I like to think I'm fairly easy to get along with. I try to let the little things slide, and I do what I can to just smile and say "Hmm" even if you're blatantly obnoxious. There are, however, a few things that really get my feathers ruffled, and I'm fairly certain that I'm not alone.
1) I am not walking my dogs to amuse YOU. I am walking them because it is necessary for their well being to get exercise and have one on one bonding time with me. When you see us walking by, please do not think us rude if we do not stop to socialize, or if I say "No" when you ask to pet Corvus.
2) No, you may not just rush up to my dogs and squeal and flail around like a stuck pig. Depending on which dog I am walking, that could get you hurt. ASK BEFORE YOU GET INTO OUR PERSONAL SPACE. It's just courteous to respect the space of others, and it's just common sense to not go barging up to a strange dog and act insane. Hint: A lot of dogs don't like that.
3) It's not necessary to offer your unsolicited input on my dogs and their appearance. I can assure you that Ditto's cropped ears are not just going to suddenly uncrop themselves just because you deem it "cruel" and I can promise you that Corvus is, in fact, at a perfect weight and is not starving.
4) If you don't like prong collars, don't use one. I use one from time to time because I have dogs that are very explosive when they decide to react to stimuli, and it's safer for both of us to walk with a prong than a collar that they don't respect. In a flat collar, Corvus can yank Jeff, at 6' 5" and 240 lbs off his feet if he decides to suddenly lunge. A prong is the one collar that Corvus responds to. I'm not going to make walks unsafe just because you get all "But they're so evil" when you see one.
5) DO NOT TOUCH MY DOGS WITHOUT PERMISSION. I cannot emphasize this enough. Corvus has an extremely EXTREMELY low tolerance for all things unfamiliar. I have worked very, very hard to get him to the point where he will tolerate a friendly, non-threatening stranger in his immediate area, but he does not tolerate a stranger reaching for him, or touching him. It's never okay to just reach out and touch a stranger's dog without asking permission first.
6) Don't stick your hands in my car. Seriously, just don't. Why would you even? Dogs don't typically like people invading their spaces.Are you trying to get bitten?
7) Don't try to feed my dogs stuff. They are both sensitive to certain things and while I know you're trying to be nice, it's actually harmful sometimes to feed people's dogs things they aren't used to eating.
8) Don't bark at my dogs. Seriously, it's not cute. You're adults, stop acting like a child before you get yourself hurt.
9) While summer has passed us now, another pet peeve is still fresh in my mind. IT IS NOT OKAY to threaten to bust people's windows out, and even less okay to actually do it. You may look at my car and think "OMG HOW CRUEL" when you see my dog inside....but what you don't know is that my A/C is on, my dog has a cooling mat to lay on, and there is ice in a bowl on the floor. What you also don't know is that if my dogs are with me, I'm on a very short errand, and I will be back within 5-10 minutes. If you encounter a dog that you feel is legitimately in distress (Hint: Dogs that aren't panting and are just chilling out in the car are not in distress. Well, until you get them all riled up by invading their space and forcing them to react to your closeness to their vehicle..), take down the license plate number and go into the building and have the owner of the car paged. If it is urgent (dog is unresponsive), call the police and ask their advice on how to handle the situation. Breaking a window should be a last result action in response to a dog that is dying.
10) I don't care if "Oh he's friendly, he just wants to say hi" is your go to phrase in regards to your dog running up to mine. DON'T DO IT. It's not cute, it's dangerous, and when my dogs react to this, it will be them that look bad even though it's you who have allowed your unruly dog to charge up to my leashed dogs. Some people own dogs that do not like other dogs. FACE THIS FACT, and keep your dogs under control.
11) "Oh but dogs love me!" - Don't say this to me, and more importantly, don't try to prove to me that even "mean" dogs love you. Corvus won't. Don't even try it.
I think that's it for now. I know I sound like a grump, but this is really a collection of aggravations that have accumulated over the years. It's not that I expect everyone to be super dog savvy, but anything that puts my dogs in danger will get my hackles up in an instant. I try to take the time to educate people when they do something that irks me, but some times it's one of those "Head meet Wall" scenarios.
Ah, such is life!
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