# When people insist upon petting your dog while in training...



## KayleeGSD (Oct 2, 2012)

Yesterday I was very proud of Kaylee and how she controlled herself in Pet Smart. All the training we have done together has paid off. Since applying the rank drive our relationship has become a thousand times better!!! 

Salisbury, MD was jam packed full of people shopping. Before leaving we played an intense game of merry go round fetch which is a non stop retreive/drop it game. So we go in and there are all kinds of people with pets. I had Kaylee do a proper heel and she stayed close to me. Two ladies were standing in line and set their eyes upon her. Kaylee took notice too. The ladies started to bend over and reach out to pet her and did not even ask me if it was okay which it was NOT okay to pet her at that moment. I could tell Kaylee was about to become excited with instant gratification if I did not quickly move forward. I let out a firm command of Kaylee! Lets go! Her focus was on me with a vocal command and no "lets go tug" was given. We quickly walked through and she was heeling, focused, and did wonderful. I could see out of the corner of my eye the two ladies were not happy but I do not care. I went back a few minutes later and I was polite and explained to them why I did it.

I told them she is 7 months old and in training. People must ask before they pet her. Kaylee must be calm in a sit/stay. When people lock eyes with her and go to reach to pet her it excites her. Once excited and allowed to escalate she will jump, nip, grab,mouth etc which is what I DO NOT want her rewarded for. The one lady replied to me and said, "it's okay she is just a puppy and puppies are allowed to do that." Then she went to reach out again! I told the woman mine is not allowed to and when this puppy becomes an adult it is no longer cute. Before she could touch her I gave Kaylee the lets go hand signal and walked quickly away from the woman. 

At the store she did wonderful other people came up to us and asked if they could pet her. They were allowed to because Kaylee was in a calm sit/stay. The pet was a reward and she was doing great. She had a few excitable moments and the trick is to keep her moving forward rather than stay in one spot and make corrections. She will escalate if I do that which is what I do not want. I had her sit and observe other dogs. She did not react to them and remained calm which is a HUGE break through for her on large adult dogs! 

I will continue using rank drive and leadership exercises because it is working. Everything is going very well and I think maybe December/January we may do the evaluation for the K9 program. Kaylee has been very happy and eager to work/play! Today I am going to be cutting down bamboo her job is to pick it up, drag it away, and put it in a pile. She loves doing that too, lol! :wild:


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

You can get one of those training vests that says "In Training -- Do Not Pet" or something like that. It might help some, but I've found that people (especially kids) still want to touch the dog. If you catch someone making eye contact with her, do like you did and just break her away before the person even has a chance to do anything.


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## pyratemom (Jan 10, 2011)

You did a great job in handling that situation, both in the training and the trying to explain it to the people. Some people just don't get it. I don't let people approach my dog unless I invite them to. I have turned and walked off from people to keep them from approaching. I can tell by her body language which people I need to keep at a difference.


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## KayleeGSD (Oct 2, 2012)

Freestep said:


> You can get one of those training vests that says "In Training -- Do Not Pet" or something like that. It might help some, but I've found that people (especially kids) still want to touch the dog. If you catch someone making eye contact with her, do like you did and just break her away before the person even has a chance to do anything.


Exactly what I told my family. We will be getting her a vest and continue taking her out of situations like that before anyone has a chance to do anything. I found most people will ask. I am always on the look out for those who don't. 

I would love to have a spray bottle to spray the humans for the bad behavior and tell the disobedient humans NO! LEAVE IT!!! lol


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## KayleeGSD (Oct 2, 2012)

pyratemom said:


> You did a great job in handling that situation, both in the training and the trying to explain it to the people. Some people just don't get it. I don't let people approach my dog unless I invite them to. I have turned and walked off from people to keep them from approaching. I can tell by her body language which people I need to keep at a difference.


Thank you, and I agree 100%. I never ever go up to a dog I do not know to pet it I always ask the owner first. Keeping a distance along with awareness has saved me from making corrections just by avoiding the situations keeping Kaylee's focus on moving forward.


