Pet Etiquette
We asked, you our Etiquette Daily blog readers, what advice you have for pet etiquette. Here a selection of the best answers:
If you have guests in your home...
- And your dog is overly excited to the point of making your guests uncomfortable, put your dog in the other room/outside. -Laura
- Inform your guests beforehand that you have LARGE dogs. Some people have no problems with small dogs (less than 40 lbs) but are terrified of large dogs. This also goes for people that may have severe allergies. If they don’t know you have dogs, make sure you let them know. -Sara
If you are a guest in some else's home...
- Be smart about it. If your dog isn’t good around other dogs, don’t take him; if he is skittish around new people, don’t take him; if he is destructive, don’t take him! You should also clean up after your dog wherever you go, or at least offer if you are at someone else’s house (a good hostess will refuse, but offer anyway). -Sara
Where duty is involved...
- In some towns, it is illegal for a person to not pick up after his dog, whether the dog defecates in a public park, on a sidewalk, or in a neighbor’s yard. Check out your municipality’s codes. And while I understand we can’t control the dog’s natural urges, if the owner doesn’t “pooper scoop” the scat, then I would say that is definitely not acceptable. -Just Laura
- For # 1 (urine), don’t let your dogs use bushes, car tires, trash cans etc. Tree trunks are usually OK (unless you can tell it was just planted) and 2) for #2 (poop) ALWAYS remove it from anyone’s property or where someone might walk through it accidentally (or a adult/child might fall on it if in a park, ball field etc). Anyone taking a dog off their own property should always have a bag of some sort tucked away in their pocket. -KD
In public spaces...
- When there are clear signs on most trails that say “Clean up after your dog” and “Dogs permitted only on leash,” please adhere to these parameters.
- Be considerate of other people who may be around. Consider this situation: "My dog is protective of me. A person let there dog run off of the trail straight to my dog and myself. I said to that person, 'hey, can you call your dog please?' His answer was 'what do you want me to call him?' Not funny. Not funny at all... plus he never did call his dog off." Not everyone thinks your dog is as cool as you think your dog is. Not everyone is comfortable with a dog running up to them. -Camille
This article is comprised in part of responses by our readers to an Etiquette Daily post.
