Puppy harness? - Page 2

This stuff never happens to me. I can take any dog anywhere and not be bothered at all, except for ***MAYBE*** the occasional very very young child who shyly and politely asks if s/he can pet my dog, to which the answer is always "of course you can,  and thank you for asking first."  You people must look too approachable. Try to look meaner or crazier.

When people approach, start growling. If they don't leave, I'd bite them.

Jenni, You must not be from a small town lol. People here don't even know there is such a thing as a black German Shepherd, or a black sable one.  People here are typically HUGE dog people for that matter too though.  Being that I typically bring Huskies in public.....the public image of Sibes are "Snow Dog".....Or Eight Below...... They think all Huskies are incredibly intelligent dogs that want to meet every single living soul on the face of the earth.  Not to mention "they're so pretty" or so "beautiful"...or whatever.  I'm lucky enough with the adults that people typically don't attempt petting, they ask first, or just talk to me about them.  Something about the size of an adult dog seems to not have the "cute puppy petting picture" to it.   I'm all for children petting the Huskies or seeing the dogs as long as they ask if they can pet, my dogs absolutely love children anyway.  It's funny though I do get the occasional "do they bite" comment from people who want to pet the Huskies.  There was one guy who asked that in the past. I think it was Buck and Little Dude that I had with me....Little Dude was like 8 weeks......Buck, obviously much older.  I did not like that guy, how he was talking for that matter, and how Buck was looking at him (if Buck doesn't trust someone.....you better not trust them either) so when he asked me if he bites.......I told him if I tell him to he will.....I had no intentions of letting that guy pet him.  I think when Auggie is big I won't have as many people try to approach and pet without asking......but for now.....Do not pet harness it is......

Question though, Jenni......you said "any" dog.......Are these all adult dogs?  It's so much different with puppies in public.  I'm wandering what all "what is he mixed with" questions I'll get when Auggie is older.... For some reason with three of my Huskies I always get the....is it part wolf question.  People around here are convinced Little Dude especially, is part wolf, part Husky. The one thing I do know from the past though, is that at least most people here don't view the German Shepherd as a scary breed.  I'm not racist by any means, a couple of my best friends are black.....but it does seem that many, many black people around here are terrified of German Shepherds in general.

Chaz, I think I like your approach the best.  

DDRCzechfan.....I think it was when Little Dude was.....little.... I was telling someone don't pet him.....they didn't listen, they were totally focused on him....And then I got louder and closer and said stop petting my dog......and I swear, they must have been on drugs....I then practically yelled, right beside them....stop petting my dog!!! And then they just smiled, nodded, and then walked off like nothing happened.  We were on the dog food aisle at Tractor Supply.....if someone did that again I'd have to pick up a bag of dog food and smack them upside the head lol.  Oh well.....I'll probably order a no pet harness early next week, so we'll see how it ends up going for us.   

Yes, they are all adults now. But they were puppies at one point. No different. I've lived in uppity suburbs and towns no one has ever heard of, and it's the same thing. They may ask about the dog, mostly Caleb, but they never ask to pet him, except, as I said, the occasional small child. I'm telling you, it's you, not the dog. Apparently, I don't look approachable. :-)

Funny side note: my son, 2.5, will yell at anyone even looking at our dogs and say "Noooooooooo! That's MY dog! Don't touch my dog!" before they even ask and sometimes when they're not paying any attention to them at all. Kind of possessive......like the dogs. Maybe raising them so close together all the time wasn't such a great idea. 

Well, Omaha NE isn't exactly a small town either, and NO ONE has ever seen a black GSD before... (save the guy who decided to waltz up to the house with some flyer *right* as I was letting Qira out. She didn't like him at all, bark/growled and sat in front of him showing her teeth with him plastered against my car until I got down there, then we were all good again, LOL. His response was "Black German Shepherd? I got one too." So he was thankfully cool about it.)

But there are a lot of people here who will walk right over and start petting her without asking... even if she is poking her head out of my car. Shortly after I got her (at 4 y/o) some guy walked up to the van while we were loading papers, grabbed her face and started ruffling her ears with his own face about an inch from hers and said "Aww, look't you, I remember when you was just a puppy..." I'm like "Really? 'Cause I don't."  Just glad she is as good of a dog as she is.

It is kind of sad when the little kids are smarter than the adults. I've never had a kid pet her yet without asking first, while I've had multiple adults do it without.

On the plus side, someone actually guessed her breed right yesterday without asking if she was part lab or wolf. LOL

You could always make your dog a little sandwich board to wear   :D

I like to ask them if they will let me pet their children. They never do! :D

I think I'm going to "borrow" the chihuahua I see in the subdivision on my walks fairly often.  I figure if I use Chaz's method of growling at people, and if I have a little Chihuahua that does it too.....people might go the other way.

Dawulf, people need to get out more lol.  It just surprises me at how many people don't know there are black Shepherds. I know of one "black" Shepherd in my town, and even that dog has a huge white patch on his chest.  There is one at the Schutzhund club here I know, but that's about it. I'm curious though, who would be at fault if your dogs head was out of the window......someone came up to it, and pet it?........and then got bit? Not saying it's going to happen with your dog, I just wandered about that.  Not a Shepherd, but I'll never forget the "dog trainer" at Petco coming up to one of my Huskies in the past. She wanted to pet him, but first she wanted him to sit......She asked his name, I said Buck.....Oh, hey "Bart"....."Bart" sit.....(while moving her hand up in the air)........Buck didn't sit..... She's a little frustrated at this point because he didn't listen..... "Bart" sit!............ Me: No, it's Buck.... B-U-C-K......She ignored me, and one last time told "Bart" to sit while raising her hand up.  She got so ticked off that he wouldn't listen to her, and she pretty much said Huskies were stupid and they don't listen to anyone lol.....and then she walked off mad.  I laughed, I mean why would my dog listen to some complete nut case strangers' command. I could have easily told Buck to sit......and he would have.  A lot of their "trainers" baffle me at their lack of knowledge and ability to work with dogs though. 

magdalenasins, lol  Maybe I should ask that to the people that come up with a child, and ask if they bite as well.

People don't know a lot. I was once asked when walking my LSC puppy if he was a fox. My white doberman rescue I always told people was a Bavarian Dunder Hound and our husky who we always get asked if he's a wolf is a Chiswickian Cloud Wolf. One guy who asked and got that reply actually said Oh yeah! My mate breeds those!....Our husky by the way would never sit for anyone. Including us. :D

This thread reminds me I have to get a harness before our new pup arrives! Not that people read the patches. I prefer a good glare to keep the masses away. From me, not the dogs. 

""I was once asked when walking my LSC puppy if he was a fox"

LMAO!!!!  :D  :D