We all like to have our personal space respected, yes? We wouldn’t like and/or wouldn’t tolerate random people rushing up to say hi and/or hugging us, so why should dogs have to endure this? is the question that needs to be asked, ALL dogs should have their personal space respected, they should be able to go on walks without being rushed by unknown dogs and/or people, this is especially important when they are on lead and concerning off lead dogs approaching, never allow an off lead dog to approach an on lead dog. Some Dogs find some or all of the above even more distressing than others for varying reasons, so can their owners!
In the very beginning we followed on from the yellow ribbon campaign in Australia that had the idea for dogs in their training club to wear a yellow ribbon if their dog required more space while training
Very quickly we realised that a yellow ribbon alone was NOT a clear/visible enough sign to the rest of the world, it needed to be more obvious to those who did not know what a yellow ribbon on a dog meant ……….
so we created the Space Vest.
We initially went with I NEED SPACE but found this was confusing to some people, so we evolved to something way more obvious, something that did what it said on the tin, so to speak, and we changed the wording to
GIVE MY DOG SPACE and IGNORE ME DOG IN TRAINING
The aim of the Space Dogs Campaign is to have a visible sign that yellow signifies that some dogs would appreciate a little more space, this can mean from both dogs and/or people, A Space Vest is adorned by the dog and/or a yellow ribbon is worn on the lead to signify this.
It is a training tool to ASK the world ‘can we have a little more space please? while we work on stuff’
Profits from sales, our fundraising & Yellow Ribbon Trainers scheme (our trainers are fully vetted for methods of training and ethics) are be distributed to rescue centres and dog charities. Space Dogs is NOT affiliated/connected with any other Yellow Ribbon Campaign. Only sales of Space Dogs Official merchandise raises money that is donated to dog rescues, we are proud to be the first & only YR Campaign that does this. Space Vests available on our shop page http://spacedogs.org.uk/wp/?page_id=91
If you want to know more about how someone got involved with the campaign this is a brilliant read http://lothloriendogservices.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/space-seekers/
