[King&Skylar]

WELL. Skylar is 8 1/2 months old. She tolerates strangers. If they ignore her! Why do they insist on talking right at her, staring her in the eyes??? whenever someone comes over to me to talk or over to the house, and i have Skylar I tell them not to look at her, or talk to her, or pet her- just pretend she's invisible until she accepts you! It works like a charm for her!! If they do it, that is. She'd be their best friend in 10 minutes if they'd just listen to me. instead, they baby talk to her, stare her in the eyes or try to pet her saying 'good doggie' despite me telling them she won't accept you instantly! then she barks (not aggressive, just a little "woof") and all of a sudden she's an "aggressive" dog that shouldn't be around people!
WELL, she's actually great around people as long as they listen, and she's amazing around dogs no matter what. We do agility, starting rally-o and she's been to obedience classes. She visits my mothers grooming/boarding shop almost daily to socialize with the other dogs, and watch customers come and go. We go to playgrounds, hiking, boardwalks, baseball games, the beach, anywhere she is allowed, she goes. She is not a threat, she can walk right past runners, bikers, kids, people, etc with no issue. unless they look at her! We've been to the vet, talked to our trainer, and even saw a behaviourist about it- they all said its just her personality and people have to accept it. I would LOVE to have a dog that loves on people instantly, but that's not who she is and i'm FINE with it. We still do everything I wanted to with her. I'm just sick and tired of people not listening to me and then telling me i have an out of control dog. I've worked my butt off training her and people with half a brain can see that.
I was told to just walk away from people that don't listen but its hard because they're everywhere, and the people you think will listen don't!

 

[Emoore]

Because most people don't know a thing about dogs but think they're Cesar fricking Millan.

 

[CassandGunnar]

I keep on saying this and I honestly believe it to be true, 99% of the time it's not the dog, it's the person.

 

[Konotashi]

People are idiots and think they know your dog better than you do.

 

[Stosh]

People's desire to interact takes precedence over what's best for the dog.

 

[amaris]

Coming frm a dog patter (i'm waiting for my first gsd), most dog lovers have never met a dog that didn't like them and so they assume Skylar will love them instantly, just cos every other dog they've met so far has...Generally, I ask then follow the owner's requests, unless the dog and i have met before and have an understanding, like the great dane who lives on campus and charges at full speed at me for pats...or dogs in the neighborhood whom i knw and who know me....

 

[KZoppa]

there are just too many people who think every dog is like a lab and will love them instantly no matter what the dogs owner says. They assume we're joking when we give TRAINING instructions and just general instructions. keep in mind, these are also the people who cant follow directions anywhere else in life either. Yes, they'e everywhere but you have to weed out the idiots to find the ones who actually respect the instructions you give with the benefit of the dog in mind. i understand how hard it is to walk away from the constant stupidity but sometimes you just have to be rude yourself. If someone cant follow the instructions given, tell them 'i apologize but if you're not going to follow the instructions i give regarding MY dog, i cant allow you to interact with MY dog because i'm doing this with MY dog in mind."

 

[CassandGunnar]

I am constantly surprised by people who "should know better" but don't. After we lost Ruger, Gunnar was miserable. Didn't eat, didn't want to do anything. (We got them at the same time, Gunnar was 7 weeks old, Ruger was 18 months) We waited a couple weeks and decided to rescue another dog. We went to several events at Petco, Petsmart, etc to check out the available dogs. We always took Gunnar with us. Tons of volunteers and foster people (who I think should know better) came right up to Gunnar and would offer a treat or a pet or just start interacting with him. Gunnar doesn't care, he loves the attention and I don't get freaked out about it, but I always ask the human before I interact with their dog and I think it's just common courtesy to ask.
Maybe that cute little dog isn't as well mannered as they should be or you could be defeating something the owner/handler is trying to do.
I have never had anyone tell me no, but have been asked to wait for the person to control the encounter.

 

[codmaster]

Yes, many people do act sort of crazy when they meet our dogs, including the woman neighbor with a little 3yo girl who caught us unawares while i was in the cul de sac outside our house recently who let her daughter come running up to Baron (90 lb male GSD) and pet him! Fortunately he does love little kids and it was fine. Or the woman with the 10 mo baby who was visiting us and just suddenly put her baby on the patio - with Baron running free in the yard with us! He thought that was very cool and went over to the baby and sniffed her all over!

BUT, we also have to do our best to train our dogs to accept this sometimes crazy behavior of some people even though we can certainly blame people for not doing what we as owners ask of them.

 

[Kayos and Havoc]

There are stupid people everywhere.......:help:

 

[Chicagocanine]

I guess I'm guilty... I tend to talk to dogs. I will say hello to them and tell them how cute they are or comment on what they're doing etc... I always have to remind myself not to do this with the dogs I know who get too excited when you address them.
However if someone told me NOT to talk to their dog I'd refrain from doing it although I might have to remind myself a few times.

 

[PaddyD]

People's desire to interact takes precedence over what's best for the dog.

Exactly
However, I wouldn't want to have a dog that couldn't be looked in the eyes without being spooked. Seems like a pretty fragile dog. After all, it's not a wolf we are talking about. I have always looked directly into my dogs' eyes and never had a problem. I don't mean to preach but I have always felt that humans take precedence over dogs.

 

[Emoore]

Exactly
However, I wouldn't want to have a dog that couldn't be looked in the eyes without being spooked. Seems like a pretty fragile dog. After all, it's not a wolf we are talking about. I have always looked directly into my dogs' eyes and never had a problem. I don't mean to preach but I have always felt that humans take precedence over dogs.

It's one thing for YOU to be able to look into your dog's eyes, and another thing for a rank stranger to do it. Eye contact is important for bonding with your dog, but considered a challenge to fight if a stranger does it.

 

[King&Skylar]

Exactly
However, I wouldn't want to have a dog that couldn't be looked in the eyes without being spooked. Seems like a pretty fragile dog. After all, it's not a wolf we are talking about. I have always looked directly into my dogs' eyes and never had a problem. I don't mean to preach but I have always felt that humans take precedence over dogs.

Oh, she has no problem looking me in the eyes! even my trainer can have extended eye contact with her no problem, family, friends etc. just strangers she doesn't like, if they're walking passed and look at her she doesn't do anything, but anyone actually staring at her she gets afraid.

I'm actually one of those people that will pet dogs that come up to me if the owner is there, too. But, if they told me i couldn't pet them i wouldn't! I always listen to the owners advice, so i just don't understand why people won't listen to me, maybe because i'm young, i don't know!