Angeluca Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 (edited) I'm pretty surprised by the general ideal that I should "get over it". When very similar threads about people being approached by others with dogs have always had the response that yes, you should ASK first. And if the person says no, you should respect that and move on. Why is it different just because someone doesn't have a dog? me too, your dog, your rules. I agree, your dog your rules. Some people can be rude, over the top and annoying when they want to pat a puppy - Many people need to understand that the puppy is yours and not theirs, and you did not bring it out for them to pat or play with. I also agree I think it's extremely spoilt and bratty to hurl abuse at someone because they wont let you 'play with their toy' so to speak. Do you go up to someones motorbike in the street and sit on it because you like it? Or jump inside someones convertable just because you admire it and think it's wonderful? Why is this any different? Though, I have seen idiots doing these types of things. It makes me wonder where peoples manners have gone? If it's not yours to touch, and if you really want to, then ask. No harm in asking permission or even talking to the owner about the dog too. Was thinking the same thing My daughter has the bluest eyes and when she was 2 I had people come up and grab her face to see her eyes or think that they can cuddle her. Why when almost everyone on here refers to thier pets as Furbabies (as do i at times) would allow randoms to grab and touch and pull. If someone protested when i pulled my daughter away or continued to touch her, I could have reported them for harassment and so forth. And I would Never let my kids Touch a dog without OWNER permission. Sometimes Just to prove to my kids that they can't pat every dog refused to allow them to ask and just walk away. (my kids are dog of any size crazy, with my son the bigger the better) Edited December 10, 2011 by Angeluca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmolo Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 I find body language helps- as people start to coo and move towards a pup, keeping the puppy moving and saying thank you as you continue to move often helps when the beeline is made and it is unwanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemesideways Posted December 10, 2011 Author Share Posted December 10, 2011 We've had many similar experiences in the last four months since Wilbur came home to us. I'm happy for him to have contact with strangers, but only in situations that will benefit Wilbur's development. This means it needs to be controlled so that Wilbur has every opportunity to learn self-regulation. We've had a lot of people lunging toward him without asking first. This is exactly what i'm not happy with. I'm trying to teach Wilbur that lunging is bad manners and that he has to regulate his behaviour before he gets any reward of pats/attention because when people lunge forward Wilbur thinks he can lunge too. One lady ran up to him and thrust her face into his for puppy licks. I quickly pulled him out of her reach and told her that was a really stupid thing to do to a dog that she didn't know. One of our local large pet stores has staff members who are some of the worst offenders! Our best experience so far has been at Adelaide Dog: a small pet store. The staff were fabulous at understanding the behaviour expectations i have of Wilbur. This cute 6 month old puppy won't be so cute when he's 35+ kg and lunging forward at a stranger! We had a fabulous experience yesterday, where Wilbur got all the pats he wanted as did the staff and Wilbur experienced the way he is supposed to greet people; calmly and on his bottom. The world may well be unpredictable but as a large breed owner i have a responsibility to teach my dog self-regulation in as many social situations as possible so that he knows how to behave. Wilbur is getting much better at not lunging forward for pats. He is starting to regulate his own behaviour and sit and wait for cuddles/attention etc. :thumbsup: Sounds like you're going great with Wilbur. Especially owning a breed like Labradors (my other dog is a lab ).. I would imagine its a lot more difficult then a GSD, who aren't as naturally into people as Labs! I find body language helps- as people start to coo and move towards a pup, keeping the puppy moving and saying thank you as you continue to move often helps when the beeline is made and it is unwanted. This is good advice thank you ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebbles Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Actually I've read this thread with a bit of envy. Try socialising your show pups in a place where you can walk up the main street most times of the day and not see a soul. So you resort to taking them into the two shops in town, plonking them on the counter and saying 'please pat my pup". Then you drive into the next town, a bit bigger,40ks away, sit on a seat, walk up and down the street while all the farmers hurry past on their business. So a trip to the 'big smoke' 150ks away, much the same, guess farming people have seen enough pups? The only dogs you meet, you don't want to interact with, let alone your pup! No puppy schools, no dog excercise areas, you join an obedience club, 150ks distance, two trips were enough to know that wasn't going to help. Go to their first show with fingers crossed, most are fine but there's always those who freak out and it takes a lot of shows to get them socialised and happy in the ring. Some people are lucky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemesideways Posted December 10, 2011 Author