My dog is not walking petting zoo!

[JLSOhio51]

If I have one problem with this (or any online forum it is the tendency of a reader to add their spin on what a poster said:

Ok, don't give them a free pass or educate them. React negatively to them doing it and don't educate them to ask permission first.

I said nothing about how I react to someone approaching my dog. Therefore, you have no idea if I would take steps to educate them or not. I said only that I don't like people approaching without asking or allowing my dog to approach them.

Have you solved the problem or helped this person understand in any way? Do you feel better about the situation by reactiing in this manner? Have you helped the next dog owner this person walks into?

Again, you are making an awful lot of assumptions about my behavior that may or may not be correct, but you can't get any of that from what I have said. You have supplied that info from your impressions of how I might act. I certainly hope that in addition to jumping to these (incorrect) conclusions about me that you also don't hold the opinion that I do not have the right to hold opinions different than those you hold.

This topic can have legal consequences to it as well. If your dog is not well behaved and snaps at some person that does this without asking first, this could lead to the destruction of the dog if it bites the person...

I draw no straight line between my not liking someone invading my dog's space and my dog therefore behaving badly in response. As I said, I have made no comment about how I react in those situations. If you take issue with my likes and dislikes, so be it (and I have no problem discussing things I say). I do however, have a problem discussing what I say and what you assume are the logical next steps.

 

[MissyGallant]

This has opened my eyes about this topic. We have a VERY friendly sheltie. Well, two of them. Casey and Tara LOVE to get attention from strangers. We have to make Casey wait to go up to a stranger until we know the stranger wants to pet him. He just assumes people are put on this earth to love on him. We normally see people looking in our dogs' direction and let them know they can pet before they ask. It's hard to imagine it being otherwise. We sometimes have Bonnie with us and just tell people they can't pet her, and they are fine with it. In fact, we went on a walk once and no one stopped us to pet Casey. He pouted.

 

[SheltieChe]

here is another article on the topic
http://www.dogster.com/lifestyle/dogs-are-not-public-property
needles too say that I am much more in agreement with this article than with very original newspaper one I started this thread.

 

[Jess041]

here is another article on the topic
http://www.dogster.com/lifestyle/dogs-are-not-public-property
needles too say that I am much more in agreement with this article than with very original newspaper one I started this thread.

I agree with the overall point this second author is trying to make. I appreciate the articles where the author is trying to help you imagine a situation in your dogs shoes, but a couple of her examples I was like, wait, nobody is trying to steal a dog here, it's about boundaries. I think the easiest analogy for my to follow is, what if it was my child? I don't have children, but if I did, would I (or anyone else) be ok with a stranger coming up to me on a playground and picking up my kid, kissing it on the cheek? Absolutely not. I would think they were a lunatic. And that's kind of the scenario she kinda covered, but then when she started talking about how dogs are property, and then went into various examples about other types of property. In the eyes of the law, pets are property (at least where I live), but socially, I think most people feel that their pets are an extension of their family. I don't understand how other people don't get what I consider obvious boundaries. But there's a lot of things in life I just don't understand .