Always lift their hand up if your dog is near or goes to say hello?

They have probably;y had their fingers bitten.

Seriously, may be they would rather not be visited by a strange dog, even people who own dogs do not know if a dog runs up to them uninvited if its owner has control of it or not.

It's daft, because it makes the dog think they've got something in their hand and are more curious to find out what it is, so they jump at the hand.

I do it, simply because I can't stand having my hand snotted!

After bringing up children, getting a snotty hand is mild! ;-)

I never mind it, and I'm inclined to let any dog sniff and lick but my husband is as how you describe he says he doesn't like slobber!

I've had many a person who chooses to walk into my dogs, plenty of space to stay well away and then lift their hands as my dogs go in for a sniff.. Yup one of mine, very exuberant at time partially jumps up as she thinks there is a treat. She thinks everyone has a treat for her in their hands!'

In a way it can be seen as a training issue but if people have an issue with my dogs then I'd rather they didn't want into our path when you can walk around us!!

I think I'm guilty of hand lifting :( don't like other dogs slobber and also,not knowing the nature of the dog I'd rather keep my digits out of the way ;)

My dog can get a bit slobbery when he is sniffing around out on walks, so I don't blame people for not desperately wanting contact with their hands. Lovely though he is ;-)

There are 2 ways of lifting your hand away from a dog.

One is to lift your hand up, holding it close to your body. Most dogs will see this as a clear sign to leave your hand alone. Even most puppies.

The other is to lift your hand up away from your body and  wave it around- a certainly to attract the dogs attention further.

Guess which method must people use. Especially those who particularly dislike dogs.

> After bringing up children, getting a snotty hand is mild! ;-)

And that right there is one of the many reasons I don't want children!!

Must say I've never seen another doggy person do this! If a dog runs up to me to greet me and is showing the right signals then I generally give it a stroke and let it do what it wants to me (within reason, some crotch-sniffers can be pretty forceful!). I must say I love it when big dogs jump up at me for a full blown hug, I never get that with my Miniatures so tend to give them a good cuddle back!

What *really* confuses me is when people try to talk to you and greet your dog as they're doing a poo. I was at the beach last week, my pup started to poo, and just as I'm waiting for her to finish this lady comes up and just stands there smiling at her. I made a comment about it being an awkward time to say hello and she didn't take the hint, just stood there beaming at my excrement-involved pup! When she'd finished I picked it up and she kind of gave a wistful smile and walked off. Really bizzare!

Today the 'idiots' have been out in force. People giving my dog (a GSD) such a huge-wide berth and making silly noises/jumping out of his way when he walks past, completely ignoring them! The worst today was when we walked past a cafe. A shih tzu was sitting below a table (lead wrapped around the bottom of the table) and jumped and snapped at my dog's feet. Nando completely ignored it and acted like it wasn't there. The shih tzu had knocked hot coffee over, in it's poor attempts to get at my dog.

The owners didn't apologise or say anything at all, but I did hear them say 'I hate those dogs' when they thought I was out of earshot! The cheek of it!

I'm well accustomed to this, makes me feel like a leper.

I don't have a problem with others dogs coming up to me if they are friendly. In fact I welcome it. Slobber, not the nicest thing but i've wiped many a dribble off of dogs heads out of sympathy where another dog has slobbered over them, quick wipe on grass and jeans and it's done.

Overall though I think I'm one of those people that generally prefers the company of dogs to humans.