New dog owner - question re other people and parks!

[Bitofastate]

Hello

Have been taking my puppy (12 weeks) for a walk every day in the park (massive) at the bottom of our road. She is always on a lead and is a very small dog - pomeranian.

People are constantly wanting to pet her (she's very small and looks like a teddy bear) and most do ask first which is good, but she is still at the jumping up stage and is quite nippy/mouthy with fingers so I find trying to have a quiet walk a bit of an ordeal at the moment as I'm nervous that she'll jump up someone. Is it ok to say no? I know that sounds daft but I'd feel really awful I think saying no.

The other thing is dogs rush up to her which are not on a lead and the owner runs over saying 'don't worry she/he just wants to play' but my puppy gets terrified and I'm sure one of them nipped her yesterday as she emitted a really high pitched squeal. Are dogs supposed to be on a lead or kept under control? How can I explain that she doesn't necessarily want to be 'played with' by a dog she's never seen before?

Finding a nice walk a bit of a stressful experience at the moment! Or maybe I'm just being a bit PFBPuppy?

I have the same problem with my 16 week old pup, he is very cute but those puppy teeth are very sharp, as are his nails when he jumps up at people! I literally had a woman running down her drive the other day shouting "ooh puppy, puppy!" - I pretended to ignore but she caught up with us!! I try to explain to people that I'm attempting to stop him jumping up, and also I don't want him to accidentally scratch or bite anyone, but they don't seem to get the message. I'm avoiding the park at the moment TBH, because of dogs off lead. We have lots of alley-ways and roads with grassy verges, so I'm sticking to those until I feel more confident. This thread is quite good for dog walking etiquette here

Thank you Suburb, I'm glad to know I'm not alone, although sad for you obviously Will check out that thread.

It is absolutely fine to say no when people ask to pet the puppy, since after all you are the owner. However, it would be good for the puppy to have as many nice, calm interactions with other people and other dogs as possible, so that it is well socialized for the future. Puppies have small socialization windows and the more positive interactions they can have at an early age, the better. It's also really important for her to learn bite inhibition (though obviously not by practising on strangers in the park). If people ask to pet her, you can always say she's in training so yes, but only while she stays sitting. Sometimes people are quite happy to help (but personally I find it a complete pain when people reward a dog for jumping). It will make your walk take longer but you can see it as an opportunity to train the dog - and when you don't have the time or she's too excited, say no.

You can read about socialization and puppy development here.

Redwing, thanks for the link. I have the Dunbar book and I've found it really good.

Although socialisation with other people is important you do need to police it so to speak. If you don't, and you have a friendly dog, she will start to think it is ok to run after people and hassle them for attention, which is never ok. Especially if they are in white trousers and hate dogs! It is also quite hard to get other people to understand that they must not praise her if she jumps up.

My approach is to say to people 'We're doing a training walk....', smile proudly, and walk past practising heel work in a very obvious manner. It always works, no one is offended, and the dog doesn't learn any bad habits.

Thanks for all your replies, just thought I'd update you with what happened yesterday because it was so bizarre! DP walked dog-face down to the end of the road and back (about 5 mins) and a car stopped, people got out and asked him if they could take a picture of dog-face! Very amusing. Perhaps she's just ridiculously cute? I'll put a pic on my profile.

We've got the Perfect Puppy book but we need to get firmer on 'play biting' because she has very sharp teeth!

Wow, she must be super-cute . I have noticed that people will cross the road etc to say hello to our pup though. The only people who ignore us are the postmen!

That's lovely! she must be a gorgeous puppy :)

I've uploaded dog-face pictures to profile

free to a good home (if she doesn't stop eating the cat poo)

can't see your profile though :( think you need to make it public?

ive tried again, has that worked?

Yes it worked. Wow, cuteness overdose!!!

goodness me that's one cute puppy!

No wonder people stop their cars/cross roads

I have it the other way round and people allow they're pups to run up to my GSD who does not like puppies...I keep her on the lead and carry a muzzle but if they cannot kept their dog under control whilst mine is on a lead and sat down whilst barking loudly what can I do??

Why thank you

She's currently eating my hair

Two questions for all you knowledgeable dog owners, 1. why are there so many staffs in rescue? (I saw this on a thread earlier) and 2. what are the thoughts on cesare (sp?) milan? i'm currently watching the dog whisperer and I swear he's using some sort of shock collar????

Cesar milan is evil and uses horribly cruel and outdated methods. He uses shock and pinch collars and I believe in one episode he hung a husky by its collar. He is not a good trainer at all.

Too many staffies in rescue because they were seen as a status dog by some rather nasty people so far too many were bred, often by puppy farmer types, and because a lot of people are afraid to take a staffie from a rescue background in case it turns out to have been taught vicious habits by above mentioned nasty people.

thank you both for explaining, i appreciate it.

i can't believe they let that man on tv!

Bitofastate - that is one seriously cute puppy you have, I totally understand why she gets so much attention [busmile]