Pet Etiquette

[Black Delphinium]

I've said it before and I'll say it again- "They live here, and you do not. They can do in their home what they like."

Yes, they live there. But if the owner invites people over, the owner should control the dog and not let him or her bite, lick, or jump on people, among other things. And if the dog does those things, the owner should get the dog under control as soon as possible.

I'm not saying that animals should be kept out of sight. I would never expect that. However, if you (general) invite me over your house, I'm going to assume that you can control your animal. If not, it's best that you refrain from having people over until the animal can behave or you decide to put the animal where it won't be jumping on people.

But the issue isn't contact between pet and visiting human. It is that visitors do not get to shoo Kitty off the table, or Killer off the sofa, or complain about the animal being allowed to do X, Y or Z if it doesn't affect them personally. Obviously you shouldn't have to put up with any physical contact that you don't want.

That was my initial point, yes.

I always hated when my brother's now ex-wife would treat my old kitty like he was a huge bother whenever she came over.

[Mopsy428]

I've said it before and I'll say it again- "They live here, and you do not. They can do in their home what they like."

Yes, they live there. But if the owner invites people over, the owner should control the dog and not let him or her bite, lick, or jump on people, among other things. And if the dog does those things, the owner should get the dog under control as soon as possible.

I'm not saying that animals should be kept out of sight. I would never expect that. However, if you (general) invite me over your house, I'm going to assume that you can control your animal. If not, it's best that you refrain from having people over until the animal can behave or you decide to put the animal where it won't be jumping on people.

But the issue isn't contact between pet and visiting human. It is that visitors do not get to shoo Kitty off the table, or Killer off the sofa, or complain about the animal being allowed to do X, Y or Z if it doesn't affect them personally. Obviously you shouldn't have to put up with any physical contact that you don't want.

That was my initial point, yes.

I always hated when my brother's now ex-wife would treat my old kitty like he was a huge bother whenever she came over.

And that was my point. "They can do anything they want" is a bit broad, and some people will take that to mean that "anything they want" means physical contact with guests.

I'd also like to say that if people are hosting a party, please make sure you have enough seats if your animal is going to take up the sofa or a seat. My aunt had a party, and her dogs took up a sofa and a love seat, leaving about 4 people to just stand with plates of food. We finally settled on the floor and on the stairwell.

[Ciarrai]

Puppy owners are not crazy for asking you to wash your hands before touching their dog. When they're young they haven't had their vaccinations yet, and they, like babies, are much more susceptible to getting sick. Please don't sigh and complain about how the owner is being overprotective, when they've often been told by their vets to do so.

[Daffodil]

Puppy owners are not crazy for asking you to wash your hands before touching their dog. When they're young they haven't had their vaccinations yet, and they, like babies, are much more susceptible to getting sick. Please don't sigh and complain about how the owner is being overprotective, when they've often been told by their vets to do so.

A now out of business pet store had a very strict policy that you had to wash your hands and use the hand sanitizer next to the puppy pens before you could even consider touching one of the pups. I've seen a few people try to sneak in some head pats without cleaning their hands but the puppies were watched so closely that these rule breakers were always caught in the act.

[Miriam]

I wish some parents early on will teach their children not to run up and grab or touch a stranger's dog without asking.

I got in trouble at work (from dog owners and parents for disciplining their babies) because during our bathroom breaks they will just grab and walk away with people's dogs or pet a disability dog with the bright vest that states not to pet it. I've made a few girls sit out because if I tell them to politely ask if they can pet or hold the dog, they will get rude if the owner says "no". It's not your dog, I bet you aren't used to hearing that, but "no" means no and you can't still grab at the dog at that point or whine "whhhyyy nooott?". Some girls have been absolutely wonderful with their manners and people's pets, so I hope next year everyone will know not to do so.

The parents have a harder time understanding why I'll make them sit out, but if some random kid came up and took your litttle dog out of that bag and walked away you would be pretty miffed like all the other dog owners, and I refuse to take blame if your child continues pestering a dog when I tell them to stop and there was a possibility of them getting bitten. I would hate for that to happen, but I've taught them what I could about manners and bounderies so go home and teach them yourself what they've missed.

Most pet owners love the little girls when they ask to pet. They fawn over their politeness, "please" and "thank yous".

[Garden Goblin]

Some animals are pets.

Some animals are livestock.  Livestock is sometimes used for food.  Yes, there is a real possibility that cute fuzzy thing you are holding is going to be on the table in a couple months, in a nice lemon-butter sauce.  Unless you are a vegan, you have zero right to say anything.  If you are a vegan, it's still rude to say anything.

