Right on!!!!! I will tell you that Koda freaks out at anyone doing #1 or #2 and I constantly have to tell people how to greet a new dog. He will let the people know by getting skiddish and vocally telling them off. He can actually scare people with his wild reaction.
Dave, I'm glad I don't have the only wild dog. Koda's a trip about manners and how to approach people/dogs. If you don't play by his rules he gets upset.
We have had a particularly interesting time with this, with Chupa. Chupa is VERY sensitive to people "looming" over him (like illustration 1 & 2), he reacts by barking right at their face and backing up. We've had to teach every single person that interacts with him how to approach him properly, while at the same time desensitizing him to it with treats. It's amazing how subtle his threshold is and how fast he will get over it. It's been interesting.
Brad sounds just like Koda. But he gets a little bit more wryly than a normal dog barking reaction and makes some off the wall noises. He's gotten better, and now goes up to strangers and smells their hands for treats (if their hands are to their side). It's kind've cute now. He thinks everyone will feed him tripe bits.
I'm going to have to give this to my husband. Our dogs tolerate some of his greetings, but really, he needs to learn not to do these things to other dogs.
I love that poster!! That is seriously what people do too and it's particularly bad for my dog because he's scared of them.
The trouble that I'm having is how do you tell people to politely greet your dog instead of immediate rushing over without your permission and giving your dog a heart attack? They're so focused on wanting to pet the pretty dog that they don't even react when I tell them that he's scared of people.
Maybe I should make that poster into cards and distribute them.
that picture is so cute, but so true at the same time. whenever i take Kira to the shops, i get a lot of mothers with children coming over asking "is that a fox? is that a baby husky?" and there have been so many times where children have full-on dived on her, only to have her growl at them. then the mothers look at me disapprovingly and tell me to control my dog. umm, control your children first, please?
I have simply accepted that if people are going to be rude to my dog, I have the right to be rude to them. I will step in between them and my dog and tell them that if they are going to address my dog they need to a)ask me first and b)do so appropriately.
If it is a child I have been known to say "WAIT!!! Let's go over who knows how you say hi to a dog" and actually test the children. If people give me guff, I point out that while my dogs are friendly their body language could get them bit by a less friendly dog, and I am doing them a favor.
Saya loves kids, but only once that approach her calmly I have to always educate kids on the right way to pet her and to not run up to her I wish kindergarten did a small class on teaching kids how to pet animals..
My cousin's daughter used to be horrible with the way she greeted Saya I think she tried to do all of them from 2 to 6, but after correcting her on the proper way to great a dog she now approaches her nicely and Saya enjoys that and she gets a yummy treat for behaving too. =)
I thought about this thread Saturday when I was at an adoption event with the local SPCA. We had 3 of our dogs at the event for about 4 hours and I have to say that we only encountered one parent who knew what to do when their child wanted to pet one of the dogs. The people who had their own dogs there were the worst, they just ran up to the cute little pit and catahoulas hands out and squeeling.
I brought up this poster and our event coordinator wants to print it out for our tables/mobile unit at all our events =)
Comments
I love the expressions on my dogs' faces when someone greets them like #2... You REALLY can almost hear them thinking 'I am a very tolerant dog'!
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilita/4455993339/sizes/o/
The trouble that I'm having is how do you tell people to politely greet your dog instead of immediate rushing over without your permission and giving your dog a heart attack? They're so focused on wanting to pet the pretty dog that they don't even react when I tell them that he's scared of people.
Maybe I should make that poster into cards and distribute them.
If it is a child I have been known to say "WAIT!!! Let's go over who knows how you say hi to a dog" and actually test the children. If people give me guff, I point out that while my dogs are friendly their body language could get them bit by a less friendly dog, and I am doing them a favor.
Saya loves kids, but only once that approach her calmly I have to always educate kids on the right way to pet her and to not run up to her I wish kindergarten did a small class on teaching kids how to pet animals..
My cousin's daughter used to be horrible with the way she greeted Saya I think she tried to do all of them from 2 to 6, but after correcting her on the proper way to great a dog she now approaches her nicely and Saya enjoys that and she gets a yummy treat for behaving too. =)
I brought up this poster and our event coordinator wants to print it out for our tables/mobile unit at all our events =)