Middle aged woman acted like my innocuous French Bulldog was a pitbull. Weird?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t you posted before being miffed that not everyone absolutely loves your French bulldog?

I hate those dogs. Ugly, smelly poorly bred things.

A perfect match with the retractable leash, beloved of people who don't know jack about dog training.

[Anonymous]

OP, you are a bad dog owner and give good dog owners a bad name.

I love dogs and my kids love dogs. But retractable leashes are terrible if you are going anywhere that is not specifically a dog place, like a dog run or dog park. You should always have control of your dog and people should approach you the dog owner and ask if they want to pet or interact with the dog. Then you, as the dog owner, can agree or disagree based on the dog's disposition and whether you have control of your dog. I have taught my children to ask the owner before approaching the dog if they want to interact with the dog. But in no way should you let your dog approach another person (adult or child) on it's own.

Since you don't properly control your dog, you are the problem. Stop trying to blame other people for your lack of control of your pet.

[Anonymous]

I have a neighbor who talks to me when I'm walking my dog if she is with her husband. But when she's alone, she hurries in a different direction. I finally figured out she is afraid of my tiny and very sweet 10 lb dog. So now when I see either her and her DH or her alone I pick up my dog. Then she wants to chat.

We have so many dogs in our neighborhood, I realize it stresses her to walk, but they are elderly and brava for her fo getting out and doing it anyway. Anyway I can help, I'm down for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a neighbor who talks to me when I'm walking my dog if she is with her husband. But when she's alone, she hurries in a different direction. I finally figured out she is afraid of my tiny and very sweet 10 lb dog. So now when I see either her and her DH or her alone I pick up my dog. Then she wants to chat.

We have so many dogs in our neighborhood, I realize it stresses her to walk, but they are elderly and brava for her fo getting out and doing it anyway. Anyway I can help, I'm down for that.

There are a LOT of people from my Caribbean culture who are extremely afraid of all dogs. I have seen grown woman fly across the room onto a couch screaming to get away from a 10 pound terrier that ran excitedly toward her. It’s a very real thing.

[Anonymous]

NO retractable leashes.

Some people are just afraid of all dogs. I have a certified therapy dog Golden who is always in a perfect heel and yeah, 99% of people want to come up and pet. Very friendly and friendly looking. One lady saw us walking down the sidewalk, grabbed her husband and pushed him to the other side of the sidewalk against a building screaming in fear like I had a 120 lb snarling, barking, and lunging Cane Corso at the end of my lead not a blissed out Golden minding his own business. A teen once panicked and ran away shrieking because "the dog looked at her." It happens. Yeah, it's kind of weird when it happens but phobias are phobias.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not even five minutes earlier a random family of three with a five year old daughter were petting her, with the daughter right in his face remarking how "perfect" he is. (Hilarious.) I say that to say everywhere we walk people want to pet him or call him adorable. He's very easy going. Later in the walk, a seemingly normal looking woman dressed in typical fitness mom garb started backing up and getting tense and seemed to have her hand on mace. I had his retractable chain loose because I figured she was a typical dog friendly person. Then it clicked she was sort of freaking out about my pup and I apologized.

Do some people just have a phobia about dogs in general and can't distinguish between them? And if you do, why walk a trail with so many dogs on it?

Holy crap, what an entitled post. You had a dog on a retractable leash (bad), that was loose (bad), and allowed your dog to approach a stranger (bad), because you assumed *everyone* loves your dog (idiot). And to top it off, you question why a *person* is on a trail, because somehow people with dogs have more of a right to it than others?

YTA, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? Your default assumption is that everyone is a “typical dog friendly person?” Retractable leashes should be banned. And you shouldn’t let random children get in your dog’s face, either.

I'm not going to deny that joy. I love petting other people's dogs and they love petting mine. I'm not petting a pitbull or anything scary but cute breeds are fair game.

Can we stop with the pitbull hate? Just enough already. We get it. You have told us over and over had they are "scary" and should be banned. I am sick of it.

[Anonymous]

I was bit by a small dog when I was a kid.

I find small dogs scary. Especially ones that aren’t well restrained. I wish I didn’t have this fear and have worked on it in therapy. I’m now no longer scared at all of larger dogs, but I’m still scared of small dogs.

I do like hiking and trail running, but keep away from any dogs, especially small dogs.

[Anonymous]

I feel like this post is just trying to start some anti-pit bull nonsense lol. Who cares what kind of dog you have some people are afraid of all dogs and don't care what the breed is.

[Anonymous]

They are dangerous dogs, too, alas.

[Anonymous]

Some people do have a phobia about dogs, sometimes even owners of other dogs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm scared of dogs, now I can't go anywhere?

Scared of 20-25 pound Frenchy? That's a bit much, I think.

You really can't imagine a world in which another person is afraid of a dog

A small cute dog? No. First time. That’s why I asked if some people simply can’t differentiate? I’m honestly not sure.

I assume that someone selfish enough to use a retractable leash in that situation is selfish enough to have not trained the dog. So, yes I am going to avoid your dog.

A well loved and cared for dog is a delight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not even five minutes earlier a random family of three with a five year old daughter were petting her, with the daughter right in his face remarking how "perfect" he is. (Hilarious.) I say that to say everywhere we walk people want to pet him or call him adorable. He's very easy going. Later in the walk, a seemingly normal looking woman dressed in typical fitness mom garb started backing up and getting tense and seemed to have her hand on mace. I had his retractable chain loose because I figured she was a typical dog friendly person. Then it clicked she was sort of freaking out about my pup and I apologized.

Do some people just have a phobia about dogs in general and can't distinguish between them? And if you do, why walk a trail with so many dogs on it?

Holy crap, what an entitled post. You had a dog on a retractable leash (bad), that was loose (bad), and allowed your dog to approach a stranger (bad), because you assumed *everyone* loves your dog (idiot). And to top it off, you question why a *person* is on a trail, because somehow people with dogs have more of a right to it than others?

YTA, OP.

+1

What a jerk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not even five minutes earlier a random family of three with a five year old daughter were petting her, with the daughter right in his face remarking how "perfect" he is. (Hilarious.) I say that to say everywhere we walk people want to pet him or call him adorable. He's very easy going. Later in the walk, a seemingly normal looking woman dressed in typical fitness mom garb started backing up and getting tense and seemed to have her hand on mace. I had his retractable chain loose because I figured she was a typical dog friendly person. Then it clicked she was sort of freaking out about my pup and I apologized.

Do some people just have a phobia about dogs in general and can't distinguish between them? And if you do, why walk a trail with so many dogs on it?

Holy crap, what an entitled post. You had a dog on a retractable leash (bad), that was loose (bad), and allowed your dog to approach a stranger (bad), because you assumed *everyone* loves your dog (idiot). And to top it off, you question why a *person* is on a trail, because somehow people with dogs have more of a right to it than others?

YTA, OP.

👏 This, totally this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm scared of dogs, now I can't go anywhere?

Scared of 20-25 pound Frenchy? That's a bit much, I think.

You really can't imagine a world in which another person is afraid of a dog

A small cute dog? No. First time. That’s why I asked if some people simply can’t differentiate? I’m honestly not sure.

Whether your dog is cute varies by personal opinion. It’s not uncommon to encounter a poorly behaved small dog because the owners specifically got a small dog so they wouldn’t have to worry about controlling it. A fair number of small dogs are very reactive and protective not only of their own property, but also a wide radius around themselves, even when on a walk outside their property. While your dog (and many small dogs) might be a models of perfect behavior, people can still be afraid of your dog because of previous dog encounters. They don’t owe you an explanation, but you do owe it to them to keep your dog out of their personal space.