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

KayleeGSD said:


> I would love to have a spray bottle to spray the humans for the bad behavior and tell the disobedient humans NO! LEAVE IT!!! lol


:rofl: I love it.


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

I would throw chocolate treats at the humans while walking briskly away


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## Gharrissc (May 19, 2012)

I don't ususally get people who interrupt me while training,but if they do I will say something like 'Please don't interrupt we are training right now'. If that doesn't work then I move to another area. I do try to be pretty polite at first though.


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## Bear GSD (Apr 12, 2012)

The company that I purchase my leads and collars from have these great badges that you can attach to your leash (any leash) that I think would work for your situation. Here's the link:
leash badge for pet and working dogs


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## Nickyb (Jul 11, 2011)

Probably not the right thing to do but figured I would throw it out there, just to see what everyone thought about it.
Muzzle.... I haven't found 1 person that will willingly walk up and pet a dog with a muzzle on. When I have Zoey out with a muzzle on, people will go out of their way to stay clear because they have that impression, YIKES that dog has a muzzle on, he/she must be aggressive.

***FYI I don't think its the best reason to muzzle a dog so don't smite me for it!!!!!!!!!


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## mycobraracr (Dec 4, 2011)

Nickyb said:


> Probably not the right thing to do but figured I would throw it out there, just to see what everyone thought about it.
> Muzzle.... I haven't found 1 person that will willingly walk up and pet a dog with a muzzle on. When I have Zoey out with a muzzle on, people will go out of their way to stay clear because they have that impression, YIKES that dog has a muzzle on, he/she must be aggressive.
> 
> ***FYI I don't think its the best reason to muzzle a dog so don't smite me for it!!!!!!!!!


 
At one point I had a vest and collar with a total of 6 "Do Not Pet" patches on and people still try and pet her (I need to start putting them in multiple languages). 

When I had a muzzle on and nothing else they run away as fast as they can. It's really funny.


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## Nickyb (Jul 11, 2011)

mycobraracr said:


> At one point I had a vest and collar with a total of 6 "Do Not Pet" patches on and people still try and pet her (I need to start putting them in multiple languages).
> 
> When I had a muzzle on and nothing else they run away as fast as they can. It's really funny.


haha I can believe it, the logic of some people is just bizarre.


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## mycobraracr (Dec 4, 2011)

Nickyb said:


> haha I can believe it, the logic of some people is just bizarre.


Yup, or they ask, "will your dog bite me?" ME: "No" and I guess that is an invite to pet despite what all the patches say. I just don't get it. I take my dog everywhere and run into this multiple times a day. I am just a jerk about it now.


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

Not exactly sure where OP was...sounds like it was in a pet store but there are just some places where I don't expect people to leave me alone. Especially if I have a GSD puppy with me. If I'm at a pet store...even if I look like I'm working on things, I expect that people will ask to pet my dog. If I'm standing in line and someone bends down to pet my dog, I usually don't gripe about it. A dog shouldn't be out in public (especially a store) where it will be in close quarters with a bunch of people if its not safe to be pet.

Now...if I'm at a park, in the middle of a large field, clearly working, I expect that people won't go out of their way to pet my dog. And this is something that has never happened to me, especially since my puppy turned into a fully grown GSD. I also tend not to work my dog for long periods of time at stores. I will heel for a few aisles, work on some sits/downs, but it really doesn't last more than a few minutes. If someone comes up to say hello, I'll allow them to, there are dog lovers at a pet store and they can't resist a beautiful/well behaved dog. When he was younger and did have jumping tendencies, I would just correct any over excitement.

I know we run into plenty of people that don't ask to pet our dogs, but I definitely meet more that do than don't.


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## KayleeGSD (Oct 2, 2012)

martemchik said:


> If I'm standing in line and someone bends down to pet my dog, I usually don't gripe about it. A dog shouldn't be out in public (especially a store) where it will be in close quarters with a bunch of people if its not safe to be pet.



If the dog has issues and it is not safe to pet that is true. One should not take the dog into a store knowing they are unsafe/unstable that is common sense. 

