Others Perception Of My Dogs

[Staffyluv]

All the talk about aggressive dogs and what to do about them got me thinking about the two that I have here.

Most know my boy Ziggy (dark brindle boy) and a few have seen pics of the new foster girl, Zipp (little ranga).

If you saw these two peering at you from the other side of a fence, would you just come in the gate??

Zip & Zig 17.8.2013 by jamoore photos, on Flickr

Today a repairman turned up to fix my printer and as he couldn't give me a time he would be coming (I did suggest he call when he got here), he just showed up.

He was greeted at the gate by the two in the photo (both calm and wagging their tails, no barking or anything) - he calls me to tell he is here and I go out to bring him in. The dogs walk calmly beside us and he says, there is no way I was going to walk in your gate with those two in there..

On the other hand, a new female client turned up at about 6pm last Friday and just walked in the gate (as I hadn't locked it yet) and down to the office and was greeted by both dogs again. She bent down to have a pat and say hello (she had never met them before).

Personally, I wouldn't enter a yard with a dog on the other side of the fence (no matter how big or small the dog was). But I found it odd that anyone would just walk in without knowing the dogs..

Would you enter a yard with dogs in there?

Edited to fix the photo link - so you can see the dogs that the people were confronted with.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Staffyluv

[Steve]

Yes I would and the law says if I can walk in and there is no warning regarding the dogs that the assumption is that the dogs wont hurt me. If the gate were locked or there was a warning then I wouldn't .

[mixeduppup]

I have and I would. Depends on the dogs and their behaviour but so far there's only been a few yards I refused to enter.

[Bundyburger]

If the dogs demeanor is friendly then yes, but if I am uncertain no.

[megan_]

I wouldn't open a gate to any dogs - I wouldn't want them to slip out. For that reason, my gates are always locked.

Regardless of breed, I would ask the owner to come and let me in. Some dogs are very nice dogs but are territorial.

[Dory the Doted One]

Locked or not, if I didn't know the dogs then I'm not going in unless greeted by the dogs owner. No matter what breed or 'type' they are.

I think as I'm getting older I'm getting a lot less 'secure' and a lot more 'paranoid'.

[tdierikx]

I'd happily enter a yard with Staffy types... they give the best kisses! Assuming that the owner knows I'm coming and that the dogs aren't obviously telling me that going in is a bad idea...

T.

[Dame Aussie]

I wouldn't open a gate to any dogs - I wouldn't want them to slip out. For that reason, my gates are always locked.

Regardless of breed, I would ask the owner to come and let me in. Some dogs are very nice dogs but are territorial.

Same here.

I wouldn't enter anyone's yard without permission regardless of whether there was a dog or not.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Aussie3

[Pattycake]

Regardless of breed I wouldn't enter any yard. Years ago we had someone deliver some wood when we weren't home, I did tell them I had to be out for a short period (15mins or so). We had a small kelpie mix at the time, he allowed them to enter was friendly but got a bit cranky when they came closer to the house, didn't bite anyone but they told me later, so no even if they looked friendly to start with I would not enter.

[Dogsfevr]

No i wouldn't & i don't have an issue with dogs .

Breed doesn't worry me either .

Our gates are always locked & we do have signs saying dogs running free.

I now people who open gates see dogs run free panic & forget to shut gates as the back out & dog escapes .

[kelpiecuddles]

I'd like to think i'm pretty good at reading dogs but I'd still be hesitant to enter a yard with a large un known dog. That said if I was a client of yours and knew I was expected at the house I'd probably be pretty comfortable assuming that if there was any reason for me to be scared of your dogs you would have put them away before our meeting.

[mixeduppup]

My mum had a doberman who would let anyone in but good luck getting back out :laugh:

[Staffyluv]

Thanks guys.

My gates are normally locked between 5.30pm and 8.30am (earlier or later depending on when I start or finish work) and always of a weekend.

Most of my clients (especially the ones with dogs) will just walk in because they know Zig now. They sometimes bring their dogs with them and the dogs play, while we chat.

