My dog is not walking petting zoo!

[VallejoSheltie]

I agree. I've had more people stop their cars to ask about Boots than I can believe. They sure never stopped in the decades before when I was on my own.
This problem is never going to be solved for dogs, and Shelties most definately. Shelties are the iconic Lassie for everyone. Much more approachable than the full size Collies, of which one at my park has to be#100.
You're gonna have to turn in your Sheltie card and get a Pit or Rottie if you want to minimize promiscuous petting.
Then, my guy is not the stand-offish, hesitant type. He'll say howdy and lick anyone's hand.
And, I don't have that much experience with people loving on my dog without asking, so maybe I understand some of the critique of the author.

I agree again, write the author with your comments and see what she says about promoting this less acceptable and potentially dangerous behavior. Maybe she'll mention it.

I can't get too worked up about people wanting to pet Dickens. Shelties are generally such beautiful dogs that people can't help themselves. I've got a neighbor who told me a couple of weeks ago how frustrated she was because she wanted to reach over the fence and pet my "beautiful Collie," but he'd back off every time she approached!

 

[ortegah]

I'm fine as long as they ask, but it does get annoying sometimes.

I had someone, a full grown woman mind you, come up and grab Trax by the tail to pet his tail as he walked by at the Pet Expo a few years ago. She's lucky he didn't turn around and snap her hand off! That was the same year someone walked past us and said, "OH you have a sheltie! I do too! Did you wanna breed them??"

 

[melbell]

I'm perfectly fine with people doing this to my puppy. He's a shy guy and needs to get used to people of all ages. We actually brought him to our Market Day 2 weeks ago purely to get petted by everyone and he did really well . That being said though, if someone tried to pet my female (without asking) it would upset me because she doesn't like people and would freak out on them

 

[melbell]

I'm fine as long as they ask, but it does get annoying sometimes.

I had someone, a full grown woman mind you, come up and grab Trax by the tail to pet his tail as he walked by at the Pet Expo a few years ago. She's lucky he didn't turn around and snap her hand off! That was the same year someone walked past us and said, "OH you have a sheltie! I do too! Did you wanna breed them??"

I hate when people don't know the proper way to pet dogs. I will sometimes point it out and show them the proper way. My one friend is convinced she must rough pet my dogs. I wouldn't even call it petting. She's only used to outside hunting dogs though...but still, needless to say, my puppy refuses to go to her.

 

[SheltieChe]

It has been drilled into me that no matter how cute that dog might look I always have to do whole nine yards behavior that Victoria Stillwel describes in video clip- stand still sideways, avert the direct stare, hand down for sniffing and wait for dog to make first contact. Besides asking owner permission always ask dog´s permission... maybe because facility where I started is known for all kinds of dogs so can not assume anything.
My two shelties have typical reserved behavior, I find it funny because lots of people seems to expect Lab or Golden behavior from EVERY dog they meet...
although Che will sell his mama for the cookie and will remember people forever who gave him cookie in the past...

 

[take4roll10]

I have no problem with people petting my dogs as long as they ask properly and I have a dog who enjoys being pet.

Unfortunately, my dog doesn't like being touched by strangers and is reactive. It's really unfortunate because she's super cute (biased a little?) and people love little fluffy dogs. I guarantee that the shepherds, pittbulls and rottweilers in our neighborhood are much friendlier than my dog and rarely get asked to be pet.

 

[2GoodDogs]

Don't want people to approach your dog? get a choke hold on the leash, doesn't have to be tight... and mutter easy boy, easy, don't bite..don't bite...
Of course a little panic in your voice adds dramatic effect!

However, these can be terrific training opportunities for the sit for exam, stand for exam, and accepting a friendly stranger exercises, like for the Canine Good Citizen testing.

 

[Mignarda]

Don't want people to approach your dog? get a choke hold on the leash, doesn't have to be tight... and mutter easy boy, easy, don't bite..don't bite...
Of course a little panic in your voice adds dramatic effect!

Or you could say, "Please be careful; the last time this dog bit someone he had diarrhea for a week!"

 

[celloyogi]

Don't want people to approach your dog? get a choke hold on the leash, doesn't have to be tight... and mutter easy boy, easy, don't bite..don't bite...
Of course a little panic in your voice adds dramatic effect!

However, these can be terrific training opportunities for the sit for exam, stand for exam, and accepting a friendly stranger exercises, like for the Canine Good Citizen testing.

Another option is to use a short, wide, heavy leather lead with one of those emergency grab handles near the collar. Grab the handle when passing near people to steer your dog away while talking to him under your breath. You could just be saying "yay, let's go chase squirrels!" but the people won't know that. You could, however, be setting yourself and your dog up to be viewed as untrustworthy, unfriendly, etc.

There are a few people around here that would make me consider doing something like that with Olive. Those people are those I flat-out do not trust around animals for various reasons. In general, though, it's easier to just look ahead and adjust course to put distance between us or if the people are safe and Olive seems to be okay, it's easier to try for a few minutes of interaction.

 

[Laddie's Mom]

I don't mind too much IF they ask first, but they MUST ask. It gets old sometime when they just walk up and start petting. I also, will take a shorter hold on the leash and act like I am saying something to Laddie, this works all the time and no one has even asked to pet him. I know socializing is important, but, they can carry it too far, especially in this darn little community.

To be honest, I guess I really do NOT like it, but, have to live with it to an extent. Oh well.