As dog-friendly a place Berkeley is, Caper & I have been berated several times already simply for staring at squirrels. Not even chasing them! (I restrain him until he's broken out of his trance). First time we were passing within 40-ish feet of a tree where an old lady was feeding squirrels. Caper suddenly fixates and lunges, and I hold him back and try to pull him away. The old woman immediately procedes to vomit a barrage of insults in my direction, telling me to get out of there! I was so infuriated I had half mind to pretend I couldn't hear her and come closer. Another instance involved a couple calling Caper aggressive and taunting him as I tried dragging him away from the squirrel.

Has anyone had this happen to them or has any advice about this?

To be fair though, the rest of the comments he gets are about how beautiful and friendly he is once they meet him, and these compose the majority of our meetings with passersby.

Honestly there's not a lot you can do about people who have no idea how dogs function mentally

You can't really do anything about people being rude. But you can try to work on the "leave it" command with him so he doesn't have such a strong reaction to squirrels while on a leash.

That is one of the dumbest things I've heard lately. What did he do emotionally traumatize the squirrel? Does it need therapy now? Is it afraid to go eat nuts or bread crumbs? Is it afraid to come out of the tree? Aw, poor little innocent, defenseless squirrel stuck high up in a tree with no one to help keep that scary dog away. Oh right, except a really really tall tree... I would have said something to the effect of "I'm pretty sure your little squirrel friends are okay. My dog has been de-treed. I had his ability to climb trees removed." Followed by a passive aggressive smile and laugh.

Yesterday there were kids outside my building with a little lemonade stand and their baby sitter. They had to be between 4-7 and the baby sitter was probably 14 or 15. So the kids are petting and asking questions about Dizzy and this older guy with an empty hand truck goes by and says something really rude about us 'taking up the entire sidewalk' (mind you the sidewalk on our street is at least 10' wide) we were probably taking up about half actually. So I turn to the baby sitter while he was still within earshot and said, "Well I guess adorable children and puppies can really ruin your day." The baby sitter burst out laughing and because she was laughing all the kids started laughing. It actually kinda made my day.

People suck, that's why I love my dog so much.

at Jen. Some people are just completely rude. Squirrels are nothing but big tree rats. They cause all kinds of damage in my neighborhood. My neighbors would probably love it if I let Lucian go and take care of them, lol. They get into people's flower gardens, mine included and eat any bulb type flower you have. Plus they leave little craters through the whole thing. Far as I'm concerned they are a pest.

Maybe offer a groupon deal on acupuncture for the squirrel. A good session could help destress him. Just make sure the acupuncturist has had a rabies shot and something for the plague as well, just in case.

ok..ok now here me out here, what if...now...what if you dressed like a squirrel?

This would keep his focus on you at all times because you are bigger than all the other squirrels he has ever seen. Now he may chew on you a bit but I think you will be fine...ish.

BAM IDEA!

That has got to be the stupidest thing I've heard. Jen hit it right on the nail though honestly I would just say some snarky comment back to them. Lately I've had MORE than my fair share of rude people and all you can do is laugh it off.

I think its the hot weather, when I went out to get lunch, some guy on a bike shouted at me and called me an a$$hole for crossing in the crosswalk on a green light! I shouted back and asked him if he was color blind because my light was green and his was red. 3 or 4 people near me snickered, I was happy to entertain them. That's New York in the summer. Lots of annoyed, tired, sweaty people that don't give a crap if they offend somebody. At least those of us who can't escape to our breezy summer houses.

wpskier222 wrote:

I think its the hot weather, when I went out to get lunch, some guy on a bike shouted at me and called me an a$$hole for crossing in the crosswalk on a green light! I shouted back and asked him if he was color blind because my light was green and his was red. 3 or 4 people near me snickered, I was happy to entertain them. That's New York in the summer. Lots of annoyed, tired, sweaty people that don't give a crap if they offend somebody. At least those of us who can't escape to our breezy summer houses.

