# People really take their chances with dogs



## Anthony8858 (Sep 18, 2011)

Today, I take my children for pizza. I park in front of the pizza place, and the kids stay in my truck with Kira. The window is open no more than about 6 - 8 inches. Just enough to stick Kira's snout out the window.
When I come out to my truck, and elderly woman (I guess about 80), and her daughter, come over to the truck and tell me that Kira is beautiful.

Within a split second the elderly woman sticks her face right into the open window. I can tell you that 9 out of 10 dogs would react to that in a negative way. I wasnt too concerned, because I was able to get a read on my dog.
Kira licked her chin.

But come on!!!!

Don't people THINK???
This is a strange German Shepherd in a truck, and you stick you strange head in there?

Just ranting.
Thanks for listening.


----------



## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

No, I am afraid people are stupid and then sue folks when something predictable happens.


----------



## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

> Don't people THINK???


You have to ask?


OH and thank you so much. Now I'm hungry for pizza!!!


----------



## Zookeep (May 17, 2012)

Anthony8858 said:


> Today, I take my children for pizza. I park in front of the pizza place, and the kids stay in my truck with Kira. The window is open no more than about 6 - 8 inches. Just enough to stick Kira's snout out the window.
> When I come out to my truck, and elderly woman (I guess about 80), and her daughter, come over to the truck and tell me that Kira is beautiful.
> 
> Within a split second the elderly woman sticks her face right into the open window. I can tell you that 9 out of 10 dogs would react to that in a negative way. I wasnt too concerned, because I was able to get a read on my dog.
> ...


Hmm, let's see. Kids in the truck. Dog breed well known for its guarding instincts. Stranger approaches. What could go wrong?


----------



## Zeeva (Aug 10, 2010)

unfortunately, i think, that only dog owners know the rules about how to approach dogs. sometimes even dog owners are ignorant. non-dog owners don't understand because they haven't experienced what it's like to own a dog...


----------



## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I had a teenage girl do the same to Onyx when I was dropping my son off for a Saturday field trip. 
Onyx went off on her but the teen was so dense that she didn't even notice(I pulled Onyx away from the window so there was no contact). It was unsettling as Onyx did give fair warning as the girl approached the car. 
My son told me later that the girl was mentally challenged. After that, Onyx didn't go to school with me.

Good girl Kira. That elderly lady may have not been in the right frame of mental state either. We shouldn't judge, but always be on guard and in control.


----------



## robfromga (May 10, 2012)

No too smart!

What kinda pizza ? Any beer involved?


----------



## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

DH & I once went to rent a movie and had Riggs along with us. We left him in the car with the windows down all the way (video store was all windows, the car was right in the front of the store and Riggs would NEVER leave the car) and went inside. After a few minutes I glance out to check on him and I see a man standing next to the car talking to him.

Ok, no worries I thought. Then, before I could even blink, the guy leans in THROUGH the window and gives Riggs a big hug.



Some people are just stoopid!!!


----------



## Debbieg (Jun 7, 2009)

onyx'girl said:


> Good girl Kira. That elderly lady may have not been in the right frame of mental state either. We shouldn't judge, but always be on guard and in control.


:thumbup: Part of being responsible dog owners means looking out for those who do not have any dog or common sense. 

Last month a kid about age 7 roared up behind Benny on a skate board and grabbed him and asked "Does your dog bite"? I saw it coming and knew Benny is ok with children, even on skateboards. It gave me a chance to speak to the boy about the correct way to approach a dog.

If a man had done that it may have turned out different. We really need to be on guard with our dogs.


----------



## Anthony8858 (Sep 18, 2011)

onyx'girl said:


> I had a teenage girl do the same to Onyx when I was dropping my son off for a Saturday field trip.
> Onyx went off on her but the teen was so dense that she didn't even notice(I pulled Onyx away from the window so there was no contact). It was unsettling as Onyx did give fair warning as the girl approached the car.
> My son told me later that the girl was mentally challenged. After that, Onyx didn't go to school with me.
> 
> Good girl Kira. That elderly lady may have not been in the right frame of mental state either. We shouldn't judge, but always be on guard and in control.


The woman was SO excited. I can tell she was ill. I didn't have the heart to back her off. She had a few bandaids on her arm, and I got the impression that she may have lived in a nursing home, and was out for a day with her daughter. She could hardly walk.
I trusted Kira to "make her day". I can't describe how happy that woman was to get close to Kira. She was no doubt, an animal lover in her day.

Regardless, I'd be afraid to approach the car, and stick my head in the window.


----------



## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

That is unbelievable. 
Maybe she had a GSD in her day? That is the only way I could explain her actions, although as a GSD owner, I would be even more afraid to get my face near one, with what I know from having mine. 
Thank goodness she didn't bite that elderly lady. Good girl, Kira!


----------



## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

These people may just be way better at reading dogs than we are.


