# Keeping people from petting your SD



## IliamnasQuest (Aug 24, 2005)

So, what's the best method you've found in keeping people from wanting to pet your Service Dog?

Khana and I are venturing out into more public areas now that she's completed her training. She's calm, obedient and responsive to me but people are having a TERRIBLE time resisting the temptation to pet her. It doesn't help that she's extremely cute and obviously friendly. Her pack has "I Am A Service Dog" and "Don't Pet Me, I'm Working" patches on it, but people seem to see past that. And even when I say "she can't be petted while she's working" when I see that someone wants to reach for her, I find that as they stand there and talk to me, they unconsciously reach out and ruffle her ears. 

I wouldn't mind it except that I do want her to remain focused on me as much as possible, and her natural level of social acceptance makes her WANT to interact with others. She doesn't try to drag me to anyone or is any problem. I just want to make sure that when she's wearing her pack she continues to understand that this is a working situation and not a social gathering.

She also whines sometimes when we're having to wait (like sitting in a chair waiting for a prescription the other day) when someone looks at her and their eyes meet. It doesn't help that people tend to say "ooooh! look at that beautiful dog!" *LOL* Khana KNOWS when she's getting a compliment.

BTW, this is Khana. You can probably see my dilemma. If I was using Trick (mostly black GSD) I think that more people would tend to avoid petting her, even though she's every bit as friendly as Khana.










Melanie and the gang in Alaska


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## RebelGSD (Mar 20, 2008)

OMG she IS hard to resist, sooo cute. That's a hard one.


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

Once I've said to someone -- nicely -- that Camper can't be petted while working, if they reach out, as soon as I see it, I simply say, "Please, DON'T!" And I'm kind of abrupt about it. 

Part of the reason is that it's distracting for him (and disrespectful to me). Part of the reason is that next time they see a service dog, they're going to think it's ok to pet the dog. And there's one thing I've learned from hanging out on this forum, and especially with Patti (Brightelf) who is sight-impaired, is that sudden moves by the service dog or another human can REALLY be a problem. 

You and I can see it coming. But the next PWDmay not be able to see or hear it coming. Or he may very unstable on his feet, and a sudden move can cause him to lose his balance. Or simply, the distracted dog might cause the dog to miss a signal or a sign that the dog needed to see. 

So, what do I do? First, I try to pay a lot of attention to what's going on around me. More than I ever used to. My credit card and keys are in my pocket, not a purse, so I'm not messing around looking for them. I put Camper in a stand/wait where he can move quickly (people seem to be more inclined to pet a sitting dog); this way, I can sort of keep an eye on him when I am doing something that's distracting, like getting milk out of the grocery store refrigerator, but he's relatively next to me if anyone approaches. 

People that are total jerks intent on petting your dog regardless will make a move to pet your dog when you're most distracted. These are the people I worry most about. I've met a few of these. Most are fly-by petters, or just people who don't get it. The fly-bys are over before you realize it, and Khana will almost certainly learn to ignore them. The others are the ones that need to be put in their place. I've just found there's no way to be nice to them. 

Anytime there's a counter, like at the bank, grocery store, or a book store, I have him "line up" so he's standing between me and the counter. He just stand patiently while I'm scanning my credit card and checking out. He likes being there because the cashier can talk to him (they always do), and he doesn't have to worry about anyone stepping on his long bushy GSD tail. 

I use this command when I'm at the meat counter, picking out produce, anytime I can get him between me and what I'm working with. It keeps him out of the flow of traffic, and less likely to be messed with.

And finally, I use my Focus command. When I see Camper looking around the room, like "Who can I make friends with today?" I bring his attention squarely back to me. I know his attention is on me -- he's a medical alert dog -- but he likes to check out what else is going on, especially, as you said, when he has to wait in line, or in a reception area, like at the doctor's office. He knows he's kind of on "down time," and that's when his charming grin comes out and he thumps his tail when kids and friendly-looking people walk by. 

A Focus usually brings him back from Friendlyville to WorkTime. When the wait is long, and he starts that whine, I'll try to walk around a bit, so he really knows we ARE working. It doesn't take much, just walking a few feet and looking at the fascinating bandaids on the shelf. He's two, so he's still pretty young. Sometimes, he still needs some reminding.


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## IliamnasQuest (Aug 24, 2005)

Thanks for all the good suggestions! I'll certainly put some of them to use. 

