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So there's this lady at the dog park who has a young dog who is always telling people not to touch her dog. Apparently, she wants the dog to interact only with other dogs while there.
The dog park regulars are pretty social, and the owners are all very "dog smart." We all play with each other's dogs and toss the balls for them and incite them to play with each other.
There are valid reasons why the owner might not want someone petting or touching her young dog. The key here I think is that this is a young dog.
She may want the dog to have social time with dogs without human interference. Even humans with the best intentions can totally change the dynamic of a group of dogs.
She may want her pup to learn that other humans are "neutral"- sometimes humans are there, sometimes not, no big deal.
Her young pup may be going through a fear phase, or may have had a bad experience with another person that she may be trying to work through by having people ignore her dog. Or alternately, her pup may need that exposure to many different dogs in order to offset a bad experience with another dog.
She may want to give her dog exposure to a broad section of people- as one would want to do with a service dog- in order to socialize, but at the same time to teach her dog that other people are -as mentioned above- neutral and nothing to get excited about.
She may be working on a training protocol or trying to assess her dog's behavior in a group of dogs.
She may be trying to socialize her dog while controlling the dog's environment as much as possible. This is part of a valid training process.
It is worth noting that people can very easily unwittingly "teach" a young dog some very bad habits.
The point is that she could have a valid reason for her request. She has no obligation to share that reason with any of you.
Lastly, I have yet to see many "dog smart" people at dog parks. What I have seen are prime examples of people who are NOT dog smart and who have no idea how to read dog behavior, who have no idea whether their dog is having fun, bullying another dog, or playing nicely. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to pay attention to your dog (which is what you should be doing at a dog park) when you are chatting with other people, drinking coffee, talking on your cell phone, or playing with someone else's dog. I am not directing this at you, OP, just making a general observation.
I just hope people who don't allow anyone to interact with their dog aren't creating un-socialized pets. I think animals have a very good instinct of who is ok and and who is not; I'd much rather my dogs be friendly than barking aggressively at anyone who comes near their home, or being fearful of people.
So there's this lady at the dog park who has a young dog who is always telling people not to touch her dog. Apparently, she wants the dog to interact only with other dogs while there. None of us touch her dog as a result, but my feeling (and the feeling of my fellow parkgoers) is that this is kind of crazy.
The dog park regulars are pretty social, and the owners are all very "dog smart." We all play with each other's dogs and toss the balls for them and incite them to play with each other. It just seems bizarre to me for someone to bring a perfectly friendly dog to the dog park and then tell the other people there to ignore the dog. But that is perhaps my own biases, as when I was growing up, my father was obsessed with having friendly hunting dogs, so he socialized the bejesus out of them. As long as the dog wasn't fighting with other dogs or scared of them, we really didn't care. But as a result, I bring my dog to the dog park under the assumption that he will be socializing with humans and other dogs (when he's not obsessively chasing the ball).
I'm curious about what the other folks on the board think.
Her dog, her decision and your assumptions are not correct in regards to any dogs but your own.
It appears she does not want the dog to be overly friendly to humans who are strangers, I really don't see the issue.
So there's this lady at the dog park who has a young dog who is always telling people not to touch her dog. ........
She doesn't want people to touch her dog, so don;t touch her dog. What's so difficult about that?
Personally, I find it extremely irritating when people touch my dogs without asking first.
I have one potential biter and I protect her by getting good control over her before people touch her. Even with Wyatt McRiot who adores everybody, I would prefer to get him under control forst because he will claw his way right up a persons front out of sher joy. Funny enough, few people appreciate that behavior.
I've had a clean show dog smeared with pink cotton candy just before ring time from a child who touched without asking.
Just don't touch without asking. If you are told no, don;t touch.
She may have security issues due to rape or robbery. She may have got the dog for security reasons. I hated it when my neighbor gave a steak to my watch dogs when I was away. Most robberies are caused by people that know you. A guard dog is useless it if trusts the intruder.
She doesn't want people to touch her dog, so don;t touch her dog. What's so difficult about that?
Personally, I find it extremely irritating when people touch my dogs without asking first.
I have one potential biter and I protect her by getting good control over her before people touch her. Even with Wyatt McRiot who adores everybody, I would prefer to get him under control forst because he will claw his way right up a persons front out of sher joy. Funny enough, few people appreciate that behavior.
I've had a clean show dog smeared with pink cotton candy just before ring time from a child who touched without asking.
Just don't touch without asking. If you are told no, don;t touch.
It's the dog park (not a dog show). You don't take your dog to the dog park unless it interacts reasonably well with other dogs and people. Otherwise you're looking for a lawsuit. My friends with difficult dogs do not take them to dog parks. Ever.
And no, none of us touch her dog. There's nothing difficult about that. But it's weird.
There are valid reasons why the owner might not want someone petting or touching her young dog. The key here I think is that this is a young dog.
She may want the dog to have social time with dogs without human interference. Even humans with the best intentions can totally change the dynamic of a group of dogs.
She may want her pup to learn that other humans are "neutral"- sometimes humans are there, sometimes not, no big deal.
Her young pup may be going through a fear phase, or may have had a bad experience with another person that she may be trying to work through by having people ignore her dog. Or alternately, her pup may need that exposure to many different dogs in order to offset a bad experience with another dog.
She may want to give her dog exposure to a broad section of people- as one would want to do with a service dog- in order to socialize, but at the same time to teach her dog that other people are -as mentioned above- neutral and nothing to get excited about.
She may be working on a training protocol or trying to assess her dog's behavior in a group of dogs.
She may be trying to socialize her dog while controlling the dog's environment as much as possible. This is part of a valid training process.
It is worth noting that people can very easily unwittingly "teach" a young dog some very bad habits.
The point is that she could have a valid reason for her request. She has no obligation to share that reason with any of you.
Lastly, I have yet to see many "dog smart" people at dog parks. What I have seen are prime examples of people who are NOT dog smart and who have no idea how to read dog behavior, who have no idea whether their dog is having fun, bullying another dog, or playing nicely. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to pay attention to your dog (which is what you should be doing at a dog park) when you are chatting with other people, drinking coffee, talking on your cell phone, or playing with someone else's dog. I am not directing this at you, OP, just making a general observation.
All very valid points, except for the fact that she is usually the one on the phone ignoring her dog unless someone who hasn't encountered them yet tries to pet him. The dog seems to have no fear issues whatsoever and quite good manners, and the regulars with a few exceptions actually ARE a very "dog smart" group. We chat a lot (mostly about dogs), but we're all usually positioned along the edges of the dog park facing our animals and monitoring their interactions and trying to get them to play together. There's a reason I use this dog park exclusively and not the other ones in the local area.
In any case, the end result is that the dog just stands around most of the time doing nothing. Mostly because nobody wants to accidentally touch him so we're all far away with our dogs who are playing with each other.
I just posted the query because it was a weird and new situation I had not encountered before, and we are all a little amused by it.
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