MOL, the problem is that if someone’s dog happens to be startled and nips you, it gets very ugly. Say you went to the hospital the next day because it looked infected, the staff there would record it as a dog bite. They might well insist on finding out what dog it was, and from there (assuming that you knew and told them), the dog owner would have to prove that the dog had current rabies shots. If not, the dog would either be quarantined to watch for symptoms, or killed and tested for rabies. Even if the dog was current with shots, it might well get a “vicious dog” label by the cops, and a couple more incidents like that could lead to the dog being put down.
My husband works for the US Postal Service, and if he gets bit by a dog on his route and reports it - either to a hospital or to his supervisor - it’s out of his hands from there. The cops will be given that information and investigate. He loves dogs and gets along with most of them very well, but some dogs simply do not like the postman. Some don’t like children, some don’t like strange men, etc. He even had one lovable family dog on his route change to an unpredictable biter due to some brain disease, and the dog was put to sleep by the family.
The point is, it’s best for the owner and the dog as well as the stranger to be sure that people ask before petting.
Always ask and you’ll be safe from the owner’s rancor and you probably won’t be bitten by the dog.
I was running a couple of weeks ago when I passed two women walking a German shepherd. As I passed, all three of them gave me eye contact and the dog came toward me in what seemed like a friendly and curious way. I put my hand out, the woman holding his leash let him come forward… That’s when he put his teeth on me, barking simultaneously. The women were surprised and apologized. He didn’t even put any pressure in the mouthing, so I was fine. I think it was a warning to get the Hell away.
You just never know. I wonder if I had verbally asked to pet him, whether they would have said yes.
My dog is terrible with kids. I’ve taught her not to bark at them, but she does not like them and will nip if they come close. I keep her well away from children and thwart all attempts by kids to pet her.
MeanOldLady, I am a dog nut. I do the baby talk with all doggies I meet… You really never know. It’s polite and safer to ask, always.
First of all, I would never pet a guide dog or working dog. I’m not a total moron. That said, would any of you with bitey dogs ever bring your dog into a crowded shopping venue? And then get self-righteous when someone touches your dog?
Of course I tentatively put my hand out for the dog to sniff before I pet her. She sniffed and looked at me all cute and stuff. She definitely wanted to be pet. If her owner was in any way available to ask (ie, not engaged in conversation), I would have asked him. However, his utter lack of attention plus the dog’s seemingly positive reaction to my attention made me think it was OK.
I will not do it again, but I do think it behooves the owners of dogs that bite to keep said dogs away from places where they may encounter lots of random people while you’re not looking, especially kids. I’m sorry, but if you bring your dog into a clothing store and she bites someone, that’s YOUR fault, even if the bitten person didn’t ask first. I think that’s just common sense. Feel free to disagree (and I’m sure someone will).
This is really something important to teach children as well. Children also like to hug dogs which is actually a sign of dominance towards the dog. My young dog loves to be hugged so I don’t mind if kids ask to pet him and they give him a hug. My parents dog is very uncomfortable with being hugged and will grumble even at us. A strange child running up and flinging their arms around her could freak her out just enough to cause her to bite. She’s a friendly dog otherwise. You can never be sure, so be safe and ask first.
My dog, a 3 year old female Rottweiler, is a certified therapy dog, meaning that she has passed a series of temperament and obedience tests that qualify her to go into hospitals and nursing homes to provide emotional therapy for patients. So she is very stable and an absolutely safe dog for strangers to come up and pet.
However, I still don’t like it when people on the street come up and start handling my dog without asking. This dog is like my child, and there are some people out there who I would rather not touch her. Because of her breed, she often attracts attention from unsavory types. Also, it is never a good idea for a stranger to bend over a strange dog and put his face in the dog’s face. This is very threatening body language to a dog.
Lastly, it’s not uncommon that I am actually training when people come up. If you see my dog walking right next to my side with her head up watching me, she is doing attention heeling. It might look simple, but it actually requires alot of effort from the dog to watch its handler’s every move. If you come up and interrupt, you’ve screwed up our training by teaching the dog that it’s OK to stop watching me in order to pay attention to the distraction (you). But if you ask first before petting, I can release the dog from the heel command, so she will know she has my permission to look away.
The problem is, few people think their dogs bite. Some normal, never-biting dogs may be startled or provoked into biting by something unexpected - say someone accidentally steps on the dog’s paw at the same time you reach for the pooch, and the dog snaps reflexively.
The person shouldn’t have brought their animal into a store if it wasn’t a service animal or a pet-friendly pet store. But as was mentioned earlier, some people just don’t like random strangers touching their pets while out on a walk. It might be like someone fondling your fur coat, or feeling the belly of a pregnant woman, or stroking the long hair of your little girl without asking.
