JulesP Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 What is this popping into Bunnings thing? I can't remember ever getting out of there within an hour :laugh: One day I'll teach you my ways :p I'm in and out in 15 minutes! I go in knowing what I want, first thing I do is ask someone what aisle, grab the cheap range then bugger on out! I've learnt my lesson about loitering - leads to more expensive purchases ;) I have to exercise that impulse control lol Yeah but shiny, sparkly things.... 2 hours later.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dididog Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 (edited) Probably an unpopular opinion but I don't see why anyone should feel the need to approach a stranger's dog in public unless the dog is explicitly there for demonstration purposes or the owner is blatantly trying to encourage contact. To me it's just a matter of private property... I would not go up to a stranger and try to start using their phone or stop a cyclist and ask to take their bicycle for a quick spin. This is a concept even young children understand, or at the very least know to ask first rather than just taking or using somebody's private property. My dog is my private property (obviously she's a lot more than that, she is my best friend) but when I am out in public with her I don't see why anyone should feel the need to touch my private property. I love dogs, seeing a dog when I'm out and about makes me happy but the most I ever do is smile at the dog/owner and keep walking and I don't see why everyone else can't do that and if the owner stops and asks if you'd like a pat then sure go ahead. But personally at least I find the concept of approaching someone and their dog in public to try and pat them when the owner has not expressed any desire for you to do so, is pretty rude. I was sitting outside a cafe a few months ago with Didi and a friend, Didi's sprawled out in my lap and completely minding her own business and a grandmother walked up to us with her possibly 2yr old grandchild and said "lets go say hi to the doggy!" Didn't bother asking me first, just saw a dog and assumed she could walk right up to us and expect her and her grandchild to interact with Didi. I quite politely told her I'd rather she didn't and to just leave us be and she got extremely huffy and implied my dog was dangerous and shouldn't be allowed out in public if she wasn't 100% fine with strange children being thrust in her face. We were in nobody's way, my dog was under complete control and I was keeping an eye out for people like her and other children. Plenty of other parents had walked past with their kids, some just complimented her and kept walking and all had told their kids not to bother the dog so clearly it's not hard concept to grasp. And I think that's why we will never be like Europe, every dog I saw over there was just going about its business and nobody felt the need to interrupt, dogs in public were both normalised but also respected as not being there for everyone's entertainment. Edited November 10, 2015 by dididog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 As an owner of purebred dogs I do feel a duty towards allowing interactions with other people. I hate how kids flinch away from dogs these days so if I can help with a happy interaction I am happy to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dory the Doted One Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 (edited) I've got lockable cages in the back of my car, and I'm still not game enough to leave the back up. People are serious idiots, and we've had instances where people have tried to put their hands in the car to pat the dogs. In one case they tried to push us out of the way to do so!!! We told them one of them could be a bit protective, don't pat. (Yeah...and it ain't the Rottweiler :laugh: ). I live in fear. Cos I know Dory would definitely bite someone's hand if they poked it in there. And I'm not 100% sure of Willow if I'm not there. As for Bunnings, well I don't even take them into the petshops unless I'm fitting them for a coat and even then we just measure the dogs and do it that way. I think it's a nice idea for those occasions where you're caught out on a hot day. But otherwise I'd prefer to keep the dogs in the car...or at home. I'm not really interested in the fault factor either. I cry for the fact that common sense seems to be truly dead. Edited November 10, 2015 by Dory the Doted One Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leah82 Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Hopefully it'll all die down after the initial excitement and people realise that shopping at bunnings with a dog in tow isn't as exciting and they thought it would be. Mine wouldn't have an issue with kids but we'd be constantly making sure Collie didn't knock things over and Sarah still gets skittish at loud noises and strange things like trolleys so it would definitely be a 2 person job to take them into bunnings and have a hope of buying anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph M Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 (edited) As an owner of purebred dogs I do feel a duty towards allowing interactions with other people. I hate how kids flinch away from dogs these days so if I can help with a happy interaction I am happy to do it. I agree, plus who loses? Of course the meeting is on our terms and kids have to ask etc but generally we are out for a relaxed walk, can't rush anywhere with Gus especially and I have no drama stopping for a few minutes. Its usually a nice chat with the kid and their grown up and everyone leaves happy. I find as well the inner suburbs are becoming more townhouses and apartments and you don't see many big dogs about so I'm happy if its one