I always try to be cautious of strange dogs too. I'm not *afraid* of dogs, but I know what dogs can do. Dogs came from wolves, who were built to be predators...any dog, big or small, can do some pretty serious damage. I know a lot of people are more afraid of "big" dogs. I've met more "little" dogs who would snap at your hand then "big" dogs. Usually when people have met my dogs (before I got Nebo) they always think Smokey is a girl...and nice. They are always afraid of Reggie. Reggie's actually nicer then Smokey, although not normally to friendly to strangers at first. Ever notice that people are more afraid of boy dogs then girl dogs? I heard some kids talking about the dog behind us...it was quite amusing....they were saying how mean it was and that they hated it. Then they looked at it, and one kid said "No wait, it doesn't have that long thing! It must be a girl! Maybe it isn't mean!" lol

I have neighbor issues myself. I felt bad the other day. I was taking Nebo to go to Melissa's house to play with Lady. Since Melissa doesn't have a fenced yard, I had him on a 20 ft lead so that they can play. I was trying to unlock my car, when the kids next door (same ones who were throwing rocks at the dog behind us) said "doggy!" and came running over. It was just the girl and she had her little baby brother with her. I said "He's very hyper right now, and he will probably jump on you, so watch out!" Before I could go and hold him down so he wouldn't jump, they went up to him...he jumped on the little boy who immediately began screaming like he'd just been killed. He didn't even knock him over. They ran back into their garage and I could hear their mom just screaming at them. Stuff like "Don't go near any dogs, all dogs are mean, it could have bit him in the face! etc. etc. etc." Nebo's not mean, he's just a puppy...a jumpy, hyper, bitey puppy...