If you see someone tell their child “we don’t know that dog so we can’t pat them” don’t get offended 🤦‍♀️

I’m working hard to teach my toddler basic etiquette when it comes to dogs - this is highly dependent on teaching her she can’t pat every dog.

This is both practicing putting out your hand and waiting for puppy to approach (which she is very good at now) and learning that we don’t get to pat all the random dogs in the street.

She has never been allowed to chase a dog and we’ve been doing gentle hands with our own pets since she was like a month old.

Yet I’m shocked by how many owners seem to get offended when I say “we don’t know that dog so we can’t pat him” or “looks like he says no pats today” (dog doesn’t approach).

I’ve had owners get really mad and say their dog is very safe then drag their dogs over and hold them for the toddler to pat, but like the whole point is kiddo learning to leave animals alone if they don’t want a pat so we don’t have her chasing your pup into a corner and making him scared of children.

As someone who has had two dogs terrorised by small kids in a public space and had to work really hard to fix that, I honestly thought most owners would appreciate the consideration.

TLDR; If you see a parent telling their kid not to pat your dog, know that it’s got nothing to do with your dog or the size or the breed and all to do with the kid learning respect for animals.