How do you feel about strangers picking up your dog?
 

I had Leo on a walk, and I'm trying to socialize him with different people and dogs. He loves meeting new people, always wiggles his stub. Anyways, I walked past a guy, and he stopped and went "AWW" and I told him he could pet him if he'd like. Leo ran up to him, the guy picked him up, and started speaking German to him, while making kissy faces. I honestly thought it was the funniest/cutest thing ever..Than I thought, what would Leo think of that situation, as a dog? Perhaps over in Germany that's normal? But I've never seen anyone do that before.:rolleyes:

I think it is great for a pup to be exposed to strange situations like that. But under no circumstances are random strangers allowed to pick up my dogs. All they have to do is unhook the leash and run.

:thumbup: or what if they drop your baby:(

I was shocked when he picked him up. His daughter came up and said how cute he was, while her Dad was holding him. The thought crossed my mind for a brief second "omg, what is he doing?" But then he put Leo down, and walked away. I think it's because he was from another country, that it could be normal over there, compared to over here where most people just ask to pet or hold him. But I guess it's good for him to be held and handled by other people, even those who speak German and make kissy faces :grin2:

Who are you telling? My family members have already dropped him. :shocked7q

Nope. Nope. Nope.

This allows me to get ugly. I agree. Ask 1st.

I do not allow strangers to pick my pups up. Petting is ok and I watch them closely. Any movement to pick them up and I have my hands on them.

I actually had a guy quickly grab my Pippi at the dog show about three years ago. He actually started to walk away....I went over to him and told him to give me my pup back and he turned his back to me. I was horrified. The words that I let out of my mouth were not nice and I was in his face...I got her back but I have to say it scared the heck out of me. I take them every year and it is nerve wracking...I am always with one eye on them.

I have heard horror stories of people letting others hold their pups...there was one in a store in Houston a few years ago where the people passed the pup to someone else and out the door they went. She had a huge reward out for the pup but I don't think they ever found him/her. Nightmarish.

I have been thinking and thinking about the part about it being normal in Germany. I lived there 3 years when I was younger and saw very few dogs in that time. It wasn't normal then but it has been a long time ago. I don't let anyone pick mine up without permission and then even adults have to be sitting. I guess I am a little paranoid but they are my babies now :).

The same way I would feel about a stranger picking up my child, if I had one.

I was at a park with both my girls once, sitting on a blanket on the grass.They were leashed. A group of girls walked up and wanted to take pictures. Kind of annoying, but I said yes...until one of them tried to pick Rosie up. I flipped out on her! Really..who do they think they are? Maybe if they sat down and held her in their lap, but not standing up.

Another time I walked into our vet office holding her in my arms and another client came over oohing and ahhing at her size (GRRRRRR...) and then attempted to grab Rosie up out of my arms. I literally slapped her wrist LOL. She's not a plaything...she's an extremely fragile baby and I have a crazy strong sense of protectiveness over her.

Luma, she's usually the one trying to scramble onto someone else's lap or sit at their feet. She loves people. She's about 8 lbs with an athletic build, so I don't worry **as much**. Rosie is so little we can blow her over with a gust of our breath (or maybe our breath stinks?? :D) Either way, you don't pick up someone else's small breed dog unless you're ready to be liable for dropping them and possibly seriously injuring them. I wouldn't risk that with someone else's dog.

Of course, I would never allow a stranger to hold my dogs. It just happened. I'm lucky the guy was only telling him how cute he was, and didn't try to steal him. Its a good thing I took 3yrs of German, and could somewhat understand what they were saying. I guess I didn't expect someone to pick up my dog, without asking. That would be EXTREMELY frightening if someone picked up Zoey or Leo and started to walk away. I would probably scream at the top of my lungs and give the person a piece of my mind. I remember one time, while walking Zoey, a guy pulled up to the sidewalk in his car and asked me where I got her from? Then he asked if she was for sale. I got the creepiest vibe from this guy, and I kept Zoey close to me. I laughed and told him she was not and will never be for sale, which he responded "aw too bad, I'd pay big bucks for her" I will DEFINITELY keep a closer eye on the other persons movements from now on. It is a very scary thought that someone could just take a puppy. Perhaps from now on, I could pick Leo up, and hold him as a stranger pets him. If someone asks to hold him, how should I respond without coming off as "rude"? :)

Oh, I would hate that! I had Zoey on a walk once, and a lady on the other side of the street saw me and her and started taking pictures..I thought it was extremely weird and it annoyed me, but I just smiled, and went about my business. Luckily, she didn't come over and ask to hold her. Zoey is not fond of strangers, and would most likely not go near her to begin with...so I'm lucky with Zoey in that sense. What happened when you slapped that persons wrist at the vet office? I would love to know how to respond to someone who gets too touchy feely and "aww" about my puppy.

Oh, that's so cool you lived in Germany! Maybe it's not normal over there, then. hehe.

Trust me the guy got a HUGE piece of my mind. I was on the verge of attacking him when he tried to keep her away. It was creepy.

I just tell people whatever comes to my mind. Usually I say that while I trust them, I cannot allow it because then everyone else sees and wants to hold them and I cannot trust everyone. Or, I just say that it scares my pups.

I always pick Lola up if people want to pay attention to her. I only let my close family and a few friends hold her, she's way too wiggly and attached to me. A few people have asked and I just say she's too wiggly.

