Is it normal to approach dogs at the walk by?

Post Reply New Topic

For that matter, what is really wrong with playing with toys as an adult anyway? It doesn't hurt anybody. Why the big deal?

I think we seem less threatening to them, at least in general. I suspect it might be why NTs also find us threatening at times, they can't read us like animals do. Like we can read animals a bit better, animals can read us a bit better, NTs can't read us very well, and a lot of NTs I know seem to have more difficulty than I do reading animals unless animals are their special interest (and then often only the species of animal that's their special hobby).

I'm not afraid of animals, not even the wild ones. Careful of course if they are able to hurt me that I don't corner them or spook them, but not afraid. Animal predators seem to pick up on fear as well as their human counterparts, and I can sometimes sense that NTs I'm with are afraid of the animal, because it will react not to me, but to the other person. Even if the other person was further away than I was. I do notice I have more of a connection with wilder animals. I like dogs, and I can usually read them OK, but I feel like I 'get' animals that are less.. human, if that makes any sense.

My psychologist reckons people, who are compassionate with animals, are more compassionate people in general. I have always loved animals and felt drawn to them, more so than to people. They feel "safer" than being around humans. Probably because animals can only inflict physical pain, and usually only when threatened, whereas humans can inflict emotional pain, which is worse in some cases.

I still wouldn't approach a strange dog without permission, you never know if the owner doesn't want you petting the dog for another reason. When I first got my dog, I didn't want anyone disturbing us when we were doing lead training. He was a friendly dog, and welcomed people approaching him, but it was a distraction from our training session so I always said no please don't. Plus sometimes there are aggressive dogs who don't give the classic signs of an aggressive/wary dog, they'll just attack.

Stop my motorcycle on the shoulder, and walk over to a few feeding cows.

That sounds like a wonderfully not weird thing to do.

I love most animals but hate dogs and birds. Dogs coz I got bitten by a friends dog many years ago and I hare it when they bark and bird coz they have horrible freaky feet.

I understand this. What I don't get are the owners who apologize profusely for their dogs' enthusiastic greetings.

Aggressive dogs who just attack don't give the signs of a friendly dog either.

Yeah, I don't get that either. I was over at someone's house a few weeks ago and they had a hyper active puppy and they kept him in the kitchen even though they know I love dogs because they didn't want him to disturb me. I love getting slobbered on by crazy dogs.


True, but they can still be harder to read than your average dog.

I volunteer for my local animal shelter where I get to pet several cats and dogs. Fortunately, it's supported by the humane society. Though, if you have pets at home you'll want to wash your clothes before petting them because there are upper respiratory problems and other contagious illnesses that spread among the animals.

I think they're scared. A lot of people see enthusiasm in dogs as aggressive and will react very negatively towards the owners, yelling at them that they need to control the dogs better. Some of my family that owns dogs react the same way since a lot of people where they live aren't used to dogs. The owners are probably just worried you're one of those people who are gonna yell at them as soon as the dog acts excited.