less kid who grows up not knowing how to approach a dog or being scared of them. As well as that I like proofing my dogs against screeching kids, Gus came almost preprogrammed with a love of kids the challenge there was getting him to calm his farm and not slobber on the poor kids so for a while we sought out kids to say hi to. Rosie was slightly more nervous, keen but wary and its important to us that both dogs be able to behave around kids and don't startle at kid sounds, we have our own now but even before Oscar we have friends with kids, family with kids, its just a nonnegotiable skill for us so we worked at it. Still do. Bunnings still isn't for me though as my dogs don't have space to remove themselves if they're uncomfortable and wiggle butt would take out the shelves. Edited November 10, 2015 by Steph M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acacia Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 My dogs are fine and I know they're safe with children however yes, I do expect people to have their children under control because that's the responsible thing to do. And yes, it's true that children take longer to mature but their parents are mature and if they aren't able to keep an eye on their children then the same argument can be used for the dogs. Why are they there? It's a two hour round trip for me to go anywhere so I won't apologise for needing to combine a few errands when I need too. This thread just reminds me of why I am so desperate to move away from this backwards country.... You don't need to apologise and you don't need to explain yourself. Sounds like your dogs would be able to handle the crowd anyway. So you would be okay to take your dogs there and would be following the rules of the store. I wouldn't trust kids to not do something unexpected though, even adults do stupid things. I had a man reach into my car to pat my dog once! From what we have been told, the child was under control in this case. The kid went to pat the dog, was told no, so stopped and the dog bit her. Sounds like the parent has talked to the child about dogs etc. and the child seemed to even have good recall. Lol So many people have no idea about dogs, but it sounds like the mother of the girl may have had more of an idea about dogs than the owner of the dog in this case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dididog Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 (edited) As an owner of purebred dogs I do feel a duty towards allowing interactions with other people. I hate how kids flinch away from dogs these days so if I can help with a happy interaction I am happy to do it. I agree, plus who loses? Of course the meeting is on our terms and kids have to ask etc but generally we are out for a relaxed walk, can't rush anywhere with Gus especially and I have no drama stopping for a few minutes. Its usually a nice chat with the kid and their grown up and everyone leaves happy. I find as well the inner suburbs are becoming more townhouses and apartments and you don't see many big dogs about so I'm happy if its one less kid who grows up not knowing how to approach a dog or being scared of them. As well as that I like proofing my dogs against screeching kids, Gus came almost preprogrammed with a love of kids the challenge there was getting him to calm his farm and not slobber on the poor kids so for a while we sought out kids to say hi to. Rosie was slightly more nervous, keen but wary and its important to us that both dogs be able to behave around kids and don't startle at kid sounds, we have our own now but even before Oscar we have friends with kids, family with kids, its just a nonnegotiable skill for us so we worked at it. Still do. Bunnings still isn't for me though as my dogs don't have space to remove themselves if they're uncomfortable and wiggle butt would take out the shelves. Which is great and both of your prerogative, if you see someone obviously curious or interested in your dog then you can invite them to say hello, if I had a dog that enjoyed meeting strangers I'd be more than happy to do the same, in fact I'd love to be able to do that. But I'll reiterate that I think initiating interaction should be the owner's decision, not an assumed expectation from the general public. My girl is affectionate once given a few minutes to warm up to somebody but isn't interested in saying hi to people she doesn't know so I'd much rather not have to constantly be warding people off or be given dirty looks for turning someone down when I'm just standing here waiting to cross the road and not in anyway suggesting people should come and pat my dog. I think it's a general consensus on this forum that just because a dog is in public doesn't mean your dog should go up and say hi to it because not all dogs are dog friendly or because the other owner has 0 interest in socialising with unknown dogs, so why on earth should the same logic not apply with people? I also like to better proof Didi's relationship with kids, she's gone from being terrified of their every movement to not blinking an eye around screaming kids running past her at the beach or navigating amongst a hoard of kids doing after school shopping. But because I can't guarantee with 100% certainty that Didi would not react to a kid pulling her ear or poking her in the eye or any of the other weird things kids do, I will never ever let strange children interact with my dog, for both her safety and the kids safety. Paranoid yes, but just like you are both free to invite strange kids to pat your dog, I should be free to not have kids (or adults) invite themselves. In saying that though, kids are still kids. I don't take Didi anywhere that I would expect children to be in close quarters and poorly supervised (like Bunnings) and am always vigilant