[CptJack]

This is something that came up today, while we were out on our walk.

We ran into a guy with his lab puppy (4 months - little older than Kylie). Kylie had a problem, initially, because the much larger puppy charged her. The problem amounted to yelping before she was touched and then barking for a second. After the lab had calmed down, both Jack and Kylie ignored him.

They ignored the dog's people (man and a 8-9 year old little girl) entirely. Jack waded a bit, then came and stayed beside us. Kylie just wanted to keep playing fetch. Neither one was aggressive just... standoffish, I guess? The lab was very, very, exuberantly friendly, especially with my kids. And by 'exuberant', I mean hyper butt who kept slamming into all (ours and his) kids and knocking them over, and trying to climb the people.

As we were leaving, the man said something about our dogs being UNfriendly, and he wouldn't have a dog like that and ours needed to be better socialized.

Our dogs will aren't the least bit aggressive or flighty/fearful (they don't run from people). If someone wants to pet them, they'll sit and be polite for it. Kylie might wiggle a bit and break the sit. Mostly, though, we've encouraged them to ignore people in public, besides us.

Am I missing something, here? And I mean that sincerely. This is not a 'validate me' post.

 

[Keechak]

I want my dogs to show mild interest, sniffing is ok, but no straining on the leash or jumping up at the stranger.

 

[dagwall]

Personally I'd rather run into your dogs than his on a walk. Disinterested is better than jumping all over other people. Granted you're talking about a four month old puppy in their case that will hopefully be taught not to jump all over people in time. While I do like to meet and greet with friendly dogs on our walks I don't expect all dog to want to be best buds with my dog or me.

 

[EdDTS]

I expect my own dog to be calm around people, pretty much how your dogs behave. I want him to ignore them but be nice when people want to pet him and not jump up on them. That's how I think all dogs should behave, a dog that jumps on everyone, even just in excitement, has bad manners and needs to be trained. If a dog jumps on someone it should be because it was invited to jump up.

 

[Abbylynn]

I honestly think that your dogs did well. I firmly believe Kylie was just startled by the Lab pup's initial over exuberance. I also think Kylie is doing well for her age from what I read. I am not trying to validate anyone or thing ... but I honestly feel that the owner of the Lab pup needs to do some training.

I do not want my own dogs becoming overly fond of others or other peoples dogs. I want them to be friendly but not obnoxious. I have never wanted any of my dogs to be so social that they will run off with anyone or take food from just anyone either. I have always been very touchy about my dogs ... more so when I was younger. I am a bit more lenient now. All my dogs are taught to maintain composure ... if at all possible. Some of my dogs have been a bit more difficult than others ... but can learn IMHO.

 

[BostonB]

I've only had my puppy a week so I may feel differently once we get out into the dog world a bit more. But....

You're not missing anything. Your dogs sound fine. I will not let my children pet dogs who jump all over them. Nice, polite, quiet dogs? Of course! If their owners allow it.

 

[wvasko]

As we were leaving, the man said something about our dogs being UNfriendly, and he wouldn't have a dog like that and ours needed to be better socialized.

I hope you let the man know your dog's weren't for sale so he had no worries.

Our personal dogs have for the most part been aloof types. Something I have always preferred. Our present beast Pierce is a tad overactive because 1st 18 months he was with old owner who dumped him on us. He is slowly learning to constrain his exuberance. I don't like unruly rascals.

 

[Willowy]

Apparently I have no expectations (after thinking about it, LOL). Having my dogs around babies and small children makes me nervous so I'll leave or put the dogs somewhere away from the kids. I know that dogs are dogs and stuff happens and parents tend to overreact. I'll allow them around my niece and nephew only because I know that my brother and SIL won't freak out if the kids get licked or stepped on or knocked over (the dogs aren't overly exuberant but they are bigger than the kids and. . .stuff happens). I also know that dogs have opinions about which people they like and I don't expect them to like anybody (but they usually do).

Basically, I try to avoid having my dogs around people I don't know because it's such a wild card. I learned that a long time ago when I let some random guy hold my ferret and he started shrieking that the ferret bit him (he didn't; the dude was crazy). I lived in fear of AC barging in and killing my ferrets for a long time after that, and I never let anyone hold my ferrets again. So now I'm similarly distrustful with my dogs. People be wack .

