Quote: Joe Waddington

I think some people could use a flexi lead & harness on their kids at least they should.

Agreed...

Still my number one irritant with my dog in public is not people who want to pet my dog, or the petsmart "trainers" that are constantly trying to feed my dog treats, it is parents who let their small children run up to my dog and try to grab on her face. The parents always get upset when I stand between their child and my dog and tell them no they cannot pet her.

Heidi is very friendly and tolerant, but still I am uncomfortable with a strange child accidentally poking her in the eye or something.

Parents seem to be lazy these days...half the time I see things and can't help but think "wow my parents would have smacked me upside the head if I did that"

Yeah the trend with dogs is parallel in people's parenting (or lack there of). Just like many have gone from choke chain compulsion to harness/flexi and treats...parents have gone from busting their kids butt for resisting silly rules to letting them do or eat whatever they want and buying them gadgets they don't need...basically their kids are allowed to make the choices.

 Quote: Jeffrey Hill

 Quote: Joe Waddington

I think some people could use a flexi lead & harness on their kids at least they should.

Agreed...

Still my number one irritant with my dog in public is not people who want to pet my dog, or the petsmart "trainers" that are constantly trying to feed my dog treats, it is parents who let their small children run up to my dog and try to grab on her face. The parents always get upset when I stand between their child and my dog and tell them no they cannot pet her.
Parents seem to be lazy these days...half the time I see things and can't help but think "wow my parents would have smacked me upside the head if I did that"

Double Agreed! I've also had to stop kids and even adults from rushing up and getting in or grabbing at my dogs' faces. I about have a heart attack everytime someone tries it. Granted most of my dogs are extremely tolerant and too friendly, a couple of them have their days where that would provoke a reaction. As a parent of a child I try to teach her proper manners, however it doesn't help when bystanders interfer or feel sorry for her.

I've always found that being rude will make people keep their distance. Works in parks, pet stores, even daily walks on the street.
My wife says I shouldn't enjoy it as much as I do though.

Just before we moved into this house a year or so back, I was walking across the the footpath on our local park with the then 3 Boerboels, all on prongs, short road leads, under complete control, when a toddler running ahead of her ineffective father, got closer and closer, and my stomach started doing flips, because Harry was really nervous of small, squealing, prey type creatures, I stopped got out of the way, turned my back on the brat and blocked them from her, the father was using that sing-song voice some parents use when they are being ignored to cover their embarrasment, I'm saying to the kid, who is now inches from Harry's salivating face, not to come any closer, saying to the father at the same time, that he really isn't keen on kids, willing him to find a back bone and sort the bloody kid out.

By the time he ambled up and had said her name over and over and OVER, I was amazed when he didn't even acknowledge the fact I was preventing his kid from a potential bad experience with a 'big bad dog', didn't even SEE the possibility of dangerous situation, and walked passed me like I wasn't even there with 3 very large, powerfully strong dogs that could have taken her revolting face off in a second!

Imagine my horror when we moved into the new house a few months later, only to find the bone head and his brat, (called, ironically, Angel!) were one of our neighbours

Still it was an ideal opportunity to work on their 'ignore' training

There are also loads of tiny children allowed to walk tiny but yappy dogs unsupervised around the village - about the same amount as there is young teens with the latest craze here, Huskies, on flexi's, (of course), and I know it is only a matter of time before there is a disaster, that will result in a dog being pts because it mauls a kid, or shreds a yapper; all this and more is what drives my determination to find my Highland retreat, and get as far away as possible from the great British public!

Tracy, in a weird way it's good to know that the British public is getting as stupid as the American.

And too many of them treat their dogs like children, who they also don't train or discipline!

So many Brits are conditioned by the fluffy brigade who have no clue about 'dog' or any animal behaviour, there was a phone in on radio yokel yesterday about how stupid dogs and cats are in comparison to dolphins and pigs, this vegan came on and said if dog owners thought it acceptable to eat cows and sheep, why wasn't it the norm to eat dogs and cats?

This is the kind of 'stupid' we have to deal with, but as us 'outsiders' who have lived in Norfolk for decades,(thanks Mum and Dad!) but were born outside East Anglia say, "It's normal for Norfolk"!!

People just don't think or just have no common sense!

We are at a livestock show with steers. Ours weighs 1400 pounds. Other exhibitors are sitting in lawn chairs in the aisles. We say excuse me as we try to pass with our steer. They don't move and call our steer crazy when he bumps their chairs. Idiots. Thank goodness he is so calm and gentle or they would be toast. I see spectators letting their kids try to touch these cattle as they walk by. Some of these steers are wound pretty tight but even a gentle one could react to an unexpected touch.

Cattle are prey animals. Substitute a dog and why in the H E double hockey sticks would you let your kid stick his face up for a bite?

 Quote: Christi Coufal

People just don't think or just have no common sense!

We are at a livestock show with steers. Ours weighs 1400 pounds. Other exhibitors are sitting in lawn chairs in the aisles. We say excuse me as we try to pass with our steer. They don't move and call our steer crazy when he bumps their chairs. Idiots. Thank goodness he is so calm and gentle or they would be toast. I see spectators letting their kids try to touch these cattle as they walk by. Some of these steers are wound pretty tight but even a gentle one could react to an unexpected touch.

Cattle are prey animals. Substitute a dog and why in the H E double hockey sticks would you let your kid stick his face up for a bite?

I know. I was at a friend's ranch once when I lived in Wyoming whenthis idiot pulls up, gets out of his car and tells his kid to go stand by the "cow" (actually a bull) for a picture. It was a good thing my dog and the ranch dog were right there to keep the bull away from the kid while the rancher got the kid out and read the idiot the riot act.

People treat their kids and dog like BABIES, they never consider their DEVELOPMENT...I hate that. Just think we have one or two generations now that are still babies as adults with a HUGE sense of entitlement.

Oh and the bull post above reminds me of something my dad told me. My dad was with his mom and stepfather in the mountains of North Carolina where they lived. He was still a kid. This man and his family had stopped along side the road to look at the cute black bear cubs. The guy went up to a baby bear trying to get in the trash can, my dad's stepdad warned him to leave it alone but he guy was irate...he pushed it up from behind and the bear fell in. The jerk stood there laughing as the baby bear cried in distress. Well...momma came tearing out from the woods and bit a chunk of one of his buttocks off. Dumb people.