----------



## Zisso (Mar 20, 2009)

I had a lady once reach in and pet Z. He was sitting behind my seat in the truck, and I had stopped because she was in the roadway in the park. She came up offering religious pamphlets and saw him and just reached right in before I could bat an eye. I was shocked! Now I am glad that I did not yet have Nadia. That would have turned out badly.


----------



## Good_Karma (Jun 28, 2009)

Does anyone know if we would be liable if something like that happened? If a person reached into our vehicle to touch our dog and got bit? Seems like we should not be at fault for that...

When we leave our dogs in the car, they are pretty good, they don't bark when people walk by. But if I stay in the car with them (and my husband runs in to the store), they will bark at every single person who walks close to the car. I would hope, REALLY hope, that someone would not be dumb enough to try to pet a barking dog. But you never know.


----------



## GSDkid (Apr 19, 2011)

Good_Karma said:


> Does anyone know if we would be liable if something like that happened? If a person reached into our vehicle to touch our dog and got bit? Seems like we should not be at fault for that...


You would think people know not to be reaching into someone else's car but I'm sure we would end up being liable and the chance of our dog PTS. 

If my dog wasn't there and someone reached into my car, I could easily call that attempted theft. I've read a few articles of the same scenario and their dogs got PTS. It's ridiculous.


----------



## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

even tho I wholeheartedly agree that putting your hand in a car with a dog is a really stupid idea, obviously this woman was ill, as anthony mentioned, (you'd think the daughter would have some common sense),,but I'll bet that Kira made that woman's day.

Now if it was my Masi, the woman wouldn't have gotten that far, Masi takes her 'car' job quite seriously and will let you know it if you even touch it.. UNLESS I am in the car.

Yesterday I was at the hardware store, parked near some gas pumps, left the sunroof open but windows closed, some guy with a boat attached to his truck pumping gas, well he took out his fishing pole and I could see thru the window of the store, he 'hit' my car (accidently) swinging thepole, Masi let him know he did it..since her head was out the sunroof.. I immediately went out and told her to "leave it"..which she did, but she is a definite car alarm..

I never leave my windows down unless I am IN the car,,sunroof open, yes, she would never 'jump' out the sunroof, the car is always locked, and she never goes anywhere that I can't monitor her pretty closely..

Would she bite someone that tried to get in my car if she didn't know them? Not sure, she's never been put to the test, but bark , oh yeah.

Anthony, you might consider doing therapy work with Kira, I bet older folks in nursing homes would love to meet her


----------



## LoveEcho (Mar 4, 2011)

I had a guy stick his 3 year old's hand through the window  

The lady at the cash register (I was checking out and we could both see the window) stopped what she was doing and stared slack-jawed. All I could muster was "oh...my...God". Echo's totally fine, especially with kids, but holy heck... that was insane. I booked it out of there and told the guy that was NEVER, EVER a good idea. He didn't speak English, just polish, so we were yelling at each other in broken polish. It was quite a scene.


----------



## LoveEcho (Mar 4, 2011)

Good_Karma said:


> Does anyone know if we would be liable if something like that happened? If a person reached into our vehicle to touch our dog and got bit? Seems like we should not be at fault for that...
> 
> When we leave our dogs in the car, they are pretty good, they don't bark when people walk by. But if I stay in the car with them (and my husband runs in to the store), they will bark at every single person who walks close to the car. I would hope, REALLY hope, that someone would not be dumb enough to try to pet a barking dog. But you never know.


This day in age, where people hurt breaking into your house can sue you and win, I'd be willing to bet you'd be liable  It sucks to think that, my dog has no guarding tendencies at all, but if someone startled him who knows what would happen.


----------



## juliejujubean (May 4, 2011)

a similar experience happened to me when i was entering the base in which i live on now, for those who don't go on a military installation a lot, they have gate guards who check id's, which most of the time are rent a cops, not actual military. well i had dia with me and i handed the rent a cop my id to check it and the other one (their were to, not super busy so they were talking) and he put his hand through my front window to pet dia without even asking. if that was my old gsd (king, who passed away a couple years ago) he would be missing his hand. of course dia who is socialized absolutely loved the attention (we learned how to socialize and did not want an agressive dog), but what if it was king? would my dog be in danger because some dum dum put his hand in my car through the front window to touch the dog in the back seat, who is buckled in, so this took some effort on his part...
I have no idea what he was thinking, especially since the amount of actual gsd/malinios on the base that are mp's...


----------



## Anthony8858 (Sep 18, 2011)

JakodaCD OA said:


> even tho I wholeheartedly agree that putting your hand in a car with a dog is a really stupid idea, obviously this woman was ill, as anthony mentioned, (you'd think the daughter would have some common sense),,but I'll bet that Kira made that woman's day.
> 
> Now if it was my Masi, the woman wouldn't have gotten that far, Masi takes her 'car' job quite seriously and will let you know it if you even touch it.. UNLESS I am in the car.
> 
> ...


