owner of a “crazy” dog. I keep him because when I took him home I made a commitment to give him a good life. He has gotten significantly better over time, but is not perfect. All these posters saying people should dump their dogs - have you ever trained a dog? It is not an instantaneous process. It takes months and sometimes years, and training a dog to be desensitized to strangers cannot he accomplished if their owner does not take them outside in the general vicinity of people. When I take my dog out, I stay well off the sidewalk to signal that we do not want to interact with you. I have my eyes trained on him constantly and he wears a “do not pet” harness. If people try to talk to us, I tell them he is not formerly. What else do you want? Because he hasn’t healed overnight, you think I should kill him?

I mean, if your dog is so vicious that he has to wear a "do not pet" vest and you literally can't walk past people on the sidewalk at a normal distance ... then yeah, I think your responsibility is to keep him out of public. If you're that dedicated to "saving" dogs, then go move out to a rural property where you don't have to encounter people. You make it sound like you're walking a loaded weapon down the sidewalk, which is hardly convincing me.

I stay off the sidewalk so YOU know not to come up to us. My dog is fine sharing the sidewalk at normal distance until some idiot tries to get in his face because he is cute. The do not pet sign is also for YOU. He is not public property and all is well if you don’t try to pet him.

Where did you find your "do not pet" vest?

They are on Chewy and Amazon!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had children literally run up and start petting our dogs while we were on a walk. Once a tall, male jogger ran up to me and my dog - causing my dog to bristle and become wary. I finally had to stop walking them because, while our dogs are friendly, having strangers run up to them is startling and I didn't want incidents like that to create a phobia in my dogs.

I honestly don't know what people are thinking. Always ask before you pet a dog.

Yeah, if your dogs "bristle" at totally normal and predicatable sidewalk encounters (joggers passing you) then you did the right thing to stop walking them.

I think a big issue here that we're not discussing is the terrible trend in people "rescuing" dangerous dogs in an urban setting. I get that you want to be an animal savior, but maybe stop and think a minute about whether it's really a good idea to put your "rescue" in a setting where there'a no way to avoid close contact with a lot of people.

My dog became wary when a tall man ran up to us on a walk. My dog was being protective of me which is totally normal for her breed. She is a sweetheart and if that jogger had just jogged past us it would not have been an issue. But running straight up to us like that was startling to both me and my dog. I bristled a bit too, tbh.

Oh, and for the record, we generally walk in the street. So children were literally running out into the street to pet my dogs. In the incident with the male jogger, we were walking on the sidewalk along a main drag in our neighborhood, not in front of houses, when a man who was jogging in the street suddenly made a beeline towards us to pet my dog. He was bigger and faster than me so trying to get away from him was not that easy.

As dogs grow up, they become more protective and less tolerant. That means that some of them are no longer safe in public.

Don't blame a jogger for having a protective dog. It sounds like you've adjusted. But if you really need to blame someone, then blame your dog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had children literally run up and start petting our dogs while we were on a walk. Once a tall, male jogger ran up to me and my dog - causing my dog to bristle and become wary. I finally had to stop walking them because, while our dogs are friendly, having strangers run up to them is startling and I didn't want incidents like that to create a phobia in my dogs.

I honestly don't know what people are thinking. Always ask before you pet a dog.

Yeah, if your dogs "bristle" at totally normal and predicatable sidewalk encounters (joggers passing you) then you did the right thing to stop walking them.

I think a big issue here that we're not discussing is the terrible trend in people "rescuing" dangerous dogs in an urban setting. I get that you want to be an animal savior, but maybe stop and think a minute about whether it's really a good idea to put your "rescue" in a setting where there'a no way to avoid close contact with a lot of people.

My dog became wary when a tall man ran up to us on a walk. My dog was being protective of me which is totally normal for her breed. She is a sweetheart and if that jogger had just jogged past us it would not have been an issue. But running straight up to us like that was startling to both me and my dog. I bristled a bit too, tbh.

Joggers are under no duty to give you an abnormally wide berth. If you can't share the sidewalk with normal users, then you should not be on the sidewalk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Animals (all animals) have a degree of unpredictability and are capable of biting under the right circumstances. How many of cases of "the dog has never bitten anyone" then suddenly gets startled feels threatened and bites?

