I just tell folks that my dog "looks friendly, but he bites". I've never had any backtalk.

 Quote: Cat Richter

one more question, any comebacks for is she not friendly?

To me it's not about them being friendly or not. "Friendly" can mean a lot of different things to people. Such as: Oh good, my toddler can come up and pull his ear.

Many dogs will take this, some won't, regardless of temperament. The situation may have a lot to do with it. Like today, fireworks going on, people excited.

I have no desire to discuss my dogs' temperaments with strangers.

Is he not friendly? It's not a matter of him being friendly, these are my dogs and my preference is that they not be petted by strangers. Thank you. Have a great evening.

Completely defer it from the dogs. It's YOU and your RULES they are dealing with.

Completely defer it from the dogs. It's YOU and your RULES they are dealing with.



YES.

The last thing I ever want to do is trigger anger or resentment (or fear) toward my dogs.


Same reason my approach to a neighbor with a problem dog-setup is always always friendly and kind. With brownies, even.


And why I will go personally from door to door if I myself have a new foster or rescue who is raising havoc, leaving notes of gratitude for a short time of patience but also with ways to contact me, and promising that I am working hard on it and they should get in touch any time.

My neighbor was wandering around getting some political petition signed, so I signed, and I apologized for the noise my dogs make. He responded that they very seldom made any noise, and he felt they added to the security of his family. Knock me over with a feather.

On a similar vein as the thread, I was at the vets with two of my mutts, in the waiting room with them at my feet on leash. A guy came out from one of the treatment rooms, with his wife and a little dog. His wife went to the receptionist to settle their bill, and the guy walked toward me, stopped about 8 feet away, and called my dogs. They didn't move, and I didn't say anything. He stepped closer, and called the dogs again, they looked curious but didn't move. He stepped closer and started to bend down to pet the dogs, and I mentioned that I didn't want him to do that. He was offended. Puffed a bit, and asked if they were dangerous. Before I could answer, his wife stepped toward us and said that she'd been in a dog training course I helped at, and she told her husband that she had learned to always ask if she could address the dog and that I had made it clear that the dog handler decided if the dog needed a new best friend. He harumpfed, and left with his dog, and I chatted with his wife. I released the dogs and she gushed over them. She told me he was a retired K9 handler, and opined he should have known better. A nice lady.

glad to know im not alone. Good idea to make it about your rules not about the dog, I always fear them doing something bad to my dog. I don't seem to have that fear for myself and when cornered I cant help but fight back, its just my nature. I wasn't screaming though.

So when people ask why don't you let people pet them do you just say coz I don't want strangers petting my dog?

(thank god we have amazing neighbours)

Just do what you did. An idiot is an idiot is an idiot. Your dog, your rules.

The truth of the matter is that no one can say with absolute certainty that their dog will not react to a stranger. In the first instance you are protecting your dog, and in the second you are protecting the obnoxious, intrusive, idiot from a bad outcome.

If the person isn't going to be at your Thanksgiving Day dinner, what do you care if he or she is miffed?

Just say no if that is what you want to say. Your dog, your rules, and you can make them rigid or flexible as you wish.

You did the right thing.

thx mike, I have a tendency to get very stressed when involved in confrontations and replay it over and over again in my head. Plus being screamed at and him purposely trying to get in my space to intimidate me made me feel unsafe. Im over it now, but am glad for all the advice on things to say should the situation come up again my new comeback will be along the lines of im sorry why does this concern you? Im always willing to talk civilly if people are truly just curious and not butthurt I don't consider them a special enough snowflake to pet my dog!!

It's your dog an your personal space if he's close enough to pet you dog.
It's NOT your responsibility to warn people of their lack of common sense.

i'm in the lucky position that my dog is working and is usually ID'd with a vest , so i just say he is a working dog , and he's at work , please don't disturb him .

your body language can usually deflect a lot of unwanted attention , and i'm usually on the move as soon as i sense someone coming up to play with the dog .

the other one i do when they ask his name , i'll give out some other false name , and chuckle to myself as the dog just totally ignores them while they babble away trying to get his attention with the wrong name .

haha that's awesome ian. Never had one person ask to pet her today and we were out a extremely busy festival with thousnads of people. And then fireworks after, had a few people ask about her breed, a mala what?? but I just hold her back at a distance on a short leash and normal people seem to take a hint.

im ordering a do not pet collar anyway though for out in public.