I take my consent from the dog. You’re its caretaker, friend, and family. None of that means the dog’s incompetent to decide and communicate desire to be touched.
edit: I should be more clear. I ask for permission from the owner. I say “Can I say hi to your dog?”
Then I say hi by putting my hand out to smell. Then if the dog wants a pet, I’ll pet the dog.
Permission to approach from the owner, but consent to pet from the dog.
And while not explicitly stated in those exact terms, that's probably EXACTLY what this sign is for. But they probably cover their legal bases if they say sll dogs, in case a non-service dog bites them. Then the airport has a sign "What did we JUST say???"
I work at a different airport, and while I can't say I've ever seen a dog attack someone, I CAN say I've seen people get so drunk that they take off all their clothes at the bar. Then get arrested for "singing kareoke onstage". Except there's a few key pieces of information. First off, they had no stage. She was just naked singing while standing on top of the bar. Like it was coyote ugly. Also, the bar didn't have a kareoke machine, it had a keno display. And there wasn't even any music playing. She just got up on the bar naked and starts a drunk rendition of "allstar" followed by most of "walking on the sun" by smash mouth before the cops showed up and arrested her. Bonus points to the cops for letting her get off the bartop on her own. She used a bar chair to get down, and the top of the chair swivels. So she fucks it up, the chair swivels, and she eats the ground HARD. Like.....pretty sure she had a concussion after that. She was definately bleeding from the back of her head. As someone who has a lot of downtime, and just people watches, that was definately my favorite day for people watching.
Entertaining story aside, my point is.....people are dumbasses. She never got to the point to even try to board the plane, but I assure you, she would have been denied. And she's not alone. Most people keep their clothes on, but a LOT of people (looking at you, spirit, and frontier passengers) drink WAAAAAAAY too much.
So I could fully see a situation where a drunk guy insists on petting a dog that doesn't want to be touched by a drunk guy. I could then understand why a dog would then bite him. And now we understand this sign.
It’s probably for bomb sniffing dogs, I’ve seen those at JFK and LAX along with those signs in the past. Like right near the cordoned off walkway they have set up for them to walk near everyone in line.
AFAIK they don’t use those in airports, at least not in the domestic flight area. I could see it being used at customs or something, although I think even in customs they usually have dogs sniffing for agricultural concerns like plants and seeds rather than drugs. The dogs you see near security theater checkpoints screening areas are all bomb sniffing dogs AFAIK.
Don't pet dogs that are on duty, you're either gonna distract them from their jobs and dat makadem sad, or they're trained as serious doggo security and you'll be risking getting chomped
Obviously don't pet service dogs. Just to be clear. This photo was intentionally photoshopped to make it appear as though the airport was saying "Travel Advisory: when traveling don't pet dogs". As in, when in the UK never touch a dog. I thought it was funny/cutesy. I didn't intend on sparking a big debate about the ethics of petting dogs or the rules about service dogs.
Don't touch service dogs.
Pet dogs if you know them or are introduced to them.
I've been through enough airports with that doggo profile and a similar message I hadn't considered the possibility it wasn't some new way TSA was printing their "don't pet the service dogs" poster.
I want to look and smile that the good boi, but I must look ahead and ignore him, because he is at work. Also because I have indica gummies on me so I can sleep on the plane. So I need to play it cool.
Yesterday two people got on the bus with two golden retrievers with obviously fake service dog vests on, who clearly had zero idea of what being a service dog meant. They immediately piled on each other and began gleefully humping each other, and then stuck their heads in people's laps and demanded a pet. I see a lot more fake service dog vests lately and it's often hilarious how not a service dog the dog is.