another "people are idiots" thread

[FoxyWench]

i took ruby to petco yesterday and im stood looking at the boots (she needs a pair soon shes already getting leaves stuck in her feathering...i can just imagine the snowballs)
and suddenly i feel rubies butt pressed against my leg, her tail was wagging but i knew something wasnt right as i hear "go pet the pretty dog hunny" and theres this STUPID woman with her toddler, 2 mabe 3 years old pushing her obviously slightly warey, and very unstable (and sticky) baby towards ruby...
theis woman didnt ask me if she was friendly, (small dogs tend to be nippy if you listen to the rumors) she didnt ask if she or her child could pet my dog...not even aklowledgement of my presence...

i turned around and quickly said "you know its a good job my dog is friendly and very social and outgoing...you shoudl NEVER encourage any child, no matter how sweet and "Cute" the dog may be to pet a strange dog. even the smallest dogs can bite and my dog if so inclined is the perfect hight to bite your childs face simply by height comparisson..."
she looked at me like i had 6 heads, then looked down and continued to say "its ok hunny, you can pet the pretty puppy" WTF?!

at this point rubies sensing the kids not sure and whatever he smelt of it wasnt the cookies and sweets that she assumes toddlers are supposed to smell like and she was carefully backing away from the situation.
so i piked her up and said "hopefully the next dog you try this little game with bites YOU and not your poor child!"

the guy neer me with a large adult male english mastif turned round and smiled at me his responce "its people like her that are the reason so many dogs get a bad rap as biters, they assume its their god given right to pet anything they see...and worse when theres kids involved..."

i mean what the hell was that lady thinking, for all she knew ruby could have been one of those nasty nippy little things and could have easily done perminent damage to that childs face...and even after confronting her about it she still ignored my presence and continued to encourage her toddler to come towards ruby...

about 15 minutes later were leaving and shes over in the same spot trying to encourage her baby to pet a dog that looked much like a jrt only a lil bigger, the dog was clearly stressed, ears pinned stubby tucked under, head low, the owner noticed her and said "sorry hes a rescue he doesnt like kids at all and doesnt like to be touched by strangers"
her responce "he'll like mine" at which point she put her hand forward to push the kid (as shed doen with ruby) and the dog grumbled and snapped a warning snap almost getting her...
it was interesting to watch as the dog actually dodged the baby and whent in from the side directly at the mother, but then she did what TRULY miffed me off, she stood up picked her baby up and started yelling at the guy "how dare you bring a visious animal like that into a place with kids, that dogs dangerous, im goign to sue...

his responce "lady good luck, he didnt touch you, you were told before hand that he doesnt like children or being touched in general by strangers and you ignored me and tried to pet him anyway, theres not a court on earth that would give you a dime"
"youll have to prove that" she grumbled at which point myself and 4 other people plus the cashire and the manager of the building said "we hear him and saw what happend, Your at fault!"

she stormed off...

turns out she doesnt own ANY pets, claims to be a dog expert (though hasnt had a dog since she was 6yrs old herself) and brings her kids (one at a time) between the ages of 2 1/2 thrugh 5 there every monday for the "free petting zoo"

there hoping after this she doesnt come back because she makes the actualy customers uncomfortable and never actually buys anything...this woman doesnt even own a fish...

hopefully it stays that way...

poor kids gonna get his face bitten off one day though and who will be blamed, the dog of course...*sigh*

i just cant stand some people...
sry, just had to rant a little...

 

[SarahFish]

That's the sad thing, there's 2 extremes when there's parents with kids and patting dogs. On one side there's the insanely over-protective mother who at the smallest sign of her child walking towards a dog leaps him and pulls the kid away, telling the child not to pat dogs, then on the other end is this woman, just letting the child come in without asking to pat a dog that could hate being touched on it's head.
Why cant every parent be in the middle? The one's that have taught their children to ask the owner the slowly go up to the dog and gently stroke it.
I blame the media. There's thousands of dogs in the world, and the instant one attacks (mostly after being provoked somehow) it's all over the news, and "experts" getting consulted on how to deal with the "problem" of dog attacks. Meanwhile the rest of the dog population gets a bad image painted of them.
Of course, the dogs that help police catch criminals, sniff out dangerous drugs or detect items being brought in through airports that could damage a countries ecosystem, what about them? These dogs save people everyday, but they never get a mention.
There's a lot of people I'd like to strangle about all this, but I don't have enough time...

