Almost kicked out of Petsmart because . . .

Good thing I don't shop at big box stores, and that we only have one big box store here. I get that wolf thing all the time with Sofie. [8D]

I agree with the others I would be mad too
 
How can you mistake a heeler for a wolf, I know there comon here in Australia
but I do not think they look anything like a wolf.
 
Children need to be educated to ask if they can pat someone elses dog
 
I once had a lady stop her kids from patting my Kelpie like my dog had some kind of disaese I couldn't believe it, some people have no idea about dogs
I would think in this century people would have more knowlege of dogs
 
Rest in peace SERI 2005
 
Danielle

    No reputable corporation I know would encourage behaviour like that demonstrated by the management and salesforce of that PetsMart.  If the managers do not know a wolf from a cattle dog, they do not belong in MANAGEMENT at a so called pet store.  Knowing some of the managers I do at differnet Petsmarts, they would say the same thing.

As for the father, he is just a darned fool, an uneducated one at that.  Children are children, we all know they learn from example.  In the case of these children, they will have a hard row to hoe.

It's either one extreme or the other, they are either just letting the kids run up to the dog without asking or totally petrified. 

When we had our cockapoo we would always take him to PetSmart to pick up his toys/bones. But because he was unpredictable and always chose to pee in the store, we would just put him up on the shopping cart and people ignored him, so he ignored the people. With our Shih Tzu people would go crazy over her and most did not know how to approach her and would scare the daylights out of her so I#%92d just pick her up, that way whoever petted her was at eye level.
 
Ash, Im so proud of you for behaving the way you did, keep it up! I would have reacted way worse, I cannot keep my mouth shut, and F*** You would have been the nicest thing I would have said to him. How can you possibly argue with the dogs owner about what breed THEIR dog is? Its just not logical, and that staff was obviously underqualified.
 
I remember my dad would get bad looks everytime we went into PetCo/Petsmart (cant remember which) with our Pit Bull, and me teeny tiny girl, holding the leash. Those people looked like they wanted to jump onto the highest shelf. How dumb is that?

nasty experience.
I've actually been rather impressed by most of the kids and parents I've met lately in petsmart. They have actually been asking first before petting.

The STUPID PEOPLE are taking over!!!
 
It's great that you were working on socializing Ash and doing a mighty fine job at that!  I'm not confrontational either so I know how you were feeling... the man is ignorant and the sad thing is, he's raising his children the same way.  If I were you, I'd probably raise a stink at that Petsmart... with the manager AND the employee.  If you ever run into that guy again... take off the muzzle and let that 'wolf' bite!! hehehe

I don't really have any pet store experiences but when I walk with my minpin and bichons, neighborhood children come running toward them.  My minpin does not care to be touched by strangers and one of my bichons would rather people just talk to her than touch her as well.  I've been known to say STOOOOOOP!! NEVER run toward any dog! ALWAYS walk slowly and ask the owner if it's OK to pet their dog. 
Generally I get  an "Ok, sorry"  but once i got a very irritated parent that I should have the gall to 'discipline' their child.   Ok.  Just trying to prevent your child from getting stitches, that's all.  I knwo my dogs are under my control, but what if they run up to some stray one day?
 
I am very cautious and very aware of any dog's behavior, and I think poeple need to educate themselves as well as to how to recognize a friendly or not friendly dog.
 
Plus- you just shouldn't allow your children to run up to strange dogs, no matter how cute they are.  Then again, kids are like that wiht newborn babies- when I had my first ds, kids would run up and shove their hands in the carseat before I had a chance to react.  Oy.
 

I just had this talk with my 5 year old niece this weekend.  She has not been taught properly about dogs.  Our town was having it's big yearly festival, and so there were lots of people around.  One man with a dog was in line a few people behind us, and my neice went running up to pet it (it was a smaller, medium sized dog), and the dog backed up real fast to avoid her.  I had to grab my neice and talk to her about asking the owner before petting a dog, because not all dogs are nice.  I sure hope it sunk in.  

A wolf, really?  People can be so stupid!  I just don't see how anyone, even someone who doesn't know much about dogs could mistake your dog for a wolf!  I just don't get some people.  I guess that guy just needed to be right and wanted to start a fight.

I see it a little bit differently than most people here, apparently.  Clearly, the father was wrong for allowing his kids to pet a dog without asking.  Your dog though, was well behaved UNTIL you riled the man up by confronting him.  You won the battle, but you lost the war.  You were wrong to rub the man's face in your victory.  Be gracious in victory and humble in defeat.  If you hadn't decided to confront the man again, after the store manager had ruled in your favor, you would have had a more pleasant shopping experience.

My "wolf" and I salute you.  There is no accounting for ignorant people.  There is a t-shirt I have seen that says  "I see stupid people" and there are so many days when I would like to be wearing it as I so relate to that sentiment.  My dog is a mixed breed Chow/Shepherd....built like a shepherd but golden color.  Sunny and I were sitting out on a park bench with my elderly parents and some teens walked by and asked "Is he a wolf?"  My parents laughed and I just said "Yeah, we are just sitting here with a wolf!"  The kids did not hang around.

Your Ash is beautiful and behaved so well at the store.  I would just chalk it up as another guy out there looking for a position as the village idiot....and move on.
barbara

ACD = Wolf[sm=rotfl.gif] You mean after all these years of living in Aust wanting a real wolf all of my own I've actually owned heaps of them.
 
As someone above me said so well, "never underestimate the stupidity of the human race."[sm=no%20no%20smiley.gif]

[] My thoughts exactly. My baby looks NOTHNG like a wolf. I mean, I have only seen wolves on tv and in movies, but I know enough to not mistake my dog for one! What would the publis say if they saw a real wolf? Or a wolf hybrid? I've never seen a wolf hybrid either, but are you kidding me? Ash?
 
When I got Ash, I had never seen an ACD before, but I guarantee you she that I never compared her to wolf. A hyena maybe, but never a wolf. []  And in fact, maybe that's what it is. Everywhere I go, people ask me what breed Ash is and when I first started looking for books on Ash, nobody at the pet stores or a book store could tell me where to find information on an ACD/Heeler/Cattle dog/ Queenland. I think maybe not many people over here have seen a cattle dog? I don't know.

Sweet Jesus. If Ash is a wolf then my mother's a virgin. Seriously. It sounds like that guy wouldn't know what a wolf truly looks like if it bit him in the rear end. In all honesty, if an employee came up to me and told me I had to leave because they can't tell an ACD from a wolf, I would've dropped everything I had in my hands onto the floor and I would've said "Well I'm off to Petco/Pet Supplies/Other competitor where they aren't ignorant about dog breeds and wild canines".  There's no way I would've given them a penny of my hard earned money.
 
Anyhoo, I can dig it. Even though my dogs do well with children and other animals, they are my dogs and if I don't want someone to pet them, I mean it. There are times when I don't want children petting my dogs especially if the children do not know how to behave around dogs and attempt to pet my dogs without asking. It really trips me out at how some people feel it's their "right" to pet your dogs and how offended they get when you tell them that they or their children cannot pet your dogs so I have learned of a way to talk to people like that. Like to hear it? Here it goes...
 
Idiot: "Why do you bring your dogs in public if no one can pet them?"
 
Me: "Can I grope on your husband?"
 
Idiot: "No."
 
Me: "Why bring him out in public if I can't grope on him?"
 
That gets them everytime. []