I'm not really a "dog person", but I generally like dogs. I've never owned an inside dog, but grew up with outside farm dogs.

Now that I am done with that disclaimer, I have to say not everyone loves dogs and people with dogs need to be considerate of that fact. I have a son with SID. We don't know exactly why, but dogs really upset him. The friendlier the dog the worse the panic it causes in him. I get tired of people not restraining their dogs, and hearing "oh he's friendly."

We went to a choose and cut xmas tree farm this weekend. There were was family there that brought their dog. OK, I don't get it, but I see how some might think that fun. It was a large friendly dog, but it really upset my son and another autistic boy (the farm owner's grandson). The dog owner did nothing to help. The two boys had to wait for a dogless hayride, and avoid the dog at other areas.

OK, rant off.

Smalc, I agree wholeheartedly. People need to be more responsible with their dogs around other people. Our pupster wasn't all that well socialized and sometimes got nervous around people she didn't know, especially kids. Thankfully she never bit anyone, but if she sensed someone was nervous around dogs it made her more nervous, which made whoever was holding her or the leash nervous, which transmitted down the leash making her more nervous and territorial, and so on.

And also, dog owners shouldn't let their dogs run up to strangers no matter how friendly they are, and parents shouldn't let their kids run up to strange dogs to pet them without asking, no matter how friendly the dog looks.

I never allowed my little boy to be off leash except in the truck or at home, and he frequently heard the command to sit or to heel. I refused to contribute to the hysteria surrounding Rotties.

He loved children but only with their permission.

A little girl of about eight scared the hell out of me at Ashe Park one day when she ran out of nowhere from behind a parked car and gave Gino a big hug while he was getting a drink of water. As soon as she let go (with her mother screaming at her) she got a big slobbery kiss all over her face and her mother apologized if her screaming had 'frightened my dog'.

In his eight years he only bit one person and that was only a nip. Of all people, it was my lawyer and, if it please the court, she was teasing him.

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Thanks, smalc, I really hadn't thought of that but I generally don't take my dog to "people places" anyway.

Alternatively, my older dog (now deceased) really didn't like kids, as she was the alpha dog. So we were always careful, but I don't know how many times kids thought it was ok to run right up to her face. Some are polite, and ask, but many are not. One of our very last outings we were chased away from a nice spot, while taking some of the last pictures of her, due to a family with a gazillion kids running amuck, without even giving us a chance to take our leave safely.