And no, it is not wrong of me to laugh my behind off when you let your little yappy dog chase one of the birds and the roo,  tom, or gander takes exception and retaliates.  Be glad it was them and not the livestock guardian dog or the goat.

[Dandy Andy's Daddy's Love]

Some animals are pets.

Some animals are livestock.  Livestock is sometimes used for food.  Yes, there is a real possibility that cute fuzzy thing you are holding is going to be on the table in a couple months, in a nice lemon-butter sauce.  Unless you are a vegan, you have zero right to say anything.  If you are a vegan, it's still rude to say anything.

And no, it is not wrong of me to laugh my behind off when you let your little yappy dog chase one of the birds and the roo,  tom, or gander takes exception and retaliates.  Be glad it was them and not the livestock guardian dog or the goat.

That's one I haven't mentioned yet. It may also be worth mentioning that sometimes animals that are normally considered pets can also function in a working capacity on farms and ranches. And the owners of those animals are not obligated to treat them as pets.

[Ciarrai]

Some animals are pets.

Some animals are livestock.  Livestock is sometimes used for food.  Yes, there is a real possibility that cute fuzzy thing you are holding is going to be on the table in a couple months, in a nice lemon-butter sauce.  Unless you are a vegan, you have zero right to say anything.  If you are a vegan, it's still rude to say anything.

Vegetarians too, or just vegans?

[Garden Goblin]

Some animals are pets.

Some animals are livestock.  Livestock is sometimes used for food.  Yes, there is a real possibility that cute fuzzy thing you are holding is going to be on the table in a couple months, in a nice lemon-butter sauce.  Unless you are a vegan, you have zero right to say anything.  If you are a vegan, it's still rude to say anything.

Vegetarians too, or just vegans?

Basically, the girls provide milk and eggs, and the boys provide meat.  If someone eats anything that contains eggs, milk, or meat, they really don't have the right to judge, especially since my animals are kept in much better conditions than the ones that provide the stuff you buy in stores.  The hens that provide eggs for the store often live their lives in a cage or warehouse that provides them with no more than 2 square feet of space, and never see daylight.  My girls are full on free-range with approximately a quarter acre per critter of roaming space.  Though for some reason, they all must lay in the same nest box and ignore the other 19, and must all sleep crammed together in the same roost rather than use one of the other four.  It's understandable in the winter when they huddle for additional warm, but they do it all year round.

"The man who buys the meat is brother to the butcher" - Heinlein.

[Larrabee]

And no, it is not wrong of me to laugh my behind off when you let your little yappy dog chase one of the birds and the roo,  tom, or gander takes exception and retaliates.  Be glad it was them and not the livestock guardian dog or the goat.

I'm pretty sure its always rude to 'laugh your behind off' at another's misfortune.  Think what you want but its not good etiquette to laugh openly at people.

I also think its kind of rude to refer to people's loved pets as 'yappy' when you mean it to be an insult.

[StarDrifter]

And no, it is not wrong of me to laugh my behind off when you let your little yappy dog chase one of the birds and the roo,  tom, or gander takes exception and retaliates.  Be glad it was them and not the livestock guardian dog or the goat.

I'm pretty sure its always rude to 'laugh your behind off' at another's misfortune.  Think what you want but its not good etiquette to laugh openly at people.

I also think its kind of rude to refer to people's loved pets as 'yappy' when you mean it to be an insult.

She didn't' say that it wasn't rude; she said that it wasn't *wrong*.

I agree- having witnessed a pug dog who was let off leash at a farm against the farmers' recommendation, I laughed too when the gander hissed at it after the pug tried to growl at him, and the pug ran away terrified.

The owner in that case was extremely lucky that the pug had gone for the gander and not the bigger prize of the nearby steer who would have kicked him a hundred yards without blinking.

If a person lets their dog chase someone else's animals (especially if those animals are livestock and are part of a persons' livelihood) then they deserve consequences, and I believe are being far more rude than there person who laughs when the dog gets chased back by a gander or tom that it underestimated.

[Garden Goblin]

She didn't' say that it wasn't rude; she said that it wasn't *wrong*.

Having lost the amount of livestock I have to people's 'sweet little pups that wouldn't hurt a fly', just laughing at it for getting chased by the goose is about the nicest and most polite response it's likely to get.

Misfortune is getting struck by lightning, and laughing is cruel.  Sticking your finger in an electric socket after arguing with the person telling you not to is something else entirely, and the laughter at your expense is earned.