I need to take her out more on my "good" days so that we can get the teamwork together (mostly for me, knowing when I need to block people and where the best place is for her to be when I'm distracted with other things). I had it in my mind that I would only take her on days that my hands/joints were really bad but I can see now that we both need to have some consistency built up and that's only going to happen if I take her out consistantly.

I also found that our one little store here has very narrow aisles and that having her walk on my left side means that she's in the way of oncoming carts. Luckily she's been taught to walk on either side, it's just easier for ME with her on my left. When carts would come toward us I'd stop and step to the right and then have her sit in heel position, which brought her behind our cart and out of the way. 

We did tons of training in a large variety of places, but the grocery stores are new to us as she couldn't go in until she was officially declared as a SD (SDITs can't go into places like that unless they're being trained by someone who is certified by the state to train SDs - I have yet, in 20 years of being in dogs up here, met anyone actually certified by the state to do this). So since her training was through me, we just did all we could outside of stores. She's doing beautifully and is not distracted by the smells of food, it's just the little problems with people being attracted to her that we need to work through.

I did the "focus" thing, too, when Khana had to wait and would start looking at people and whining a bit. It's especially hard for her when she can tell that someone is interested in her. She loves attention! I don't think she would have been settled enough at age two to do this successfully - she's nearly four now and much more settled and adult at this stage.

Melanie and the gang in Alaska


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

I've also trained a "Behind" command (which you could call Follow, which actually makes more sense 







) 

When it's tight, like in narrow aisles, or going through gates and such, that's the command I give for Camp to just walk close on my heels, then he resumes a heel either when I tell him "Right Here" again (or we're just in a really scrunchy place like a tight gate, he just resumes the heel on his own, intuitively). 

It's really handy. I didnt actually train it formally. I just found myself putting my leash into the small of my back, and he'd follow me, so I put the command to it. Then I realized it was handy, and now I use it all the time. 

When I saw Dh uses it with Camper one day, I realized that it was actually a formal command he (well, actually both of them!







) had learned!) 

Keep working at this. It took me MONTHS to figure out positioning that worked for us. Camper's a bigger guy (87 lbs and nearly 26"), plus that tail (that darn tail!). He just takes up a lot of space! But once we worked out WHERE he should be in each situation, it all hangs together. 

So, go out as much as you can. I used to do my grocery shopping by going on three or four different days. I'd divide my list and just buy a few things at a time. It gave us a reason to get out and we'd cruise around the store a bit, and buy that day's worth of groceries. (Or, I'd go to the bank, the library, visiting a friend in an office building, etc. Just so we were figuring out where we fit together in each new environment.) 

Yeah, it got old, but it really helped us get all that maneuvering down stuff down. AND it helped him see that going into stores is just work. It's not socializing time. And he got down to business. No messing around. How he holds himself affects how others see him. When he has that intent "work" look on his face, people are less inclined to ask about petting him. 

It's when we're standing/waiting around for too long that he goes into Happy Camper mode that people want to pet him.


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## IliamnasQuest (Aug 24, 2005)

You know, I taught Khana a "behind" command when we were doing freestyle a couple of years ago - that would come in handy! I'd forgotten about that.

She's not a big dog - 53# and her tail curls up over her back .. *L* - so it's easy to bring her in close to me and not have her in the way. I just was surprised at how narrow the aisles were. I never noticed that before I took Khana in, and I've been to that store hundreds of times.

I agree, when our dogs look like they're actually working, people tend to not approach and try to pet. The times people have come up are when I'm stopped and doing something, and Khana glances around and meets someone's eyes. Then they are enticed! I want her to be aware of who's around us, just not to react because her reaction encourages them to react too.

So far no one has asked me about her - I carry the little cards that explain what a Service Dog is but the places around here have been very accommodating. There are a few other people in this area that I've seen out with SDs so maybe all the places have already become acclimated. And my disability is pretty apparent - I limp when I walk and my hands are swollen and stiff, which is obvious to most people. Khana carries the things I need in her pack, which has been very convenient for me. Now we just need to work through these last few things and get the teamwork down to a "T" and we'll be set!

Melanie and the gang


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

It's amazing how many things I had completely taken for granted; how simple and uncomplicated life used to be. Having a service dog is a blessing. But it does extra steps and extra management sometimes!

Good luck. It sounds like you just need more time behind the wheel, so to speak!


