A couple posts ago I wrote about service guys coming to the house to install cable tv and how because the guy was afraid of big dogs I put Charlie and Daisy out on the deck so he wouldn't crap in his pants while he was doing his work. Marjorie Darby left an interesting comment and I've been thinking about the comment since she wrote it. I consider her to be a mentor of mine, and this is a topic that she's done a lot of thinking about, and it's something that philosphically - is very interesting. Which is more important, continuing the non-dog owner's misconceptions and paranoia about dogs, trying to help educate that person about dogs by forcing them to be around your well socialized, well trained dogs, not doing anything and just pretending that you don't have any dogs and you don't bring the subject up at all - or none of the above.
I guess I chose the tack of allowing the guy to contine his paranoia about big dogs by not allowing him to meet my well socialized, well mannered dogs, but I'm going through a phase currently where I'm not in a very good mood and I don't like human beings very much - I think you are all pretty much complete assholes and you all hate dogs and you can all just go to hell as far as I'm concerned - so I'm not the best person to be educating anyone right now.
But Marjorie's idea is that she doesn't shut her dogs off for anyone - it's the person's problem if they're scared - not hers - and she deals with it on that level. Which is a very interesting idea, and one that has occurred to me about other dog-friendly things. You've got to push the limits if you ever want to get anywhere.
Read more about her ideas in the comment she left and in the web page on her fabulous web site. She's a lot smarter than me, that's for sure.
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