Comment by elvischidera | Hacker News Reader

Comment by elvischidera | Hacker News Reader

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Not sure. I will just share my own personal experience.

I live in Germany and I go to parks to freestyle with a soccer ball. My issue has always been dogs off lease interfering with my personal business. I have some balls with bite marks. I have been snubbed and sometimes gotten a rude response from owners.

I have lived in the USA also. My observation generally is that people find it weird when you say you don't like dogs/cats/etc -- almost like they are hearing it for the first time. This was a big difference from my home place.

I don't hate them, I just feel totally uncomfortable. Sometimes I feel my heart racing or I just totally freeze when I see a dog off lease nearby. (I would love to fix this: would appreciate any pointers).

Ah so that’s the sort of inconsiderate stuff I was saying I havent personally seen, but I guess it does exist here after all. So if there are people playing with something a dog might consider a “toy” (a frisbee, football etc) or having a picnic everyone I know would leash their dog unless they’re the type who are totally not into these things (some dogs are enamoured with their owners and just are not interested in the outside world). Mine wouldn’t bother anyone, he’s too interested in his own frisbee, but I do it as its just a good idea anyway

I’ve had a couple of friends who were afraid like you, where I would not bring my dog (a Vizsla - Quite energetic and very into people, so not a good idea to take him if I want those friends to feel comfortable). They started to come round to dogs generally after hanging out with friends that have smaller more docile breeds. Eventually they felt more comfortable and after shorter interactions with mine they got familiar with how the dog behaves, what motivates them, what they understand etc and slowly figure out that most are similar. So I’m not sure this is helpful, but that’s been my experience.

> I don't hate them, I just feel totally uncomfortable.

That's an interesting sentence.

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