I Hate Some People.

[mortonplace]

I don't think hating those who fear or dislike dogs does dogs any favours. The fear is genuine. The dislike is often the result of irresponsible dog owners making it harder for the rest of us.

Make your dog as unthreatening as possible and keep it away from strangers unless they want to greet it. Being on a dog beach isn't a permit to let your dog make a pest of itself.

bit confused here thought OP said she was in a lift and then the screaming kids arrived after

lf the kids were scared parnets should control there kids[pets lol]and we live another day

Sorry your chi had such a horrid experince

[Golden Rules]

As for dog beaches here in WA, yes of course people without dogs can stroll along a beach that allows dogs but where these beaches join each other (as they all do) there are signs that say 'No Dogs Beyond This Point' yada yada yada ....

There's a million dogs on the dog beach and none on the non dog beach - well, it kinda shows the dog owners are respecting non doggy people and their choice to attend a dog free beach ..... but when you get people strolling along a dog beach where there are a lot of dogs - and they complain - well tough!

There's way too many beaches here to choose from. People like that are just out to complain no matter what the circumstances

Mind you, I haven't struck anyone who has complained about dogs on a dog beach here ...... so this is all OT!!!

Sorry!

[julzjc]

Oh, I understand real phobias - I don't see why the parents had to be so rude and encouraging of such behaviour - they could have apologised for their kids' outburst but they stared at me with such hatred!

Could be that they didnt mean to stare at you with hatred but more embarassed,annoyed that their child would have such a reaction and were trying not to show the child their annoyance. Parents getting annoyed at a childs dog phobia wouldnt have helped the child, ie see a dog-get into trouble means dog=tears and even worse reaction next time.

Sorry just seeing it from the otherside of the fence. My eldest loved dogs untill 3 Labs (whom she was used to playing with in a friends house),once put outside, lunged and attacked the glass door seperating them from her(they went insane!Vicious was not the word and I adore dogs, they nearly broke the door and I have no doubt what would have happend), she was only 2. After that she would become hysterical when she saw ANY dog even if it was a chi an oval away (woke up with dog nightmares for 4months). I can assure you that I was gritting my teeth and had a pissed off look on my face when she did it but I couldnt get angry at her and I certainly wasnt angry at the dog owner. More P'd off that I wouldnt be having a dog in my home for some time untill I could fix the phobia. She started rubbing off on her younger sister and then I was really annoyed/taking deep breaths when she saw dogs.

So could possibly be that the parents were not angry at you but more irritated at their kid "bloody hell, theres a dog, just great, now here comes the screaming ready 1..2...3.." and too worked up to apologise for the kid.

Not saying thats the case but could be.

ps I do think I apologised most of the time but 2 screaming kids can easily distract you from doing the polite thing sorry.

[julzjc]

Sort of like the tense,unhappy,dread face you have when you have a reactive dog and see another dog coming lol. Your not annoyed at the other dog but to the other owner your face of "far out,here we go again" probably makes you look like your pissed off at their dog.

[aussielover]

Sometimes it is merely the presence of dogs in a park or at the beach that causes the upset.

The dogs don't have to be making a nuisance of themselves for people to get upset. I personally believe if I am in a legal, leash free area, my dog is under control and someone who is uncomfortable around dogs is present, then it is up to them to either deal with the situation or leave the area. There are so many other parks available where dogs aren't even allowed on leash, so I don't see why we should have to vacate a designated dog area for someone who doesn't like dogs.

[Kirislin]

So, I am in the elevator, waiting to go down to the basement carpark, when it stops at another floor. The doors open, revealing two dripping wet kids (like puddles of water at their feet!) and their parents. The kids start screaming and shrieking (one was close to tears) because I have a Chihuahua in the lift, on a leash, AND carried in my arms. This is a 2kg dog. The parents proceed to hug and shield their children and calm their fears about this scary dog, looked at me incredulously as I just scared their kids half to death, and told me stiffly that they'd wait for the next lift.

Deep breath. Om.

How to instill a phobia into your kids.

[aussielover]

So, I am in the elevator, waiting to go down to the basement carpark, when it stops at another floor. The doors open, revealing two dripping wet kids (like puddles of water at their feet!) and their parents. The kids start screaming and shrieking (one was close to tears) because I have a Chihuahua in the lift, on a leash, AND carried in my arms. This is a 2kg dog. The parents proceed to hug and shield their children and calm their fears about this scary dog, looked at me incredulously as I just scared their kids half to death, and told me stiffly that they'd wait for the next lift.

Deep breath. Om.

How to instill a phobia into your kids.

Lucky you didn't have a Great Dane or other Giant breed with you!!! (not sure you'd all fit in the lift though iunless it was quite big )

Or a scary Rotty, Dobe or GSD

[megan_]

I don't think hating those who fear or dislike dogs does dogs any favours. The fear is genuine. The dislike is often the result of irresponsible dog owners making it harder for the rest of us.

Make your dog as unthreatening as possible and keep it away from strangers unless they want to greet it. Being on a dog beach isn't a permit to let your dog make a pest of itself.

I agree. If all dog owners acted responsibly there would be far fewer people who were scared of dogs (and often with good reason!).