It's really important both for the sake of the person and sake of the dog that people do not approach strange dogs without permission and advance warning.

Some of these answers surprise me. When I am on walks, even four year old children do not run up to my dog without permission. They ask and I always say "no" and compliment them on how smart and well mannered they are for asking.

Kids usually ask before petting our dog. But I do think the problem is on the dog owner's end. People seem to have forgotten why we have pets. I see no reason to have or keep a problematic dog that after years of love will bite a stranger or anyone badly enough to break the skin, let alone require significant medical attention.

Why do people want these crazy dangerous pets?

pp here- most dogs aren't crazy/dangerous, and I agree with you there. A dangerous, aggressive dog is not appropriate to have as a pet....but I think *people* anthropomorphize dogs and forget that they are animals, with animal instincts, and will respond as such under the right circumstances.

I am the owner of a “crazy” dog. I keep him because when I took him home I made a commitment to give him a good life. He has gotten significantly better over time, but is not perfect. All these posters saying people should dump their dogs - have you ever trained a dog? It is not an instantaneous process. It takes months and sometimes years, and training a dog to be desensitized to strangers cannot he accomplished if their owner does not take them outside in the general vicinity of people. When I take my dog out, I stay well off the sidewalk to signal that we do not want to interact with you. I have my eyes trained on him constantly and he wears a “do not pet” harness. If people try to talk to us, I tell them he is not formerly. What else do you want? Because he hasn’t healed overnight, you think I should kill him?

I mean, if your dog is so vicious that he has to wear a "do not pet" vest and you literally can't walk past people on the sidewalk at a normal distance ... then yeah, I think your responsibility is to keep him out of public. If you're that dedicated to "saving" dogs, then go move out to a rural property where you don't have to encounter people. You make it sound like you're walking a loaded weapon down the sidewalk, which is hardly convincing me.

I stay off the sidewalk so YOU know not to come up to us. My dog is fine sharing the sidewalk at normal distance until some idiot tries to get in his face because he is cute. The do not pet sign is also for YOU. He is not public property and all is well if you don’t try to pet him.

So you walk your dog down the middle of the street? Where do you live?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had children literally run up and start petting our dogs while we were on a walk. Once a tall, male jogger ran up to me and my dog - causing my dog to bristle and become wary. I finally had to stop walking them because, while our dogs are friendly, having strangers run up to them is startling and I didn't want incidents like that to create a phobia in my dogs.

I honestly don't know what people are thinking. Always ask before you pet a dog.

Yeah, if your dogs "bristle" at totally normal and predicatable sidewalk encounters (joggers passing you) then you did the right thing to stop walking them.

I think a big issue here that we're not discussing is the terrible trend in people "rescuing" dangerous dogs in an urban setting. I get that you want to be an animal savior, but maybe stop and think a minute about whether it's really a good idea to put your "rescue" in a setting where there'a no way to avoid close contact with a lot of people.

My dog became wary when a tall man ran up to us on a walk. My dog was being protective of me which is totally normal for her breed. She is a sweetheart and if that jogger had just jogged past us it would not have been an issue. But running straight up to us like that was startling to both me and my dog. I bristled a bit too, tbh.

Oh, and for the record, we generally walk in the street. So children were literally running out into the street to pet my dogs. In the incident with the male jogger, we were walking on the sidewalk along a main drag in our neighborhood, not in front of houses, when a man who was jogging in the street suddenly made a beeline towards us to pet my dog. He was bigger and faster than me so trying to get away from him was not that easy.

As dogs grow up, they become more protective and less tolerant. That means that some of them are no longer safe in public.

Don't blame a jogger for having a protective dog. It sounds like you've adjusted. But if you really need to blame someone, then blame your dog.

My dog was leashed and under control. The one being erratic and charging towards us was the jogger. My dog absolutely behaved appropriately to bristle at that person. And no way am I going to attempt to acclimate my dog to being approached in such a manner.

The "do not pet" vest may be a good solution to that though.