*
*

This sounds like a very nice idea. She would be amazing in that environment. She LOVES people (hates big dogs, LOL), and would thrive on the attention and affection.
She would also make some people very happy.


----------



## Josie/Zeus (Nov 6, 2000)

I would encourage you to do therapy work with Kira. But you have to work on Kira's hate for any dogs because there are times when you go in to a nursing home, there will be several dogs in there.

My dog Zeus loved therapy and he did make elderly people cry. They tell you stories about their GSDs, you could tell how much they miss having dogs around. It's very emotional on our part as a handler as well.


----------



## Anthony8858 (Sep 18, 2011)

Maybe "hate" wasnt the right word. Her new friend is a big GSD. How about "She avoids confrontations with larger dogs"?

"Hates".... Like in " can't be bothered"


----------



## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

The othe day, a couple brought a walking 8 month old baby to pet Hans. They positioned the baby's face a couple of inches away from my dog's face. I told them to be careful with strange dogs and they said they knew all about dogs, because they have two of their own! I just got Hans out of there. 
Sheeze.


----------



## SDChicken (May 6, 2012)

We had someone do that with our Pyr. Excellent dog...Aloof but friendly when out socializing or when introduced to people, the most calm and confident dog I've ever met. Yet serious as a heart attack when it came to his property, animals, and his car. Never raised his hackles or hesitated. Just that look and a low growl...totally confident and assured of himself. Someone takes a step he took two. But once the person backed off and left he let it be.

My husband went to the 7/11 near our house and took Bruno along with him in our S-10. I spotted our truck, on my way home, and pulled in to grab a drink and say Hi to the hubbs. As I pulled up some crazy fool decided he was going to lean INTO the truck and shove his face into Bruno's. Bruno could of easily done serious damage to the mans face but just body slammed the door/guys arms and bark that deep "I'm going to eat you" bark. The idiot thought it was funny and he was just playing (His words, I think he thought it was great fun to tease him) and went to do it again. This time Bruno showed all his teeth, never leaned out of the truck but waited for the guy to put his hand into it (people could walk by, bump the truck, and he wouldn't make a peep or care. It was coming INTO the car he was not ok with.) At this point I had my truck in park and flew out of it screaming at the guy who then got offended because it was causing quite the scene in the parking lot. He tried to tell me MY dog was just playing and he knew what he was doing and I clearly had no idea what I was talking about. Two guys stepped up and told him to back off, then my husband came out gave him a mouth full and told him to get lost. 

My husband had purposely parked away from all the other cars and yet the idiot still went out of his way to do this! I'm just glad those two guys stepped up until my husband got outside. I really think that guy was going to push past me to get back at Bruno. Had he done that I have no doubt he would of been bit. I don't know if its a lack of common sense, dog sense/ experience, or just a lack of brains but its one of the few things I honestly worry about when I have a dog with me. 

I'm glad your pup was able to tell the lady was no threat. Bruno read people well and its nice to know when they are a good judge. Still doesn't take you off your toes but helps.


----------



## Kath & Clan (Jun 6, 2012)

@ anyone who thinks their dog would have automatically reacted bacly. Maybe not, they are amazingly perceptive creatures which is one of the many things that we love about them. it is said that god protects (drunks), idiots and children... and maybe dogs too; or at least notice the difference and the intention.


----------



## NewbieShepherdGirl (Jan 7, 2011)

People are a little chancy. I had only had Sasha a few months when a neighbor stopped my mom (who was driving in front of me to chat). Apparently my mom told her about Sasha, who was in my back seat at the time. The neighbor came to my car and said, can I meet Sasha?" I said yes, and was getting ready to get out to take Sasha out to meet her, when the neighbor just stuck her hand through the back window. I was glad Sasha didn't react negatively, but at that point I didn't know her well enough to know how she would react to that. Luckily for all involved she was good, but man what a chancy move. This lady even has dogs.


----------



## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

this is why our dogs should be well trained and highly
socialized. how do you know 9 out of 10 dogs would
react in a negative manner to the same situation?



Anthony8858 said:


> Today, I take my children for pizza. I park in front of the pizza place, and the kids stay in my truck with Kira. The window is open no more than about 6 - 8 inches. Just enough to stick Kira's snout out the window.
> When I come out to my truck, and elderly woman (I guess about 80), and her daughter, come over to the truck and tell me that Kira is beautiful.
> 
> Within a split second the elderly woman sticks her face right into the open window. I can tell you that 9 out of 10 dogs would react to that in a negative way. I wasnt too concerned, because I was able to get a read on my dog.
> ...


----------



## Anthony8858 (Sep 18, 2011)

doggiedad said:


> this is why our dogs should be well trained and highly
> socialized. how do you know 9 out of 10 dogs would
> react in a negative manner to the same situation?


Because most dogs (IMO) would protect their space. I think it would be somewhat instinctive, for a dog to get defensive about someone sticking their head in a car window for no apparent reason.

I respect the breed.


----------

