[nagdu] How do any of you deal with small children wanting to touch your guide dog

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Brittney,

Hope!  As Buddy said, your dog; your rules.  You were polite.  The mother
was rude.

I wish I had some helpful tips for situations like that, but sorry.  /smile/
Sounds like you were polite and firm and got the message across that the kid
was not welcome to touch the dog.  That's the best you can do.  If your
policy is firmly no-petting, then that is what keeps you and your dog safe
and working together well as a team.  And that is what matters.

Welcome to the list.  I haven't seen your name before.  It's a good question
you ask, since it's something we all face, and you never know how people are
going to react.  I've been accused of abusing my dog by not letting some
fool woman pet her in the middle of a crowded coffee shop or some such where
people were moving about and there was not room and we were both likely to
have hot coffee spilled on us...  I figured it was preferrable that my dog
remain neglected an untouched so that she could do her best to make sure she
wasn't scalded.  Or tripped over.  Or stepped on.  The dog seemed to agree
with me on all points.  /smile/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Brittney N. Mejico
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2011 6:30 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] How do any of you deal with small children wanting to touch
your guide dog

Hi everyone,
The other day this lady got mad at me for not letting her 4 year old touch
my guide dog.  I kind of felt bad afterwards, do you think It was rong for
me to tell her no?  I tried to be as polite as Possible.  Do any of you have
any tips on what I should next time that happens again.