I wish I could wear a sign "Please resist the urge to touch my dog"

[nadine_mn]

Admittedly, my husband and I have been guilty of this - that irresistible urge to touch a dog out in public. But we have trained ourselves to ask politely if we can pet the dog and actually wait for a response.

Usually this happens in a store like Petco or some other pet friendly place.

Yesterday though I about snapped. Took my german shepherd - who is quite frankly a handsome dog - to the vet to get his staples out. A well-meaning woman stuck her hand right in his face, on his muzzle before I had the chance to move him away. Good lord if someone did that to me, I would bite them. Get your hands off my face. Ugh, now I know how pregnant women must feel when strangers grope their bellies.

I sat down, she sat next to us. Kept talking about how handsome he is, and like a child kept reaching out to him. I think there might have been some slight mental health issues (her look was extremely disheveled, and she kept repeating herself and questions) so I tried my best to be patient. I was worried that he might bite her. Mainly because I was starting to tense up and he is protective and I was worried because he was there to get his sutures removed (which may have made him grouchy) and the last time he was at the vet, he had surgery. So he may not be having fond memories of the place and someone repeatedly trying to touch him might make him nippy.


When she reached for him again, I said (politely) that he was there to get staples out and he may be uncomfortable. She seemed to understand and left him alone. But then got up, to look at something on the counter, as soon as she passed him, stuck her hands all over his muzzle again.

You may ask - why didn't I sit somewhere else? Well this is one drawback of our vet office. The place is small, with 2 seating areas - one by the door and checkout and one that directly faces the exam rooms (maybe 8-10 ft between the seats and the doors). There is really no safe place to sit - at least by the door I can see people coming up the walk and brace myself if another dog comes in - Durango is not well socialized - and that is where I was sitting yesterday.

The seats in front of the exam room are a dogfight waiting to happen IMO. The dogs leaving the exam room usually kind of bolt straight out (get me out of here and away from the person poking me). My dog doesn't stop to think why the dogs are bolting out, just would see a door open and a dog lunging out and goes straight into barking and lunging back.

I have asked in the past to be put in an exam room right away, but yesterday there was only one person at the desk and she was on the phone.

I hate to have to put a muzzle on him at the vet but for his safety I think I am going to start. I just hate the stigma "ooh vicious dog" - no, its stupid people who stick their fingers in his face.

[murielm99]

1. Our vet staggers the appointments so that

this is unlikely to happen. Of course, there are sometimes emergencies and walk-ins. I have done that myself.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. I just come out and tell people my guy is NOT friendly.

my dog is sweet with the people he knows and likes, but does not like kids, is aloof with strangers, which is what I want him to be.
I want a good watchdog, so when we are out, I tell people, nicely, he is not friendly, pls. do not pet him.
Works every time.

Won't that work for you?

[nadine_mn]

3. I have in the past - I think my rant was just so much frustration at yesterday

Even after I told her not to touch him because I wasn't sure how he was feeling, she still kept sticking her hands in his face. I guess I need to be more matter of fact and just say "he is not friendly". I have to get over that stupid fear of seeming rude and put his safety first.

I am the problem. It breaks my heart to admit it. I tense up, he reads that and gets tense. With my husband, he is better because my husband doesn't over think every social interaction and is much more relaxed. I have never had a dog until him that read my mood so closely.

[meow2u3]

4. You can have a t-shirt made

In large letters, have the saying, "DON'T TUTCH THE DOG."

[nadine_mn]

5. Hmm reminds me of a Lounge post..."Don't touch the butt"

maybe I should just have that made

[GreatGazoo]

6. People used to feed my dogs without asking

Just whip something out of their pocket and into the mouth of one them (!?) It caught me so off guard the first time because I would never do that to someone else and I don't walk around with food loose in my pockets.

A lady squirted water from a sport's bottle in my dog's face saying "he looks thirsty!" A man gave one of them most of a large chocolate brownie. No warning, just looked at my dog who is on a 4-ft leash and popped this big old chocolate brownie into her mouth. I bent down and fished most of it out while struggling with what to say to him. I have gotten better about holding my tongue and trying to stay focused on 'these people are just trying to show love' and not 'hey don't poison my dog with chocolate.'

I am much quicker now and stop most people, usually by getting my hand on my dog's muzzle before they can do it. Also quicker to take charge of the situation and say "No thanks! That's very nice of you but no."

[nadine_mn]

7. Oh that is horrible - how did you not punch the brownie guy?

We had a neighbor when I was younger that would throw chicken bones in our yard for our dog - so I had to walk the exercise pen everyday before he could go out.

And squirting your dog in the face? I have no idea how you kept your cool - I am glad you did. I know people think they mean well but honestly, I think somewhere along the line people forgot how to human. Common sense has left us completely.

[GreatGazoo]

9. I believe he meant well and I was able get most of it out

The lethal dose of chocolate for a larger dog is somewhere above 3.5 oz of pure cacao so for something like a Hershey Kiss, which has so little chocolate in it that it is not legally chocolate in the UK, a dog would have to eat pounds and pounds of it. It takes 136 milligrams of theobromine per pound of dog weight to kill the dog and a Hershey kiss has about 8 milligrams so for a 100 pound dog that would be 13600 milligrams or 1700 Hershey Kisses. In darker chocolates the caffeine is also a factor since dogs don't metabolize it very well at all. But anyway, I'm going to think that he just didn't know that dogs should avoid chocolate.

I had another guy who's dog snarled at mine, she barked so he got down on his knees and he, the human being, barked at her about 12 inches from her face (?!) Someone who witnessed this said the guy is "broken" so I have had a range of experiences that put the smaller stuff into perspective.

I used to walk a male Boxer for a friend and never had these issues. People would avoid the dog and some would ask with obvious fear "what kind of dog is that ?!" (which I took to mean 'is that a pit bull with long legs?') That Boxer was rescued from a tow truck garage with mange and broken leg, taken by a Marshall on an anonymous tip (the guy's girlfriend, shhhhhhh) and it was sweet as cake indoors but a little unpredictable on the street. Went nuts around males who smelled like gasoline (no surprise there). The dogs I have now are large but cute so it was quite a switch when people would come at them with no fear or reservations of any kind.

As usual, dogs' issues can be dealt with but it is the humans you encounter that are more difficult.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. I always ask people if it's OK to pet their dog.

Seems to me that's just common sense. Most dogs love to be petted but I don't want to have a chunk taken out of me by one who doesn't.