28/09/2023
💭 Thursday Thoughts 💭
Is it okay for friendly dogs to approach other dogs? 🤔
The answer is, absolutely not! (Most of the time!) ❌
Picture this:
You have a super friendly dog, who loves people, other dogs, kids, and anyone else they meet. Great! So, it seems fair for them to be able to go and greet new people and dogs as much as they like, because they are so friendly and enjoy it so much.
So, you let them off their lead and they joyfully bound up to another dog in the park. Is that okay? 🤔
When they arrive, they want to interact and play with their new friend. But:
🐾 Their new friend could be arthritic or otherwise in pain and not want to be jumped on.
🐾 They could be nervous and not feel comfortable with your dog being so close to them.
🐾 They could be deaf/blind and feel startled by your dog suddenly appearing next to them.
🐾 They could be reactive and simply not able to cope with a dog being this close to them.
🐾 They may not like other dogs at all, so could snap and growl to try and defend themselves.
🐾 They could be recovering from an illness, so their tolerance levels are low, and they don't want to be bothered by another dog.
🐾 They could start guarding the toy they are playing with, and become protective over it and want to keep your dog away.
🐾 They could have had bad experiences with other dogs before, which has left them uncertain about interacting with them again.
So, the take away here is, to never presume that every dog, or human, wants to interact with your dog. And, it's bad manners to force these interactions onto people and dogs who have not asked for them, or consented to them!
Always ask if your dog can say hello to another dog or person, and most importantly, respect the decision if the answer is no! ✅
Don't follow up with 'oh but my dog is so friendly', or 'everyone loves my dog', or 'my dog just wants to play with everyone' ❌
