Question time: where does the fear or dislike of dogs come..

[Mary Plummer]

...from? This question is from my hubby, and came from my visit with Mr. Blue to our pet supply store. The manager had been wanting to meet him, and he thought Mr. Blue was great. While there, however, we encountered a woman with her small daughter. This woman, walking down the aisle and seeing us, pulled her daughter off to one side, glared at me, and said "I can't believe they allow dogs in this place." The little girl kind of hid behind her mother. I walked Mr. Blue as far away as possible, and smiled at the little girl and said something like "It's OK, he's a really friendly dog." They were in line behind us at the register, and the woman made more comments about how she couldn't believe dogs were allowed in the store. The manager was at the register, and we talked a bit about Mr. Blue, and as we were leaving he said something like "Mr. Blue is always welcome here; he's a really goood dog." I kind of figured this was directed at the woman behind me. So we got to wondering where this stuff comes from. I know that if the woman had a really frightening experience with a dog as a kid, she may have always been afraid and never learned to like dogs. What seems sad is that she is transmitting her dislike/fear to her daughter, or so it seemed. So my hubby was wondering what all of you dog people think about this phenomenon. I don't remember ever having bad experiences with dogs as a kid. I got knocked down quite a few times by very enthusiastic dogs, but that always made me laugh, not get scared. Of course, both my parents are dog-lovers, and I grew up with them (dogs, that is, and of course my parents too!) .

[Traci]

Mary, there are various reasons. From experience, like you, as a child growing up, dogs were part of the family. But, I can tell you from clinical experience, I've been torn up pretty bad a couple times, and sometimes it is enough to warrant more care.

Just because you feel your dog is the gentlest, mild mannered dog, doesn't mean another shouldn't exercise caution. They are as unpredictable as anything else, they could be provoked at any given time, and completely throw you for a loop.

Never assume you can trust any animal, regardless of the owner's perspective. Safety comes first. Parents of children mauled by dogs can tell you from sad experiences.

I too, do not agree with allowing dogs in public stores, I think the risk is too great (not to mention communicatable disease). It goes both ways. A dog might be provoked and hurt someone, and then you face the consequences, will the dog be hurt as well? Quarantined? Destroyed? Shuddering thoughts, JMHO.

[Mary Plummer]

I normally don't bring Mr. Blue to the store, because I'm mainly worried about the other dogs there. Some aren't on leash and others I've seen have been leashed but not under control. I thought this would be a good time, on a work day right after the store had opened. There were no other dogs there, and me and this other woman were the only 2 customers. I guess I would have liked her better had she been direct with me. I didn't try to walk Mr. Blue over to them; in fact, after I heard her first comment I tried to keep him away from them. He didn't protest this a bit. He does tend to be very well-behaved the times I've taken him, but you're right that I shouldn't ever take this for granted. I always try to get between him and strange people. Now that the manager has met him, I think we'll definitely not go again.

[davet]

that hoarse i was supposed to examing his hoof with no help knew immediatly that checking a wild and crazy hoarse by myself was not a good idea..i gave the sate those three points but i sure nailed the parakeet exam...they know your every move and mood...

[Amandasmom]

I think Amanda is very gentle and nice. Most situations she is more afraid of people then they are of her but one sunny afternoon a person happened to wonder on my property ignoring 3 beware of dog signs. I didn't know they were there and let all three dogs out. The two boys went after him and because of the pack mentality, Amanda jumped right in. The guy ended up with a torn pant leg. Amanda had him by the leg and was trying to pull him to the ground. Lucky for me my dogs are not attack dogs and don't really know how to hurt someone. Also lucky for me the guy apologized to me for ignoring the signs and went away. The point of my story is you don't know how your dog will respond in a given situation. I'm proud of Amanda because I know she will protect me. I also look out the window and check before letting the dogs out in the yard.

[sue]

of others. Hubby scared a woman nearly to death with one of our dogs in Panama and I couldnt explain to him that we know she is friendly but that the woman obviously was terrified of dogs and it didnt matter what dog. We had to discuss it for a long time for me to get it through to him that he couldnt just expose other people to our loving pets and expect a positive reaction. I was never really afraid of any dog until my face was close to being ripped off at a vets office by a "friendly dog". Since then I have been hesitant to approach someones animal even if they tell me its ok. I also agree that you just never know even with your own dog, even though we are "sure" they would never hurt someone, the lady that owned the dog that went after me, said he had never done it before. I either looked at him wrong or I smelled different but something set him off.

[TheSkeptic]

We had a neighbor who was terrified of dogs.

I was in the garage working on the car. All the dogs except Mr. Dawg who was still about one year old, were inside. (At the time that was Tippy, Prissy and Ginger.) The Lady came walking down the sidewalk. I didn't notice her coming. Mr. Dawg ignored her until she stepped on our sidewalk. He then went WOOF and dashed toward her. The woman clutched her grocery bag to her chest, went AHHHH! and closed her eyes. Mr. Dawg reached her, ran around her and sat by her side. He then lay his head against her hip and looked up at her. She slowly opened her eyes and looked down at her "Vicious attacker." She slowly reached down and petted Mr. Dawg on the head. He Wagged his tail and gave her a lick.

The woman is still afraid of other dogs, but had to be restrained from giving "Her" Mr. Dawg excessive treats.

[Julie B.]

it really made me smile. I could just picture Mr. Dawg looking up at the terrified woman and being such a good boy! Great story.

[LM]

I have been informally surveying people who don't like horses for many years. It boils down to 1) they're big and intimdating or 2) they had some kind of bad experience, usually with a jaded rental or camp horse. With dogs, I would imagine it's the same things, people either got bit or just find them intimdating.

Once I was in a local park working Leilah on go outs. It's a private park and leash law didn't apply. That didn't prevent some terrified man, with his family, from yelling at me about it. He and his two young daughters saw Leilah doing a perfect sit from 60 feet away and just panicked, the kids literally ran away screaming. Fortunately the mother had more sense, and later allowed her kids to calmly meet Leilah (who's been proofed to "watch me" when being petted by kids - she thinks it's part of the exercise). This was definitely a case of a parent handing down the fear and extremely sad to see. (Those of you who don't know us, Leilah is a whopping 35 lbs dripping wet)

But what the heck did that woman think, no pets in a pet supply store???? Geez!

[BoxerTom]

Sounds like the kind of person that would be angry to see cars at an auto dealer