This customer should not have a dog, because the stupid mutt almost bit me!!!

[infinitemonkies]

Clearly, I am not an SC. Had that been my yard, and i expect someone coming, one of 2 things: either dogs in house, gate open, or I meet you at the gate.

Sadly, not everyone is like me.

[aulocksmith]

This reminds me of a job I did a couple of years ago. I was called out to rekey a house, and while I'm fine with dogs roaming around, I need to be warned if they don't like certain things.

Well, this one job, I wasn't warned. Two dogs, one super friendly. I mean, this dog just wanted pats and cuddles, and would happily sit there to watch me work. The other one had me locking myself in the customers bungalow out the back and calling the customer on the phone to come and get it.

It was fine for about 10 minutes, just watching what I was doing. I could see that it wasn't sure of me, so I was doing everything near it in slow even movements, and not hiding my hands, but something I did must have startled it, because next thing I know, I'm face-to-face with the meanest set of canine teeth I've ever seen.

I quickly slammed the door I was working on, and called the house phone from my mobile to get them come and get the dog. At this stage, I'd nearly peed myself from the initial fright. They come out and get the dog, taking it back inside and locking it in a bedroom.

Then I was told this gem: "Oh, she doesn't like men she doesn't know."

WTF? They knew their dog doesn't like men, then why in the hell would they let it roam free while a strange man (to the dog) is working around the property?

I gave them a few choice words, mainly along the lines "She scared the shit outta me" just to try and let them know I wasn't happy, and finished the job. I ended up bumping my price up 10% because of it, and they didn't even query it. I guess they knew there be trouble if they did.

[Sapphire Silk]

I had the exact same thing that happened to the OP happen to me when I was delivering pizzas for a living. I handled it differently, though.

When the dog got aggressive as I tried to leave my car, I got back into the car. I then laid on the horn until the owner came out (note; this was pre-cell phone days). He wanted to know why I was laying on the horn.

"Call off your dog!"

"Oh, he's alright. He won't bite. Come on up."

"No. I'm scared of your dog. Get it in the house, and then I come up."

"Come up!"

"NO! Either you lock up your dog, or I'm going back to the shop."

He finally relented and put his dog up. He was pretty surly about the whole thing, and stiffed me on the tip. Tried to get me to give him $5 for it being late (this was back in the day when we had a 30 minute guarantee) because of the time we wasted arguing about his unsocialized dog.

I refused to budge. Full price or I leave. He paid up, grumbling, then complained to my manager.

I stuck to my guns. I'm not getting bit by any dog. Not for that job, not for any other job. Manager backed down.

Next time the jerk ordered from us, I called and told him to make sure his dog was put up. If I saw it in the yard, I wouldn't even honk; I'd just leave. Dog was missing from the yard when I got there.

The reason I could get away with that, was because we were the only pizza shop in town that would deliver to that part of the county (it was several miles outside the city limits). He still stiffed me on the tip, though. Dick.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

For those here who would like to remain safe but don't like the idea of hurting an animal, there is a kind of spray you can get. It is "citronella" spray (like the stuff they use in bug-away candles.) Hit them right on the nose and BAM! Dog will not mess with you anymore.

Safe for people, safe for animals. No damage to either party (unlike mace citronella won't require a trip to some kind of medical professional.)

Stay safe, and always stick to your guns when it comes to any kind of animal you feel is aggressive or unsafe. Said animal doesn't know better, because it was never taught proper behavior and etiquette. So it's far better safe than sorry, best course of action is to never get into the possibility of having to use the spray (if you have it)!

[LillFilly]

Our old neighbors down the street regularly had a pretty Husky on a chain in their driveway. Mom was visiting one day and asked if she could pet him. They said he was really friendly, so Mom reached out and he CLAMPED down on her hand like the jaws of life! They had to pull her hand out of his mouth and Dad took her to the hospital. Her hand swelled up, she needed her wedding ring cut off and stitches. The hospital had to report a dog bite, even though Mom said she didn't want to press any charges or have the dog put down. But, when the dog was investigated, it was found that this was the 3rd or 4th time it had bitten someone! Really friendly my butt!