 

[Gally]

I think dogs should have good manners around strangers. Whether they are really "love everyone" types or more aloof I expect them not to jump on strangers.

Gally loves everyone, he used to try to pull us over to every strange we saw on a walk when he was little and then he would want to jump on them. Now that he is older he mostly ignores strangers unless they are coming to greet him, then he is very excited but will sit nicely at their feet and let them pet him. The only time he goes overboard is if the person gets really excited and starts talking in that high pitched baby voice, then he gets all wiggly and wants to lick them.

 

[CptJack]

I honestly think that your dogs did well. I firmly believe Kylie was just startled by the Lab pup's initial over exuberance. I also think Kylie is doing well for her age from what I read. I am not trying to validate anyone or thing ... but I honestly feel that the owner of the Lab pup needs to do some training. .

I am not in the least critical of Kylie. Bottom line - lab wasn't on a leash (owner and kid didn't even have a leash WITH them), and came barrelling out of nowhere and danged near ran her over. Screaming, running and barking in that situation strikes me as reasonable. Also? BIG PUPPY, > 30 pounds, and Kylie is a tiny little thing. I didn't pick her up and comfort her, because I don't want to encourage fear, but I don't see a problem with her response right now. It's pretty puppy typical.

and yeah. Lab pup is a lab pup, and I don't think it should be perfect but that dog was. WILD.

 

[titiaamor]

My dogs are like the lab. They are never off-leash outside of our property. I wish I knew how to train them to be polite, like your dogs. Any tips? they are 1.

I am not in the least critical of Kylie. Bottom line - lab wasn't on a leash (owner and kid didn't even have a leash WITH them), and came barrelling out of nowhere and danged near ran her over. Screaming, running and barking in that situation strikes me as reasonable. Also? BIG PUPPY, > 30 pounds, and Kylie is a tiny little thing. I didn't pick her up and comfort her, because I don't want to encourage fear, but I don't see a problem with her response right now. It's pretty puppy typical.

and yeah. Lab pup is a lab pup, and I don't think it should be perfect but that dog was. WILD.

 

[Tankstar]

He would hate my 2. neither ask for attention. But get alot. Both are friendly, but dont care about people. They will allow children to flock on to them or elderly in wheel chairs to pet them and every one inbetween. But they dont jump out of their skin to meet people. Nore would I want them to. One has a CGN and the other will have his when there is another testing nearby.

 

[CptJack]

My dogs are like the lab. They are never off-leash. I wish I knew how to train them to be polite, like your dogs> Any tips? they are 1.

I think the method falls under the 'look at that' game, or any other desenitizing training. When people get near my dogs, I have them sit, look at me, and shove food in their faces. Eventually they get to the point where they see people coming, sit in front of me and ignore. I don't let other people pet them, without the dogs being in a sit. I don't let other people give them food. Sooner or later, they're pleasant with people they don't know, or while we're out and about, but since I'm the one with the pocket full of bacon (Kylie's still a baby), and the other people don't give them stuff, the attention falls on me. Though I'm absolutely sure personality has a lot to do with this - Jack still would have hung out with us/ignored strange people. Were Kylie not ball obsessed, she probably would have been more interested in playing with the new people.

 

[zhaor]

On walks, my dog shows interest in strangers in that he wants to go and sniff them. In more interesting environments like on hikes, he completely ignores people, which makes me feel bad sometimes for the friendly people that try to say hi to him and he just ignores and goes right by them xD. He does want to sniff every dog he meets tho.

For the most part I want dogs to be polite first and foremost before being particularly interested in strangers.

Playing rough is one thing but I certainly don't feel that a puppy should be running around and charging other dogs and people. The owner even sounds like he thinks he's being a good owner and encouraging the proper behavior for his pup.

 

[CptJack]

. The owner even sounds like he thinks he's being a good owner and encouraging the proper behavior for his pup.

I have visions of this dog as an adult, and they scare me a little. He also kept shoving the dog back into the river when she came out and all I could think was 'that's not going to train the dog to retrieve in/enjoy water, dumb ass.' I don't know. I try not to get on a high horse. The dog *was* a younger puppy. I realize Kylie's a little creepy for her age. But man alive.

