We are currently socializing our dog and having him adapt to life around other people and other dogs. We have found the socialization Grayson gets from other dogs has been great. Until last week, we have not really had any issues with Grayson on the trail. He sometimes gets nervous around very tall men, but that was about it. Now with that said, this is not going to be a long rant about human and dog behavior but I feel like it needs to be said. When you walk up to a dog, no matter where you are there are certain respectful ground rules that human's really need to follow.
1. Dont assume its ok to pet someones dog.
2. Walking up to a dog with your hand out in front of you is not the way to greet any dog.
3. Just walking up to someone's dog and grabbing their face and dousing the dog with affection does more harm than good.
Something we have learned from obedience training is that dogs are more like humans than we give them credit for. Its ok to tell someone the right way to greet a dog. If they have a problem with it, thats their own problem.
When you greet a dog on the trail, first you should really ask the owner if 1- the dog is friendly and 2- if it is ok to approach the dog. If you and I met on the trail and you walked up to me and grabbed my face, Id probably deck you. So put yourself in the dogs shoes. This natural inclination of holding a hand out to a dog is dangerous. First of all, you should always have your side to the dog when greeting for the first time. Its less aggressive.
We have had multiple issues with a few hikers that have come up the trail and gone right for our dog and frightened him. Now he growls a liitle bit at people and it all started on The Presi's last week when someone just walked up to Grayson and just started to pet him aggresively without the proper introduction. With that said, I know some folks do not like having dogs on the trail, and if you are one those people, simply move along from this thread. Please start trying to understand interactions with dogs on the trail. Humans really should be more considerate of dog owners and dogs on the trail. PLease do you part as humans