Oh good grief, I have a hard enough time allowing my own FAMILY to pick up Jenna! 0_o She is my baby! As far as strangers are concerned, I wouldn't let just anyone hold my kids or pick them up when they were little...so there! And kids?? Fergeddaboutit!
I think this is why, although lots of public places allow you to bring your dog in with you it makes me nervous because, even if I am holding her, someone always wants to touch her or pet her. Cooing over her from a distance even annoys me. Sure she's adorable, but someone who coos usually wants to come over and touch. There are few people with restraint or manners out there these days. I find cute pups where I go too, but I know how it bothers me for someone to just reach out and touch my dog, so I always wait for an invite. In our local Petco recently, there was indeed a woman who had a young dog (don't recall the breed, some kind of Australian Shepherd I think) that she wanted socialized, so she was inviting people to pet him and talk to him. Of course, even a situation like that could be a little weird depending on the person, but since it was an invite that she was open to anyone to do, I didn't have as much of a problem with it.
I was walking Jenna down my street and two ladies were coming the other way and of course Jenna tuned up and started growling and giving warning barks as soon as she saw them. I decided to pick her up as I always do, whether someone coming towards me is walking another dog or not, these ladies were not...but one of them chided as she came up to me, "Oooo...got to pick up the fierce little doggy, huh?" I answered, "Yes, unless you want her chewing your ankles off." The hand that was being outstretched suddenly recoiled and this lady said, "Oh really?" and they walked on. I wasn't sure if I was glad I said that or not (don't want everyone to think I've got a vicious dog no matter the size....or do I?) but mostly because it didn't sound particularly clever of me. >.< Speaking of which, if this answer soudns kind of scattered, sorry...stayed up all night watching the royals and I only got about 5 hours of sleep. ~_~

Anyway, I think it's a good poll, if for no other reason than I can see I am not the only person who thinks my dog should have respected boundaries even if she is just a wee thing. *nods*

Yeah, I definitely see the wisdom in your approach. While I have to hide my dogs in a gathering, yours could likely take care of themselves. Same thing for dog meetups. I don't want people picking them up and I would rather have my dogs avoid it.

A couple lingering concerns:
I wouldn't want them to squirm if I placed them in someone's arms, but I'm sure that's something you can teach.

My only other tiny reservation is what happens if the dog escapes and no one realizes he's gone? I can just about guarantee that would never happen in my care, but it has happened in a dogsitter's care before. In that case, I want them going up to someone. I don't want them loose on the streets.

That said, I've met very few dogs who will approach a stranger in that situation, so maybe it's a moot point.

Interesting discussion. Thanks for sharing.

I also remember once when someone had the baby in his lap and when she heard a noise and jumped for it, they let her. I always stop her and let her down. They said, 'she wanted to go'. Of course, we have hard floors, too. I prefer they not jump from couch level when excited.

In 7 years with 6 pups, we have had two escapes. Once, two got out, a woman opened her car door - Trina jumped in, Quattro ran home. She followed Quattro and returned Trina. They are very fast and we never let them out without a leash. We count them constantly (easy as they are almost always underfoot :). Many years ago, I had a little guy who snuck out in the snow. A neighbor found him and took him in. She saw us out looking for him and ran out. I thought he would have surely died.

Anyway, our pups don't usually like strangers to hold them, but in these unusual situations, I guess they felt they needed help. ??

Laura,

I'm SO glad that those recoveries were successful for you.
Frequently, we just don't realize just how intuitive and logical
our little ones are. Capture Avoidance Training is not for everyone,
many factors must be considered, and the training is not easy.

When someone wants to hold Rosie I get as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!! I will let some adults hold her. But not children. It just makes me too nervous!