 

[mrose_s]

god, what an IDIOT!

I can't believe some people.
i can almost understand uneducated people but several people have confronted her and she takes no notice

 

[Paige]

What's with all the idiots lately!

 

[bubbatd]

I think that most people figure that any dog at PetSmart would be friendly or they wouldn't be there .

 

[noludoru]

Foxy? I think that is the WORST story about parents thinking dogs are their personal petting zoo that I have ever seen. Maybe you should complain the next time you go in, and try to get her banned from going there... she's going to CAUSE a bit someday, and then going to try to sue for the plastic surgery costs.

 

[ihartgonzo]

I think that most people figure that any dog at PetSmart would be friendly or they wouldn't be there .

I agree, to an extent.

Gonzo has his CGC, and behaves perfectly in public, but he is still fearful of some strangers approaching him (people who are rude, and run up, with no dog manners what-so-ever). Are people with dogs who are wary of children or certain strangers supposed to keep their dogs locked away from society? Why is it expected of every single dog that they greet every single stranger with excitement and a wagging tail? I understand if the owner allows people to pet their dog, and the dog is aggressive, the owner is at fault; or if the dog is lunging at people or other dogs. But it's no one's RIGHT to pet another person's dog.

There are some breeds whose personality is supposed to be exhuberant and friendly (Goldens, for instance), but there are also breeds who are bred and expected to be aloof toward strangers. There are also dogs, many from rescue, who have had traumatic experiences with children and just aren't comfortable being petted by kids, who often don't know how to pet a dog. That doesn't make them aggressive nor does it make their owners irresponsible for taking them out in public.

 

[FoxyWench]

there are 72 complaints on file about her thus far, unfortunatly the store managers are helpless because shes a "customer" according to the district manager while she doesnt buy anything currently she could one day and she might refer people to shop there...*sigh*

its ridiculous...

as for assuming any dog at petsmart is friendly, while this might be true one should NEVER assume anything. especially when it comes to toddlers and strange dogs...there are so many things that could go wrong...

but the key point here is ASK and if the owner says no respect that, dont just pretend like the owner isnt even there...ruby is a service dog, at the time she wasnt on duty (not wearing her jacket) however this woman would have tried to have her kid pet her even if she was on duty...aparently her 5 year old was growled at by a police dog when she helad him to the police car window so he could put his hand in and pet the dog...and she was SUPRISED and angry because the dog was doing his job! i mean seriously...

and the dog that snaped was friendly at first, he was under control, the owner was aware, and those polite enough to ask first he read his dog well if the dog seemed uncomfortable he politly said no, explained why and all was good, the dog didnt become reactive untill this woman had been trying to push the child in his face even after being told NO by its owner. i think the dog only missed his bite because the ownere imediatly and quickly reacted shortening the leash giving the dog not enough lenght to reach. the man and his dog had been practicing basics (heel, sit, stay ect) as well as socilizing in there for over an hour with no incidents...

while i agree that dogs in public places should be under control at any time...

forcing a clumsy toddler into a dogs face (she even seemed to be purposly choosing dogs that were about eye level to her kid) however is beyond ridiculous, anything could happen, even the sweetest dog might snip if a sticky handed toddler fell grabed an ear or something and hurt the dog...

and of course the dog an owner would be at fault simply because she had decided it was her god given right to ignore the fact that a dogs owner doesnt exist...

if shed had said "can my son pet your dog" id have no problem with it, infact i would have even helped introduce him...
ruby loves toddlers, they all smell like treats lol...the last one she met was only 1 1/2 years old and he sat on the floor and she sat between his legs while he pulled her hair drooled on her neck and chewed on her ear the entire time licking him and wagging her tail...but his father also asked, waited till i got low enough and watched the reaction of the dog, he then had his child sit down calmly and kept hold of him so he wouldnt realy pull hard...

i just cant understand people that think every dog is their personal petting zoo...and feel they have no need to at least ask...

 

[FoxyWench]

i heart gonzo expressed it perfectly!

 

[Renee750il]

Foxy, I don't think she's there for the free petting zoo. I suspect she's there looking for a lawsuit to file . . .

 

[bubbatd]

It was hard for me to teach my kids that all dogs weren't Goldens .

