Gone 100

[RooRoo]

Don't let your dog run up to a leashed dog while saying, "It's OK, he's friendly." Your dog may be the friendliest dog in the world - the other person's may not be.

When my dog jumps up on you, and I say "Gracie, get off," Please don't say, "That's OK" and encourage her. I am not apologizing to you, I am trying to train my dog. Please do not sabotage my training.

When walking on a mixed-use trail, if you hear or see a bicycle coming, call your dog to heel and move to the side of the trail. (You'd be surprised at how many cyclists have thanked me , in a surprised tone of voice, for doing this.)

At dog shows, strollers, especially the big ones, are not a good idea. You want to be able to scoop baby up away from face-licking dogs. Not to mention that male dogs might lift their leg on it. (Show dogs are not fixed, and there is usually at least one female in season present, so most of the boys will want to mark anything that sticks up.)

Most people at dog shows will be happy to talk abut their dogs and their breed - but not when they're waiting to go into the ring. They will be trying to settle their dogs down and get them to focus.

Always, always, always ask before you pet someone's dog, and teach your kids to do so too. And take "no" for an answer.

[KenveeB]

Don't let your dog run up to a leashed dog while saying, "It's OK, he's friendly." Your dog may be the friendliest dog in the world - the other person's may not be.

And when my dog IS leashed and is mannerly walking down the sidewalk without bothering anyone, don't give me the evil-eye and expect me to haul him into the street just because YOUR dog is going to yap and chase him.  The unmannered dog is the one that should be more strictly controlled.  And no, just because your dog is smaller doesn't automatically mean he's better-behaved.  My dog is 53 pounds, but he walks politely on his leash, sits on command, and behaves when I tell him to.  I'd rather have him around than your 10 pound dog that goes running down the street while you shout "Muffin!  Muffin honey, don't DO that!"   

When my dog jumps up on you, and I say "Gracie, get off," Please don't say, "That's OK" and encourage her. I am not apologizing to you, I am trying to train my dog. Please do not sabotage my training.

That's so annoying.  I'm trying to teach Casey to sit when he first meets people (to avoid the jumping).  So someone will come charging up and say "can I pet him?", and I'll say "he just has to sit first," and they'll start petting him anyway.  The worst are the boys who think it's hysterical to make the dog jump up!

[SiotehCat]

When my dog jumps up on you, and I say "Gracie, get off," Please don't say, "That's OK" and encourage her. I am not apologizing to you, I am trying to train my dog. Please do not sabotage my training.

Maybe I am reading this wrong, but if you had control of your dog on a leash, why would he be jumping on people? And once he jumps on people, your first response is not one of apologies to the person being jumped on?

[Megan]

When my dog jumps up on you, and I say "Gracie, get off," Please don't say, "That's OK" and encourage her. I am not apologizing to you, I am trying to train my dog. Please do not sabotage my training.

Maybe I am reading this wrong, but if you had control of your dog on a leash, why would he be jumping on people? And once he jumps on people, your first response is not one of apologies to the person being jumped on?

I had this problem all the time trying to train my parents little dog.  It was usually people who approached us without asking, and then encouraged the jumping.  i had control of the dog, but if I'm walking him down the sidewalk, working on teaching him how to ignore people, that all gets messed up when the person we were ignoring starts talking to him, or stops and fusses. (I'm not talking about polite people who as we approached each other said something, then I could prepare myself, and the dog)

[AprilRenee]

When my dog jumps up on you, and I say "Gracie, get off," Please don't say, "That's OK" and encourage her. I am not apologizing to you, I am trying to train my dog. Please do not sabotage my training.

Maybe I am reading this wrong, but if you had control of your dog on a leash, why would he be jumping on people? And once he jumps on people, your first response is not one of apologies to the person being jumped on?

First response is to correct the dog. If you wait, it's too late. Second response immediatly after correcting the dog should be apologies.

[kareng57]

Don't let your dog run up to a leashed dog while saying, "It's OK, he's friendly." Your dog may be the friendliest dog in the world - the other person's may not be.

And when my dog IS leashed and is mannerly walking down the sidewalk without bothering anyone, don't give me the evil-eye and expect me to haul him into the street just because YOUR dog is going to yap and chase him.  The unmannered dog is the one that should be more strictly controlled.  And no, just because your dog is smaller doesn't automatically mean he's better-behaved.  My dog is 53 pounds, but he walks politely on his leash, sits on command, and behaves when I tell him to.  I'd rather have him around than your 10 pound dog that goes running down the street while you shout "Muffin!  Muffin honey, don't DO that!"   

When my dog jumps up on you, and I say "Gracie, get off," Please don't say, "That's OK" and encourage her. I am not apologizing to you, I am trying to train my dog. Please do not sabotage my training.

