Petting dogs without asking

[Paige]

Does it bug anyone else? No one comes up and pets Bandit without asking but people do it all the time with Miley and Spanky. Especially with Spanky which drives me nuts because I tell them not to because he still will jump up if someone talks to him in that baby voice.

Anyone else suffer from the cute-dog-people-pet-syndrome?

 

[Tankstar]

I have a "OMG its a LASSIE dog" I suffer from it alot, espeacially with children. Which i do NOT appreciate at all. Blaze is nervous of strangers, I doubt he would bite, but I would still like to be prepared and have him sit down and know some one is going to touch him, instead of touching him with out him even knowing so ome is going to. Only time i could careless is at the dog park when he can freely walk up to any one (which he hardly ever does. Unless it is the real regulars we see every day. And normally he knows them becuase he wants their treats lol)

 

[PixieSticksandTricks]

Yes all the time! And Maggie is not a big fan of strangers and an even less fan of little girls (likes little boys though). So when little girls come running up to us she starts yelping like they have kicked her. We are working on this problem but its an on going slow process. Anyways Maggie is not a dive right in "lets make friends" kind of dog. She is more of a "I'll hang back and make sure your not going to hurt me. Then I will come and make friends" type.

But because she is a Cocker Spaniel she MUST be outgoing.. So people tend to try and pet her with out asking. It does get on my nerves.

It bothers me with Tucker too. Not so much because he has emotional baggage. But because I just don't like strangers touching my dogs without asking.

 

[RD]

Drives. Me. NUTS.

Even more so because I have a service dog and people blatantly ignore the huge flaming "PLEASE DO NOT PET -- SERVICE DOG" sign on her ID cape. Sometimes they don't even have to pet - they walk by and talk to her in that god-awful baby voice that causes Eve's brain to bounce around like a superball inside her skull and it effectively throws off whatever working groove the two of us had going at the time.

I wouldn't pet someone else's dog without permission and I wish that people would offer me the same courtesy, whether I have a cute soft Border Collie or Cerberus.

 

[Paige]

I totally agree. What bugs me most is it is usually dog owners who do it. Yeah, it's great you can strut around with your dog off lead but I keep my dog on his leash for a reason. Because he is prone to head butting people when they crouch down to say hello due to excitement. Any happy googoo voice sends Spanky into a fit of happiness which can be difficult to deal with when the person will not stop when I ask them to.

I had a little girl run up to Bandit at full speed at the park the other day. She was probably about four. Her dad was running after her yelling "NO DON'T PET THE DOG DON'T PET THE DOG!" and Bandit was on his long lead. Thankfully Bandit is the good old soul he is and sat down and tolerated the child tugging his ears. I was horrified when I saw her coming. Had that been Spanky she would of gotten knocked over and kissed to death.

 

[Babyblue5290]

I wouldn't pet someone else's dog without permission and I wish that people would offer me the same courtesy, whether I have a cute soft Border Collie or Cerberus.

Agreed! people really should learn some self-control! Not every dog wants to be petted, and not every owner wants to stand around while you pet their dog!

With Lucas, I didn't usually have too much of a problem with it. IDK why but people seemed pretty good about not rushing up to him. I'd usually be the one to ask if they wanted to pet him, because they are obviously interested, but don't seem to want to be the ones to ask. lol They would stop me and say he was a beautiful dog and then ask me what breed he was. Then how old. Then how long I've had him. Then where did I get him from, etc. Until I finally say "would you like to pet him? He's friendly." lol

I only had a few times where people (usually kids) rush right up to him, but with him I don't mind it all that much. He's so friendly and easy with children I usually just take that opportunity to teach them a few things about approaching a dog safely.

With Pog, I've got absolutely NO problem with people petting him without asking. Wonder why. LOL

 

[chanda]

that also happened to me before. I used to worry that my dog will bit those strangers... thank God she's pretty friendly...

 

[anna84]

Paige at least the dad was trying to stop her. I have 3bomb proof dogs and one, Zoey, thats doesn't like being touched by strangers. Of course zoey's the smallest and cutest of the bunch I've actually had mothers yell at me when I stepped between their children and my dog. They think I'm being rude and mean cause I wont let them play. Once a guy actually picked her up while she was on a leash while making baby talk. I was to stunned to say anything then I quickly grabbed her back. The idiots lucky she didn't snap at his face

 

[Hillside]

See, I am of guilty of not asking sometimes, though generally it is when the dog is already leaning on me. What drives me bonkers is when people pet Django and encourage him to jump up. I have a hard enough time getting my boyfriend not to let him jump. What REALLY gets to me is when I tell people to ignore him if he jumps and they tell me it's ok. Then they have the gall to get mad when I tell them it is NOT ok.

 

[zoe08]

I don't mind it when people pet Zoe without asking, but usually she is already at their feet begging for attention anyway. And I am guilty of petting people's dogs in PetSmart without asking if their dog comes up to me. But then again, I know if I get bit it's my fault and I wouldn't try to sue the person or store or anything which a lot of people would try to do these days.

I am also guilty of saying "it's ok" when someone's dog jumps on me if they apologize. Not because it is ok that the dog jumps on people, but because I am not offended if their dog jumps on me, because I know what it is like to have a dog that jumps on people.

 

[Babyblue5290]

I am also guilty of saying "it's ok" when someone's dog jumps on me if they apologize. Not because it is ok that the dog jumps on people, but because I am not offended if their dog jumps on me, because I know what it is like to have a dog that jumps on people.

I'm guilty of saying "It's ok" to a jumping dog as well. But like you I don't mean it's ok that the dog is jumping, but that I'm not horribly offended.