I taught my kids always to ask before they pet anyone’s dog. This way they can make sure that the dog isn’t vicious, or that the dog is tired or hot and might not want hands running all over him/her.
Rubystreak, I liken this to reaching out an touching a pregnant woman’s belly. It’s just bad manners. If it doesn’t belong to you, don’t assume you can touch it.
I am an animal lover. I have 5 dogs. My husky, in particular, loves attention and seeks people out to offer her belly rubs. Even still, I don’t want someone to simply thrust a hand out at her. She has very sensitive blue eyes and it makes her flinch.
I also have a terrier puppy who is tempermentally a bit stranger wary. If someone comes up to pet him, he has been known to try to snap. Because this is not acceptable, I have employed a private trainer to work with us. Part of this training means taking him into the very crowded, public places that make him nervous in order to teach him he cannot growl regardless. How is he supposed to learn this if according to you I can’t take him in public?
I’d take a gander that all these people who smile and seem happy to let you simply thrust a hand out at their dogs are indeed just being polite. A responsible dog owner knows a dog is unpredictable and protects his dog from situations which may cause a nervous reaction.
I wouldn’t want you to simply reach out and offer my daughter a sucker, either. It’s just polite, and smart, to ask.
I agree that asking is generally the correct thing to do, but if the dog aproaches me in a friendly manner then I feel all bets are off. I always put my hand down by my leg first and leave it up to the dog. If he comes over to me, sniffs my hand, starts wagging his tail and gives me what I call a “dog hug”-where he rubs against you affectionately, then I feel free to pet him.
My brother has two husky mixes - one husky malamute mix and one mix of that with some golden retriever thrown in. They are the world’s sweetest and friendliest dogs and they think that everyone just loves them. Still, when I take care of them, I will usually try to keep them away from people on the street because they are dogs and they are unpredictable and I don’t want anyone to get hurt. If someone comes running up to them, like a child, I ask them not to pet the dogs for a minute until I can make sure they’re calm - that’s for my protection as much as theirs - the last thing I want is my brother getting sued because someone rushed his dogs and scared them into hurting someone.
I’m a frequent visitor to PetSmart and I love seeing the dogs there, but I will always ask before petting a dog. The dog may be panting at the leash for me to pet it, but I don’t know this dog - it may be panting at the leash to bite me and because I can’t recognize the signals. The owner’s the only one who knows how their dog is going to act, and even then, no one can ever be 100% sure.
There’s responsibilities on both sides here, and the primary set of responsibilities is with the dog owner.
If you don’t want random people interacting with your dog, then it’s your responsibility to act in a manner that discourages such interactions. There’s no way to prevent such interactions, but you can do a lot to discourage them. You can walk with a purpose, rather than moseying along slowly; in addition to sending the body-language message that you don’t want to be slowed down on your walk, passersby won’t be near your dog long enough to easily pet it. If you run into a friend and want to gab for a minute, then take a few steps away from whatever traffic flow there might be, and keep the dog right next to you, rather than on a loose leash where it can check people out. And pay attention to what is going on around you. This is common sense, folks.
As far as asking to pet the dog goes, I’m with Weirddave on this one: ask, if the owner is paying attention or if the dog isn’t; otherwise, if the dog is checking you out in a friendly manner, all bets are off. I strongly recommend letting the dog sniff your hand, as Dave mentioned, before trying to pet it, with or without the owner’s permission. It isn’t like touching a pregnant woman’s belly, but still, have the sense to give the dog a chance to decide on his own whether he likes you, rather than just assuming he will. I generally let a dog sniff the back of my hand, with my fingers curled under towards me, so I’m not offering an easily bite-able extremity to the dog.
None of this applies to service dogs, of course. Like Scarlett said, you leave 'em alone and let them do their job.
Ditto on the asking. And all dogs will bite, if they have to. Just be careful.
My dog, Tippy, is the sweetest mutt in the neighborhood. Everyone loves her. She only barks at the people who don’t greet her. And she loves everybody back. When she had puppies, they had some sores and each puppy had to be washed in special soap every day. So there I am, sitting in the kiddie pool with 12 puppies, picking up a puppy, washing it, rinsing it and putting it out. Tippy watches this with a furrowed brow. I pick up one and it yelps. Tippy reaches over and grabs my hand with her teeth. She doesn’t bite, but she lets me know that she would if I hurt her puppy. Once assured that the puppy was OK, she allowed the bathing to continue. Always be careful.
