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

[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.

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

Not that pp but we live in a quiet residential neighborhood and most people walk their dogs in the streets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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

Not that pp but we live in a quiet residential neighborhood and most people walk their dogs in the streets.

PP here. Yes, either in the street or if we are at a park in the grass to the right of the sidewalk.

[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.

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.

That isn't what happened though. I explained that I was on the sidewalk with my dog, a jogger was running down the street and very suddenly made a beeline towards us to pet my dog. It startled me and it startled my dog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

He is trained to lay down on command. However, he is rarely around charging kids and hence it is difficult to train for that. At home, when visitors come he is trained to go sit on the stairs, in his spot. He is still a dog though. I find it unrealistic to train out of him every single dog trait.

[Anonymous]

It's actually not the kids but grown men who are the worst offenders. My dog isn't aggressive but is scared. The other day a full grown man starts rushing towards us like a gigantic toddler with arms outstretched screaming I'm gonna pet this cuute puppy! My dog starts backing up, crouches down, starts panicking a little. I say, no, do not touch her! He runs over and is hovering over her and me, even I felt a little threatened, he just seemed a tad unhinged. Finally he took a hint. So many times, a man will start approaching, when I say she isn't friendly with strangers, doesn't like being approached, is scared, etc., they will not listen and keep coming or will say, oh its ok, I don't mind and keep approaching even if they see the dog is backing up and running zigzags on the leash to escape them and I am telling them to back off.

[Anonymous]

Your dog became wary when a jogger jogged "at you?" I am against anyone touching my dog, but you sound unhinged and nuts. If you can't control your dog when a jogger passes by, (doubtful he slammed into you!!!!) your dog has no place being on the street even on the leash. Train your dog not to attack people!

[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.

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.

That isn't what happened though. I explained that I was on the sidewalk with my dog, a jogger was running down the street and very suddenly made a beeline towards us to pet my dog. It startled me and it startled my dog.

You need to learn to write clearly. Your original post did not indicate he got in the face of your dog to PET him. All I got was that jogger was running straight at you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your dog became wary when a jogger jogged "at you?" I am against anyone touching my dog, but you sound unhinged and nuts. If you can't control your dog when a jogger passes by, (doubtful he slammed into you!!!!) your dog has no place being on the street even on the leash. Train your dog not to attack people!

Forget the dogs for a minute. Imagine if you are taking a power walk down the sidewalk one bright, sunny morning. A jogger is approaching you. You expect to go past each other. Instead, the jogger runs Right Up to you and reaches to shake your hand. Weird? Startling? I'd say - yeah, not normal.

Now picture the same scenario only this time you are power walking with your dog. The jogger crosses in front of you, causing you to abruptly stop and reaches down towards your dog. Weird? I say - yeah, not normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your dog became wary when a jogger jogged "at you?" I am against anyone touching my dog, but you sound unhinged and nuts. If you can't control your dog when a jogger passes by, (doubtful he slammed into you!!!!) your dog has no place being on the street even on the leash. Train your dog not to attack people!

Sounds like you need some training not to attack people. She said her dog became wary, the dog did not attack but you sure attacked this poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

That isn't what happened though. I explained that I was on the sidewalk with my dog, a jogger was running down the street and very suddenly made a beeline towards us to pet my dog. It startled me and it startled my dog.

You need to learn to write clearly. Your original post did not indicate he got in the face of your dog to PET him. All I got was that jogger was running straight at you.

To clarify - he was running in the street, we were on the sidewalk. Suddenly he veered onto the sidewalk and ran straight at us. Not by us, AT us, with the intention of petting my dog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your dog became wary when a jogger jogged "at you?" I am against anyone touching my dog, but you sound unhinged and nuts. If you can't control your dog when a jogger passes by, (doubtful he slammed into you!!!!) your dog has no place being on the street even on the leash. Train your dog not to attack people!

Forget the dogs for a minute. Imagine if you are taking a power walk down the sidewalk one bright, sunny morning. A jogger is approaching you. You expect to go past each other. Instead, the jogger runs Right Up to you and reaches to shake your hand. Weird? Startling? I'd say - yeah, not normal.

Now picture the same scenario only this time you are power walking with your dog. The jogger crosses in front of you, causing you to abruptly stop and reaches down towards your dog. Weird? I say - yeah, not normal.

Sure. But one unordinary experience doesn't make a dangerous dog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your dog became wary when a jogger jogged "at you?" I am against anyone touching my dog, but you sound unhinged and nuts. If you can't control your dog when a jogger passes by, (doubtful he slammed into you!!!!) your dog has no place being on the street even on the leash. Train your dog not to attack people!

Forget the dogs for a minute. Imagine if you are taking a power walk down the sidewalk one bright, sunny morning. A jogger is approaching you. You expect to go past each other. Instead, the jogger runs Right Up to you and reaches to shake your hand. Weird? Startling? I'd say - yeah, not normal.

Now picture the same scenario only this time you are power walking with your dog. The jogger crosses in front of you, causing you to abruptly stop and reaches down towards your dog. Weird? I say - yeah, not normal.

Sure. But one unordinary experience doesn't make a dangerous dog.

No, it does not. But once a dog has a scary encounter like that, it might take less to prompt that startle/fear response in them the next time.

My dog was an 8 month old large breed puppy when that happened. Bad, scary, negative experiences can really impact their development. I know that, so I simply stopped walking my dog for awhile. Thankfully she has moved beyond it and is not afraid of joggers.

[Anonymous]

The trolls have a bone...do...not...feed...them...

[Anonymous]

People need to be more vigilant when walking their dog. Get off your damn cellphone and pay attention to your surroundings and where people are.

[Anonymous]

My daughter LOVES dogs.

I taught her early on to ALWAYS ASK PERMISSION to approach/pet someone's dog. And always first let the dog sniff your hand (calmly, slowly, palm down or away from the dog)

It's simple people.

I'm NOT a dog person and don't have one, but I get it. They are living, breathing creatures with personalities. They are not your plaything. Just because you see a dog and think it is cute does not give you the right to pet them. And, just because the owner has a dog, it doesn't mean *they* want to interact with everyone who finds their dog appealing.