(Part of an occasional series of blogs by Jimmydog Design’s Chief Canine Officers. In this installment, Freddie and Joey delve into walking etiquette and explain the safe and polite way for people to introduce themselves to dogs who are out enjoying their daily stroll.)

In our last blog, we wrote about how important it is for dogs and their people to take a daily walk. If there were 10 Commandments for dogs, “Take a walk” would be the very first one. (Oh, 10 Commandments for dogs. That’s a good idea for a blog! But we digress.)

Not to brag, but we are dog walk experts. We have gone on at least one walk every day for nearly our entire lives. We asked our people to help us figure out how many walks that is and it’s a big number: something like 3,800, which is way more than 4—the number of paws we each have, the number of creatures in our family pack and really the biggest number we ever needed to use before today.

Most days, we have excellent walks. But some days, things go wrong and a lot of those times the things go wrong because of people—not because people are bad but because they don’t always understand dogs, even if they are pet parents of dogs themselves.

So, we thought we’d explain some things from a dog’s perspective—’cause that’s the only one we have—that will make walks safer and more fun for everyone.

The most important thing people should remember when they come across a dog out for a walk is that not all dogs are interested in meeting new people. We know this seems weird because of the whole “man’s best friend thing,” but some dogs are shy and some are just busy doing other things. As nice as you might be, if we are in mole-vole killing mode, we aren’t interested in making friends. We have exterminating to do!

If you want to make friends with a dog, the polite—and safe—thing to do is to ask the dog’s person if it’s OK. And then you should listen for the person’s answer before you do any more things!

We, for instance, often feel shy. We like people to say “hi” to us from a distance and then we all can go about our business. It can take a long, long time before we feel comfortable having new people pet us— like a couple of years. Seriously.

If a dog’s person says “yes,” you can walk slowly toward the dog. Be calm. Don’t move too quickly or talk too loudly. Remember, we really don’t know what all those words coming out of your mouth mean. You might think you’re being nice while we might think you are a crazed dog killer. (Really, sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.)

Even if our person says it’s OK, watch us before you start petting our heads or offering us treats. If our ears are up, our heads are held high and our tails are wagging, we’re ready to mingle. If our ears are back, our fur is standing up, our tails are tucked under and our legs are stiff, we might be thinking about biting you. Hard.

This is all especially important if you are one of those younger, smaller people called children—or if you are an adult who is responsible for children.

Those younger, smaller people can be very cute and they are often covered in various crumbs and stains that are very, very tasty to dogs. But they also move erratically and sometimes screech in a way that really hurts our ears. One of our cousin dogs is terrified of all the younger, smaller people—and if those younger, smaller people happen to be playing with balls or riding on anything with wheels, he has a complete meltdown and his person has to take him home, where he has a nap to recover from the stress of it all.

So, the next time you see us at the park, give us a big wave and say “hi” and we’ll wag our tails back at you—from a distance.

Next up: The last part of our dog walking series—Dog walk etiquette—Lessons for dogs.

Yours in dogness,

Freddie & Joey