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one of the dangers of working at a pet store, the pets


smidey

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Prolly didn't help that most animates staff (IME) have been people who simply don't know anything about animals.

Edit: Read article, looks like I was right.

"The owner didn't do anything wrong. He had the dog properly contained on a lead and the staff member put herself into the territory of the dog," Mr Wells said.
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Prolly didn't help that most animates staff (IME) have been people who simply don't know anything about animals

Yeah I'm not likely to take out dogs there again. We had Sacha our Viszla pup in at the vets at Botany at about 10 weeks old because she had a cold and was sneezing out copious amounts of sticky green snot [lovely!] and after seeing the vet we decided to duck into the store to see if there was any dog food on special. One of the girls working there comes up to us (I was holding her) and starts rubbing her head and face and putting her face right up next to hers doing the "aww you so cute ga ga ga" kinda thing. God only knows how many other dogs she'd handled that day, or how many she touched after that, but working in an environment like that and putting your hands all over a puppy who is obviously not old enough to be fully vaccinated doesn't seem like a good idea to me!

The first thing people should know about dogs is that you don't touch them with out the owners permission, and working in a pet store certainly doesn't make you exempt from that! Hopefully Animates have learned their lesson after today and will be reminding their staff of this, Morcs/P44/Luke I'll be interested to hear what the company does as a reaction to this...

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Now let's be realistic here. Most rotties are great family pets. Some, however are not - they are owned by people who like to fight dogs or treat them badly. Now those kind of people like free stuff just as much as the families do.

What on earth possessed the GM to give the ohk for that kind of promotion?

Bring your Pomeranian in for free food = yes.

Bring your Rottweiler = no.

Shame on animates.

Prolly didn't help that most animates staff (IME) have been people who simply don't know anything about animals.

Agreed.

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Im no official spokesperson or anything...

but...

>the rottie promotion was withdrawn straight away.

>New Dog safety guidelines went out onto our intranet the same day also.

In my opinion a properly trained dog would never do such a thing. A well trained dog would growl at most and maybe look at its owner for permission before biting...

At the same time, there is a proper way to approach a dog - IMO always approach them assuming they are frightened of you - and hence chance of a bad reaction.

Im sure the company would have no issue me sharing this, the dog safety guidelines memo that went out yesterday:

Welcoming dogs and their owners into store

At _________, we openly welcome and encourage our customers to bring their pets into our stores. However, as in any situation, caution when interacting with pets is important.

Most of the dogs we meet in our stores are friendly and are happy to accept a pat or a treat from store staff HOWEVER, to keep you, pets and owners safe, please adhere to the following basic rules:

ALWAYS ask permission from an owner to pat their dog

When you have permission from the owner to pat the dog, adhere to the following basic rules:

 Ask the owner the dog’s name

 Approach the dog slowly using the dogs name e.g. ‘Hi Jack’

 Curl your fingers and extend the back of the hand towards the dog to allow it to sniff you first with the back of the hand extended.

 Allow the dog to sniff.

 Stroke the dog gently on shoulder or chest NB. Do not pat the dog on the top of the head

 Avoid making direct eye contact with the dog, as this may be interpreted as an act of aggression.

It the dog growls or indicates in any way that it is unsure of you, do not continue to try and approach.

Your safety is paramount. Always act in a way that keeps yourself and others safe.

I had my photo taken with about 5 rotties that day...

sachaownerandpetewithfr.jpg

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Bring your Rottweiler = no.

Shame on animates.

Its a promotion given to the company by the food manufacturer - there is a rottweiler specific food, and its never sold too well - i think the promotion was to get people using the food, as well as shifting short dated stock (due to it not being popular)

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Dog looks like he about to lick you to death :lol:

I think it was just a case of wrong place, wrong time. The dog was in new territory, new sights, new smells and with all the other rotties around probably a little freaked. he did what any scared animal would do. I don't fully understand how she got bitten though. It's really sad.

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Its a promotion given to the company by the food manufacturer - there is a rottweiler specific food, and its never sold too well - i think the promotion was to get people using the food, as well as shifting short dated stock (due to it not being popular)

Well I think that particular petfood company might need to have a chat to their marketing team. Not all rottweilers play nice in public.

I think partially it should be the dog owners responsibility not to bring a dog that is not stranger friendly into an environment like a huge pet retailer.

However, dangling a carrot like free petfood (and I bet it's not cheap either) of course will mean people won't be thinking rationally. "I'll just take my agressive un-socialised dog in, get the food and leave"

What a shame too, I love Rottweilers they're absolutely lovely dogs.

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Well I think that particular petfood company might need to have a chat to their marketing team. Not all rottweilers play nice in public.

I think partially it should be the dog owners responsibility not to bring a dog that is not stranger friendly into an environment like a huge pet retailer.

However, dangling a carrot like free petfood (and I bet it's not cheap either) of course will mean people won't be thinking rationally. "I'll just take my agressive un-socialised dog in, get the food and leave"

What a shame too, I love Rottweilers they're absolutely lovely dogs.

I do agree somewhat.

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Good stuff, I hope the staff adhere to it, and if they don't I'll be reminding them that they should!

Rotties are beautiful dogs, one of dads friends had one when I was a kid and I always used to play with it, and there was never any aggression. How ever, any dog [even those little designer handbag mutts] can react unpredictably when a strange person comes up and starts getting in their face....

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How ever, any dog [even those little designer handbag mutts] can react unpredictably when a strange person comes up and starts getting in their face....

I think you mean ESPECIALLY those little designer handbag mutts!! :bounce:

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hmm. David I hope they were constantly washing their hands and using that alcohol sanitizer, especially before handling a pup. bacterial transfers from an adult unhealthy dog to a puppy are unlikely but who on earth wants to take that chance huh?

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A lot of to and fro about who's right and wrong but one young lady is left with a scar that may never fully heal from a promotion her company put on involving unpredictable and potentially lethal advertising props.

I hope Animates at the very least is paying for her surgery and loss of income from this and any other job she may have.

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People are going to bring there pets into petshops regardless of what specials may be on.

It would have only been a matter of time before she, or some else was bitten. And It's not always immediately obvious when a dog is feeling uncomfortable enough to bite.

It's very sad for all parties concerned and I'm sure Animates are feeling bad enough.

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