Strange dogs... Do you rush to pet em or leave em alone????

Brought one of the girls to work with me today since it's usually quiet on the weekends. She loves attention from wherever she can get it as long as it's on her terms or it's from me or the wife. Made the rounds with her and decided to go thru the Barracks and say Merry Christmas to the kids hanging out. All good. Come back to the office and she lays at my feet. Couple of soldiers came by and I told them to stay in the hall til I got what they needed. One was smarter than me and slipped in to pet the dog.... Not a good idea.think he had to change his shorts when he got home...... Folks just don't listen........

I also have an Aussie and they are an intelligent and very friendly breed. Also very protective of their territory.

Advice to all around other's dogs;; Let the dog come to you!! Be friendly and be open, but don't make a move on the dog first. Many dogs see this as an aggressive move and can react without warning. Aussies in particular have extremely quick reactive reflexes and may instinctively react to any sudden movement or loud sound.

Gene

Let the dog tell you whether they want attention or to be left alone. Be pateint, the dog will tell you.

I used to drive for FedEx Home Delivery. My first route was a rural one. Figured out REAL fast that I needed to have a plan about the dogs. I bought a BIG bag of treats, would honk the horn before even parking the rig-I wanted the dog to approach me! I would throw a treat before stepping on their dirt. If they would not look at the treat I knew I was in trouble! If they sniffed it, I was probably OK! If they ate it, I was GOLDEN!

I had a black chow that looked like a 100 pound bear cub only with a curly tail. Used to get frequent UPS deliveries here and she would greet the truck (actually start barking when the truck was about a mile away). The driver always threw her a biscuit that she would catch, then she would stand there eating the buscuit growling the whole time

Seems like you have to let the dog come to you. Walking up to a dog to pet it is a sign of agression. If it doesn't come to you, then it doesn't want attention.

My farm dog is a big 'ol chocolate lab. When a strange vehicle drives in he puts on an athoritative show with a deep commanding bark. The occupants don't know if they should get out or not. When they do get out he stands there and barks. No more than a minute later he's comes up to them and pushes on their hand with his big wet nose, wanting attention, and then he won't quit. The visitor ends up walking around with his/her hands in the air to avoid the cold nose.

The other day when I was test driving a pickup I drove into the yard after dark, and the dog was putting on his usual show of athority to the strange vehicle. When I got out I immediately lunged toward him. He took off like a whipped pup, so I chased him around the pickup. He was growling and running with his tail between his legs. When I finally spoke to him he came to me half crawling on his belly. So much for the mean watch dog huh!! Jim

One time local school asked Dad if they could bring a class of fifth graders out for a tour of a farm. We had cow,bull,steers, hogs,chickens,geese, and ducks, plus 2 farm dogs. Well first thing these city kids wanted to do was pet all the animals. We kept them away from the bulls, but some tried to pet the geese. The geese didn't want any of it. I laught so hard I couldn't stand up

My 3 dogs always look at me when a stranger approaches, Dogs are masters at summing up people, and you can always judge people by how they enteract with dogs. I can not respect people that dont respect dogs, they dont have to like dogs but should respect them as they should realize they are entering the dogs territory.

My 3 dogs always look at me when a stranger approaches, Dogs are masters at summing up people, and you can always judge people by how they enteract with dogs. I can not respect people that dont respect dogs, they dont have to like dogs but should respect them as they should realize they are entering the dogs territory.

Kind people have kind dogs. Mean people have mean dogs. Yes, some breeds are more protective than others. But there is no excuse for a surly dog. Not many dogs I can't befriend. Dogs are my friends and not my enemies. They sense that when I talk to them and I'm willing to spend a little time, be a little patient, sit down on a step or rock and let them come to me.
Only breed I can't/wont befriend or trust is a pitbull type. I think they should be eradicated.

Until my wife developed allergies, I had dogs pretty much continuously since I was a kid on the farm.

I can read a dog pretty well and know whether they're relaxed or on guard.

Even if a strange dog is showing all the signs of wanting attention, I squat down to their level and wait for them to come to me.

If they're tense or showing aggressive or guarding behaviors, I leave them the hell alone. Just common sense.

They're buddies now... he brought the stuff back and I went outside with them & she was all over them both like nothin happened...... If she is in a romm or enclosed (??) area, she claims it as hers real quick. Never have to lock the car or worry about the tractor when she's in/on it :roll:

We have a lot of dogs coming into the feed store where I work. If they jump out of the truck and come inside. They let everyone pet them and feed them food. But if they stay in the bed of the truck. They will stand up and watch you load the truck. I never get close to one in the truck. Unless they approach me first. Of course we do have some that could care less. They lay in the bed and give you bad looks for waking them up.

our mastiff if he is around the girls hasn't been outright aggressive, but will get between the stranger and the kids. with one exception of the insurance salesman---I've never seen a man jump on top of a car in one jump before-it was a funny sight. he was walking up to the house-my kids on the porch and the dog coming around the corner. if the kids aren't around-I think he'd show everyone where all the good stuff is.

Had/been around enough dogs that you can't tell by looking at
them. Best bet is to just leave them alone.

However, if one just rushes up to you, wagging it's tail, and rubs all
over your leg, a little behind the ear, pat on the head, or back
scratch might be in order.

Mark

We have an old German Shepherd that's about the kindest dog I've ever known. When younger, she would bark, and UPS and FedEx guys would put the package on top of the car, so they didn't have to get out. They also have treats, and both have passed your test with flying colors.

