31/05/2025
💯 Agree with this. 🐾🐾
*** Unpopular Opinion ***
Your dog may not enjoy everything you do. There I said it and I know there are going to be people that don't like it.
Recently Corey and I have attended two crowded, noisy events.
The first was a local food festival not geared towards dogs but dogs were welcome.
The second was the million paws walk which is a dog centric event.
We left the first one an hour in. We saw nine dogs at that event. One appeared relaxed and comfortable. One seemed indifferent. The other seven all exhibited signs of stress. That upset me. I was even more upset that the guardians of these dogs were oblivious to the avoidance and stress exhibited by their dogs.
Corey and I talked about this. We wondered did they not see it. Did they just not care. One very large dog repeatedly moved behind his handler who just kept moving him deeper into the thick of the action. He was really scared and backward in his body position. He was lip licking, his forehead was furrowed and still people tried to touch him. His guardian rather than advocate for him and move him further out and ask for people not to touch him instead chose to try to get him to engage with the people.
This escalated in the time we were there. Such a gentle boy. He didn't threaten or bite. This time. He was learning that day about how much trust he could afford his person though.
This festival had a presentation stage, a live band, roving musicians and a DJ on a single block. It was busy. Lots of people. Congestion at the stalls.
I couldn't unsee it. I wish I could. That level of stress on a reluctant dog is how bites happen on people and other dogs. Not giving dogs space when they need it can lead to explosions. At the very least your dog learns you are not a good decision maker. You aren't going to keep us safe so maybe I need to escalate to keep myself safe.
At the dog walk we saw someone with a tiny dog who was trying to get away from the other dogs walk her in amongst them. They thought it was very funny. Imagine the person you need to trust letting you down like that!
We saw lots of happy dogs too. Ours included. But had they exhibited signs of discomfort we were ready to move away and leave if necessary.
I love having the dogs with me but I accept that I have one who would hate these events.
I don't really enjoy crowds but I would imagine my perspective would be easier than what a dog faces. I chose this picture to illustrate that our dogs are down around our legs. Think about what they can see, smell and hear. They are not as visible, more likely to be stepped on and to boot they have better hearing than us. Now add in that people will want to touch them - pat number 31 after a couple of hours may not be as desirable for even a social but tired dog.
If you want to take dogs to events you need to work towards this. You also need to understand you may need to alter your plans dependent on their responses to the environment.
