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So who is responsible for that education? MY mother taught me to go up to strange dogs (along with looking both ways before crossing a street, not to walk along railway tracks, don't play on thin ice, etc., etc.) To me ignorance of common sense is not an excuse to excuse people from their "not so smart" decisions. We are of a society that we are always looking to blame our stupidity on others.
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I agree that common sense is a huge factor here. Sadly, not everyone displays it, even I have been at fault for that. (I have huge ugly scars on my right hand due to riding an inner tube made for water down a gravel hill.
Yeah. I know.)
Who is responsible? IMO it's *us* as the dog owner. If someone does not know how to approach a dog properly, I always tell the parent or the adult what to do with my dogs and how to do it, especially as an owner of two rather large protective male breeds. I cannot count how many times people have attempted to pet Vali (half deaf) without asking me first. Sure, he looks cute and friendly with his floppy ears; but if startled? Watch out.
Basically we can't expect that someone is going to understand the rules of approaching our dogs. And if they don't, we have the responsibility to educate them, right there on the spot - to avoid any incidents like this.