What would you have said to....

*staring at woman blankly*

"What dog?"

ORIGINAL: sillysally

*staring at woman blankly*

"What dog?"

Ha! I have to admit, I would be sorely tempted to use this reply. But realistically, I think MRV's "I always do" reply, said pleasantly, is best - isn't disrespectful, acknowledges that a dog should be watched, and makes the point that you have the dog under control. As Dog-ma said, it isn't really unreasonable or a personal insult for people to be concerned about an approaching dog, especially if they have had bad experiences in the past. My very lovely neighbor is terrified of my perfectly harmless and gushingly friendly dog. She was attacked as a young child and harbors a fear of dogs decades later. The fact that she knows and admits that her fear is irrational doesn't make the fear any less real.

Still.... "What dog?" Soooo tempting.

ORIGINAL: buster the show dog

ORIGINAL: sillysally

*staring at woman blankly*

"What dog?"

Ha! I have to admit, I would be sorely tempted to use this reply. But realistically, I think MRV's "I always do" reply, said pleasantly, is best - isn't disrespectful, acknowledges that a dog should be watched, and makes the point that you have the dog under control. As Dog-ma said, it isn't really unreasonable or a personal insult for people to be concerned about an approaching dog, especially if they have had bad experiences in the past. My very lovely neighbor is terrified of my perfectly harmless and gushingly friendly dog. She was attacked as a young child and harbors a fear of dogs decades later. The fact that she knows and admits that her fear is irrational doesn't make the fear any less real.

Still.... "What dog?" Soooo tempting.

In all honesty, I like people to have a good impression of pit bull owners, so I probably would go with the polite response when walking Sally.

I really don't give a rip what people think of lab owners though, so when I'm walking Jack it's open season on unpleasent strangers.......[sm=evilfire.gif]

When people say stuff like that to me I don't even look them in the eye or give them the pleasure of me acknowledging their presence. 

Last week I was walking Chopper in the woods on private property so she was off-leash.  I saw a man in the distance, so I immediately clipped her 4ft leash back on.  As we passed, the man just stopped in his tracks so I moved around him in case he was scared of dogs.  But, he had a little Boston Terrier on a harness, and his dog was growling and standing with his chest out at Chopper.  Chopper usually doesn't pay other dogs any attention, but this dog kinda scared her so she ducked down and hunkered close to my side.  As we pass, the guy says to his dog "that's right, that big dog will eat you up!"  I rolled my eyes and avoided eye-contact.  After we passed, I let Chop off the leash again so he could see how likely she was to leave my side and eat his stupid dog.

 [8|] [:@] [sm=smack.gif][sm=banghead002.gif]

ORIGINAL: sillysally

*staring at woman blankly*

"What dog?"

 
Love it!
 
Having had people look at my dog with alarm, my response has always been to have him in a tight heel whenever we pass anyone on the trail.  He usually ignores people but why give them any ammo? 
 
I have been tempted on more than one occasion to, in my best orators voice, say this:
 
"Dog?  Of what Dog do you speak?
 
The creature you are referring to is the golden god Xerxes.  May his name be blessed.  He is lord of all that is touched by the sun.
 
Dog?  It is you who are the dog.  Cast your eyes away and do not trouble me again!. "
 
Unfortunately I haven't had the guts to do this yet.  But one day....[]

I get these comments a lot where I live... as well as getting screamed at about dog poop even though I always walk my dogs OUT of the complex anyway.

This is one of the reaons I wear my mp3 player while walking--even though I don't have it turned up loud enough to not actually hear people's comments, I can pretend like I didn't.

People of certain cultural groups or demographics in general just do not like dogs. Where I used to volunteer, a shelter in a very urban setting, the only dogs you'd normally see really were in fact very scary: junk yard dogs and fighting dogs for the most part. The only dogs I ever saw being kept as pets were very small dogs. Large dogs=gaurd dog/scary dog. So me walking my large dogs there really threw people for a loop. Here are these very large dogs, yet they seem to be pets, but what kind of pets are they? What's going on here? Add to that the legacy of police dogs (and further back, tracking dogs) in relation to the African-American community, and you can get a fair number of people who are very afraid of large dogs (take a look at some of the archival photos of how police dogs were used during the civil rights movement). I try to be understanding of anyone who is afraid of dogs, and just demonstrate that with my dogs at least they have nothing to be afraid of but if they're more comfortable with us being far far away from them, that's fine.

I probably in this situation would have just smiled and said "Don't worry, he's totally under my control." and kept moving and maybe even crossed the street to be farther away from them.

Believe it or not, from time to time, I have been known to be a bit of a smarta$$.  I would expand a bit on the "watch that kid" comment.
 
"Watch those kids, lest they turn into syphilis infested, crackwhore idiots, like you."  []

ORIGINAL: probe1957

Believe it or not, from time to time, I have been known to be a bit of a smarta$$.  I would expand a bit on the "watch that kid" comment.

"Watch those kids, lest they turn into syphilis infested, crackwhore idiots, like you."  []

LOL Billy you make me swoon!
Anyway ...I would have said "Thx !! I'm always happy to have some suggestions from sweet people like you! Have a great day!!" I always kill with kindness...I think I know a few of my friends who are the same way! LOL

Believe it or not, from time to time, I have been known to be a bit of a smarta$$. I would expand a bit on the "watch that kid" comment.

"Watch those kids, lest they turn into syphilis infested, crackwhore idiots, like you."

Bwahaha!!!

That reminds me of last night, I went to DH's softball tourney and took Chopper b/c the rec center is one of the few places that appears to allow dogs.  He was concerned with there being so many people and so much commotion, but in all honestly my dog behaved better than ALL of the children present.  She laid down at my feet and slept, while kids were running around screaming, whining for candy and falling off the bleachers.... And people wonder why I got a dog instead of getting pregnant!

This is how I see it - a lot of people really fear dogs, even if they are leashed. You just need to accept that imo. When I'm walking my dogs through my neighborhood I will usually cross to the other sidewalk, just out of respect, if I see any signs of uncertainty in people that are approaching. Or, I'll stop and pull off to the side and tell my dogs to sit while others pass me. It's just courtesy. My dogs are super friendly with everyone they meet but that doesn't mean people don't fear them.
 
P.S. race really has nothing to do with this and I hope you realize someday that maybe it's you that draws those kinds of reactions...not a persons color. It could have been anyone who said that to you, white, black, old, young, asian, whatever.

Dog? It is you who are the dog. Cast your eyes away and do not trouble me again!. "

 
Love that one!!!

And people wonder why I got a dog instead of getting pregnant!

 
I'm sorry! I also have to second that comment Liesje!! that is my reasoning as well!

ORIGINAL: Xerxes

ORIGINAL: sillysally

*staring at woman blankly*

"What dog?"

"Dog?  Of what Dog do you speak?
 
The creature you are referring to is the golden god Xerxes.  May his name be blessed.  He is lord of all that is touched by the sun.
 
Dog?  It is you who are the dog.  Cast your eyes away and do not trouble me again!. "

Best-response-ever.....[sm=clapping%20hands%20smiley.gif]

ORIGINAL: sillysally
Best-response-ever.....[sm=clapping%20hands%20smiley.gif]

 
My "crackwhore" doesn't even get a honorable mention?    [8|][]