My little LJ is mostly labrador, but also obviously has another breed mixed in... commonfly referred to as "pit bull." I hate that term, besides the fact that it's so general and encompasses many mixes that no longer remotely resemble the original breed, it also elicits lots of negative comments. Sometimes I just get tired of explaining and defending. When people ask what breed, I say lab mix. They say, looks like he's got pit in him, too. I wouldn't have a pit bull dog!
Need suggestions of quick, simple responses, I'm not good at that. Obviously I like to talk (and write). FWIW, I am teaching him to ignore other people and am asking strangers not to pet him. That scares the h*#% out of them, they then think he's mean. I need to just memorize a couple of good answers that will shut them up without being terribly offensive.
He's a Heinz 57 with all the best out of each and every one"
When I'm working Falcon in public and people ask to pet him I have found that "Actually, we are training right now and you could really help by just standing and talking to me but not touching him - he needs more practice with this" works very well. I've never had anyone do anything but be gracious and happy to "help", and I get to bask in the glory of "what a beautiful dog, blah, blah, blah" and then we foos away! And it HAS been good training because Falcon used to expect everyone to pet him and fawn over him and now he just sits and chills.
Not that you need to accomodat every request, but it gives you another option which won't cause the "he must be a mean dog" reaction. (However, that can be helpful at times as well...)
How about just "Lab Terrier mix". Or get a DNA test (a friend of mine has a huge white Pyrenees mix...DNA came out showing Beagle as the dominant strain, you'd never guess looking at it).
Our trainer is Scott Dunmore who you will see here on the Leerburg site in some of the training clips. Very experienced trainer. He told us how he can't believe how many people will still go to pet his dogs after he tells them they bite. Since that didn't work, he says they have "mange." LOL! Biting is not a deterrent, but a skin issue is!!!
I can't quite bring myself to saddle my cute Cali with the label of "mange," so I've been telling people, "she just had a flea and tick treatment, so you really don't want to pet her." They back away like she's on fire!
I can't believe how rude people are.
What the ***k do they care what my dog is?
I've had people walk up out of no where and say 'Gsd?'. Just like it excuses them. I am no longer polite and I say the first thing that comes to mind.....and it might be anything.
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