Is it weird to stand outside a school at 3pm if I don’t have a child?

[Whatislifegw]

Before you think I’m crazy! I have a dog who I want to expose to loud and busy environments and live very close to a school.

would it be weird to just stand or sit near the school at that time for my dog to work on being in that environment.

my dog is a very friendly and 6 month old German shepherd because he’s so big I want him to be able to behave around strangers and strange children.

(I have my own toddler who wouldn’t be with me) ideally in a few years I’d like to be able to do the school run when it’s my turn and bring my dog at the same time.

Nah there are plenty of dogs outside our school, I would just assume you’re waiting for someone.

How close to the school are you?

I'll be honest having a big, young dog around lots of children in a busy environment when you're saying he isn't used to this sounds bonkers. Getting a dog used to lots of noise and busy scenes is one thing, immersing him around lots of children when he isn't used to it is another entirely. I say this as an owner of a grumpy dog.

I'm going to assume you are a middle aged man, will be wearing a mac, will invite children from the school to stroke your puppy.

Perhaps you could take some sweets for the children and take them off on little walks.

No alarm bells ringing with any of this. Completely normal behaviour.

And depending on the school you may not be able to take the dog on the school run, so be prepared. Reception, year 1 and year 2 at my school require parents to drop off at the external classroom door, not the school gate, and no dogs are allowed past the school gate.

I wouldn’t care as long as you kept a respectful distance as a lot of people are anti dog. It’s great that you’re looking at ways to help your dog.

Our school has asked that dogs aren't directly outside the school gate as they were causing problems. Opposite side of the road was fine.

But can you guarantee your dog will tolerate strange children approaching them, and not jump up at any others that pass by?

Yes. Train your dog properly. Weird.

Standing there alone. Never talking to another parent and never seeing you pick up a kid you’d be the news of the Facebook page here.

Pedo before the end of the day type thing.

Depends on your area though.

Please don’t do this 😳

If the dog isn't used to it then it might be a concern with the safety of the children. You might be better going to an outdoor market, or your local Parkrun or something like that (I don't know if they allow dogs at Parkrun)

There probably isn't a rule about it, but I'd view it as inconsiderate. It's bad enough when other parents bring their dogs along, but at least they have a reason to be there. Me and my kids aren't training tools for your animal, why would you force small children, who may have fears or alagies to run the gauntlet through random untrained animals just to get in/out of school.

I tried this many years ago, as some book advised me to but I was moved on pretty quickly by school staff. This was during a lunchtime though (I think I was randomly walking past at the time) so the staff might have been more attentive.

I think just walking past might be a better move if you can keep your dog safe and reasonably well away from the kids.

Quite a few small children are scared of dogs, especially large ones so deliberately bringing one there when you don’t need to seems a bit off.

Plus as pp said you don’t know how he might react, school pick up can be loud and chaotic.

Not a good idea.

I live next to a school and did exactly this with my puppy. If asked I just said I was training her. No one said anything, they just stroked her and carried on.

Try a secondary school walk by at 3:15. Big loud teenagers not little kiddies.

I would just walk him past the school on his lead at the end of school time . Forward motion will help him not to be stressed and get used to the noise . Standing still you may get a lot of attention from the children who may want to touch him and there is no need for that .

It depends on the parkrun. It tells you on their course page if dogs aren't allowed

I definitely understand the concerns and being a parent myself I’m wary around strange dogs and my child

he is generally very good lots of children play outside where we live and my dogs walks off lead with no issues (although I can definitely see the temptation to go over if they’re playing with a ball)

I definitely don’t want to upset anyone or end up on a Facebook pedo page.

I’ll probably just do a dog walk around 3pm one day without stopping I just wanted to work on him ignoring people and children

There are better ways to socialise a dog - there's nothing to stop you but I would see it as quite inconsiderate. Schools are busy enough as it is and they're not there to be a training ground for your dog.

Take your dog to socialisation classes, take him to a busy park on a weekend, into town, meet your friends, etc.

He doesn't need to be taken into the exact school setting to be OK with it by the time your toddler goes to school. He just needs to get used to people generally - there are loads of ways to do that which don't involve being in people's way at a busy time of day for schools.

parkrun is a good idea - it doesn't matter if the individual parkrun allows dogs or not, as the dog wouldn't be taking part. If you're trying to desensitise the dog you'll probably want to start quite far away from the loud/busy area so you wouldn't be that near the school or parkrun anyway until the dog was used to it.

Could you just not start taking him on walks where people and children are going to be walking too. Some places we go to get quite busy. I think it's better than standing outside school.

@OhmygodDont i think I’d be scared outside the secondary school 😂

Walking past the school at that time would be fine. Standing or sitting there repeatedly but never being seen with a child would be weird and id imagine soon get noticed. If someone makes conversation "what year is your kid in?" Are you really going to feel comfortable giving this explanation?

Plus as the pp said -exposing a dog to lots of loud active kids before you know whether he's okay with that as a means of teaching him to become okay sounds dangerous and counterproductive? Surely build it up so you're sure he's okay in a big loud group (ideally of adults!) first?

Surely there are lots of other loud busy environments? City centre/shopping area on a Saturday lunch time? Outside the local sports ground at match end? Walking past pubs in the summer/when a big game is on?

Yes! It's really strange

No god please don't