I've seen a few places with guard dogs that have a little covered "house" on a post, in the farmyard, with a little "FedEx UPS" sign.

agreed

I am a dog person but I let them decide to be friendly or not. If they come up to me I look down a little and hold the back of my hand out for them to smell. I have only been bit once and it was an old Blue Healer. He was half blind. I was petting him and he snapped my hand. He then started licking where he had bit me. Go figure.

When I was a little boy I used to slip into the neighbor's yard to play with his big German Shepard. That dog would let me lay on him and sleep but would not let anyone get close while I was in the yard, even his owner. He had bit quite a few people and everyone said he was a bad dog. We got along. My mother lite my behind up several times for sneaking over there. I still would sneak over.

I think about that now when I hear of kids hurt/killed by dogs today. As a parent it would scare the pants off of me to have a kid sneak into a yard with a dog known to bite.

If you have a dog that intimidates people and
possibly bite them, why would you take it to a place
where's there's a bunch of strangers to the dog?
Some people do think they are the dog whisperer
though.

I agree with the common sentiment here. Wait until the dog comes to you, has a chance to smell you. In my years as a field mechanic/ranch hand, I've never been bitten, and only had one dog that wouldn't come near me. Mighta been the loud pipes on my chevy. :roll: Some days I liked dealing with the dogs better than the owners! :lol:

People apparently don't know or don't care how their homeowners insurance premiums skyrocket if they're known to have an aggressive dog on the place.

If I am confronted by an aggressive dog while doing my job as an Insurance Inspector, one of two things happens. If the dog prevents me from doing my job, all I need to do is turn in a photo of the dog, my company backs me up on not doing my job, and the homeowner can forget about insurance.

If the owner is present, and the dog is under control, my next question is, "Has the dog ever bitten anyone?" If it has, see above.

A couple of weeks ago, I was inspecting a vacant rental property. The next door neighbors had a huge, vicious Black Lab tethered on a 1/4" cable. The cable was long enough for the dog to hit the property line. The entire time I was on the premises, the dog kept lunging to the end of the cable and showing about a million teeth. I suspect the dog was the reason the property was vacant in the first place, and I suspect the property will not be rented as long as the neighbor's dog is there. I had to write the dog up in my report as an "Adjacent Hazard".

I've never figured out why anyone would be compelled to own a dog with that disposition. Is the owner so pathetically insecure that they get a vicarious feeling of power through the dog? Beats me.

I agree that when its a strange dog, best not to be too friendly with it, let it smell the back of your hand and if it bites, best to get the hand than something else. But if the dog is known to be vicious to strangers as yours apparently is, and you take it to where its likely to encounter strangers, and in large numbers to boot, looking for trouble if you ask me.

I've raised dogs my entire life, large breeds that have been some of the best dipositioned, most obedient dogs I've ever seen. When I lived in Illinois, in a relatively small town at the time, there was a kid that wanted to present himself as a tough, but in reality, if ever confronted with an actual tough, he'd have cried for mercy after soiling his shorts. But in a small town with access to MTV videos, he wanted to play or emulate the toughs in the videos and be a wanna be. So one day I'm walking one of my dogs around town after work as I did every day, no days off, and the kid is coming towards me on the other side of the street, walking his pitbull with an over sized piece of log chain around its neck with a series 500 lock dangling from it. None of it did nothing other than give the appearance of tough for the world to see. As he nears me, he crosses the street a few houses in front of me so that the dogs would confront each other. When he got about a house from me, within my earshot, I said to him "If your dog touches mine, you will get to watch me kill it just before I kill you for doing it". I wasn't joking. I would have done both right there in front of witnesses in a town where most of the people knew and liked me. He crossed back to the other side of the street before he got to me. I saw the kid do the same to some young lady walking her two boxers, forcing her and them into the street, laughing after he passed them as though he accomplished something, which if had been in an MTV video, might have been something. So one night, I'm walking one of my dogs again, happen into the front of that kids and his wifes house, its dark, and then his dog comes charging my dog and myself out of pure darkness, but we made it off of the sidewalk into the street in time, and it got choked at the end of its chain that was tethered to a line that went between two trees in his front yard, and its length made it to the street, beyond the public sidewalk, but only to the street. I saw his wife looking out the front door to witness it, so I yelled to her, "One time that dog bites someone, you and your husband will be making mortgage payments on that home that somebody else will own and occupy". They took the hint and stopped tethering their dog like that. But, their dog got loose once too often later down the road, one of the towns officers sent it on to the next world with his service revolver. Problem solved.

I love dogs. But if I knew that my dog had problems with other people or animals and took it around other people or animals anyway and then went around telling people about it as though they were the dummies, wouldn't say much about my common sense, or lack there of. Life is too short. My two cents worth.

Mark

Im an old man now,you dont touch dogs or women unless they like you.You can get bit if they are in a bad mood.

This may sound mean spirited Goose,but I think we need to know the Ins.Companys names that would send a paranoia such person out to do inspections.Because you have posted this same type post of your great powers and hatred of any dog not tyed up.NO I don't have a mean dog,but a over friendly one who will be setting at you car door waiting for you to get out and maybe play with him or wait for you to leave your door open so he can get in for a ride maybe.There are more people bitten by TOY(lap)dogs and cats then by all the larger dogs combined.Yes we have a few people close by that have dogs in fenced in yards around their houses,that have signs stating the dogs do bite and have signaling devices for you to ring so you can be let in.So what are the cos.names as I never had a person such as you come check a property out.ONLY the Agent themselves and you can talk to them.