{"id":6294,"date":"2025-12-15T11:20:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T16:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/?p=6294"},"modified":"2025-12-15T11:22:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T16:22:00","slug":"should-i-let-strangers-pet-my-puppy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/?p=6294","title":{"rendered":"SHOULD I LET STRANGERS PET MY PUPPY?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>BY:  PAWS &amp; LEARN TRAINING CENTER<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I used to be embarrassed to refuse when a stranger asked to pet my puppy &#8212; not anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If someone asked to touch my expensive bag, I\u2019d probably say no without thinking twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But when strangers asked to pet my dog\u2014an actual living being with feelings and preferences\u2014I\u2019d say yes. Every.  Single.  Time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I didn\u2019t think about whether my dog wanted it. Whether it was good for him. Whether he felt safe. I just said yes because I didn\u2019t want to seem rude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I\u2019m guessing I\u2019m not alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It wasn\u2019t until I started training hundreds of puppies every year\u2014puppies with different personalities, some confident, some shy, some reserved\u2014that I realized:<strong> my dog needed me to be his advocate<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because here\u2019s the thing\u2014your dog can\u2019t say no for themselves. And if they get to the point where they have to advocate for themselves? It\u2019s probably going to look like growling, snapping, lunging, or barking. The exact behaviors we\u2019re trying to avoid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some puppies are resilient. Some bounce back from everything. But others? They\u2019re sensitive. Watchful. They need you to create boundaries for them while they\u2019re learning to navigate the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And honestly? <strong>Learning to advocate for my dogs changed me as a person.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It taught me how to say no. How to set boundaries\u2014not just for my dogs, but in my own life. It made me less of a people pleaser and more of a protector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So here\u2019s my challenge: Start advocating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s okay to say, \u201cSorry, he\u2019s in training.\u201d It\u2019s okay to say, \u201cNot today, thanks.\u201d It\u2019s okay to protect your dog\u2019s space, their nervous system, their sense of safety\u2014even if it feels awkward at first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your dog is counting on you to speak up when they can\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This matters for many dogs\u2014not all\u2014but if your dog is struggling? Maybe they need you to stand up for them first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BY: PAWS &amp; LEARN TRAINING CENTER I used to be embarrassed to refuse when a stranger asked to pet my[&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[570,558,572,573,569,267,571,402,8,99],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6294"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6294"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6298,"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6294\/revisions\/6298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}