That's so annoying.  I'm trying to teach Casey to sit when he first meets people (to avoid the jumping).  So someone will come charging up and say "can I pet him?", and I'll say "he just has to sit first," and they'll start petting him anyway.  The worst are the boys who think it's hysterical to make the dog jump up!

I can relate to that.  Our dog doesn't do it anymore - but I was having a hard time training him not to do this.  It turned out that our sons (age around 10 and 11 at the time) and their friends thought it was funny and were actually encouraging him.

[dawbs]

When my dog jumps up on you, and I say "Gracie, get off," Please don't say, "That's OK" and encourage her. I am not apologizing to you, I am trying to train my dog. Please do not sabotage my training.

Maybe I am reading this wrong, but if you had control of your dog on a leash, why would he be jumping on people? And once he jumps on people, your first response is not one of apologies to the person being jumped on?

When I've done it, it's been with unexpected guests.
If I know guests are coming, I put a leash on El Pupus Extraordinaire or at least am alerted to maintain control.  When she is outside in my yard and someone drops by (family, solicitor, mailman, etc) I don't have immediate control.  And then when I work on regaining control, they undermine the training.
 

[RooRoo]

What Dawbs said.

Gracie is a Miniature Bull Terrier, and everyone she meets wants to pet her, and she thoroughly agrees with that idea. When she's on leash, I have a chance to control her. When she's not... Oh, well.

[RooRoo]

Excellent summary, Maria!

Thanks!

[threedogs]

Do not make derogatory comments on the 'equipment' my dog is wearing, be it a harness, collar or head halter, as long as it is not being used in an abusive manner.   While you may not like the look of a certain collar or other restraint, it may be the most humane and effective way to control a particular dog.

[Betelnut]

Slight variations on 3 and 12:

If you have an unusual pet that many people are phobic about and are bringing it out in public, please warn people before approaching them with the pet. 

(I'm not really thinking about dogs here since those are common and people who are afraid of dogs are probably always on alert while out in public. I'm talking about snakes, tarantulas, etc.  I don't have these phobias but I've witnessed people freaking out when unexpectedly confronted with a large snake.)

[snowfire]

I think some folks with exotic pets LIKE the shock value.  A few years back a young guy walked into the jewelry store where I worked with about 10 feet of albino python draped around his neck.  That is one of the few snakes I can reliably identify. (Thanks Animal Planet!)

Somehow I just got the vibe that he was waiting for the girly screams of SNAAAAKKEEEE in a three octave crecendo.  He was totally dissapointed....   I just gushed over how beautiful the snake was.  (And she was!) 

I don't mind snakes, I just don't know enough about them to identify them in the wild.  I still turned down the offer from a friend for the loan of his pregnant boa constrictor to clean out the cockroaches in my old apartment.  Apparently she considered them a delicacy. 

Don't get me started on spiders though...WAAAAAY too many legs.  And some have nasty bites...

[magdalena]

When my dog jumps up on you, and I say "Gracie, get off," Please don't say, "That's OK" and encourage her. I am not apologizing to you, I am trying to train my dog. Please do not sabotage my training.

Maybe I am reading this wrong, but if you had control of your dog on a leash, why would he be jumping on people? And once he jumps on people, your first response is not one of apologies to the person being jumped on?

First response is to correct the dog. If you wait, it's too late. Second response immediatly after correcting the dog should be apologies.

that's exactly it.

I had my dog pretty much trained off jumping. Then, while playing with other dogs, offleash, one other owner kept petting her and giving her treats while very VERY excited AND encouraging her to jump up. Now, a year later, she does not jump up on me (when very excited she'll bounce up and down in front of me) or my hubby but she'll try jumping on strangers who come into our house unexpected. If expected, she's on leash for the first few minutes of excitement and after that is told to sit and stay to sniff at the guests and no longer thinks of jumping.

[RingTailedLemur]

Sorry to revive an old thread, hope no-one minds.

Could we revise 1?  You (general) shouldn't talk badly of pets similar to a pet owner's animals either.

I have a rabbit and 2 hamsters, I have had hamsters for 20 years in fact.  I HATE having people tell me in detail how their rabbit or hamster died, or the rabbit or hamster of someone they know died.  I got quite upset with a man at the vet recently going on about the rabbits his dog kills.

Oddly enough I've not heard of this kind of thing happening to owners of dogs and cats.  I mod a rabbit owners forum and our members get comments like these and comments about rabbit stew all.the.time.

[BeagleMommy]

When you take your dog to a dog park please respect the rules of the dog park.  That means small dogs in the small dog area; large dogs in the large dog area.

Pick up after your dog, there are bag dispensers for a reason.

Don't expect your dog to have private use of the dog park.  It's in public people!

Notice when your dog has had enough group time and take it home.  When the beagle becomes Velcro Dog we know he's ready to leave.