Generally round here I don't have folk avoiding me, there's the odd one who isn't sure but most of them are really cool with Dougal. Unusual for a staffy but most of the folk round here are fairly good, they know me or my OH.

Ollie is a solid black GSP, people often give him a wide berth because he gets confused with a Dobie. Suits us, the wider the better! Not that he's interested in other people..................unless they have a tennis ball.

Yes people do avoid me and mad's esp in the holidays when out with their children you hear people say "theres a dobermann coming be carefull" or the children scream at my dog whilst she walks to heel past them in the park i just like to think that as my dogs well behaved they might see her being good and think oh maybe dobies/big dogs are not all bad - you live in hope

we walked around the feild today with frankie. hes a lovely little staffie. him n ben get on well. and ben was off the lead just mooching around. and in the distance there was 2 dogs off lead playing. so i kept ben off the lead. they saw frankie the staff. and called their dogs in and put them on their leads n walked away from us ??????? er they should be more worried about ben. cause if they touch his back end he kicks off.

Yeah people often avoid Molly, as she tends to lunge forward and expects everyone who walks past to give her a fuss, it makes matters worst we have to control her with a halti so people probably think its some kind of muzzle to control her aggression when she is the exact opposite.

Whenever my friend comes over with her baby she always asks us to put her outside because she has a phobia of dogs and is extra scared after hearing all the bad stories of dogs and babies in the news. Which is probably for the best really, she wouldn't hurt her out of malice, just boistrousness.

me too, with 2 rotties...parents screaming to get their kids back to them..no wonder kids are scared with the reaction of some adults

Yes I have a few people cross over the road when walking Shadow and Fly (both collies) no idea why. I'm not being racist but I have two pakistani families in my block who avoid our 2 as much as possible, once one of the neighbours nearly knocked themselves out trying to get back in their house and once I was out in the garden both of them off lead and the other neighbour came down to get their washing, Fly cam out of the garden to get put on her lead and the neighbour bolted back into her house!!! I have explained to them that my dogs are very friendly and wont bite!! Yet all my other neighbours love them especially Shadow, one neighbour in the block has kids and their boys regularly come round to get them out to play football out the back lol

Might be a religious thing, apparently Muslims have to go through a big cleansing ritual before they can pray if they have touched a dog as they are seen as unclean. There is a Muslim saturday school near me and if I happen to be passing with the dogs it's like the parting of the Red Sea - to use a religious metaphor. Also as most children of Muslims will have been kept away from dogs there is bound to be a high incidence of fear in that community.

J

I also notice that Muslim people are very weary of dogs. Always assumed it was a religious thing, too.

I avoid 1 dog on our park which is a GSD who has badly attacked several dogs - the owner is a t**t. I have been told that he's been fined before because of his dogs. Only last week he ragged my friends old docile Boarder Terrier.

I will admit to stalking 2 boxers on my park though! They are hilarious - constantly bouncing over each other and at least once on a walk they'll be so pre-occupied with this play they'll bump into a tree. Has me in bits!
I don't ever avoid a dog other than the individual I mentioned.