The latest one that annoyed me was when I was out with Link around 10pm with my walking belt, mind you I go out at 10pm SIMPLY TO avoid these pathetic excuses of human existence, when a guy yelled at of his truck window that 'you need to control your dog ma'am!' I'm still dumbfounded and wondering how in the world this guy thought I wasn't controlling Link when we were jogging down the SIDEWALK, and he was hooked up to my walking belt? Another car honked at me when it saw me and Link out, no idea the reasoning. People piss me off.

People suck.

The heat is getting to people!

Pippa and I were biking the other day, she was on the right side of the bike, away from everyone and some woman on the other side of the trail YANKED her kid off of the path and let out a big "UGH!"

I was as far away from her as I could possibly be, and Pippa didn't even look at her. People are just CRAZY.

Well, you were on HER trail... Didn't you know?

wpskier222 wrote:

Well, you were on HER trail... Didn't you know?

Totally Katie's fault.. why didn't you like take your dog, I don't know, in the forest or something? That makes more sense.

Today humanity redeemed itself for me though. I went to a drive through and I rolled up, Yuki in the passenger seat Link and Cloud in the back seat, and five or six girls started squealing and exclaiming how cute they were and commenting on the blue eyes and how adorable the little white one was. Yuki suddenly hopped on my lap and hung her paws over the car and rather than jumping away, they just started getting more excited and then they pet Yuki and I was like WIN. I was afraid with all these negative people my dogs would start hating people xD Which I wouldn't blame them if they did, I hate people too...

I'm lucky living in the city that Dizzy meets new people and dogs every single time we go out for a pee or a walk. He loves everybody, and is kind of famous in our neighborhood. People I don't know or remember comment how big he's getting, or how pretty, or they tell me he's friends with their dog (we have a walker). They ask me how he is, how many teeth he's lost, if he hates the hot weather, etc. I can't tell you how many people I've met since getting him that would have never spoken to me otherwise. I have also been hit on at least twice a week while walking him since bringing him home. Once by a woman, telling me I have the prettiest blue eyes and doesn't anyone ever tell me that. Thankfully the negative ones are few and far between, and are more amusing than anything else. Now that he's a little bigger, I don't get nearly as much advice either, thank God. I was so tired of hearing, "you really should" or "you really shouldn't" Although a few days ago I did get into a bit of an argument with a guy telling me that Dizzy was going to weigh 100 lbs because his feet are so big. So, he works in the neighborhood and we made a bet ($5) that when Dizzy was a year old, we would take a scale and weigh him on the sidewalk. We did an over/under, I got 60 and below, he got anything over 60. He kept saying "we'll see." Yes. Yes we will.

Hahaha you guys are a riot! Well the first time I was thinking "What a bitter old woman!" But the second time I started wondering whether there was some unspoken rule/etiquette that I was unaware of. I'm glad to know that the problem here was my lack of exposure to rude people!

xredrainx wrote:

ok..ok now here me out here, what if...now...what if you dressed like a squirrel?  

This would keep his focus on you at all times because you are bigger than all the other squirrels he has ever seen.  Now he may chew on you a bit but I think you will be fine...ish.  

BAM IDEA!

ROFL OMG I love it!

Who the F#$* feeds squirrels?! Like someone mentioned big furry tree rats.
This old hag would have a field day with my grandpa. He sits out on his patio with his "Squirrel Gun" and shots them if they get near his bird feeder.

Super Nova wrote:

ROFL OMG I love it!

Who the F#$* feeds squirrels?! Like someone mentioned big furry tree rats.
This old hag would have a field day with my grandpa. He sits out on his patio with his "Squirrel Gun" and shots them if they get near his bird feeder.

Hahaha.

We have plenty of people around here that shoot and EAT squirrel. It's totally gross if you ask me. Oh, southern living.

As far as I'm concerned they're annoying disease carrying tree rats. Though they can be cute.

But yeah people are totally stupid. Thankfully I haven't had too many people tell me anything about my dog other than how pretty and sweet he is when he goes up to them and gives them kisses.