# Do you bother to educate the public?



## Lyn Chen (Jun 19, 2006)

Just skimming through some Youtube bitework vids, you notice a lot of people commenting the same old things...you're abusing the dog, you're hitting the dog, why are you teaching it to bite, and so on. I wonder, for those who've been confronted with this kind of behaviour either online or in real life, do you bother to educate people and if you have do you find it's usually a lost cause? 

Recently we were "caught" doing prey work with a young pup in a park (to be fair we thought the area was secluded, and I didn't think it was a big deal since the dog was small and cute and the sleeve was slipped a lot...ergo it wasn't real bitework). Of course later on I found out the guy who saw us was concerned because his cat was attacked and he saw us (at first he didn't recognize me and thought he was telling me about some other people, I immediately admitted that it was us) teaching a dog to "bite some mitt thing". This was right after assuring me he knew my older dog didn't attack his cat, since we've been seen around the area doing a load of ob and while he was speaking my dog was in a down-stay a few feet away and wasn't moving. I told him politely, because it was the simplest thing I could, that it wasn't what he thought...we were only building the pup's confidence. Don't know what he thought after that because he immediately changed the conversation to his cat, but I hope I left him with a better impression, especially with my older dog's impeccable obedience. I'm still pissed at myself for slipping, but I wonder if he would have listened had I attempted to explain more. 

Anyway...what are your experiences on this subject?


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## Mike Schoonbrood (Mar 27, 2006)

I've only had to explain anything three times. Once, Patrick Murray and I were working in an industrial parking lot after dark and a couple came to see what all the racket was. Apparently the winds that night carried the barking and our screaming over to their block. We took some time to explain it to them and let them meet the dogs and they were fine with it. Apparently the woman was involved in rescue or animal rights or one of those things that makes people more weary of animal abuse.

Another time it was a deputy sheriff coming to see why Patrick and I were hanging out in an industrial parking lot. We explained it and she said OK cool.

And the 3rd time was behind one of those buildings where if you see a bunch of people, you're gonna think they're wanting to break in. I dont think it was a bank, maybe a pharmaceuticals company, I forget. We had a group of 5 people tracking in a big grass field in the back at 6am and a deputy came by to check our ID's and make sure we weren't up to no good.

Other than that... people don't really ask me anything. Especially not here, the first thing people ask me is if I train my dogs to bite :lol:


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

As you can imagine, public relations are a priority with law enforcement. Yes, we make every attempt to educate the public in what we do in the canine arena. There are people out there that still believe drug dogs have to be addicted, we feed gunpowder to a dog to make them mean and the only way to gain control over a dog is beat them into submission. We take every opportunity to educate when we can. 

DFrost


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## Ian Forbes (Oct 13, 2006)

David Frost said:


> There are people out there that still believe drug dogs have to be addicted, we feed gunpowder to a dog to make them mean and the only way to gain control over a dog is beat them into submission. We take every opportunity to educate when we can.


Are you saying these things are not true??? 


:mrgreen: 

Trying to educate the average person in the UK as to why you would teach bitework to a Rottweiler is more than I can handle. I do chat about it with more dog savvy people, but even some of them don't get it....


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## Mike Schoonbrood (Mar 27, 2006)

Damnit and here I am sitting on a stash of coke and heroin hoping to teach my dogs to sniff out drugs for personal gain.

So if that's not how its done, then how DO you do it!?!?


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## Frank Smego (Feb 29, 2008)

I own a Rottweiler....It seems like ALL I do with my dog involved educating the public. :mrgreen: 

That, and hearing about everyone's Brother's, friend's, uncle's, co-worker's, boss's, daughter's, husband's father that has a 300# Rottweiler without a gram of fat on him that ate Lyn Chen's neighbor's cat ](*,)


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Mike Schoonbrood said:


> Damnit and here I am sitting on a stash of coke and heroin hoping to teach my dogs to sniff out drugs for personal gain.
> 
> So if that's not how its done, then how DO you do it!?!?


Well, ok, ok, we really do get them addicted, we just don't want people knowing that. So please don't tell anyone.

DFrost


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## Betty Mathena (Apr 19, 2006)

If someone appears open minded I will educate them until they flee....Otherwise I just tell them to go away.


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## Kadi Thingvall (Jan 22, 2007)

I'm with Betty  If it's obvious it's not going to do any good, and they just want a confrontation, I'll tell them to leave then ignore them. I've met a few real wack jobs over the years. If they appear open minded, I'm will to talk to them, let them meet the dogs, explain what we are doing, etc.


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## Michelle Reusser (Mar 29, 2008)

I train in public all of the time. Sometimes I get people interested or asking "is that a cop dog"? As simple "no" usually suffices. I see the police drive by and they smile and wave as my dogs are off leash. (I wondered a few times if they would turn around and ask me what the hell I was doing). Last night I had a guy and his son working on a broke down car, watching me just play with my dogs. The son climbed up on the car to see over the other cars in the parking lot. I could hear him giggling and carrying on about my dog but rarely do people actaully approach me. (Wonder why"?) :twisted: 94lb dog offleash...usually the ones that appraoch are kids too dumb to see danger, just curious and wanting to pet the dogs. (I should be asking "where are your parents"?) :-k I can't recall any negative feedback. Some funny stuff (dumb questions) "are those dogs litter mates"? Yea sure, whatever your heart desires, one was a tiny Malinios and the other my black and red GSD. Try to get the ******** around here, just to say Malinios correct, to crown a winner. I must be lucky though, at least I don't get the ones calling them vicious. (Not to my face anyway)


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## Lynsey Fuegner (Apr 11, 2007)

Michelle Kehoe said:


> Some funny stuff (dumb questions) "are those dogs litter mates"? Yea sure, whatever your heart desires,


yeah I've had people on my street ask me if Aridan (my bi-colored female shepherd) is Jack's (my red and white APBT) mom on more than one occasion...For as long as I can remember training with my club there has only been one negative reaction from a spectator (which happened last saturday and that was an interesting situation to begin with) but usual if we are training and someone stumbles towards the field or training area at least one (if not a few) members of the club go say hello, answer any questions the people may have, invite them to watch, etc. and then (especially after, or if they have only seen the bitework) we bring out a dog for social time to emphasize our dogs are not killers. For the most part this goes off without a hitch!


