stranger feeding my dog!

[Memoo]

Im so cross about this!

Have just been tidying up the front garden and flora was running around between the front and back garden. I went into the back for 2 minutes to put something in the bin and when I came back an elderly man was leaning over the front fence giving her one of those pink wafer biscuits!

Why would anyone do that?! How stupid and irresponsible!

Just a different generation, different attitudes. We were all a lot less pfb about our dogs a generation ago. He shouldn't have done it, but I wouldn't be angry about it at all.

I had this once. Again it was an elderly man. He would throw handfuls of dry dog food over the fence as he walked past. One day I lay in wait at the time he usually passed and had a go at him. He said he did it to stop the dogs being aggressive! (They are GSDs so bark when anyone enters their territory - and anything they can see is their territory!)

I pointed out to him that he was making them aggressive to anyone who dared walk past and NOT feed them.

They weren't aggressive.

2 had special diets, which his - probably cheap - food would not cater for.

His response was that they are dogs and can eat anything, so I asked him what the salt content of his food was, as my boy had heart disease and had to have a low sodium diet. Also, did the food have the additives BHA/BHT as one of my others reacted to this and became hyperactive - AND WOULD BITE IF APPROACHED when high on it.

So his attempt at making my non-aggressive dogs, to stop being aggressive was killing one and making one aggressive

I asked if he also gave the children at the school sweets through the fence, at which point he wandered off muttering about mad bints.

Didn't do it again though!

Did you confront this man? if so, what did he say?

People don't realise and I would get too angry with him there was no malacious intent.

The old man may be lonely , may have just lost his dog companion etc .

Just if he does it gain just strike up a conversation with him and nicely explain why your dog doesn't need it.

There was a Grandad in the park the other day with his Gransdon feeding, my dog was nearby , more interested in ducks than them - he told his grandson to give my dog some bread - I said no -explained that she would then go up to all children to see if they have her food - he was fine .

People just dont think and realise .

She has such a sensitive tummy. She tends to be sick if she eats anything different than her usual diet.

It's a good point about the man being lonely. I will make an effort to chat to him if we see him again. He can give DD biscuits! :)

Yes, do talk to him, those pink wafers are lovely.

Maybe it's just the attitudes I've picked up in this forum, but I find it strange to just randomly give a dog stuff anyway. Mine never gets anything unless he follows a command first - I don't just throw him food. At a BBQ the other day, people were just dropping food to their dogs. Fortunately mine wasn't there to pick up ideas. Maybe I'm odd?

I think I'm more sensitive as someone once threw some drugs over the fence.

My 7 stone GSD demolished the house when she came down from what ever it was. She destroyed 2 dog gates, a wooden door and damaged the shower door, trying to get to water whilst we were out.

I think it's difficult.

When I was a child it was common place to give scraps to the dogs, bones off the bbq etc, it was just what people did.

Now I have guide dogs (one retired, one current) and so the rule has always been no scraps because it teaches them to scrounge/scavenge while in harness and that is not a trate one wants to encourage - aside from the fact that it can affect their weight.

But the other day a woman fed my guide dog in a cafe and she'd done it before I even realized and this in spite of the fact he has a tag on his lead which says "guide dog, please do not feed me."

Similarly a few months ago I was helping out set out cakes for the school fete and asked one of the office staff to look after my dog (she loves him) so he wasn't in close proximity to the cakes(he would have been fine, but I was busy with cakes so wouldn't have been able to kee total eye on dog, iyswim). And when I went to get him she said "oh he was looking at me with such sad eyes that I gave him a biscuit! I felt powerless to say anything because I'd asked her for the favour in the first place and in truth she hadn't meant any harm.

But I would really rather people didn't do it.

Love the 'sad eyes' thing. Mine would be a big fat lump if I fell for that. Dogs have big brown eyes (usually). They're not sad! Aren't people funny?

Ah yes the eyes! They certainly are hard to resist. Flora gets away with murder because of those eyes!