 

[blue]

I wont let any small kids approach BD, he is over 3 years old and still doesnt trust them from when he was 4 weeks old.

 

[Tankstar]

People like that drive me nuts.I have had similier experiences with my dog and small children. One that drives me nuts is parents just let their kids go up and do what they want.
I have had kids:
run up and hug my dog.
run up and kiss my dog on the face.
just plain run towards my dog.
even smack my dog.
My dog is pretty "aloof" with people, he sees them, he doesnt care to interact with them, unless it is on HIS terms.He is friendly. But he has never been raised with children. he is docile. But I am terrified what will happen if a kid does this and he does nip them. It will be MY fault becuase some one cant control thei children, while I cant even walk down the street with my dog.

I did have a halti for him since it looked like a muzzle, that really got kids away. but I lost it.

I just hear kids from every which way yelling "LASSIE!" and BAM! those kids are right next to me.
And these kids are not even just trips in the neighboorhood. These are moron parents also bringing kids to the dog park and letting them use it as a petting zoo. One day a child is going to seriously get hurt. I hope I am there to see it so I can back up the owner and say how the child was acting.

I dont get how parents do that. Do they not understand? I know when I have kids they will ALWAYS be taught to ask permission. I was taught that way, do not touch, ask permission first always! Even at the dog park I dont touch a dog unless it comes running to me and greets me.

 

[Lilavati]

I've been very lucky with this. I don't think I've really had an incident of a child petting Sarama uninvited . . . my problem has been not enough people ask to pet her and then do so!

But that's horrifying. Its not only dangerous, its almost unimaginably rude. Either this woman is a dyed in the wool idiot, or she's fishing for a lawsuit, which would make her not only stupid but a monster. I'm not sure PetSmart can do anything, but I'd talk to the manager. Maybe he or she can have a chat with her . . . such people usually either bow to the 'authority' or they get very offended and never come back.

 

[ACooper]

Foxy, I don't think she's there for the free petting zoo. I suspect she's there looking for a lawsuit to file . . .

I would tend to agree with this Renee especially if she is there that often. Sad that she would put her own flesh and blood in danger to do so

I hope she understands all those complaints filed against her WILL NOT go in her favor IF/WHEN something DOES happen

We have had this problem with Phoebe, parents & kids just seem to want to run up and hug on her. Luckily Phoebe LOVES the sight/smell/touch of ANY child.

We DO NOT have this problem with Orson, LOL, must be the doberman reputation because parents normally DON'T want their kids in the same isle with him let alone running up for a hug. Which is probably for the best, he doesn't let ANY stranger just walk up and pet him.........he must have ample time to check them out before they can touch

 

[Sadie'smama]

Foxy, I don't think she's there for the free petting zoo. I suspect she's there looking for a lawsuit to file . . .

My thoughts exactly! She is there with her small child and trying to get a dog to bite. She is looking to sue someone and if she continues her child will end up bitten and the poor dog will suffer for it. Idiot woman!

 

[doglover101]

they shouldnt let her come in the store anymore!!

 

[LilyoftheValley]

Some people are just so careless! Did she not even care that her own CHILD could/was in danger?!! At all??!! People like that make me SO mad! I have noticed that while walking the Dachshunds, people come up and just pet them, assuming their friendly because they are 'So cute' But think twice when they pet Lily, and actually ask if Lily is friendly or not. it amazes me what stupid people do...

 

[StillandSilent]

I suspect that people don't rush to Sarama (lovely name BTW) because she looks a bit like a chow and people are scared off by that. She must be evil and will bite the baby's hand off
Ruby on the other hand is fluffy and small and cute. How could she possibly nip precious?
With her teeth, just like anyother dog, but no one thinks of that. I constantly have people rushing Radar to pet him because he's small and sort of fluffy, "just like a little stuffed animal!" Thankfully, he's a gentleman, but I hate to think if he did have isssues.
Less people want to pet Lilly, although everyone wants to look at her and go "Oh, it's Snoopy!" Yep, never heard that one before.

 

[FoxyWench]

renee, unfortunatly i think at this point your right, she seems to be searching for a lawsuit, either that or she missed the bus when it came to making the apointment for sanity and brains...*grumbles*

i just hope her poor toddler doesnt suffer for his mothers insanity.