Reply to Can someone explain to me why it's so important that your dog say hi to mine?

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[quote=Anonymous]If I'm walking my dog, and someone approaches with their dog, and I am clearly backing away and calling my dog to come with me, why do people continue to come forward, often while telling "it's OK, he's harmless."

I'm not a dog owner, but I've been sitting for my son's dog, Fang*, while he's out of town, and this is driving me crazy.  To give you an example.

I'm walking the dog, and I stop at the ice cream man to get a treat.  30 seconds later, the dog poops.  So, I stoop and scoop.

But now, I'm holding the leash, and untied bag of crap, and a popsicle.  Tying the bag is tricky because my other hand is full, and I'd rather that my popsicle not touch the crap bag.   So, I decide that I will stand still, eat the popsicle, deposit the stick in the crap bag, tie and it and dispose appropriately.

But then, out of nowhere Friendly McFriendlyson appears with her dog FooFoo.  Now, I know from experience that if I let Fang and FooFoo "meet" each other, they will walk in circles sniffing butts until their leashes are tangled.  Now, normally, this wouldn't be a big problem.  I'd simply wrap Fang's leash around my hand so that it's too short to tangle, but that's hard to do with the crap and the popsicle, so instead, I call Fang to come with me and I back up, onto the grass, until we are out of range of FooFoo's leash, so that they can pass undisturbed on the sidewalk.  Anyone who can see me, can clearly tell that I am trying to keep Fang away from FooFoo.

At which point, Friendly McF releases the button on FooFoo's extendable leash while calling "Oooh, a new friend for FooFoo!" and FooFoo comes running over, and wraps her leash around my legs, I go to untangle, dropping my popsicle.

Can you tell me why?  I mean, in this case both dogs are safe, but if I'm backing away, why would you assume it's safe.  Maybe Fang has a contagious illness.  Maybe he's leash aggressive.  Or maybe I just want to finish my popsicle in peace, but why would someone do that?

And yes, I know that it's even more annoying when someone lets their dog run up to your child.  Back when Fang's owner was little that used to drive me batty.  So, don't ask me to explain that either.

*Name changes to protect the innocent.  [/quote]

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