Talking about dog body language; my dog can give mixed signals. She is happy as pie to see people, but she has bad hips and her natural walk mimics the 'stiff legged threat posture' and for a second people aren't sure about her until her tail starts spinning and she flips over onto her back on their feet!

[mathnerd]

I'm not sure what the guy from our ISP would have said about my dog. You see, when the work order got called in, we were very specific about a very large dog being loose in the yard and that the tech could either pull over at the gas station a couple blocks away or stay in the truck and call when he got there so we could "introduce" the dog to the tech. The dog is generally friendly, and as soon as we say a person is okay, he turns into a big, slobbering attention hound. Well, service tech guy didn't do that. He tried to get out of his truck without one of the adults outside, despite express instructions to do so. My father was home, but my mother and I had been out shopping. Thankfully, we pulled up within seconds and told the dog the tech was okay, but the moment we pulled up, the dog was using his body to block the tech from getting out of his truck (no growling, just blocking the door and staring). So, the guy finally gets out and says "so that's why my instructions said to call". Well no shit. Every once in a while you get customers who are, in fact, trying to do right by you.

[LillFilly]

So, the guy finally gets out and says "so that's why my instructions said to call". Well no shit. Every once in a while you get customers who are, in fact, trying to do right by you.

My cousin had a LARGE dog tied-up on the porch of her house. They were getting a delivery and gave instructions NOT to go onto the porch, to leave the lumber in the yard and the paperwork on it and to not try and go onto the porch with the paperwork because of the dog; the instructions were on the paperwork too. Delivery guy walked up on the porch anyway and the dog jumped on him; didn't bite, but he tried to get them for having a 'dangerous' animal. Luckily, the company had a history of him ignoring 'owners have dogs, don't go *here*' instructions and trying to get money out of them and he got fired, finally.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Every once in a while you get customers who are, in fact, trying to do right by you.

We try to do that in regards to Abby (our black/tan husky mix.) Just last Sunday we had a satellite tech come out to upgrade our equipment (Mom ordered the Hopper - yay!) and first thing I did when I heard the truck pull into the driveway was to get Abby to the laundry room.

Of course, she was faster than I and my brother met the tech at the front door while I was in the dining room trying to catch Abby by her collar. Although she won't offer to bite (she's a big baby and likes to be in the middle of everything) I'd much rather her be in a separate area so she's out of the way (bull in a china shop anyone?)

Even though the tech assured us she'd be fine and he was used to dogs (he has a couple of his own) I'm not going to take a chance and just stick her out in the laundry room - otherwise he'd not be able to walk through the house without her wanting to either roll in the floor wanting her belly scratched or play with her monkey toy.

[dendawg]

Sometimes friendly dogs can be just as bad as aggressive ones. I once worked with my ex-wife doing light maintenance around a trailer park. (she was manager) Part of my job involved doing monthly water meter readings, basically just plug a reader into a socket on the side of the house and jot down the reading. One house had a husky that was just in love with me, and would just jump on me begging for attention when i needed to read the meter, and wrapping its tie-out cable around my ankles in the process. I loved the dog, but loved not tripping even more.

[Lace Neil Singer]

The family dog that we had when I was a teen was friendly, well trained, but with one little idiosyncracy; she associated window cleaners with burglars. Makes sense, really; a window cleaner, like a burglar, is climing up a ladder and fiddling with a window. So she used to stand at the bottom of the ladder and bark. The first time, the window cleaner wouldn't come down so my parents said to him, "She won't hurt you. Just come down" and I held on to the dog's collar. The window cleaner came down, and she stopped barking, sniffed as if to say, "Well, that stopped you trying to break in, didn't it?" and was fine. After that, he just went up the ladder and ignored the frantic barking below.

[crazylegs]

Sometimes friendly dogs can be just as bad as aggressive ones.

Yep, once had a dog snuggle up to me while I was trying to set up a sterile field to cannulate a patient. All the kit was binned off and I had to start again - wasn't amused and only then would they put the dog away.