I've only had to lecture people about grabbing her face, ugh.

My mom and I were out and she had Lola, I walked about a foot away and Lola tried to jump out of her arms to get to me. I also had to keep a hand on her when the vet had her because she was getting upset.

Totally agree if it's my pups which I consider my fur children I will go bats#!t if someone touches them without my permission. Dont you put your hands on my pups or my son without my permission or all 5 feet of me are going h.a.m on you. :D

I would be worried they could drop him or even run off with him.

If they don't hold him just so, Tibbe might try to jump from their arms and so I never let anyone pick him up who doesn't know that about him ahead of time and isn't prepared to hold him securely.

NO! I do not trust hardly anyone with my girls. You ca never tell about people these days, as sad as that is. Ellie loves people, but she cant stand to be away from me for more than a few seconds anyways. I am all for socialization but not that much.

For someone to just walk up to you and pick up your dog that is ridiculous. When we were kids we were always taught to ask first before even petting a dog. Most people that I have dealt with do ask but it seems as if people don't really care if they get bit these days. Not that mine would bite but you just never know. It is the same as if you saw a huge pit or scary looking dog. There are not the only dogs who will bite when they get frightened or deal with strangers in a strange place.

Last weekend when we were at the annual Strut Your Mutt fund raiser and I actually had a little boy just walked up and try to pet Ruby. Ruby is one of those dogs who has to do things on her terms. She will let you pet her when she's ready to be petted. I gently reached out and stopped the boy and in a sweet motherly voice explained to him that he should always ask before he pets a strange dog because they could bite and I wouldn't want him to be hurt. Than I gave him permission to pet her. I didn't see a parent anywhere.

I do not allow it. I will hold my female if someone wants to pet her, but I do not allow strangers to pick them up.

You're right, it is ridiculous..but I guess it was my fault. I walked up to them, and Leo jumped up on the guys leg wanting attention. It's something I definitely have to be more aware about. And Leo is teething, so his razor sharp teeth could really hurt a little kid. I try to avoid kids anyways, as a lot of them that i know of are too rough with a little animal. I don't think a lot of parents teach them manners. Growing up, I was told to ask to pet a dog. Now a days a lot of parents expect technology or something to teach them:mad:

I don't think parents even pay attention to their children..it's not only teenagers who are attached to their phones, older people, such as parents are too. It happens all the time at my job. The parents will totally ignore their kids, while on the phone, and the kid's will recklessly push the shopping cart around. Then when the kid runs into something, the parents yell at them. :mad:

This reminds me of a couple week ago when I was out walking my boyfriend's parents' Siberian Husky. Some guy came up to us in a park, didn't even ask if the dog was for sale, and just offered $300 dollars for him. Even after I told him he wasn't for sale he continued to follow us for a while practically begging for me to sell him. Firstly, that's just plain creepy and completely inappropriate. Secondly, who offers someone only $300 for a beautiful and beloved member of the family??! There are definitely some strange people out there. Luckily the husky was too large for someone to pick up and run off with very easily or I'm somewhat certain he would've tried! A little yorkie on the other hand...

I also have difficulty telling people no when they ask to pet my little one, but I'm getting better at it each time the situation pops up. Junie is still quite reactive towards other dogs (terrible barking and lunging at them) as well as little children so I worry he might snap at someone who approaches him the wrong way. Responsible adults with the right temperament I'll allow to pet him but I usually tell children no. I have yet to have anyone ask me to hold him though!

Gracie loves to meet people when we are out. She is just very social but I prefer that people not pick her up. If someone was to pick her up and she spotted someone or something else she wanted to go to she would get very wiggly and most people would not know how to handle her when she is trying to get away. Too much chance that she could accidentally be dropped.

I have sat on benches or the ground with children and helped them to hold her on their lap. That is with me also having my hands on her as they pet her while she is on their lap. She loves it as much as the kids do and the kids end up with doggy kisses all over their faces.:)

I've gotten into the habit of picking up Kaji to allow people to pet him when asked. That way, he's securely in my arms and people can pet him all they way. It also helps because Kaji hates people (he's terrified) and I can easily flip him around so he's facing me and the stranger can pet his back and not his face. :) I think that's less scary for him when they're not touching his face.

I'm surprised so many of you have had issues with kids. In my experience kids older than 5 are the ones who ask first. Adults almost never do.
My issue is with middle aged women who feel the need to grab Lola's face to push her hair back while I'm telling them to stop and she's trying to push their hands off. They won't listen to me so I end up walking away. They're also the ones who feel the need to tell me how to take care of my dog, like I should let her approach groups of large dogs.

I let one "stranger" (a PetSmart employee) hold Billi & they dropped her. I was upset and won't let anyone hold her now. I have to know them and they have to be sitting down, no exceptions. I'm actually leery of letting too many people near her, period after a group of PetSmart employees were bending down petting her and the same chick said 4 different times how she could just steal her, put Billi in her pocket and walk away. I politely told her off, told her manager and don't let more than one person pet her at a time.

She's not even 3 pounds and very friendly. If someone wanted to steal her, they could. I'm like a watch dog when it comes to her, I have to be.

not allowed and they have to ask to pet them, sometimes I say no if I don't get a good vibe