AFAIK, there are no "dog beaches" or "dog parks" in Melbourne - all parks are public places. There are some that allow dogs who are under control to go unleashed, but they are not dog parks.

[Linda K]

I can feel for the kids, as I know that until recently, although we are currently dogless, my kids loved dogs, but all of that changed when we were at the park and a dog (GS) came from nowhere (mo owner in sight anywhere, and in fact we thought it might be a stray at first because of this), following the kids around the park (this was an ordinary kids playground, not a leash free park), and then without warning, launched itself onto my son, grabbed onto his legs and started humping very vigorously (not really funny, as my son had no idea what the dog was doing, and so was scared out of his wits, as well as being hurt from the encounter). He grabbed so hard, his claws actually broke the skin and severely bruised him and left him very upset about the whole thing. About 20 min later, found the owner by virtue of the fact this guy walked up to the dog, and proceeded to put him in a car - the guy was a trady, who was working opposite the park, and had left his dog in the car, and had not realised the dog had jumped out the window. He had absolutely no remorse for what the dog had done, and in fact told me to F off. My son is now worried when we see any dogs that look like they might come near him, no matter what size they are although fortunately we were at my OH best mates, and he was able to have some great games of fetch with his Golden Retriever who is a big friendly boofa, so that at least went a little way to restoring his doggy faith.

To the OP can understand your point of view too though, and would be a bit annoyed at the death stares

[dee lee]

Oh, I understand real phobias - I don't see why the parents had to be so rude and encouraging of such behaviour - they could have apologised for their kids' outburst but they stared at me with such hatred!

Could be that they didnt mean to stare at you with hatred but more embarassed,annoyed that their child would have such a reaction and were trying not to show the child their annoyance. Parents getting annoyed at a childs dog phobia wouldnt have helped the child, ie see a dog-get into trouble means dog=tears and even worse reaction next time.

Sorry just seeing it from the otherside of the fence. My eldest loved dogs untill 3 Labs (whom she was used to playing with in a friends house),once put outside, lunged and attacked the glass door seperating them from her(they went insane!Vicious was not the word and I adore dogs, they nearly broke the door and I have no doubt what would have happend), she was only 2. After that she would become hysterical when she saw ANY dog even if it was a chi an oval away (woke up with dog nightmares for 4months). I can assure you that I was gritting my teeth and had a pissed off look on my face when she did it but I couldnt get angry at her and I certainly wasnt angry at the dog owner. More P'd off that I wouldnt be having a dog in my home for some time untill I could fix the phobia. She started rubbing off on her younger sister and then I was really annoyed/taking deep breaths when she saw dogs.

So could possibly be that the parents were not angry at you but more irritated at their kid "bloody hell, theres a dog, just great, now here comes the screaming ready 1..2...3.." and too worked up to apologise for the kid.

Not saying thats the case but could be.

ps I do think I apologised most of the time but 2 screaming kids can easily distract you from doing the polite thing sorry.

I have a dog phobic daughter too and I agree, the pissed off look most probably is at the situation, not you.

I imagine if the kids were sopping wet they'd been up to no good already & the parents may have had a gutful.

[persephone]

Yep- sopping wet kids, who are petrified of even a tiny dog- parents who possibly are overprotective and maybe also scared of dogs ... they possibly look at the whole world like you imagined they looked at you - with fear and trepidation .

There are many people like that around ... it is not personal, and it is they who are suffering because of their fear/anger/uncertainties.

takes all sorts, and to "hate" someone like that is a waste of energy No doubt you will come across people/incidents like this many times ....

[corvus]

I get frustrated at the DOG BEACH when people are screaming and carrying on if a dog walks near them (They don't even have a dog there with them) ! I seriously do not get why they come into dog beach and not walk the 50M to the dog free beach.

It baffles me as well. I'm like, Okay, I get that it's a nice beach for kids as well, but there are heaps of nice beaches for kids you can choose that won't have them screaming and clinging to you every 5 seconds because a dog is walking past. Why would you put your kids through that? How is that a nice outing to the beach for them? I can and do call my dogs in close and my boys are remarkably calm about shrieking children, but I think it's kinda rough on the kids. I've seen parents shout at the kids for screeching. It's like the people that hit their dogs for growling when another dog frightens them. It makes me sad. Why expose them to something that frightens them and then yell at them because they act scared?

They have the right to use the beach unmolested by dogs and I make sure my dogs stay clear of them, but I still don't get it. Poor kids.

[WreckitWhippet]

So, I am in the elevator, waiting to go down to the basement carpark, when it stops at another floor. The doors open, revealing two dripping wet kids (like puddles of water at their feet!) and their parents. The kids start screaming and shrieking (one was close to tears) because I have a Chihuahua in the lift, on a leash, AND carried in my arms. This is a 2kg dog. The parents proceed to hug and shield their children and calm their fears about this scary dog, looked at me incredulously as I just scared their kids half to death, and told me stiffly that they'd wait for the next lift.

Deep breath. Om.

where were you when this happened ?