Letting your dog out of the car on private property, pointing at the chickens, and saying 'get up', is far more akin to the electric socket than the random lightning strike.  It's not 'cute' or 'funny' even when the chickens outmass the dog, because they still run and can still get hurt due to panicking. 

Yes.  It's rude to laugh at other people's 'misfortune', which is why it is extremely rude to take your predator to another person's private property and encourage it to terrorize their animals, which may be livestock or 'loved pets', both of which I have lost to this kind of 'joke'. 

Good etiquette is not letting your animal onto someone else's property without their express permission and keeping it under control at all times. 

[Lynnv]

She didn't' say that it wasn't rude; she said that it wasn't *wrong*.

Having lost the amount of livestock I have to people's 'sweet little pups that wouldn't hurt a fly', just laughing at it for getting chased by the goose is about the nicest and most polite response it's likely to get.

I agree.  We grew up far enough out that we had chickens and ducks that were lost to a neighbor's out of control dog.  Even a little dog can wreak havoc.  We also had horses run into (and through) fences by someone's out of control dog.  Laughing when a dog finds out a goose isn't a nice critter it is not rude, IMO.

Of course, I will also admit to (despite the above about horses going through fences) laughing like a complete loon when my little Peke mix scared my mom's horse.  I thought my mom was going to fall over laughing.  The dog was leashed, didn't bark and, based on him having bad eyesight out of the one eye that he did have, probably didn't even really see the horse.  But she took off to the other side of the corral and would not come back over until I took Sidd out of her sight.  It would not have been funny if Sparks got hurt-but she didn't.  She just took off as if Sidd was a 200-pound wolf with horse eating history instead of a 15 pound dust-mop with delusions of Emperor-hood.  And she was, literally, around dogs her entire life-we always had dogs, including little and big ones.  In fact, when she was born (the first horse I ever watched born), there was a little poodle (and a big old barn-cat) in the barn watching with us.

This is, of course, the same horse who was convinced for all of her 30+ years on this planet) that sheep eat big red horses, so we were used to laughing at her fear of non-predatory animals.  Yes-dogs are technically predatory-but Sidd was little, leashed, at least 3/4 blind and dumb-about as predatory as the average couch cushion.  And he was at least 6 meters from the fence, as I didn't trust him not to get underfoot since he knew nothing about horses and probably couldn't really see them anyway.

[Onyx_TKD]

She didn't' say that it wasn't rude; she said that it wasn't *wrong*.

Having lost the amount of livestock I have to people's 'sweet little pups that wouldn't hurt a fly', just laughing at it for getting chased by the goose is about the nicest and most polite response it's likely to get.

I agree.  We grew up far enough out that we had chickens and ducks that were lost to a neighbor's out of control dog.  Even a little dog can wreak havoc.  We also had horses run into (and through) fences by someone's out of control dog.  Laughing when a dog finds out a goose isn't a nice critter it is not rude, IMO.

Of course, I will also admit to (despite the above about horses going through fences) laughing like a complete loon when my little Peke mix scared my mom's horse.  I thought my mom was going to fall over laughing.  The dog was leashed, didn't bark and, based on him having bad eyesight out of the one eye that he did have, probably didn't even really see the horse.  But she took off to the other side of the corral and would not come back over until I took Sidd out of her sight.  It would not have been funny if Sparks got hurt-but she didn't.  She just took off as if Sidd was a 200-pound wolf with horse eating history instead of a 15 pound dust-mop with delusions of Emperor-hood.  And she was, literally, around dogs her entire life-we always had dogs, including little and big ones.  In fact, when she was born (the first horse I ever watched born), there was a little poodle (and a big old barn-cat) in the barn watching with us.

This is, of course, the same horse who was convinced for all of her 30+ years on this planet) that sheep eat big red horses, so we were used to laughing at her fear of non-predatory animals.  Yes-dogs are technically predatory-but Sidd was little, leashed, at least 3/4 blind and dumb-about as predatory as the average couch cushion.  And he was at least 6 meters from the fence, as I didn't trust him not to get underfoot since he knew nothing about horses and probably couldn't really see them anyway.

Well, there's your problem. She knew what to expect from dogs, but how could she know what an animate dustmop might do, if she's never met one before? Once cleaning supplies start moving around on their own, it could be like the Sorcerer's Apprentice all over again!

[Larrabee]

Ok, then as this is supposed to be an etiquette 'guide' isn't it better to say

"Do not let your dogs loose around livestock unless they are exceptionally well trained and you are 100% sure they won't chase or distress them."

not

"If you do this, I'll laugh at you"