about where they are in relation to my dog even if their parents aren't because it's unreasonable to expect young children or dogs to not mistakes and I don't see why either of them should suffer the consequences. I think it's pretty reductive to blame a child in this instance. Edited November 10, 2015 by dididog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 I've got lockable cages in the back of my car, and I'm still not game enough to leave the back up. People are serious idiots, and we've had instances where people have tried to put their hands in the car to pat the dogs. In one case they tried to push us out of the way to do so!!! We told them one of them could be a bit protective, don't pat. (Yeah...and it ain't the Rottweiler :laugh: ). I live in fear. Cos I know Dory would definitely bite someone's hand if they poked it in there. And I'm not 100% sure of Willow if I'm not there. As for Bunnings, well I don't even take them into the petshops unless I'm fitting them for a coat and even then we just measure the dogs and do it that way. I think it's a nice idea for those occasions where you're caught out on a hot day. But otherwise I'd prefer to keep the dogs in the car...or at home. I'm not really interested in the fault factor either. I cry for the fact that common sense seems to be truly dead. Dory - check out vent locks from Clean Run. You can lock the rear door half open - they are brilliant and I use mine all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*kirty* Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Bunnings is a shop for PEOPLE. If your dog doesn't want pats from strangers, don't freaking well take it to a busy shop full of people. It's not rocket science. Maybe the kid shouldn't have tried to pat the dog (if she did) but she didn't deserve to get bitten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huski Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 One thing I find as someone who takes my dogs out all the time is that the number one thing that makes the most positive impression is that my dogs have basic life skills and can behave themselves. If you want to help kids who are uncomfy around dogs or display your breed in a positive way train your dogs to have good manners. I am not interested in having strangers pat my dogs and don't invite it but every time I take my dogs out people comment on their training and good behavior. Nothing fancy either - just nice leash manners sends a great message to others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two Best Dogs! Posted November 10, 2015 Author Share Posted November 10, 2015 From what we have been told, the child was under control in this case. The kid went to pat the dog, was told no, so stopped and the dog bit her. Sounds like the parent has talked to the child about dogs etc. and the child seemed to even have good recall. Lol Quoting from mobile is hard but wanted to highlight this. 5 year old recalled from a dog? Amazing! Probably not fast or a direct line but hey, 5 years old. Pretty impressive. I find adults with worse recall ;) Everything I would hope from a parent when they see their kid going for something they shouldn't. Recall and redirect. Seems the owner just didn't realise how stressed or worried their other dog was getting. Very unfortunate that the dog didn't growl or air snap and went straight for a bite. Hopefully the owner will be more prepared in the future of their dog around kids. I'm fortunate in that my dog likes children, seemingly for most ages, but I watch her like a hawk anyway because dogs and children can both make mistakes, but chances are my dogs mistake will have more impact on the child than vice versa. Something all owners really should keep in mind imo, regardless of dog size. I do hope the kid bounces back and doesn't become fearful. 5 is such an impressionable age :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheridan Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Why are people blaming the victim? Seriously if your dog does not like being approached by children who want to pat it, don't take it to Bunnings. It is not adequately socialised. Note in the last link how the owner claims the dog had never been aggressive before but both dogs kept barking as they were leaving the store. How many times do we hear on here that some idiot claimed that their dog was friendly before it attacked their dog, and posters are up in arms about the stupidity of the attacking (friendly?) dog's owner but when it is a child that is attacked it is the child's fault. Children do silly things. That is their nature. However they should be safe from a dog attack in Bunnings. I agree with this. The parent of the child has enough to deal with taking children with her and shopping at bunnings, now she's got biting dogs in the mix too. If people want to take their dogs to bunnings, or anywhere else, then they need to be watchful for situations like small children approaching and muzzle their dogs if they're likely to bite. ...to make it worse and what really puzzles me: I recall a recent thread where a little bird was caught and killed by a dog in a garden and posters gave their 'poor little bird' comments - here a kid was bitten and a poster who showed so much affection for this 'unfortunate' little bird in the recent thread suggested here that 'the kids should go in leashed as well'...on the one side it is 'poor little bird' and on the other 'stupid kids...their fault...' attitude. I don't get it! Can someone please report this post? I'm on my phone and can't work it out. Clearly a personal attack No, it isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rascalmyshadow Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Why is it when we were kids if a dog snapped or bit someone the