I know this has been discussed many times before but i really noticed it when we went to devon this weekend, the number of children who grab your dog without asking or shoving their hands in the dogs face - leo's never bitten anyone and hopefully never would but hes quite a timid dog and it frightens him when children do this and annoys me, i wouldnt touch anyone elses dog without asking so what makes people think they have the right too and the worst ones even try and chase him when hes backing away clearly bothered by them - luckily though hes been getting more confident with people coming up and touching him but its not really the point

and then people wonder why they get bitten!

It's not just children :( It's surprising the number of adults - usually men who try to stroke my older dog (he's a rescue and HATES strangers putting their hand down to him - he barks ferociously). If we get the chance, we say to people not to stroke him, but they still try to :( I have a laugh secretly as they always jump when he barks at them :D Bramble is good with young children as they aren't so tall :)

Daisy

I bought some window grill things today just because of what you said!
Yesterday I was in the camping store while my husband sat outside (we were going walking and typical i'd forgot my fleece so popped in to buy another).
Two older children(about 13yrs) approached the van and said could they stroke the dogs(heads out the window) and my husband replied perfectly well and nicely that the black dog(Herman) saw the van as his little home that needed to be guarded so it was best to leave them alone.
And what did they do? went to stroke the black one!

He is fine out of the van but for some reason has taken it on himself to bark at anything that comes near, so to be on the safe side :(

we usually go to carboots at the weekend and most of the children and adults there ask so i dont usually have the problem or notice it but this weekend people seemed to think he was their toy to play with :(

i agree with you all my dog is the softest ever ,he is a bullmastiff but if a stranger scared him and he bit them ( he has never ever shown any signs of biting) it would not be oh a stranger came and shoved his hand in his face it would be a dangerous bullmastiff savaged someone people should have mor sense

When we are away camping (and unfortunate enough not to be staying in an adult only site :(  ) and the boys are tied up outside the tent the amount of kids that just go over and throw themselves at them is amazing, two little girls even picked up the blanket and wrapped Fagan up in it luckily my boys are very good natured but I do tend to comment rather loudly that it is lucky they dont bite when kids come over and stroke them without asking.

Funnily enough, this isn't a problem I tend to have.  On rare occasions some strange children have asked if they could stroke the dogs, which is no problem but I keep watch (i.e. make sure there is no pulling ears, or grabbing fur etc).

But to be honest, I've had more people keeping their distance (must be a GSD thing around these parts or maybe its Spender's mean look, he's a big softy really, but shhhh, don't tell anyone :-P :-D but those that do want to give them a stroke, ask me if the dogs are okay with it.  Which they are and if we stop for a chat to an acquaintance or a neighbour, the dogs make the first move and give them a sniff and they get a stroke anyhow.  Overall, I have more occurrences of my dogs attempting to go up to strange people to sniff them than I have with people coming up to them.

Hi Spender,

You and me both :P  I'm usually dragging people kicking and screaming over to say hello to the dogs as youngsters - obviously the whole "wolfy look" puts them off :rolleyes: and it's so important with pups to get lots of positive contact - but by the time they hit the lggy 4+ months stage folk are already nodding over smiling but don't approach :(

Of course by the time they're 8-10 months the dogs can herd them up themselves :P

Teri

Lol, :-D The locals round here are really good Teri, when we were socializing Sheba (rescue dog, - was completely petrified of strangers, long story) we used to take her to the local pub and get the locals to throw treats towards her.  At the time, it was better for people to keep their distance as she just couldn't handle full blown attention.  It took roughly 5 years continuous controlled socializing for her to interact with strange people and feel confident and happy in their presence.  Nowadays, she goes straight up to them and rubs herself against them :o: (I'm sure she was a cat in a previous life) :-D  On the other hand Spender has always adored people, he goes up to them and if he doesn't automatically get a stroke, he licks their hand.  The only thing that worries me is that some strangers may not appreciate it. 

This is one of my biggest bugbears with my dogs, simply because the kids, or their parents, have no way of knowing how my dogs will react.  Sure, Remy is fine with kids, but Opi is unsure - I don't trust her with strange kids, or my brother's stepkids outside of my home, even though she loves them.  So when a strange child just starts stroking her, I do get worried and try to explain that they are frightening her.  Every so often the parents actually reprimand the child, but not often - just last week I was walking along a sea wall when a little girl appeared from nowhere, went straight up to Opi and patted her on top of her head.  Now Opi playbites still, the minx, and that action is one of the most likely to make her mouth.  can you imagine the reaction if she did?  Luckily, the mum was savvy and told the girl off.  The girl still followed us along, but made no more attempts to stroke my dogs, or actually go near them.

Fortunately we don't run into many kids, and of the ones we do I'm aware what ones to avoid - like the little girl up the park, who last time we met insisted on chasing Opi, while screaming merrily, to "make her say hello" - despite Opi's tail between her legs, hackles up and little growls.  I wasn't impressed, and fortunately the girl stayed away once I'd told her not to do it, looking very sheepish.

