Quote: jamie craig

This has gotten to the point where it's an issue everywhere I take him .... I don't dislike people petting my dog, it's the children who essentially attack him at their parents command. The parents interpret any action I take to prevent the inital jump onto my my dog or the telling off of them or their spawn as abuse towards their children and any noise my dog makes as aggression.... I'm trying to find a solution to the INSANE little monsters and their clueless and extremely stupid parents.

This is extremely frustrating. While I've taken the time to speak to the kids in my building (because we all have to live here), I HAVE encountered the situations you describe in other places.

I can't give you advice one way or the other regarding a vest. The way I've handled full-on "assaults" though, is to step between the child and my dog, and just say "I don't let strangers pet him", and then I move away. It is your right to do the same, and you don't owe anybody an explanation as to "why".

If I'm close enough to other people when I'm training for someone to sneak up on me, than I'm WAY to close to other people.

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This dog did NOTHING to the child who charged her and slipped and fell feet from her, she didn't even move until released from the stay and when she did it was no where near the kid, yet now she's got a "bite record" and if anything happens like this again we've been informed she'll need to be put down

This would put me right over the edge. If my dog didn't bite anybody and somebody else claimed he did, leading to a bite record, I would refuse to let it stand. I would be somebody's worst nightmare until it was expunged, money or no. This is SO not fair.

What really baffles me is while your dog may be fine around kids, lots of dogs arent, and the people who own the dogs may not even be aware that their dog is uncomfortable or the child is behaving in a way that makes the dog fearful and likely to bite. These parents are putting their childrens safety in the hands of owners who may be clueless and dogs who may be untrustworthy. The emotional trauma of a dog bite is something a child may never recover from not to mention the obvious horrific physical injuries that can occur. Dogs have teeth yet these parents act as if they are stuffed toys. It blows my mind how reckless they are with their own childs safety.

I dont plan to ever have children but if I did you couldnt pay me to let my kid pet a strange dog, you never know what can happen no matter how friendly the owner says the dog is. It can happen so fast and your child pays the price for your stupidity.

I have had a dog growl at a child before and the parents tell them its ok to pet them, like nothing could happen. Sorry so long but it is such a pet peeve of mine. With all the safety measures parents take for their kids ie.seatbelts, dont talk to strangers, helmets,blocking channels, etc you think it would cross their mind to educate their children on the dangers of petting a strange dog who could harm and potentially kill them. Just my opinion though.

LOL!!!

You could bark madly at the approaching bipeds. That would certainly give them pause. Parents probably wouldn't encourage their kids to interact with you or your dog. Most adult would give you a wide berth.
You would almost certainly get a reputation for being loony. It may interfere with any healthy interaction down the road.

Maybe you could practice the turn and walk away thing. Train the dog to walk right in front of you so you can shield him from flank attacks.

I have found that stepping in front, putting on the "hairy eyeball" and a stern "NO!" works well with most kids.
If the parents give you flack give them the hairy eyeball too.

P.S. I inherited my hairy eyeball from my mother.

P.P.S. Oh, wait! Dress like a circus clown (the sad ones), dark make-up, baggy plaid pants, an ugly shirt with a big plastic flower, and big shoes. Most kids are scared of clowns and won't come near you. Many adults were afraid of clowns when they were kids, they probably still are. Bwahahaha!!!!

Well we can go ahead and lock this topic. No need for further advice here. Debbie fixed it.

Too funny, Debbie.

Lol Debbie that was great. I was just talking to my boyfriend about how I want to scream at people like Jason Segel's character in I Love You, Man does when his dog poops and he doesn't pick it up.

Then again I'm a small, tattooed girl and that usually keeps adults with small children far away from me (though it gets a lot of comments from random single adults who feel it's necessary to talk to me while I'm in line at the supermarket... insert my desired screaming episode here).

Anyway, sorry I have nothing to add. But I do hope this works out for you. We recently found an empty enclosed school yard (yaaaaaaaay) and have yet to be bothered even by people that are way on the other end.

You all are so kind, just for that I won't honk at you with my big red nose.

This is what happens when I post advice when I should be sleeping.

I also say things like "you all".

When I worked with my shy dog it was in the middle of a large field where I could see anybody approaching from a long ways off. Check out the schools in your area. You might find a big field you can use.

I was at a K9 trial with Einstein just to get him out with a group of mostly dog savvy people. I wasn't paying attention while talking to a vendor and I felt Einstein drawing closer to me. I looked down and a kid was reaching for poor Einsteins ears. I told him my dog wasn't allowed to be petted by kids and had him bring me to his mother where me and a police officer who had seen this kid running around informed her of the dangers of the kid trying that with a police K9. She actually got mad and left!

That was otherwise a great day for Einstein. Most people assumed he was some kind of detection dog and left him alone unless I asked them to give him a treat or throw his ball.

Debbie: Isn't it "y'all"?

We have a slightly dog-phobic population so we don´t have a great problem with parents commanding their young to attack a dog (it is alot more common to hear a rant on how dangerous dogs are, how they should never be out of their territory and should always be muzzled) but we do get a few "bright" ones. I usually sit the dog (or, with the dachs, just keep them behind me) and before the kid gets to me say with a loud voice and not so friendly voice (so the parent can hear) that you should never attempt to touch a strange dog without asking permission because all dogs are not friendly (or something like that- depending how much time I have before the estimated collision). This usually stops the child and makes the parent move to attempt to remove their kid from being dogfood. That is the point that I usually say that this dog is friendly if you are nice (if they haven´t ran screaming already).

It hasn´t failed me yet but, as I said, we don´t have alot of aggressive petters around here.

LOL

I should invest in that clown suit, unfortunatly I'd be afraid of myself (I'm one of those clown fearers....only the friendly ones though, I loved the one in "IT" he was okay....)


Maybe that's the trick.....if I don't look approachable my dog won't either. I'll get some nasty tattoos, couple more piercing (I'll try for the face this time XD), start wearing my heavier jewelry when I'm out training