Share Posted December 10, 2011 Actually I've read this thread with a bit of envy. Try socialising your show pups in a place where you can walk up the main street most times of the day and not see a soul. So you resort to taking them into the two shops in town, plonking them on the counter and saying 'please pat my pup". Then you drive into the next town, a bit bigger,40ks away, sit on a seat, walk up and down the street while all the farmers hurry past on their business. So a trip to the 'big smoke' 150ks away, much the same, guess farming people have seen enough pups? The only dogs you meet, you don't want to interact with, let alone your pup! No puppy schools, no dog excercise areas, you join an obedience club, 150ks distance, two trips were enough to know that wasn't going to help. Go to their first show with fingers crossed, most are fine but there's always those who freak out and it takes a lot of shows to get them socialised and happy in the ring. Some people are lucky That so funny, I have never thought of that! My friend pointed out to me, when I was despairing over how obsessed with my friends dog Roscoe was, that it was fantastic because I have found such a big distraction to use in his training! I guess I can look at it that way, I'm lucky to have these crazy fools hurling abuse at me while trying to grab my dog, great training for Roscoe :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiff-689 Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Definitely nothing wrong with not wanting people to pat your puppy all the time. Your dog, you're rules. On the other hand, i'm also a firm believer on pups getting as much socialisation as possible. Abbie came into my life when she was 6 months old and due to a complete lack of socialisation when young, is now petrified of every stranger we meet. She has snapped at people on various occasions because they have backed her into a corner or tried to reach for her head, so i'm forever having to tell people not to approach or pat her. I often get "ohhh she'll be right, she looks happy" or "oh i'm really good with dogs" but I'de rather deal with a pissed off look from a stranger then a lawsuit because she has nipped someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuffles Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 When we were on holidays we stayed in a pub/B&B and were sitting in the beer garden with the dogs. A very, very drunk man approached and proceeded to lean over our dogs and yell at them in a "friendly" manner I got the pup out of the way, as she was most likely to be affected by it, and our older boy just looked at him like he was weird and accepted the pats Sometimes you just can't escape so at least I know he can deal with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redial Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 haha that reminds me of when I was walking the Maremma and a drunk guy came up asked if he could pat the dogs and the Maremma sat back and gave the biggest bark...I think he peed himself a little bit. He kinda bumbled off in the other direction. The Maremma's funny, he has a no bullshit policy, he's never bitten anyone, the bark is enough to make Chuck Norris cry like a baby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuffles Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Mine just went "oh this guy is odd... but he's patting me... so... yep, I can deal with this." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redial Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 My other ones are pretty good, but due to the Maremma being a LGD he's intolerant of weird people and always protecting me. He's very social with everyone on our walks exceptsome people he just won't like, even if they seem normal and not drunk...he'll just bark and won't let them near, other people he lets do whatever they like to him like a big Golden lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmaCam+Digby Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 I'm with you, Pebbles, wish I had that issue here, in a town with 800 people ( or there abouts) there are not a lot of people around to meet. And being a farming community there are not many "pet" dogs around with which to socialise, or people that know how to treat "pet" dogs.... which isn't helped seeing as we have a traditional working dog, a blue heeler, we have had well meaning elderly people pick him up by the front paws (at about 9 weeks), and had people smack him in the face with a hat for being obnoxious/noisy in public same person also yelled at Digby, which didnt really bother him as he cannot hear.. but still not nice... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebbles Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Hehehe AmaCam+Digby, that's nearly a mighty Metropolis - we can rally up about 75 on a good day (Not all at once though) Hmmmm wonder how a Kelpie pup would go? Nope, they would want to have him/her to round up their sheep lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Fox Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 If you don't want people to pat your pup don't let them, walk away and forget about it. If they insist or attemp it anyway "Sorry, he's a working pup and isn't allowed to interact with strangers/dogs/whatever at this point in his training". Scoop him up, turn you back and go. Works fine for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kippy Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 You don't have to be rude to people, just tell them he's a police dog pup has to be trained a particular way and blame the boss or something. If he is a decent GSD genetically it won't matter anyway if he