first response was 'what did you do to cause it' not 'its a bad dog lets ban them from everywhere'. As kids we very quickly learnt our actions had consequences especially dealing with dogs and other animals, if we had approached an unfamiliar dog and got injured we would have been in big trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 One thing I find as someone who takes my dogs out all the time is that the number one thing that makes the most positive impression is that my dogs have basic life skills and can behave themselves. If you want to help kids who are uncomfy around dogs or display your breed in a positive way train your dogs to have good manners. I am not interested in having strangers pat my dogs and don't invite it but every time I take my dogs out people comment on their training and good behavior. Nothing fancy either - just nice leash manners sends a great message to others. Was that aimed at me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huski Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 One thing I find as someone who takes my dogs out all the time is that the number one thing that makes the most positive impression is that my dogs have basic life skills and can behave themselves. If you want to help kids who are uncomfy around dogs or display your breed in a positive way train your dogs to have good manners. I am not interested in having strangers pat my dogs and don't invite it but every time I take my dogs out people comment on their training and good behavior. Nothing fancy either - just nice leash manners sends a great message to others. Was that aimed at me? No not aimed at anyone - just a general comment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaCC Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 One thing I find as someone who takes my dogs out all the time is that the number one thing that makes the most positive impression is that my dogs have basic life skills and can behave themselves. If you want to help kids who are uncomfy around dogs or display your breed in a positive way train your dogs to have good manners. I am not interested in having strangers pat my dogs and don't invite it but every time I take my dogs out people comment on their training and good behavior. Nothing fancy either - just nice leash manners sends a great message to others. Exactly! I've taken my dog out to public places, cafés, markets, petshops as many places as possible since he was a puppy and have continued since. He is perfectly happy in crowds and every environment we've come across so far. This policy has been around in most bunnings stores for a few months before it was released to the public, I took Nova into the garden area when I had to grab something quickly on a 30+ day about a fortnight before it was made public after a training session. He was calm, heeled through the store straight to what I wanted, and straight back out, some staff came and gave him pats. He ignored children and the strange objects he hadn't seen before. Would I take him now on a weekend and when people are just turning up because they can with unruly dogs? No. If I could afford a dog car with a lockable back set up I'd much prefer that, because it's pretty hard to steer a trolley while walking a dog. I get enough practice with that at Pet Stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhou Xuanyao Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 (edited) This is not a good reason for it to be 'ruined for everyone'-- that old line. If the rule were to be repealed, It's not the dog owners fault, that would be Bunnings choice. Cultural change takes time; it takes time to adjust, and there are always bumps and bruises along the way. As others have noted, there's a novelty value to factor in at the moment. That combined with a certain foolhardiness by owners taking unsuitable dogs, kids not being used to it and being nuisances etc. It'll take years, but we have to start somewhere, or the culture of dogs not being allowed anywhere will continue indefinitely. Edited November 11, 2015 by Lee Kum Kee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dory the Doted One Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 I've got lockable cages in the back of my car, and I'm still not game enough to leave the back up. People are serious idiots, and we've had instances where people have tried to put their hands in the car to pat the dogs. In one case they tried to push us out of the way to do so!!! We told them one of them could be a bit protective, don't pat. (Yeah...and it ain't the Rottweiler :laugh: ). I live in fear. Cos I know Dory would definitely bite someone's hand if they poked it in there. And I'm not 100% sure of Willow if I'm not there. As for Bunnings, well I don't even take them into the petshops unless I'm fitting them for a coat and even then we just measure the dogs and do it that way. I think it's a nice idea for those occasions where you're caught out on a hot day. But otherwise I'd prefer to keep the dogs in the car...or at home. I'm not really interested in the fault factor either. I cry for the fact that common sense seems to be truly dead. Dory - check out vent locks from Clean Run. You can lock the rear door half open - they are brilliant and I use mine all the time. Will do! Seems so pointless having dog cages when you don't feel safe leaving the car open for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivory & Beau Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 I took Ivy to my local Bunnings today. She loved it. She's a social dog but if I saw another dog while there I would go in the other direction and I'd always keep her away from any children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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