do you let strangers touch your dog(s)? - Page 7

The fact that I don't allow strangers to pet my dog is not going to get GSDs banned.  Whether or not my dog is sociable has nothing to do with why I do not allow strangers to pet him.  Personally I find it really weird and more than a little creepy that people would ask such a thing, and ridiculous that you would think it's somehow every GSD owners responsibility to comply with such a request.   If they need to pet a dog they should get their own. 

It depends on what she looks like.....and sometimes what she is wearing.

A friend of mine regularly tells strangers that his dogs have "very contagious mange" to avoid them touching his dogs without offending anyone.

- Eleni

I didn't say you should let everybody pet a dog at any time.  If a dog is working, he/she should be focused on the handler and a simple explanation would typically suffice.  I also didn't say you "called" anyone an idiot, I stated you "act" like anyone wanting to pet your dog is an idiot.  But, so many are stating that they don't let any strangers pet their dogs at any time, I was surprised at the sheer NUMBER of owners who feel this way.  I believe if we want the breed to be more understood, we should not act like they can never be approached, in general.  To each his own, I agree, but some are acting like unsociable cads.  Don't take yourselves so seriously for Pete's sake, knock the chip off your shoulder.  Smile for a change, the world can be a happy place if only you let it.

Wow, you are making some pretty broad assumptions about people you know nothing about.  So now, because we don't let strangers fondle our dogs  we "don't smile and take ourselves too seriously"?   You are the one trying to tell us what we should do with our dogs, not the other way around!  Look, this is not a "right or wrong" thing, you do as you please, as will we. 

Absolutely, if they ask, I have no problems with them wanting to share a little love and attention, and neither does my dog. But that is this dog, I have had other dogs that would not quite see it the same way. Depends on the dog.

GSDTravels, not sure where you are at but all it takes is a scratch from a dog and that is concidered a bite. So suppose my dog gets "overly" friendly and jumps up on someone and they get a scratch from his nails? They could by law call animal control and my dog could be sited with a live bite, when all he was doing was saying hi. Not worth it, not with the abundance of stupid or just sue crazy people out there.

I kind of let my dog make the choice, if he looks interested or goes up to someones hand for a stroke, I'll say yes. But for the most part my dog could care less about peoples affections, kids make him puppyish though, for some reason, he likes to lick kids faces but I don't like him doing that.

If a person can't tell by my dogs well mannered behaviour in public, that he is a good ambassedor for the breed, no amount of explenation or petting is going to get that threw their thick head.

4pack -
Thank you for the valid and reasonable response.  That is much more understandable than just no for the sake of no, an actual reason!!  I will think about it the next time someone asks to pet my boy.  Not that I won't allow it at all, but I'll be extra vigilant in keeping him under control.   And if a scratch can be considered a bite (which I hadn't considered), that in itself could be detrimental, so...  You taught me an important lesson and I appreciate it!! 
BTW, I'm kind of everywhere, back on the road today. 

Yes it can be considered a bite,  it's your word (the dog owner) against theirs, and if they say they were bit, look out.  Been there, done that.

thank you everybody for your input. :-) i don't always say no. it depends on my mood. i usually say no or ignore the question. sometimes if the girls are prancing along at the end of the flexi, and i don't reel them in close enough to me in time, they will approach someone and if they bother asking to pet them first i will say sure since they ran up to you, you might as well. sometimes i just say no, we are training right now. or i might say if you don't mind getting jumped on, chewed on and slobbered (works great when it's really sloppy out, they usually just stand there and shake their heads then). what really annoys me is when i pull the dogs really close to me, obviously showing i don't want them to be petted, and while i am trying to go around someone they follow me and persist in trying to touch the dogs, even after i say don't touch them sometimes. when spunky was a baby everybody petted her. as she got bigger and got in the habit of jumping, i cut back on that. she nibbles on people too. i tried discouraging that, others encouraged it. my friends still stick their hands in her mouth, and she is almost 2. i don't like staggering drunks trying to get friendly with my girls, frankly i am scared to death of drunks. i have alot of anxiety in general, and like the dogs to keep strangers physically away from me. if the dogs are on a short leash and people try petting them i feel like my personal space is being invaded. i love talking about dogs and occasionally another gsd owner will say how beautiful spunky is and they have one at home. i stop and we chat awhile, spunky gets pets then, and we are on our way with me smiling. or the other day a lady said oh i have a black standard poodle too. i said you do? and we talked a couple minutes. fluffy got pets (she couldn't care less about petting spunky, though she said she was cute too) and i was happy about that interaction. most of the time i feel that if someone wants to pet my dogs just to pet a dog they should go to the pound and get their own because they are my dogs.