gets a few unwanted pats one way or they other IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tapua Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Actually I've read this thread with a bit of envy. Try socialising your show pups in a place where you can walk up the main street most times of the day and not see a soul. So you resort to taking them into the two shops in town, plonking them on the counter and saying 'please pat my pup". Then you drive into the next town, a bit bigger,40ks away, sit on a seat, walk up and down the street while all the farmers hurry past on their business. So a trip to the 'big smoke' 150ks away, much the same, guess farming people have seen enough pups? The only dogs you meet, you don't want to interact with, let alone your pup! No puppy schools, no dog excercise areas, you join an obedience club, 150ks distance, two trips were enough to know that wasn't going to help. Go to their first show with fingers crossed, most are fine but there's always those who freak out and it takes a lot of shows to get them socialised and happy in the ring. Some people are lucky Yep the joys of dog training and socialising in a country area :D I have two Lab pups (15 weeks ATM) in puppy training - they will be sniffer dogs later. I guess for me I want the focus and the settled behaviour as well as de-sensitising to noises ie traffic and the distractions of people. I sat outside our local Post office which is on the corner of 1 of the two traffic light intersections in town. It was quite obvious I was training and people were pretty cool and generally just smilled. When someone did approach they just wanted to rabbit on about thier own dog and I had the boys on a sit or a drop and kept their attention with me. The boys crossed the road at the intersection and delt without any fear with the sound of trucks and air breaks as the trucks screached to a halt at the lights. I was pretty happy with them. The boys were settled calmly focussed and responsive. We then went for a walk down town - I allowed them to sniff and move ahead with their noses down like a tracking dog for 1 block then they rested at the end of the block. We go to town twice a week to do this now and as well as other work we do at home I find the boys are progressing well. Meet Errol & Flynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Flying Furball Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 (edited) You have to take responsibility for where you are trying to train. Putting yourself in the middle of a public place is just setting yourself and others up, if you want to be left alone. Find somewhere more out of the way, or do it at home. I was always getting annoyed when I first had my dog because he was firing off at other dogs on our walks and in Bondi it is trendy to have your dog offleash (usually staffy). So all dogs run up to Tonka and set off what I was trying to train him out of... Finally I realized I could be stressed and tense and upset at all these people OR I could take a quieter route, quieter time, cross the street when I saw something up ahead...changed my life and changed my dog too Edited December 10, 2011 by FlyingFurball Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mason_Gibbs Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 (edited) I think the more people your pup gets to meet the better IMO In retrospect, my puppy is now 11.5 months old and I wish that I had taken the approach that LMSW is taking - neutralisation of distractions and focus on me. If I had done this, I'd have less problem barking (at every leaf, when I move a wheelbarrow in the yard, people that walk past our back fence - which is open) and other issues such as racing off to meet strangers because she thinks there is more value there, that I'm now working through with a behaviourist. Yes it is good for puppies to have socialisation - LMSW's GSD pup has met my Jap Spitz under controlled conditions and her terms - he doesn't have no interaction with other dogs, just on her terms (which is fair enough IMO) My dog will always focus on me but when he was a pup I let people approach him, he has no fears or hang ups, loves all dogs and people. I can have him anywhere with anything going on. ETA there will always be people out there who are ignorant, it's not really ther fault if they don't know any better, it's our job to educate them I guess Edited December 10, 2011 by Mason_Gibbs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzy82 Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Couldn't you get one of those "in training" or "I need space" vests? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WreckitWhippet Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 I've had the same experiences from people, when I won't let my puppy's or dogs interact and play with theirs. I don't do the typical meet and greet as many dogs and people as you can with your puppy. I control what, where and how they interact with people and other animals. It's worked brilliantly for me and I basically have dogs that are focused on me and are rather indifferent to strangers and other dogs. I too like to pat and goo over other people's baby pups but I certainly wouldn;t get offened if they said no, a simple no is enough for me and there's no need for them to explain why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kajtek Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 I am curious... How do you expose your puppy to unexpected situations? How do you build the necessary level of tolerance/confidence to enable them to cope with that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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