[Staffyluv]

My mum had a doberman who would let anyone in but good luck getting back out :laugh:

My brother owned an adorable dobe that was like that - anyone could come in but they had no chance of leaving (if we were not home).. He would just stand in front of the gate and not let them out.. We came home from work/school/town quite a few times to find my brothers mates in the backyard playing with the dog. :laugh:

[BDJ]

I would not enter a yard which had a dog (or dogs) in it unless the owner was present and advised it was ok - and that is regardless of the breed or behaviour (unless of course it was a close family/friend where the dog knew me extremely well)

To me it is common sense and common courtesy.

Any dog can bite, and as said, any dog can be teritorial or have things which upset it.

Locking a gate is obvious, but not always done. If you enter my house from a certain side it is not locked - but you need to go through a roller door and through 2 other gates to get to the dogs. It is the main point of entrance used by everyone and locking it would be beyond a pain for everyday access.

I found it interesting the number of people who said they would make a determination on the dogs attitude and if they felt all was ok then they would go in. Would be interesting to see what the response would be if the post was written along the lines of 'would you be cranky if you had two dogs visible in the back yard and someone randomly entered and cracked it when my dogs rushed them barking ...... it happened to me and now I have the council coming around wanting to check about how secure my dogs were ....' I may be wrong, but I am guessing that the response to that would be '..... if your dogs were secured behind a fence then no one has the right to enter private property ..' (not saying the responses were right or wrong, just thinking that having the same scenario (dogs behind a fence which didnt happen to be locked) and asking two different questions often results in completely different answers.

[kelpiecuddles]

Although I agree with you BDJ I think it's important to recognise that this scenario is different in that the OP is using her house as a place of business so theoretically this situation isn't really any different to any other place of business where the owner's dog may come to work with them. If you walked in to a shop and the owners dog was wandering around you'd be pretty safe to assume that the dog was friendly or the owner would be pretty dumb to have it there. If you ran a business you wouldn't leave dogs in the yard that were likely to attack anyone that walked in!

[Tazar]

A dogs home is a place it may well be territorial.

One of my boys is the biggest softie, smoocher and anyone can pat him but if I am not home, you would not enter due to the snarling, growling, barking and lunging at you through the fence.

If I was going to some ones house I would check for signs and read the body language of the dog. I would never assume :)

[bianca.a]

I think your dogs are beautiful! But no I wouldn't enter any yard unless had done so previously with the owners (and dogs) approval.

On the weekend I took both my dogs to the local market separately. The black and tan girl, quite a few people wanted to pat etc. My solid black male, not one person asked. It was quite striking to me the difference based on colour and ear set (Molly has soft ears)

[KJJ]

personally if I walked into a yard with staffy types I would be expecting a friendly greeting (and possibly a look that says "did you bring food?"), but I am familiar with bull breeds having grown up with them and owning one now - if I were not familiar with them I may have second thoughts as the majority of press about them seems negative. Thinking it over I realised that when I grew up the entire yard was fenced (so any dogs would have access to front and backyard) and you relied on common sense and a possible warning sign when deciding to enter a yard, now I live in Canberra so the front yard and the backyard are separate so dogs are removed from people approaching the front door - as this becomes more common it may be possible that people will increasingly lack the ability to judge dog behavior?

[Staffyluv]

Although I agree with you BDJ I think it's important to recognise that this scenario is different in that the OP is using her house as a place of business so theoretically this situation isn't really any different to any other place of business where the owner's dog may come to work with them. If you walked in to a shop and the owners dog was wandering around you'd be pretty safe to assume that the dog was friendly or the owner would be pretty dumb to have it there. If you ran a business you wouldn't leave dogs in the yard that were likely to attack anyone that walked in!

That was really why I was asking - I was curious as to others perception and if they would assume it was safe because I am working from home.

I usually lock the dogs in the yard or the house if new or certain clients are coming because they can be like a welcoming committee when they go to the gate. They don't bark or jump up thankfully.