“My dog is friendly” or “my dog is well trained!” Yeah? Mine isn’t friendly and cars don’t care if your dog is well trained. People who are scared of dogs, small children who aren’t used to them, or dogs who have issues don’t give a shit if your dog is actually very sweet. There are spaces for your dog to be off leash - use those. Otherwise, put your dog on a leash.
I hate those dog owners when their dog is running towards a kid that's about the same height as the dog. None of those assholes would remain calm when a crazy 6ft tall animal with sharp teeth is running towards them.
I’m pretty convinced these people lack the capacity for empathy. They clearly can’t take the perspective of someone who isn’t them, or else they’d be able to understand that “my dog is friendly” doesn’t mean shit to people who don’t know your dog.
« Have compassion for people with shy or reactive dogs. »
Yup, this hits the nail on the head for me. I’ve had my dog for five years now and I’m still not at peace with the fact that he’s reactive. Every day is a struggle, especially as someone who already had depression.
It’s already plenty hard enough without judgy remarks from people who have no idea what they’re taking about.
Some comments have already addressed some of the points, but depending entirely on the environment and the dogs, it's often fine for a reactive dog to react and then the other dog knows the boundaries. Often I see people considering a reactive dog as an aggressive dog or that if you encounter a reaction then this is some kind of failure of responsibility by either or both owners.
Also, while I agree entirely with the sentiment of the post, if you take your reactive dog to the park at peak times, you have to be realistic that there will be irresponsible or inexperienced owners about occasionally.
It's a little spurious to compare dogs to humans in the way it's described in this infographic.
It makes a lot of sense if dog owners keep their dogs in dog parks, where they only encounter dogs, and not childrens' parks or really any public space where they may encounter kids.
If your dog's personal space gets violated by a 2 year old and they bite the kid, then your dog deserves a swift extrajudicial death.
Animals just don't have the same rights/protections and do not deserve to ever obtain them, imo. It does not help to project human rights onto dogs in the way this infographic does.