Always worth asking. First, on the manners front, and second, because no dog is 100% predictable. I used to live next door to a big, soppy, golden retriever who loved everybody in sight and never did a jot of harm to anyone … except once, when she bit my mother badly enough to open her hand up down to the bone.
(And a little while back, I had to Have Words with a dog owner who insisted that “oh, no, she never bites anyone”. Since the wretched animal had just bitten me - I wasn’t even trying to touch it, but somehow I’d fired up its territorial instincts just walking past - I was less than totally convinced.)
I ask the owner, then I let the dog sniff me, and if the dog is OK I pet it. I love to fuss over animals, but I don’t do it without asking first!
One of our neighbor’s dogs bit my mom’s husband, which startled the hell out of everybody because it never had before. They’re Scotties. The neighbors did, however, apologize profusely and offer to pay for any medical bills, and now have a “Beware of Dog” sign on their fence.
Our boys are more likely to lick you to death, and if you ask, feel free to pet them. Just don’t mess with Isaac’s paws, he doesn’t like that one bit. But you could pet Rusty for YEARS at a stretch and he’d be thrilled with it. They’re pretty big dogs, and the weird part is that all my experiences with mean dogs have been with little yappy ones. Retrievers like our boys have never given me a moment of hesitation, but I’ve been nipped by little mean dogs on a few occasions. Yet, people think big dog=mean, while small dog=pettable. Not always!
I never said “no” when someone asked if they could pet my dog (though I did make sure that it was alright with parents before letting a kid do it. there was a not small number of allergic kids who apparently wanted to test that theory and pet her anyway - she was gorgeous.) She was a golden retriever, was amazing with kids, she was good with people. She was however, a rescue dog, and freaked out when something was held directly over her nose, or if you approached her with rolled up paper in your hand (not biting “freaked out,” but scared and trembly, and bad for the dog.) Also, she didn’t like being startled - if they asked, I could sit her down first and she’d get petted (which she loved) they’d get to pet her, and everything was great.
When I’ve asked, (which I do, I love dogs) the situation has been the same, I cannot remember being told “no,” plus the owner can get the dog situated and settled and calmed, and I don’t get bit.
I never minded people petting my dog - I just know that it’s better to ask first.
My dog, PBJ, is a Humane Society gal. She was abused by her previous owner, a guy, for her first 5 years. Since I’ve had her, she’s not bitten anyone. I don’t know about before. I kind of wish she got a bite or two in on her previous owner.
She’s really cute (of course) so lot of people want to pet her when I walk her. I try to steer her away from people who look like they might just reach down without asking me first – a judgement call on my part. Although she’s gotten much more trusting & confident, she still barks aggresively at about 5% of women and 70% of men who reach to pet her. (She sometime also barks aggressively at pick-up trucks sometimes, which is what her previous owner drove, I assume.) If they ask, I tell them that she can be scared of strangers, and that if they let her come to them, she’ll be ok. And of course, I watch her very closely and take her away at the first sign she’s getting a little scared or overwhelmed.
If you’re interested in learning more about the interplay between canine & human body language, look at Patricia B. McConnell’s book The Other End of the Leash : Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs. I’m not sure I agree with everything she says, but she has helped me look much more closely at my body language and how my dog might respond to it. I get why PBJ doesn’t like me to use her as a pillow (pretend pillow) now, for example. (In the dog world, it’s considered the height of aggression for one dog to put herself on top of another.)
This is probably going to be a little bit of a hijack, but how do people feel about those soft muzzles for dogs? I’ve seen less than a handful of dogs wearing them while on walks in my neighborhood, and I’d guess they’d be effective against preventing any unexpected nips or bites.
I have stock dogs, and they’re often in the back of my truck when I go run errands. I always park the truck at the far end of the parking lot, both to find a shady spot and to minimize the exposure to random people.
Now, both of my dogs are extremely friendly (I never carry the one who isn’t), but one of them has the annoying habit of reaching out with one foot and poking people to get them to pet them. And I am trying to train him out of that. But when strangers come up to the truck, which is out of their way in the first place, to pet the “cute doggy”, which makes him reach further and further out, I get more than a little annoyed.
And I almost always find someone petting them, or even worse, holding up their small child to pet them. My dogs are very unlikely to bite, but I always tell people that you can’t predict the behavior of dogs, and even friendly ones can get very territorial about their trucks. I tell the kids to never pet truck dogs. I live in a rural farm community, and a lot of people do carry working dogs that will bite in their trucks, and a lot of people do know that it’s rude to pet them, but not everyone. So here I am, always lecturing strange people and their children on dog safety. If people are polite enough to ask first, I generally let them pet my dogs.