Have you been harassed?
Now I really don’t want to seem flippant. I know there are lots of series cases going on in the human world at the moment, but it set me to thinking about the world as we dogs see it. What I’m about to say may not be true if you are the sort of breed who doesn’t mind meeting strangers. However, speaking as an Entlebucher there are times when I have been harassed. By nature, our breed is wary of strangers. For this purpose you have to think of Wilma as a different breed as she is way too gregarious to be an Entlebucher at heart.
Complete strangers pat us
Anyway, back to the point in paw. There are times when complete strangers will come up and start touching you without so much as waiting to be introduced. Sometimes this will only go as far as patting you on the head. At other times it can result in a full on embrace without any regard for our feelings on the subject. The problem runs even deeper than this as many humans don’t even recognise that this might be an issue. They don’t appreciate that we may have feelings or thoughts on the subject. There are humans who go as far as to buy us a special yellow lead, or other item of clothing to show that we’d prefer it if that didn’t happen, which is good, but they shouldn’t need to do this.
Sticking our noses in
Can you imagine the trouble we’d be in if we were just allowed to follow our instincts? If we simply stuck our noses up the bottoms of men in three piece suits on our trips to London. Or put our heads under dresses and other longer clothing, to smell every human we spotted. On the whole, we don’t give someone a good sniff unless we are invited to do so. Even then we get told off if we try getting too intimate. I think it’s just as important for humans to recognise our feelings. They should respect our need to get to know them before we are expected to be prodded, poked and cuddled. None of this ‘It’s a calming thing to do for humans’. What about the fact that it can be a stressful thing to do for dogs?
Discover Dogs
For the record, Wilma says you can cuddle her at any time in any place regardless of whether you have been previously introduced. And that, ladies and gentlemen is why she is the one going to Discover Dogs and not me!
Ps my eye is a bit sore, but we’re still waiting for me to be ready to go back to the vet
Love
Alfie
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I hear you Alfie and couldn’t agree more. Humans need to learn how to introduce themselves to us dogs properly! And for the record – proper introductions might include cookies or any other food bribes or possibly a game of fetch or tug *waggy tail”
Fair point. Although I have to say steak would be my preferred method of introduction – cooked rare or even raw. Maybe a little light vegetable accompaniment. You know the sort of thing!
Alfie