Momo,
First off the owner is in charge of their dog and has the responsibility to the dog and stranger, the owner should agree to the dog being petted or not.  I have plenty of people in "authority" over me and they will ask before petting my dog.  Perhaps, I am not understanding your post.  For those of us that own dogs we need to be responsible owners.  We need to keep our dogs in fenced yards when not supervised, not out in an unfenced yard that another dog or stranger can enter.  We need to have control over our dogs and our surroundings.  We need to protect our dogs from well meaning strangers and others who want to pet our dogs.  Whether or not someone pets your dog is entirely up to you as the owner.  If you feel that the dog is uneasy with someone or it is a rambunctious child that may pull on your dog's ears you simply say "NO."  If you have to leave.  If your dog is not accepting of strangers or is sharp then you need to be extra careful.


But, defensive to me means having a dog that will take an unwanted clumsy hug from an idiot, as long as I am not reacting negatively to that person. It obvisouly does not mean the same thing to you.  


I agree that in today's litigious society we need to be very careful in most things we do, especially with our dogs.  I am not going to let any clumsy idiots hug my dogs.  My female would love it, my male not so much.  It might be a self correcting mistake if done to my male.  I am confused by the "authority over you" comment.  If it is your dog, even for a landlord they do not have to pet your dog to see it is has a sound temperament and is not aggressive.  Not every dog likes to be petted by strangers. 

Destiny,

Have friends, neighbors, relatives and their children play with your puppy.  Choose people you trust and let them help socialize your dog.  It doesn't have to be strangers.  If you have enough people socialize your dog it will be well adjusted, it still may be aloof, but confident and well adjusted. 


Jim


  




 

Well Slamdunc, I'll give you a simple legalese answer.  In some states and localities landlords only have to give notice of entry, no later than 2 days, AFTER they have already entered the occupied rental property.  What if an animal control officer wants to touch your animal without your permission, go ahead test out the results when you try and stop them?  Use your imagination to determine the likely result of such circumstances with a dog trained exclusively with the "Don't Pet My Puppy rule". 

I don't feel like giving a hundred examples, but I got plenty more of the same to add.  The only thing that can defend you from the above and similar is MONEY and the lawyer that takes the money from you.  If you didn't get what I meant by "authority over you", then we will just have to disagree.  I tried to be clear without being verbose.

let people pet your puppy.   Be happy it is confident enough to approach peopple.  Just dont correct it for jumping up on people or pushing them around. 

When the dog matures you can ask people not to pet your dog.  More than likely it will become more alloof on its own. 

Over 90% of people who start sch do not stick with it for more than a year.  Much of the remaining people only do it socially.  The serious people who keep thier dogs away from people from a young age are still probably just pattern training their dogs as obedience for the protection portion anyway.

Yeah, let people pet your puppy, you dont want to end up with problems later.