20+ dog owners share their petting pawlicy from real life situations: ‘I had one lady follow me around the park telling me that “un-pettable” dogs shouldn’t be in the park’

Howdy and good morning, animal fam. It seems like everyone and their mom has a dog nowadays. And that's great. We love that people are adding the joy of doggos to their lives. However, not all dogs come from pawfect situations and not all dogs are derpy golden retrievers that are literally bred to love you. Some of us (ourselves included) have a reactive dog - meaning that our dog reacts out of fear to certain situations. It is our job as their owners to make sure that they are safe, and the people around them are safe. That means that no, you can't always pet our dog, even if you really want to.

Yes, she is very cute, we know, but sometimes, she just doesn't want to be touched by strangers (or at all). That's fine! It's who she is. Not every dog wants that kind of attention, and it's impawtant that everyone understands that. To help you understand, we collected some responses from dog owners describing their petting pawlicies. They are both interesting and enlightening - enjoy!

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Is it r*de to ask to pet strangers dogs?

via cottonbro studios from Pexels

This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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via u/Food136
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via u/Perfect_Barracuda442
If the owner says no, it has nothing to do with you (most of the time) - maybe the dog is overstimulated, maybe they just don't like being touched in general, or maybe they don't want to distract their dog from whatever they are doing. There are a million pawssible reasons, so try not to take it pawsonally.
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via u/mtn_viewer
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via u/tmntmikey80
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via u/tmntmikey80
Paws for a moment and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for exclusively silly cat content!
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via u/alanmitch34
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via u/scrapqueen
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via u/Maude007
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via u/L1ttleMonster
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via Hemera Technologies

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via u/SchemeSquare2152
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via u/aGoodSnifff
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via u/noobpwner314
Correct, we also do not advise petting the owner without pawmission. They might not bite, but you might get a restraining order or some serious side-eye. Better to stick to the doggo. It's softer, anyway.
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via u/Organomegaly
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via u/bootyspagooti
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via u/anon_opotamus
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via u/anon_opotamus
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via Enric Cruz López from Pexels

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via u/BresciaE
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via u/BresciaE
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via u/BresciaE
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via u/theEx30
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via u/Cultural_Side_9677
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via u/Cultural_Side_9677
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