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## BJDimock (Sep 14, 2008)

I find with my Fidlco guide fosters that the command "Leave It" brings them focus with me. I have the sheps and it doesn't keep people from trying to pet them. I think its the natural assumption that because they wear their identification (red coats for us), that people feel safer with a breed that they may not normally touch.
The "leave it" command tells my dogs to ignore it and look at me. When I give such a command, people generally pause, at least long enough for me to explain why I don't want them touching the animal, during which my girls are entirely focused on the next command.(I am going through this right now with a particulaly friendly foste, who has to learn NOT to greet every man, woman and child who looks at her.)
The behind command would work just as well. (Just not an option for my fosters who must be in the lead.)


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## IliamnasQuest (Aug 24, 2005)

I've been using "leave it" with Khana at times when she focuses on someone else - it's a command she's known for years. It's effective but I definitely have to be proactive.

I was talking to my Mom today about this and said something about taking Khana out more often to socialize her - and then I stopped and said "no, I need to "UN-socialize" her!" .. *LOL* .. she's very social and needs to fully understand that when the pack is on she's there to help me.

She will have plenty of opportunities to visit with people, just not when she's working.

Melanie and the gang


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## BJDimock (Sep 14, 2008)

LOL. Same problem with little Fenna, who needs to know that her little red coat means social hour is over! The leave it command tends to stop people in their tracks too. (It's actually kind of funny to watch.) I say it rather forcefully and I think that people don't know if I'm talking to the dog or them!


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

> Originally Posted By: BJDimock The leave it command tends to stop people in their tracks too. (It's actually kind of funny to watch.) I say it rather forcefully and I think that people don't know if I'm talking to the dog or them!


Funny side story. On one of my recent flights we encountered rough weather. The pilots had everyone strap in, including the flight attendants. I was sitting up by the front of the plane, about 4-5 rows back from where the attendant sat. One of the overhead bins popped open and the man in the row in front of me jumped up to close it. That's when I heard "LEAVE IT!".

At the end of the flight when we were getting off the plane I asked the attendant what kind of dog she had. She looked puzzled until I said "That was a VERY good Leave It command you gave!"

Maybe you could teach a new command. Use the words "DON'T TOUCH" and the dogs action would be to lay down? or something else that would get the dog out of the range of reaching hands.


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## BJDimock (Sep 14, 2008)

Very funny!! It's amazing how well a forceful "Leave It" works on people!!!


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## IliamnasQuest (Aug 24, 2005)

Cute story, Lauri! *LOL* When I was giving music lessons I found myself using dog commands with the kids more than once - NOT on purpose! Luckily the kids didn't notice or they may have been a bit irritated with me .. *L*

I thought about teaching a new command but I used "leave it" the other day and it was really effective on both Khana AND the people. We were walking along and three women came walking our direction and all three were going "ooooh, look at that dog! how beautiful!". I could see them veering toward us and Khana looked at them too, so I said "leave it!" in an upbeat tone and got a proper response from both Khana (who looked back at me) and the women (who stopped coming toward us). I gave a brief smile to them as we went by and could hear one say "oh, we can't bother her while she's working". Glad they understood! 

I had to wait a bit for a prescription in this store - not where I normally get prescriptions - and a lady came over and sat down across from us to ask me about the training and Service Dogs overall. She was really nice and very interested in the dogs (no personal questions about me). She has a couple of rescue dogs and we had a great talk while we were waiting. And then another young woman came over and said "I know it says we're not to pet her, but could I PLEASE pet your dog?". I had to tell her that it just wasn't allowed because Khana had to keep her focus on me. She understood but was disappointed. 

I find this all very interesting because we trained extensively prior to going into any of these stores. Khana's been in training for obedience, therapy work, etc. ever since she came to me at 8 weeks old. Outside of the stores, people could walk by and hardly anyone asked to pet her. In training classes she had wonderful focus and she earned all of her titles with decent to wonderful scores. But inside these stores people tend to gravitate toward her much more than ever before. There was no way to really simulate this experience in training other places. I'm thoroughly happy with my girl and think she's taking all of this in stride very well, but I am surprised at the people. We'll get them trained yet!

Melanie and the gang


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

My brother-in-law just started a blog and the first post mentioned that he was at the supermarket with his guide dog and the person at the checkout counter AND the bagger both read the dog's "Do not pet me, I'm working" patch out loud. Then the bagger proceeded to ask if she could pet the dog.









I've noticed when I have told a dog "Leave it" as we approached a person that the person tends to veer away from the dog and avoid us. I'm not exactly sure why.


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