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## Eros Kopliku (Jan 30, 2008)

Kadi Thingvall said:


> I'm with Betty  If it's obvious it's not going to do any good, and they just want a confrontation, I'll tell them to leave then ignore them. *I've met a few real wack jobs over the years.* If they appear open minded, I'm will to talk to them, let them meet the dogs, explain what we are doing, etc.


Wack-jobs is an accurate term. In a business trip, one of the ladies I delt with had some pictures of tiny, toy dogs all around her desk. Naturally, I asked her about them and found that one her dogs had been killed by a Rottweiler who broke the leash and attacked. She was pretty adamant that such breeds should be banned and was genuinly concerned that I own a GSD. Once I mentioned my dog, her mood changed and she did not hide her distrust for anything that I said.


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## Guest (Apr 18, 2008)

The worst malevolance I've run into is some guy at the train station giving me a very wide berth. Maybe he thought the dog was narcotics trained or something.

On the contrary, what's not unusual is people literally stopping traffic in their cars to roll down their windows to admire him and ask questions.

I've yet to run into open hostility anywhere, even about the prong collar. 

Where do you people find these hostile folk??

Err....actually. I take that back. The dog must have been 16 weeks maybe. Ears still having a little hard time staying up. I was letting him run around on a drag line, since I could still outrun him at this point. He sees this old, and I mean OLD man riding a bike. He makes a puppy bee-line for him. I don't know what the deal was, but this decrepit old creature who had previously been going JUST fast enough to keep the bike upright, stood up on the bike and pedaled like Lance ****ing Armstrong, and got the hell away from the....puppy....?.

????


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## John Andrews (Apr 3, 2008)

Nope - I tell them to mind their own business. If it's a LEO, we talk dogs, no problems.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Same club as Lynsey here. Our club and/or one other has been training at this site (public park) for15-16 yrs. The cops know us, the park rangers know us. 
as Lynsey commented we make every effort to answer questions from the public. 
I'm one of the folks that usually meet and greet. It doesn't take long before they are backing away from me, rolling their eyes.:lol:


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## Mike Scheiber (Feb 17, 2008)

I've been training Schutzhund almost 15yrs and most of the friends that know me including family still don't know what I'm doing with my dogs. One of my wife's friends asked if she ever thought that I mite have some thing going on the side since I was always off training my dog.:-k


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## Frank Smego (Feb 29, 2008)

No arguement that it's your right to not be involuved with the public.

The same public that votes on things like DOG BANS. The same public that will get educated by Media hype & PETAphiles.

It's in the best interest iof all dog owners to educate the public and if any one segment would bennifit the most it's the working dog owners. Just something to think about before you get crankie with the next member of the uneducated masses.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

I was manning the therapy dog booth today at the vet school open house with Lily and Fawkes and the two most common questions were "is it a shepherd/greyhound mix?" and "why are they so skinny?" Mini rant: just because your dog is a barrel on legs does not mean my dogs are emaciated. Last weekend, we had a spring social at one of the parks for the vet students and about a dozen students brought their dogs. 3/4 of them were overweight or downright obese. I think vets these days 1) sometimes even let their own dogs get overweight and 2) they see so many fat dogs on a daily basis, a thin, athletic dog with a BCS score of 4 out of 9 is too thin. :evil: They typically go off leash hiking at least 3-4 days a week, so yes, they are in good shape. I tell them Malinois are more built for speed like a greyhound and that sometimes clicks. 

Occasionally, if I'm playing tug and some sees me and asks me, I try to explain that it's a reward and that protection sport is still a sport like boxing or taekwondo or judo and that someone with a black belt is not really any more inclined to randomly beat someone up than someone without training, they're just more controlled. That usually clicks with people.


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## Sarah ten Bensel (Mar 16, 2008)

I educate the public when the opportunity presents itself. Sometimes it is about the breed, dogs in general, more than often it is educating people on how to approach or not approach a dog, etc..
I feel that it my obligation for owning a dog and with some exceptions, I enjoy doing so. Especially with kids who may not have a clue how to approacha dog.

I find educating other dog owners who are clueless about how their dogs behave in public to be very frustrating, and not worth my energy to engage with them.


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## Frank Smego (Feb 29, 2008)

I recieved this e-mail last night, "Hello my name is ( ______) I am very interested in a female Rottweiler puppy I have done extensive research on several breeds and find myself in need of very specific traits that only the Rottweiler breed seems to fill. This dog will not only be friend and companion but also very necessary protection for me and my infant daughter. I am looking for a puppy that is well socialized, and good with children, I live in a neighborhood with allot of children. I 'm looking for a dog that is loving and affectionate but also very protective. This will be an inside dog but I have a huge yard and I run every morning. I find myself in need of a constant companion and protector please let me know if you have a puppy that meets my needs. Thank You "

Count the Red Flags.

A perfect example of a person that will bennifit from educational enlightenment.


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