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Originally Posted by JeanieK  I have never felt the need to tell people to keep their hands off my dog.  |
Exactly. When I have my dogs out in public I try my hardest to make them available for petting, and use every opportunity to educate people about yorkies. However I do tell people that my dogs bite -- If they have teeth, they will bite -- under the right circumstances. With small children I take a few minutes to give a mini lesson in respect - in order to do that I must first show respect to them..... so I squat down and tell them that they are welcome to pet my "cute little doggie" BUT they must follow rules -- they have to use two fingers and only pet "there" and I show them where I want them to pet. If they get too rough, I will first ask them to be a bit more gentle OR simply stand up and walk away.
What I have found is that using this technique takes away the unruly excitement about seeing the dogs and replaces it with an respectful excitement.
When there is a situation where I absolutely DON'T want my dogs touched, I simply pick them up and move away.