Is it rude not to acknowledge dog?

[buma]

My SIL has a dog. Nice natured but quite big and powerful (not a dangerous breed).

As soon as you go over, he will bound at you and try and jump at you. He's knocked the kids over before and I think could probably knock me over too.

I'm not a dog person, never had one, don't understand the bond etc. I've also got no interest in being jumped on, so I just ignore the dog and don't acknowledge it at all. Might give it a stroke if it sits next to me later on.

MIL has started to make comments when we meet up and I don't give the dog any fuss.

Do you think it's rude of me not to acknowledge? It's basically their baby as they have no kids so perhaps I am being rude? Im worried if I start to give him lots of attention, he will get excited when he sees me and launch himself at me.

not in my house! There you will be a perfect visitor!

And also out and about I am used to enthusiastic greetings to my wee furry, friendly dog and if I am lucky I might get a grunt hello.
People are more times than not more excited to speak to him than me and I'm ok with that.

you are most welcome in our house then!

Agree with this. Outside I don't let my dog jump on strangers and deal with him quickly if he does.

In my house, when someone (who presumably likes me) is visiting, yes I expect them to greet the dog (or don't bother visiting).
Like you say it's his house and I love him more than any visitor.

He is very small though and not remotely scary and very cute. I wouldn't let a big dog jump simply because they could hurt the person.

No me too!
I am always way more excited to chat/fuss over the animal than the human.

Isn't it more about the way you want the person who owns the dog to think of you? So I may be more of a cat person but I'll still be decent to the dogs of my friends and family because it's polite and I acknowledge how much they love them. Although I don't think you should be jumped on by the dog.

You're taking advice from a vet who gets his knowledge from a mawkish fucking film??
Your poor pet. That vet should be struck off

Read up on pack behaviour and how to ensure the dog (not a human, no matter how many call them fur bloody babies) does not think it is the leader/dominant
People walk through the door and make a fuss of dog before greeting human occupants. Dog thinks it is leader. Then you have the issues of jumping and attention seeking
Ignore the dog if you want to
Put your MIL in kennels (joke)

Agree. They can not bother visiting if they are going to ignore him.

I'm not even joking.

I respect their right not to want to come to my house and I am fine with that.

Agree completely. It's their house and that makes them more important than any visitor.

Any animal or human that runs at you, knocks down your children and jumps up and scratches you when you enter their house is rather off putting. I think you are being very nice to go round at all. I love dogs but this type of behaviour isn’t compatible with visitors.

Don't be daft! How is it even remotely the same?

Dogs will never be on a par with humans, folks!

Sorry but that’s just the way it is 🤷‍♀️

Yeah. Dogs are generally much better than people.

I love my 3 dogs but I wouldnt expect anybody to feel the need to fuss them if they dont want to.
In fact I often dont acknowledge my own dogs when I get in! I dont particularly want them acting like twats just because I walked in the door so they have a fuss later.

Besides overly excitable dogs can be incredibly annoying. I had a friend who had an old english sheepdog that would jump onto you when you sat on the sofa and spent the whole time licking your hair!

I know someone with a beautifully behaved dog, who trained it using a method where you actually avoid making a fuss of the dog. So, say family coming down for breakfast, don't make eye contact with it, or any kind of fuss, and more or less ignore it at first. Family has breakfast, dog eats afterwards. The idea is that it knows and is content with, its place in the pack. This is how dogs operate as they are pack animals that are more secure when they know where they are in the hierarchy. Making a fuss of them confuses them, leading to behavioural difficulties and poor training outcomes.
My friend does of course interact with her dog, giving a word and a pat, or a cuddle, etc but at the right times.

I dislike dogs and wouldn’t go to a house where one was present.

Pack hierachy theory is utter bollocks and very outdated training.
My very well behaved dog eats breakfast before any of us and he has no idea what a pack even is, let alone his place in it.
What he DOES have are clear rules and guidelines that he was rewarded for following from day 1.

It's kinder to your SiL to be nice to the dog. I'd turn my back on a jumping dog and greet it once it had calmed down though as you don't want to reinforce that behaviour.