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.

Some children will be scared of dogs. Please leave them alone at their place of learning. As much as I appreciate your desire to raise a civilized dog, they are getting on with their lives and are not a resource for you. You wouldn't want a child to be worried about coming in or out of school, I'm sure.

Walking past is fine, standing there and not picking a child up would be seen as weird. And it might not be a good idea, pick up time can be chaotic, especially where my kids are. We don't go on the yard and instead congregate outside a small gate. So you might get in peoples' way.

Suggest you ditch that idea as it is both creepy and potentially unsafe as you cant guarantee your dog will behave. There are lots of programs/youtube videos that can give you ideas on how to socialise him into loud scenarios; this is not a good one. Use the resources that are free to you and find a better way for both of you to spend some time.
You don't want to end up on a watch list do you?

Please don't my little boy is terrified of dogs and also the school don't allow any dogs at picking of dropping of times either as it just causes chaos . My friend is terrified of German shepards after being bitten by one when we were playing with a frisbee

Almost as many dogs as children on our school run! I think it's a good idea - hard to find as much density of scooters, prams, hats, shouting etc. anywhere else and the earlier your dog encounters it, the less likely it'll be reactive when it's an adult.

For practicality I'd walk past not sit, and on the other side of the road to the school gates. If you're on the other side of the road as you walk past, there's no danger to anyone.

If you're talking primary school, there's usually a lot of hustle and bustle at pick up time. At our school there are also several dogs tied up outside the school as parents go in to collect children.

Is your large 6 month old dog going to be well behaved if bumped into by children/ backpacks / scooter or grabbed or poked by a younger sibling as they squeeze past you? Or barked at / sniffed by other dogs. This seems like a dreadful idea. You can't use a bunch of strangers' kids as a training exercise for your dog!

Many years ago I had a small dog who was viciously attacked by a "well behaved" German shepherd while they were both on the lead. The owner couldn't restrain their dog and ours had to have emergency surgery to have his chest sewn up.

Little children can be afraid of dogs. I mean lots of people want to socialise their dogs snd don’t feel the need to go and stand outside a school. Could you take him to a park / dog training classes instead?

Parents are told not to bring dogs on the school run as it causes so many problems and may children are frightened of them or annoyed by them. Take them to a park instead.

There are other busy places you could try? Train stations, markets, town centers?

I think this is a great idea! Don’t go into the school grounds but sit on a public seat along the perimeter (all schools near me are on paths with seats). They can’t stop you from sitting on a seat.

My only question is why haven’t you done it sooner? By the time my boy was 12 weeks old he’d seen many a child and sat through 2 graduation ceremonies in the main hall with clapping, music etc. He didn’t care one bit. The main socialisation period is much younger than 6 months old.

Please don’t do this. A couple of years ago, there was a dog company (I can’t remember who they were, maybe a dog training company or some kind of kennels/dog rescue?) who started doing this at our school. They would bring two or three staff, with one or two dogs each and stand at the gate at home time. The pavement wasn’t wide enough anyway, parking was horrific on the road and there would be cars driving past/trying to overtake/go round parked cars. So 250 children with parents and siblings, buggies, scooters etc all trying to get out of one gate, another 200ish children walking down the road from the high school that shared the site and went that way home and a few random people and their dogs stood in the way. Nightmare!

My 6 year old is terrified of dogs and is probably not the only one.

Don't stand or sit around the school gate maybe, but walk your dog on the same routes, at the same time as kids are walking to and from school - is a sensible and good idea imo
I am assuming though that you are large enough and smart enough to stop the dog jumping or lunging should it become over stimulated.

I don’t think it’s for other peoples’ children to be used as experiments to get your dog used to children. I certainly wouldn’t appreciate a bloody great big alsation anywhere near my kids, regardless of whether the owner said it was friendly.

I might have missed it but did you confirm whether you were male or not. If you are then clearly this is not acceptable for you to do, it’s weird and would definitely invite suspicion.

There are plenty of other settings you can take your dog for familiarisation , you don’t need to go to a primary school and hang around like a sex offender. It’s very wise that you’ve decided not to do this.

This is a good idea.

Stand a distance away and reward the dog when he ignores the kids, or get a willing child with their parent to offer him a treat if he sits nicely.

If he gets overwhelmed or too many kids start to crowd then just remove your dog from the situation.

I took my latest pup (now 8 years old), on to the seaside promenade nearwhere I live. Lots of benches there to sit quietly, and people with families walking up and down, also cyclists. People then come up to you, often with their kids, and engage with the dog. You're not forcing the dog on others, and they get used to children running, bikes, push chairs etc., not as frenetic as a school.

Really weird and not ok for you to be using others children like this. You don’t know if they may have a dog bite history or a phobia.

some children and adults do not like dogs, or do not like dogs near them, and would be stressed by having to pass by closely.
they should not have this imposed on them.
i have no animosity to dogs but i do not want them near me.
i esp do not want the so called friendly ones near me, or the ones that are allowed to foul my front yard, which frequently happens.

That's crazy! I can't believe people think they can use other people's children as guinea pigs in their dog training programme. I know all owners think their dogs are delightful, but I'm imagining dogs jumping and lunging and barking around small children 'just being friendly!' and 'only saying hello!' What a recipe for disaster.

I think that's more likely to be counterproductive than it is beneficial. The pavement doesn't offer much proximity to keep distance of children and they are prone to unpredictable movements, grabbing 'petting' dogs. Equally lots of children will be frightened of the dog and it will be a positive experience for neither party.

Obviously exposure to certain situations is important but that doesn't strike me as a good starting point - unless you need to be stood outside a school with the dog on a daily basis then preparing him for it isn't really going to teach him much. I would focus on places you frequent, attending socialisation classes, socialising the dog with people you know or doing walks in areas where there is footfall but also the ability to remove the dog from it - we found the seafront of an evening quite good for this - plenty of people in varying groups and ages, lots who wanted to approach the dog, lots who wanted to avoid him, cyclists etc - plenty of scenarios to impart what behaviours you expect from the dog through positive interaction and reward.

How exactly do you think dogs get trained?

She wants to get the dog habituated and teach distraction techniques.

DS is scared of dogs. I already have to navigate the ones who come with kids and now you're suggesting it's a suitable training ground for any random dog owner cos if the dog gets stressed and upset he's only surrounded by kids, who are small and quite chewy.

Weird. Don’t do it. Someone standing at a school gate who isn’t there collecting a child? All sorts of red flags.

Sounds fine to me. I think you’ll find as long as you’re walking you will be fine. As far as the schools are concerned It’s the people that drive to pick their children up that annoy everyone including the people that live there.

This wouldn't really be appropriate.

I've seen suggested before to sit in the boot of your car in a busy car park, like a supermarket. Make sure dog is restrained. Work on neutral commands and getting used to people from there. A school at closing time definitely would be the wrong environment.