Also here only a short statement to statements at a dog topic lecture and/or also read again and again on social media channels.
“So (strangers) adults people do not play with each other and you do not talk to a stranger.” Quasi as an explanation attempt not to let dogs play with each other or contact.
I’ve looked at this issue all-around before, again, we don’t need to force contact between dogs any more than we need to frantically prevent it.
These dumb comparisons (which may really apply to completely asocial people) cannot be let loose in this unreflected form on a learning audience.
Let’s take “adult play”. Ok, maybe we have to talk about “youngsters”, but if you live in a big city like Vienna, where there are fantastic sports facilities for all imaginable sports in almost all districts and here a socially normal interaction takes place, where “strangers” can very well find their way to a common game, then I won’t want to deny this ability to dogs either.
“Foreign people do not address each other”. Ah no? So even as a typical Viennese coffee house visitor, who “wants to be alone but wants company”, as the saying goes, there will always be nice conversations.
It’s called “small talk” and it can also turn into an extended chat on a mountain hike.
Of course, I won’t “rape” anyone with an imposed “chatter”, but as a human being I can usually recognize that just as well when my counterpart doesn’t want to talk, like a dog. Of course, there are always exceptions, but to want to make a generally valid rule out of it and to say it casually, especially in the context of a lecture, is a bit violent.