This annoys me too, and I have only recently become a dog owner! We carried our GSD puppy to a local woodland/recreation area as part of her socialisation. A boy shouted out 'what dog is that?', so I told her what breed she is. A group of boys then came over. One told me 'We had one of those once, but it gave me allergies so mum had it put down' (yes, seriously). Then the father of one of the boys came over too, and he had owned GSD's before. He was a very nice man, told the children to stop kicking their ball about and to be calm. However, this didn't stop one boy from pulling on her tail and holding on, even though I told him twice not to do it. In the end I got so fed up with how they were with her, I told them we were leaving, but not before the grotty child who had told me about his allergies had stared at me in an aggressive way and said 'can I have her?' (???!!!!)
Another experience was at the vets. A group of three children came running over to her, and were stroking her so hard it was making her eyeballs bulge. She is incredibly tolerant of children, but I think she has been coping because she is being held up, so feels in a slightly more comfortable position than if she was on the ground. I know she looks very sweet (EVERYONE comments on how she looks like a teddy bear) but that doesn't mean she can be squeezed, huged, pulled, tugged etc, and what annoys me is that no matter how many times to tell a child 'don't do that' and explain why they shouldn't, they will do it again anyway. I feel it is really important to get my dog socialised with children, as I have no children of my own and so I do rely on children of friends or children in the street to get her familar with little people, but I feel like there is a fine line between the need to socialise her and opening her up to being mauled and tugged by little brats.
On a lighter note, on another occasion at the vets, a lovely little girl came up to my partner and asked if she couldstroke our puppy. She was very gentle, didn't stroke her head but stroked her chest and asked lots of questions about how old she was, if she barked yet, but I admit that she was from a dog owning household and her mother was obviously very experienced with dogs, so this little girl had obviously grown up knowing how to behave.

Same problem here!
At this time of year we have alot of tourists on the beach.
Little children run up to hug the 'big bear' and then get upset when their faces are covered with slob :D

I have no problems with children coming over and cuddling Bruce, in fact I have put him into situations where lots of children meet him. He is now 9 months and is as good as gold with strangers, never jumping but just takes it all in and passes some of his drool onto them :)
This is one of my reasons why I wanted a Newfie, he just loves everyone and is one big softy.

Hi Tippytoes,
That is lovely. Bless them, I dont mine who loves my dogs, neither do they, As long as they
are loving and nice to them, especially the children, the dogs  love them!
Regards
Denese

We have a 6 month old Golden Retriever who is very good with people but we have the same problem, because she is so cute everyone wants to stroke her.  I have no problem if people ask but when they just come up and stroke I make a point of asking them not to.

My mother has a Springer who did bite someone who tried to stroke the dogs face, they then reported the "attack" to a policeman who happenend to be nearby.  Luckily the policeman was a dog owner who when he heard my mother's side of the story told the person what an stupid thing it was to try and stroke a dog without the owners permission.

Steve

Spender - Same here, people are (usually) very cautious with my GSD's, you get the odd burk, and it's always one whose had 'alsatians' all their lives - yeah right :D. I must say that I feel it's a good thing, I would hate people just to feel they could manhandle my dogs. And those that want to say hello invariably ask whether they can stroke them, but it amazes me the amount of people ask whether they bite !!! What a perception. I also encourage people to say hello, and a little girl in the pub garden last night was clearly fascinated, but not too brave, so I invited her to give the two dogs a treat. I think she thought herself very courageous!

NannyOgg, If you have to be rude, be rude! Tell them they can't touch the dog if they are rough. Tough luck if you cause offence, the development of your little un is FAR FAR more important than upsetting someone. They'll forget it in 5 minutes, your little one could remember a bad experience for the restof her life.
Kat

>but it amazes me the amount of people ask whether they bite !!!

Lol, I get that too. :-D.  If I don't trust someone, I say, 'yeah.... they do'.  But overall, people do appear to be cautious and respectful.   I too would rather have it like that than them be constantly manhandled and pestered. 

In the early days of socialising Missy, I mistakenly took her to an area just a distance away from the school gate, so she could watch the children coming out of school, but not get too close.  The well known 'bully' from my #2 sons class came straight over and asked if she bit, I said probably, yes, and he still proceeded to try and touch her - and ofcourse she told him where to go in her own fashion.........

Funnily enough, my kids never had any more problems with him.......

I usually answer 'only when they are hungry' :D

happens to me all the time, & flynny wears a halti thingy when out ,hoping peeps will think its a muzzle.
i really despair

I always put the gentle leader on and my lot all bark a lot so everyone assumes they are savage beasts. 

The best one was when this annoying kid around the corner bent down to kiss beagie and her being her licked him and my daughter informed him she had just eaten a load of dog poo.  Funnily enough they now leave her alone. :)