Random question. You invite a friend or family member over to your house for a gathering. Well actually said family member was going to host the gathering, but you wanted to host because your kids want to swim in your pool.
You got a new puppy about 6 months ago. The puppy is way different from your previous dog. The previous dog was smaller and old and rarely acknowledged guests. The new puppy is a puppy and acts like it.
Your sister asks you to put the puppy away during meal time. Your sister tells you she is afraid of larger dogs and hates when they jump on her. Do you put the puppy outside during meal time?
Absolutely. My son absolutely can’t stand dogs. He was chased by a huge dog when he was four years old. The dog just wanted to play but was few times bigger then the four years old and the childhood memory still there. My mom was bitten by the dog when she was a child Some people don’t like or afraid of dogs. If you like your guests this would not even be a question
It’s one meal. If moving the puppy is what makes the guest comfortable and this guest isn’t at my house super frequently then I’d move the puppy. I would however put it where I am comfortable! That may not be outside! It may be in a bedroom or gated in the family room or whatever.
Being afraid of dogs is a real thing. And dinner will not be pleasant for anyone if one of the guests is on edge or the puppy is acting (like a puppy) up.
I would put the puppy away while people are eating especially if the puppy gets excited and jumps on people.
I grew up with dogs and my dad trained all of our dogs and they were wonderful pets and did not jump on people. D1 and her fiance got a husky puppy 2.5 years ago and they have worked extremely hard on his training and he is an amazing dog that can go anywhere with them.
I am going to be honest and say that I don’t care to go to anyone’s home and have a dog jump on me as much as I love dogs
We always did this when our large dog was an enthusiastic overly friendly puppy. And always asked our guests if they were comfortable around dogs… otherwise she would have been kept away during the entire visit not just the meal. I feel that’s standard consideration for a host. (Assuming this is several hours vs overnight guests.)
Even when our little pooch was elderly, we had friends and relatives who were less than enthusiastic about dogs. So, we would put our dog in our bedroom where he happily slept out of the company stuff.
Or a bedroom or crate rather than outside. And not just during mealtime but anytime he’s getting underfoot. I personally don’t like visiting people with dogs unless they are well trained.
D2’s dog goes into his crate when we are eating.
I never cared for dogs until D2 got her dog. I would ask my host to put the dog in a separate room if the dog should jump on me.
Adding…dogs can be very unpredictable when there are groups of strangers in their house. And this is especially true with puppies. Even the best behaved pooches really don’t need to be underfoot if a guest feels uncomfortable.
What would the option be? Keep the dog around the guests and have them be uncomfortable? Hope they don’t come because you have the dog? Not sure I think there is another good choice if you want these folks as houseguests…new puppy dog needs a different place than the guests, in my opinion. And I love dogs!
Absolutely. It is your duty as a dog owner to make other people comfortable when around him.
In our state, it’s a law that your dog can’t approach people in public within a certain number of feet. Having the dog run up to somebody and exclaim, “Oh, he’s friendly!” is not legal.
Once we were literally on a wilderness beach when a couple wearing bike helmets showed up. ?!? They started screaming at me (not exaggerating) about our two dogs being off leash. We saw probably 10 people max at this beach all summer. Although I was annoyed at them, they were technically in the right, sigh. So now we keep our dogs on leashes until we’re sure there are no other people around, or they indicate they’re fine with dogs (which is what usually happens).
Your puppy is young enough to train to “go to spot” or to use a crate when people are over or you are eating. We have dogs that are over 100 lbs, so many people are uncomfortable around them and although they are gentle giants they are opportunistic when they think a young child might put food down within their reach (although they are not usually food stealers) and can become over exuberant when they know people are showing up for a party. We’ve always used our office as a place to contain them. All it takes is a “go to the office” and they run in there. I think we started training with putting treats in there but it just became a part of their routine they were happy to follow.
Yes, when I’m hosting guests I try to do what I can to make them comfortable. Not everyone likes dogs. We have two and one is super energetic and annoying, I often put her in another room when we have people over.
Another vote for putting the puppy away from the guests. We were just at a gathering with two very enthusiastic dogs. My H is allergic to shedding dogs, said so twice, and one of the young daughter’s of one of the guests said she was very scared of the dogs (she’s 4). The host’s adult daughter kept bringing them back onto the porch where we were all gathering. Not OK IMO.
For the record, I love dogs. I have one. He gets put upstairs when we have company even though he’s very well behaved.
We have to put our dog away when our one year old granddaughter visits because she is very afraid. Our other granddaughter (3) is crazy about dogs. We are hoping she grows out of it. A compromise might be to keep the puppy on a leash.
I would put the puppy in a different room in their crate. Not outside. There are too many things a puppy can get into outside w/o supervision. I would not do that. We crate trained our last dog and she really liked her crate. She viewed it as her den and would go in there all the time. If it was her (and she was a horribly rambunctious breed) I would have moved the crate into the bedroom or basement and put her in there. For our other previous dogs I would have put their beds in the bedroom or basement and put them in there.
But not outside. That just leads to barking and annoying the neighbors and the guests.
I think that most of the answers point to the fact that you can’t talk people out of their fear of dogs for extremely good reasons. And if not “fear” it might be “strong annoyance”. Your “friendly puppy” that BTW lives with you is not “cute and cuddly” to others. It might not be as “friendly” as you think it is. They are very territorial. Wonderful loyal friends but not universally. Dogs need training.