Dogs, Tourists and Children

Today was a glorious Bank Holiday Monday. The sun was out, and so were the crowds. Zorra and I went out for a walk, as did thousands of other dogs and their owners. Parks, especially those in London, are shared spaces. This means that even though we would love to let our dogs race around in wide open spaces with only the buildings poking over the trees to remind us that we are not in the wilds of Devon, we are instead affronted with thousands of locals and tourists of all ages.

I can say from personal experience that not all picnic goers are thrilled by the addition of a large, happy, bouncing dog to their party. Some people are genuinely pleased to have a dog say hello, but it is particularly important to keep an eye on the faces of the people that your dog is approaching. Recall is so important when there are crowds.

Children are a completely mixed bag when it comes to dogs. Today Zorra induced three very different reactions from children in the park. Several recoiled and shrinked away at the mere sight of a big black dog. When I was a child I never understood those types of kids, but as long as your dog ignores them as Zorra did you can move on without incident. If your dog tries to approach these kids DO NOT let them! You could cause the child to become even more afraid, and remember that scared children often come with over-protective parents. Another reaction was scared children with parents who desperately wanted the kids to say hi to the dog. This is a tricky situation, and it really depends on the temperament of your dog. If you have a very calm, steady dog who will just sit there as the child decides if they want to approach then fine, but if your dog will react at all it is probably best to just move on. It is not your job to get someone else's kid to love dogs.

The third reaction from a child that Zorra caused today was particularly funny. While we were playing fetch a small girl, not even 2 years old, slowly toddled over from where her family was having a picnic. I could see her coming, so I stopped playing and told Zorra to lie down. The girl reached us around the same time that her father saw and sprinted over. She desperately wanted to pet the dog, but at the same time she did not want to relinquish the sandwich she was clutching. This was a predicament, because Zorra was starting to eye up the sandwich. She would never snatch it from someone, but I was still worried as this was a very small child. The father tried to take the sandwich from the girl, but she cried so he gave it back. Then she did something very surprising, this tiny little girl offered her sandwich to a dog that was three times her size. Zorra obviously took it, then ran away and the girl started to cry. I had to wonder if the girl was crying because of the loss of the sandwich or the absence of the dog. Either way, this was the kind of kid that I could relate to.