I’d be so upset.
I have a Rottweiler and have identified two types of stupid people: those who assume my dog is aggressive and melt into hysterics on the sight of him, and those who assume both my dog and I are second-class citizens and undeserving of respect, boundaries, polite apologies, etc. Luckily, since moving to the city we live in now, we’ve encountered none of these people. In our last city, though, they were rampant. Environment sure does play a role, huh?
While my dog is good with other canines, he’s a typical Rottie and has a medium-high prey/play drive, and a strong herding instinct. Put this together and you have a dog who doesn’t “like” joggers. You’d never believe the stories I could tell.
I like the response you came up with! That was some good thinking on the spot. Another option is to say your dog is a “working dog in training” – no need to specify anything 😉 This takes you off the rude owner’s playing field and removes her ability to think of you as a “bad dog owner,” since you position yourself as a trainer and your dog as a worker in training. Thus, all the misinformed notions about ‘friendliness,’ and ‘just playing’ go out the window, leaving her pretty much defenceless in her inability to properly manage her pet.
