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So I think I might start with some background.
I've been doing a lot of training with my dog lately, she spent the first part of her life in a cage so is still spooked new by things but has gotten much better this year. When she is with me and people are around she is kept on a shorter leash so in case she tries to run away if she gets scared, and honestly because its polite, I don't want anyone tripping over my dog and you never know if someone is scared of dogs.
Anyway moving on.
She needed a new harness since the one she has is cheap and twists too easily so I went shopping, and Lucy the wonder moose went with me since all the pet stores allow dogs in, and it's more training for her.
We are shopping she is kept on a short leash since not only is it how I like her, but behind us is the toys, and I'm always afraid she might try to take one. I can hear a kid running up and down the aisles yelling, so I make sure she is close to me since he sounds like he is headed our way and I look up just as he rounds the corner to where we are. He stops dead and screams, then yells "Dad a dog!!!!" At this point Lucy has already moved behind me since she is scared of him, and his jacket over he is holding over his head is making him scarier. So I step between them so he can't see her and calmly ask if he is afraid of dogs, he nods and I say it's ok, she is scared of you too, so she won't come out from hiding. He watches her and tells me she is shaking, since at this point she is peeking out from behind me and she really is shaking hard and leaning against me as much as she can.
At this point a large man runs up and starts screaming at me for scaring his kid with my dog. I can't even tell what the guy is really saying but that was what I could catch. I can feel Lucy try to run away and I hold her still and look up at him and in what my friend's call the trainer voice. I say "HEY ENOUGH", and he stops and stares at me. " Sir, I walked right past you with my dog, if you son was afraid, you shouldn't have let him run around a store that says "dogs welcome" when you know there is a dog in the store. He starts to yell at me about how his kid can run around all he wants, I shouldn't have taken my dog into a store with a kid afraid of dogs. Once again, I use my trainer voice and say "ENOUGH, Sir, my dog is trained to behave with people around, I KNOW people are afraid of dogs, actually I've found she does very well with people who are nervous with dogs, as you can see." As I'm saying this, his son is crouched down next to him saying "Hi doggie, hi pretty doggie", to Lucy who is laying on the floor behind me peeking out now feeling a little calmer herself.
He keeps trying to yell at me and I keep cutting him off, I can do this all day, Lucy has been working on dealing with loud noises anyway. Finally an employee comes over and he takes his anger out on them. He gets told to leave because he is scaring other customers, and he leaves the store yelling about how poorly they treat families with kids afraid of dogs. He is out the door by the time his son stands up. The little boy waves at both of us then stops and tentatively offers at hand to Lucy who touches it with her tongue before he runs after his father who, from the looks of it was already at the car. Shopping was uneventful after that, other then people telling me how well behaved my dog was.
I feel bad for the kid, he might not be as afraid if his Dad watched him and stayed calm when they met a dog. For him to calm down then be ok with my dog really says something about how he could be with other dogs, but like I said I've had people who are afraid of dogs do well with her, a lot of the time they will even ask to pet her because she stays still and leans against me or sits on my feet when I have her sit next to me. I just told my friend about this and he is surprised I didn't tell the guy to sit and stay.
NOTE: I would normally have just walked away from the kid if he was freaking out more, but after his initial OMG DOG!!!, he seemed curious more then anything. Also I wasn't expecting a crazy father to arrive. Once that happened the normally shy Squeaks decided to take a break and assertive Squeaks came out, I have this thing where I refuse to let men bully me, especially if they are larger and are physically trying to intimidate me (I know that can be foolish). If the kid, or Lucy had been freaking out during that time, I would have walked away.
I've been doing a lot of training with my dog lately, she spent the first part of her life in a cage so is still spooked new by things but has gotten much better this year. When she is with me and people are around she is kept on a shorter leash so in case she tries to run away if she gets scared, and honestly because its polite, I don't want anyone tripping over my dog and you never know if someone is scared of dogs.
Anyway moving on.
She needed a new harness since the one she has is cheap and twists too easily so I went shopping, and Lucy the wonder moose went with me since all the pet stores allow dogs in, and it's more training for her.
We are shopping she is kept on a short leash since not only is it how I like her, but behind us is the toys, and I'm always afraid she might try to take one. I can hear a kid running up and down the aisles yelling, so I make sure she is close to me since he sounds like he is headed our way and I look up just as he rounds the corner to where we are. He stops dead and screams, then yells "Dad a dog!!!!" At this point Lucy has already moved behind me since she is scared of him, and his jacket over he is holding over his head is making him scarier. So I step between them so he can't see her and calmly ask if he is afraid of dogs, he nods and I say it's ok, she is scared of you too, so she won't come out from hiding. He watches her and tells me she is shaking, since at this point she is peeking out from behind me and she really is shaking hard and leaning against me as much as she can.
At this point a large man runs up and starts screaming at me for scaring his kid with my dog. I can't even tell what the guy is really saying but that was what I could catch. I can feel Lucy try to run away and I hold her still and look up at him and in what my friend's call the trainer voice. I say "HEY ENOUGH", and he stops and stares at me. " Sir, I walked right past you with my dog, if you son was afraid, you shouldn't have let him run around a store that says "dogs welcome" when you know there is a dog in the store. He starts to yell at me about how his kid can run around all he wants, I shouldn't have taken my dog into a store with a kid afraid of dogs. Once again, I use my trainer voice and say "ENOUGH, Sir, my dog is trained to behave with people around, I KNOW people are afraid of dogs, actually I've found she does very well with people who are nervous with dogs, as you can see." As I'm saying this, his son is crouched down next to him saying "Hi doggie, hi pretty doggie", to Lucy who is laying on the floor behind me peeking out now feeling a little calmer herself.
He keeps trying to yell at me and I keep cutting him off, I can do this all day, Lucy has been working on dealing with loud noises anyway. Finally an employee comes over and he takes his anger out on them. He gets told to leave because he is scaring other customers, and he leaves the store yelling about how poorly they treat families with kids afraid of dogs. He is out the door by the time his son stands up. The little boy waves at both of us then stops and tentatively offers at hand to Lucy who touches it with her tongue before he runs after his father who, from the looks of it was already at the car. Shopping was uneventful after that, other then people telling me how well behaved my dog was.
I feel bad for the kid, he might not be as afraid if his Dad watched him and stayed calm when they met a dog. For him to calm down then be ok with my dog really says something about how he could be with other dogs, but like I said I've had people who are afraid of dogs do well with her, a lot of the time they will even ask to pet her because she stays still and leans against me or sits on my feet when I have her sit next to me. I just told my friend about this and he is surprised I didn't tell the guy to sit and stay.
NOTE: I would normally have just walked away from the kid if he was freaking out more, but after his initial OMG DOG!!!, he seemed curious more then anything. Also I wasn't expecting a crazy father to arrive. Once that happened the normally shy Squeaks decided to take a break and assertive Squeaks came out, I have this thing where I refuse to let men bully me, especially if they are larger and are physically trying to intimidate me (I know that can be foolish). If the kid, or Lucy had been freaking out during that time, I would have walked away.
Any bets the reason the kid's afraid of dogs is because of something stupid his dad did?
What was that idiot doing, taking a kid with a dog fear into a pet store? I agree that probably the dad is uncomfortable around dogs and his kid picked up on it, I try very hard not to react with fear if I see a spider, since I don't want Khan to be afraid of them.
Even though this was like 10+ years later, mom still read them the riot act!
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