try walking around in your dog's shoes for a bit, they might be a bit small, but it'll be worth it...

Imagine the scenario: You see some friends walking towards you and they're with someone you don't know. This someone looks interesting/cute/unusual so you go up to say hi to them. But as you get nearer and extend your hand in greeting they start backing away from you - at first they're quietly saying "I'm warning you, don't get any closer...." but you don't notice because at that exact moment you look over to your friends and say "Who is this? They're so interesting/cute/unusual...." By the time you look back towards the person you're trying to greet they've started shouting at the top of their lungs "GET AWAY FROM ME!!! DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME THE FIRST TIME??!! JUST BACK OFF, I MEAN IT NOW - GET AWAY!!!!" You don't understand because, hey, you're a nice person, don't they realize that? "It's ok" you say as you keep advancing on them, "I just want to say hi...." By now the panicked person has lost all control and before you know what's happened to you they've punched you in the face.

Seems like kind of a ridiculous scenario doesn't it? I mean, who amongst us would keep advancing on another person, that we didn't know, while they were shouting at us to get away? Some of us would've noticed the person muttering "I'm warning you, don't get any closer...." and thought to ourselves "No problem pal, I don't intend to!" And if we had missed that sign we most definitely would've backed off when confronted with a hysterical shouting person, right? Yet time and again folks DON'T show dogs the same courtesy - I walked by a situation involving a guy trying to say "hi" to his friend's new dog and it was basically identical to the one related above - only difference is that the dog DIDN'T bite - this time.... Next time though, the person saying "hi" might not be so lucky... Moral of the story? Folks need to try walking around in a dog's shoes and see things from the critter's perspective. Owners need to advocate for their dogs and recognize when they're uncomfortable/anxious/scared and then endeavor to get them out of that situation ASAP. It's perfectly ok to say "Sorry I don't think my dog wants to say "hi" right now...." And while we're dreaming of utopias, wouldn't it be great if the general populace could become well versed enough in basic dog body language to be able to recognize when a dog doesn't particularly want to say "hi" to them? Hey a gal can dream, right?