 

[Shakespaw]

I am not in the least critical of Kylie. Bottom line - lab wasn't on a leash (owner and kid didn't even have a leash WITH them), and came barrelling out of nowhere and danged near ran her over. Screaming, running and barking in that situation strikes me as reasonable. Also? BIG PUPPY, > 30 pounds, and Kylie is a tiny little thing. I didn't pick her up and comfort her, because I don't want to encourage fear, but I don't see a problem with her response right now. It's pretty puppy typical.

and yeah. Lab pup is a lab pup, and I don't think it should be perfect but that dog was. WILD.

Seems to me like his dog is the one that needs to taught how to behave properly.

I have no expectations for my dogs and how they approach other people, other than that I don't want them to be aggressive or violent. Perhaps it comes from having adopted shy, fearful dogs, and constantly being irritated by how people always assume that all dogs are for petting and will just approach my dog without asking if it's okay and basically force themselves on her. She's a rescue of mostly unknown origins, and she's always been shy. It took us a good two years to get her to the point where she'll actually consistently approach people for petting. The new one we've had only a few weeks, and he still backs away if we try to pet him. It's ridiculous to expect all dogs to want to be bestest friends with every person they meet. Sometimes it's not even really appropriate to expect the dog to allow himself to be petted - I don't let any random stranger I meet rub my back either. Everybody gets to set their own boundaries - I don't see why that shouldn't include dogs.

I also wouldn't really want any random dog running up to me uninvited. Just as not all dogs want human attention, so is it true that not all humans want dog attention. I love dogs, but we've all had a dog get a little too pushy in their bid for attention, and that's not really cool either.

Given that you say this guy was walking a young, overly enthusiastic puppy off leash and seemed to expect that it was desirable for his puppy to force himself on any stranger that walked by, I'd say it's a good bet this will be the kind of dog who jumps on everybody and knocks over grandma when she comes to visit. That's not really what I'd want in my dog, personally.

 

[Crantastic]

I want my dogs to ignore strangers for the most part. If approached, they should be polite and mildly interested. I don't want them to be aggressive or afraid.

A lot of people seem to think that all dogs should have the stereotypical lab/golden temperament, the "I love everybody" kind of thing. That's okay, and I like meeting dogs like that... but it's not what I want from my own dogs.

 

[Laurelin]

I like a dog to be disinterested in strangers ideally. I have one that is slightly nervous around strangers in some settings and totally oblivious in others. And then one that wants to make out with every stranger she sees. lol <--- drives me batty.

 

[LuvMyAngels]

Ideal- "yeah, you can pet me but dont expect me to do much". I'd love a dog that will accept petting but not think he has to be BFFs with absolutely everyone.

Buster- "OMG!! Did you see him/her?!?! I have to meet them NOW!". Brat bear is a Golden (loves everyone but more sensitive than a Lab) in a Saints body. Show interest in him (making eye contact is showing interest) and he's a wiggling, quivering ball of fur.

Bus was afraid of his own shadow as a puppy so instead of worrying so much about how he was greeting, I was encouraging him to greet as many people as possible. 3 1/2 years later Im busy working to undo some of that and tone down his over enthusiastic greetings. If I can get him to where he'll just keep all 4 paws on the ground (and preferably keep his nose out of peoples crotches), life will be perfect. The biggest challenge to this is he tends to mirror the energy the other person is projecting...and most people are way too excited to meet him.

 

[aiw]

The only unbending expectation I have of my dogs is to be tolerant of other people and dogs. That said I like having friendly dogs. Pete is super into people, he'll sniff the other dogs but mostly he wants to be pet by the owners. Callie behaves a little like that lab with other dogs (and occasionally visitors). She won't jump up but she gets REALLY excited and tears around. We've trained some manners into her but mostly its just who she is. We call her the ultimate pack dog because she LOVES other dogs, I think if it were her choice she would live with dogs instead of people. Sometimes she overwhelms other dogs, when we see that she gets warned and then separated. Occasionally the dogs take the warning into their own hands with a snark, usually she deserves it and will back off a little.