I don't, however (not saying that you do or anything lol), encourage the dog to keep jumping or pet it or give it any attention if it's jumping because that would be counter productive for the owners training. I may say "It's Ok" then not look at the dog, put my hands behind my back or cross them across my chest and avoid looking at the dog at all. I may talk to the owner for a bit staying in that position if they don't mind, but most of the time I just end up walking away so the dog doesn't continue going bonkers. lol

I've been trying not to say It's ok, because obviously saying that gets misconstrued by a lot of people as meaning "it's ok that the dog is jumping!" or that I'm going to continue giving it attention. When I don't mean that at all. But in that kind of situation I have no clue what else I can say as far as letting them know I'm not going to get mad for their dogs jumping.

 

[shadowfacedanes]

Corvus is an excited pee-er, so if someone runs up to him and pets him without my permission, I just don't warn them that they are about to get doused. Sneaky, eh? Maybe that'll learn 'em.

I despise when people run up to Hannah. So does she. Usually my kid radar goes off if I see one honing in on Hannah and thinking about rushing her, and I'll just leave that area before they can....I very rarely have a kid ask my permission to pet Hannah before they are in the act of doing so already...and oddly enough these same kids usually are unsupervised. The children that do ask to pet her are usually with parents. Most adults ask first, but there have certainly been exceptions to the rule.

 

[Gatep]

that's my problem with shinigami. but he is different. he jumps to people like he was playing with them. the scary part is, he is to big that's why problem always there when he hurt specially those children.

 

[tessa_s212]

Yes. All the time. All of my dogs behave pretty well with meeting people and are all very social and friendly.. so it hasn't been a problem. However I always try to tell the little kids to always remember t ask first. Some dogs aren't as nice and some owners don't want their dogs being petted because they are in training, so allllllways remember, k? I usually just leave the adults alone.. most wouldn't like taking instruction from a 17 year old, no matter if I'm a "dog genius" compared to them.

 

[elegy]

it makes me crazy. and the kicker? 95% of the time it's adults. kids almost always ask.

i like to have a hand on luce's collar when people pet her because she does jump up and she's also huge on kissing, and people don't always expect/appreciate pit bull jaws coming toward their faces....

 

[Lilavati]

You know, I almost never have that problem. PEople always seem to ask, or I've given explicit permission by telling Sarama to say hello. Maybe its her 'wild' look?

 

[houndlove]

I don't have too much of a problem with unsolicited petting--people almost always ask, even kids. Maybe because my dogs are big, people think twice about it. Most of the time actually what I get is "Are they going to bite me?" instead of "Can I pet them?" That kind of throws me off when people ask "Are they going to bite me?" and I say "No." and then the person comes in for a pet. Just because my dogs aren't going to haul out and bite you just for walking by does not mean that it is okay to pet them right now. Two separate issues.

I've pretty much stopped giving anyone permission to pet Conrad while he's on leash. He's shy and a little nervous about strangers (especially strangers that look unusual in any way or who are children) and there is a right way and a wrong way to approach him. It seems though that because he's so big, most people choose the wrong way. News flash: Big dog =/= fearless bombproof dog. He's a giant pansy actually and really he'd rather go to you and initiate contact rather than have you rush up to him, swoop down over his head and bang him on the top of his skull a few times.

 

[darkchild16]

YES!!!!!! My biggest two problems are the dogs that could be potential problems. Walker and Patches. Walker with his ear seems to attract the world to him and hes the one who doesnt like people touching him all the time or will bark to warn me that there is an intruder on our space if im not paying attention. Patches is a love bug BUT will try and knock men over she has a thing for men and is scared of alot of little girls. People mostly dont ask to pet Whisper because she looks dirty LOL. Thank god for long natural dogs. I had someone do it the other night at dinner and she only said anything till I turned around because I felt a change in pressure on the leash. HELLO you should ASK before and no its not okay that he is moving because you are just petting him. What if *gasp* i didnt want him to move. Lets see there has to be a reason I keep him under the table. And I have gotten the same thing about being cussed out or telling kids no they cant pet Wallker.

 

[Rosefern]

All. The. Time.

Most likely because I have two "nice" fluffy dogs, I get tons of people, children and adults alike, running up to them to pet them. Now Flicka I'm not worried about in the slightest. She's a therapy dog, and a very tolerant dog in general - she's used to new people touching her everywhere. Now Pepe is very shy...he has what he considers "his people" that he loves and trusts and listens to, and the rest of the world can go to h*ll, as far as he's concerned! He's also scared of children, which is why it's tramautic for him when little kids try and pick him up - which he does NOT like.

People have stopped us on a walk to ask if they can pet the dogs...and I usually say yes, unless I'm in a rush. But people have also stopped me, when I'm on a RUN, to ask if they can pet Flicka. Ummm...what the h*ll do you think? I'm running here, people...

Now if I have Jackson...totally different story. People avoid us like the plague. And then there are the people who come up eagerly, and tell me how pretty or how handsome he is, and ask how old he is, and if they can pet him, and such. I like those people.

-Rosefern

 

[Toller_08]

People try it on Dance all the time, but she moves out of their way too quickly now so they don't get a chance. She hates strangers touching her without having a chance to get to know the person first. Then of course I get the high pitched baby voices (Them: "oh, poor baby. Are you scared?" Me: "Well, she wasn't before you started talking to her like that.") when people try to coax her to come to them. She doesn't like that tone of voice at all, and she gets scared. It really annoys me, especially because I'm trying to get her to be more accepting of strangers and then they go and ruin all of our work.