This is not the case with my dog. She and I have been working very hard getting her socialized and now is the time to up the training/exposure to make sure she understands the busy world and how it works. If you want a working service dog you HAVE to do this exposure. I know my dog and what to do with her to keep the excitement level in check. A 7 month old is still a puppy but you should have control of them by that point. 

I feel it does not matter if I have a working dog or a companion dog they all need to be trained and have exposure to the busy real world. It depends on the individual dog when you can bump up the exposure. If I had no control over my dog I would not bring them out to places like Pet Smart. 

If my dog is sitting in a calm sit/stay I have no problem with people petting her as long as they ask. If they do not I will say something. So to fix the problem I talked to our trainer and we are getting a vest for Kaylee to let people know when we are out and about in the world. 

I was very nice to the woman went I went back to explain to her and I certainly did not gripe about. If people do not want to listen walk away and stay away. Simple as that!


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## Bear GSD (Apr 12, 2012)

I still like these and are a good alternative to having your dog wear a vest (although a vest is more visible)


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## KayleeGSD (Oct 2, 2012)

Bear GSD said:


> I still like these and are a good alternative to having your dog wear a vest (although a vest is more visible)
> 
> View attachment 22450


Thanks Bear!


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

KayleeGSD said:


> If the dog has issues and it is not safe to pet that is true. One should not take the dog into a store knowing they are unsafe/unstable that is common sense.
> 
> This is not the case with my dog. She and I have been working very hard getting her socialized and now is the time to up the training/exposure to make sure she understands the busy world and how it works. If you want a working service dog you HAVE to do this exposure. I know my dog and what to do with her to keep the excitement level in check. A 7 month old is still a puppy but you should have control of them by that point.


Oh I wasn't saying your dog wasn't safe, I was just stating what the general public feels like especially when in a pet store. I know most of us consider people rude, but its very rare that someone brings a dangerous dog into a pet store and therefore everyone kind of has the mindset that its alright to touch a pet in a store. Also when its a puppy, people don't expect anything bad to happen so they'll just go up and pet it. I get the whole training thing, just that a lot of times we really have to understand how the public reacts to well trained dogs in public places.

If you're training a service dog (which I just read you are) you really should think about a vest. There is a member of my club that is training one and we all wait for her to give the command to her dog before doing anything. Really cool too because my boy loves playing with him and he loves playing with my boy. I love seeing a service dog not "at work," sometimes we forget they are still puppies/dogs and love to do everything our pets get to do (especially when you see the older ones on the job).


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

martemchik said:


> Not exactly sure where OP was...sounds like it was in a pet store but there are just some places where I don't expect people to leave me alone. Especially if I have a GSD puppy with me. If I'm at a pet store...even if I look like I'm working on things, I expect that people will ask to pet my dog. If I'm standing in line and someone bends down to pet my dog, I usually don't gripe about it. A dog shouldn't be out in public (especially a store) where it will be in close quarters with a bunch of people if its not safe to be pet.
> 
> I know we run into plenty of people that don't ask to pet our dogs, but I definitely meet more that do than don't.


 I agree and would have written this if it hadn't been typed out already! It is up to us as handlers to just be two steps ahead of the public. GSD's in general are not really into strangers petting them. Though if they know someone they are all about it and give wigglebutt lean ins.
I have two dogs that can't be in close quarters with strangers and one that is ok, yet I am still his advocate and won't unfairly let people touch him as I know he doesn't want strange hands on him. 

One time, I was walking into Petsmart and ran into DJ from this board. I had never met her, but recognized Frag and her from pics she's posted. I saw they were in training mode so I just kept on walking to my car. This was when Frag was going thru a reactive stage and I knew I should not distract them by introducing myself,etc! In hindsight, maybe I should have said something and provided Frag a friendly greeting treat toss or something, LOL!


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## bigd3077 (Aug 19, 2012)

Ya, I hate it when people ask to pet my pup, and I explain yes, but not till she is sitting and calm. "She is just a puppy, it's ok" I tell them it won't be nice when she is 100 lbs in 7 months jumping on people....


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