Pet peeves of pet owners

I have several, but overweight dogs is a humongous one. I'm not talking about owners who see the problem and are trying to fix it. I'm talking about those whose dogs are grossly overweight and the owners brush it off with "she's just big boned", "it's all muscle" or "but we love him, we're not going to obsess over his weight". Then come the faux fixers, they've tried everything but nothing works, everything but actually sticking to something instead of making excuses about why they can't.

Oh so many.

A big pet peeve of mine is when people let their dog offleash when they don't have a reliable recall. And the they make a half hearted attempt to call it back as it barrels towards me and my dog. And the they nonchalantly call over 'don't worry! He's friendly!' .. well, what if my dog wasn't? It's even more annoying when they stand back and giggle and make no attempt to call their dog back.

People who don't pick up their dogs poop.
This also applies to: people who leave the bags around, people to throw bags off trail, ANYBODY who doesn't pick up and carry it to a garbage can.

"I don't want to carry it around.."
other people don't want to see/step on it. You turd!

People who think their obviously mixed breed dog is some rare niche breed they saw in a book.

People who think their breed of dog is SOOOO different than any other, poops rainbows, reads people, has the brain of a person, psychic powers...I've heard it all at some point or another.

"S/He's Friendly!"
Owners speaking of rampant off-leash dog inappropriately approaching leashed dogs in an on-leash area.

These two are the big ones for me!

But he looks EXACTLY like this photo I found on teh internet! *shows photo of kooikerhondje*

Ummmm no. You have a Brittany mix.

These are big ones for me as well.

Also add: Approaching my dogs without asking, whether it be a person, children, or a person with a child/dog. I have gotten very, very good at sending off, "Do NOT approach" vibes when I'm out with my dogs, but sometimes it doesn't always work. Not that my current dogs are bite risks (although Abrams has decided he is now dog selective), but I'm so used to having dogs that are either DA or HA to some extent and while properly behaved in public, they don't need to be handled by strangers.

I was SO happy when I was back in Indiana and my family and I went hiking, because I took Chloe with us and although she got a few compliments about how pretty she was (really, with the hack groom job I gave her? ), I made a point to stand between her and the other people with her in a heel position, and I never faced them directly. They all got the point and didn't try to reach out and pet her.

"My dog works for praise!"

Most dogs really, really, really won't. And I don't consider 'sit sit sit siiiiiiit sit look he sat!' to be "working" on the part of the dog. Please don't be down on those of use using motivators other than praise to achieve our goals just because you didn't have to--our goals might be different, our dogs might be different, who knows. But using a tug as a reward to get a competition level heel isn't cheating (unless you try to take it into the ring I guess lol), and my dog doesn't value pets enough for that to work as a reward.

I admit that I do this all the time

We live on a public rail trail and the trashcans are very far apart (~2 miles) so if we're not near one or I know we won't pass one, I just leave it and pick it up on my way back. If he poops 0.2 miles from my house I don't want to carry it 1 mile out and 1 mile back when I can just carry it 0.2 miles back to my house at the end of the walk.

I feel guilty about it every time. Does that make it better? :lol-sign:

Both of these!

Every prick earred small-medium sized dog is a basenji mix now. And every black long coated retriever-y thing is an FCR. Or people who insist that the dog is that breed because the rescue told them so and it must be right. They do realize that the rescue people are just guessing, right?

1) I've mentioned this before, but people who bring their small kids to a dog park and let them run around. It's a dog park, not a kid park. The dogs that go there are dog friendly, not necessarily kid friendly.

2) People who give my dog a command repetitively. Sit sit sitsitsitsit siiiiiiiit!
Look, my dog will sit the first time. Usually right away, but yeah sometimes it might take him a second. Heck, sometimes I might even have to glare at him before he does, but repeating the command is most definitely not going to get him to do it any faster, and in fact, is just making the command mean less.

Actually, that bugs me with people with their own dog too. Know why your dog doesn't come to you when called? Because you said it 20 times and then laughed and gave up. Your dog knows you are all hot air and steam.

My head nearly explodes whenever I hear someone squawking the same commands or sentences over and over again at their dog. I drives me absolutely crazy. So I just sit there, grit my teeth, smile and nod.

I swear, work is a neverending chorus of "Bella sit, sit Bella, BELLA SIT, SIT [leash yank] Bella sit!"

:rofl1::rofl1::rofl1:

The amount of times I have been asked if Rigby and Ruby are basenji mixes lmfao.

Though I am guilty of adamantly saying Rigby is a Kelpie mix even though they're not common here. Just because people don't like the word "mongrel" apparently

Lol I do this too. MY pet peeve is when frequently walked places have practically ZERO trash cans.

Also depending on the type of trails I am on, if he poops way off into the woods over on the side, I am not going to waste a bag picking it up, when it's already in the leaves/sticks/etc way off the trail. Or if he does a tiny squirt (15 mins after doing his big poop) I am also not going to waste a bag picking up a squirt (unless it's physically ON the trail or potential for people to step in). His poops are likely smaller than the deer and other wildlife turds anyway.

But yeah in busy cities or residential neighborhoods? I always pick up.

THIS. Ergh.... super annoying.

I too really hate the "Oh but he's friendly" as their dog is approaching Dekka. They never believe me till she starts making devil dog noises. Then they typically glare at me like I am horrible person for bringing this horrible creature in public


Show me a dog who works for praise and I most likely will show you a dog that his been trained with aversives. Praise then becomes a valuable no punishment marker.

Yes! If the town is going to pay people to mow and leaf blow the trail, why not put out trash cans and empty them? They only put them at parking lots (which does make sense) but they aren't at all close together.

One time, someone took my poop bag and threw it into the woods, right into a bush (not while I was there to see it). So I had to climb in there and get it out of the bush because I wasn't going to leave it. So dumb. Why would you do that? At least on the side of the trail there is a chance that someone will pick it up, but if you chuck it into a bush it will probably be there forever (and there are poop bags hanging from bushes that have been there forever).

*Yells at owner for off-leash dog*

"It's ok, he's friendly!"

That might be the case, but, I don't want to take that risk. And, what if my dog isn't friendly?

"My dog isn't overweight."

Actually, s/he is overweight. And, no it isn't cute.

"I want X,Y,Z breed because it's cute!"

No, no,& no. This is seriously one of my hugest pet related pet peeves. A friend of mine wants a Bull Mastiff... Because their cute.*facepalm*

The poop bags left on the side of the trail are one of my biggest at this point. I never used to see it, and these days I see at least a few every hike. No, there aren't trash cans all around the trails. You own the dog, it is your responsibility, not the town's or the park district's. Some of the trails I use don't even have trash cans in the parking lots. I'm a pro at catching the knot in the back in my tailgate as it closes. I throw it out when I get home.