[jacqui835]

So, I am in the elevator, waiting to go down to the basement carpark, when it stops at another floor. The doors open, revealing two dripping wet kids (like puddles of water at their feet!) and their parents. The kids start screaming and shrieking (one was close to tears) because I have a Chihuahua in the lift, on a leash, AND carried in my arms. This is a 2kg dog. The parents proceed to hug and shield their children and calm their fears about this scary dog, looked at me incredulously as I just scared their kids half to death, and told me stiffly that they'd wait for the next lift.

Deep breath. Om.

How to instill a phobia into your kids.

Lucky you didn't have a Great Dane or other Giant breed with you!!! (not sure you'd all fit in the lift though iunless it was quite big )

Or a scary Rotty, Dobe or GSD

Was going to say, you should see the sorts of reactions I get with a huge male doberman. On the other hand, there was a young girl like, maybe 10 max at the park yesterday who quite literally jumped onto the back of my dog and hugged him. Luckily he loves kids and was fine with it but damn, I could see she had given him a fright and it's just lucky he's an 'ask questions first then bite' kinda dog (probably because I often jump on him and hug him lol). I still mentioned to the dad who was laughing at her that she ought to be a bit more careful with strange dogs because not all may appreciate such antics...

Edited August 18, 2010 by jacqui835

[Brennan's Mum]

Sort of like the tense,unhappy,dread face you have when you have a reactive dog and see another dog coming lol. Your not annoyed at the other dog but to the other owner your face of "far out,here we go again" probably makes you look like your pissed off at their dog.

Yep I have a reactive dog, and she is a big dog too. So when I see another dog out on a walk, or kids getting out of school...my whole thought is how to get my dog through the situation without setting her back training wise. It has nothing to do with the other person, or the kids' all happy to get out of school. It's more to do with keeping my dog from reacting and keeping her under control.

[Narcissa]

where were you when this happened ?

In my apartment here in Singapore, which we assured was dog-friendly before we moved in (ie. many dogs living in the apartments). I understand Australian laws about pets in apartments - I had such a hard time looking for pet-friendly places when I was living there. Had to write countless nice letters, offered free carpet cleaning every 3 months, monthly inspections, extra pet bond etc when I was renting. Things became so much easier when we had our own villa with a yard (surrounded by dog-haters though).

Kids were sopping wet because they came from the pool on the 3rd floor.

So could possibly be that the parents were not angry at you but more irritated at their kid "bloody hell, theres a dog, just great, now here comes the screaming ready 1..2...3.." and too worked up to apologise for the kid.

Could be... But pretty sure the looks were at me, because they had their eyes in that slitty glare lol!

Lucky you didn't have a Great Dane or other Giant breed with you!!! (not sure you'd all fit in the lift though iunless it was quite big )

Or a scary Rotty, Dobe or GSD

I think I would be more understanding if I had some huge dog! Had Maxey in that "Paris Hilton-Tinkerbell" (ugh hate to use her as a reference) dog hold, so was glad that at least he wasn't on the floor of the lift or it would have scared them more.

I think I simply expected the parents to react a little differently, not feed the phobia more? I may be way off my mark here, since I don't have children but I can imagine myself saying "oooh look kids , it's a puppy!" or something. Not a biggie, but I was just really surprised at that reaction - you never expect something like that when the lift doors open!

A huge to those parents having to deal with children's phobias, and those just wanting to spend the day at the dog beach with their dogs!

[Whippetsmum]

I wish people spent as much time socilaising their kids as we spend socialising our dogs!

[percyk]

i guess you shouldnt be thinking that you actually hate people who react that way

it is annoying and can make it feel awkward but there are people who have real phobias and yep people come first

hard to believe lol

try to give way to people

if youre extra considerate to people who dont like dogs then they may learn to tolerate us dogpeople a bit more

if you stand your ground on this issue you may actually reinforce their fear/disdain whatever even more

[Narcissa]

Yeah, I guess "hate" is a pretty strong word. But I was a little annoyed at the reaction.

Especially in Singapore, which is multicultural, I go out of my way to make sure people are comfortable - I telephone cafes first to make sure my pup is allowed at their alfresco area, I get off the pathway, or carry the dog and make way, when I see Muslims walking my way. I try to be considerate to people who dislike dogs and those who do over-zealously (kids coming over and carrying Maxey and refusing to let go even after 30mins, and letting him run off leash etc, ugh).

There just wasn't any more I could do being stuck in a lift. And they weren't Muslims.

[nickyp]

SIL was walking home from school with her kids, aged 6 and 2, when a woman came walking towards them with a SWF on a lead. As soon as they saw the dog the kids went nuts, screaming, and the 2 year old nearly ran into traffic! The kids are scared of dogs (no bad experiences, just haven't lived with them) and SIL expected a reaction, but not like that! Apparently the poor little SWF was petrified by their carrying on and was cowering against a fence. The woman with the dog started to apologise and SIL told her not to, since it wasn't her fault. SIL then made a point of patting and making fuss of the dog to show the kids that it was fine.

I can imagine that SIL probably looked pretty unhappy when she was contemplating the way her kids would react and even more so when it was worse than she expected and she had to grab her two year old before she ran on the road, but it was no reflection on the dog or the owner.