Background:
1st walk = Me DH DS(5) Dog1 and Dog2
2nd walk = Me DS and Dog 2
About a month ago we were out walking the dogs in the wooded area of our local nature reserve. They were both off lead, Dog 1 careering madly after his ball which DS and DH were throwing and Dog 2 pootling along behind with me picking bits of rubbish out of his mouth supervising. We saw two boys (early teens) in the distance and called both dogs close. One of the boys ooohed and ahhhed at the little sweet dog, I smiled and paused, they asked if they could stroke him and I said yes. Then one of them out of the blue just picked him up. I was gobsmacked they weren't holding him correctly and I didn't want him to be inadvertently hurt. I asked him to put him down please. They were nice boys and only showing affection - but there is no way I would ever pick up someone else's dog (and definately not without asking!) We do carry him occasionally as he can't catch up with the big dog and he is too young to do the distances, but the boys in question hadn't seen us carrying him.
Today I was walking the puppy who is now 15 weeks old with my DS. As it was a quiet street with a wide pavement, DS was holding the lead and I had his hand. The same lad came up behind us and just scooped up the pup. He yelped and my DS jumped as he hadn't heard him approach. I just said "Please don't pick him up!" The lad put him down and continued on with us chatting about dogs and was very pleasant.
I then gave him a little talk on dog ettiquette basically saying that it's great that he asked to pet the dogs but he really mustn't pick up other people's hounds. The owner could be less reasonable than me, but also small and cute doesn't automatically mean safe and friendly.
Was this reasonable do you think?