furever_pit wrote:I think whether or not you work on it has a lot to do with the individual dog, your goals for the dog, the dog's age, and it's training and developmental phase.
Well, let me relate this story: Last weekend I stayed in a hotel with Riggs, Matt and Earl. The elevator doors opened at our floor and a family started to get into the elevator as Matt and Earl stepped off. I tried to make it past them with Riggs. The young girl, probably about 5 years old, screeched "
A Pit Bull" and launched herself at him to pet him. Her parents just stood there, I was horrified and kept moving. Wanting to scream at the parents to keep their damn kid under control, wanting to tell the girl how great it was that she knew what Pit Bulls were, but that she couldn't pet
this one, and wanting Riggs to continue to try to sniff Earl's butt. Hell, I would have let him try to have a taste test at that moment, if for no other reason to than to keep his mind off of a strange kid mauling him from behind.
Though our work with kids is sporadic, having a dog that
can't deal with them is just plain dangerous. And since I own one, I can say that with just a "bit" of experience. There was a time that her simple presence at the doors of the elevator would have caused an immediate negative reaction from him. And her touching him? I shudder to think.
You can not control all situations, and people do
really stupid stuff around dogs. They let their kids do even
dumber stuff. I've had kids run up to Ruby in parking lots out of nowhere, no parent in immediate evidence. People are idiots, but that won't excuse a disaster.