"Yes, people are idiots and they insist on petting a dog that the owner has clearly stated to wait. I would stop people before they get close and let the pup go to them and tell them to not look, touch or talk to her until you give the ok that she is in training."
Exactly. ^^^
"...but remember, they arent meant to be welcoming to strangers. their job is to protect their family, and thats exactly what she is doing, and as long as she isnt snapping or trying to bite someone, her not letting a stranger pet her is ok."
100% Agree. ^^^
My CC also dislikes strangers, and is not fond of meeting new people either. However, the Cane Corso typically is NOT a social butterfly type of dog. They naturally tend to find all strangers suspicious, and will stay aloof at best. Although it is possible to properly socialize them to be accepting of people you okayed, as far a respecting them that will depend on the individual person in question. Honestly, it never occurred to me how ignorant the general public is about dogs, dog behavior and signals, until it came to having my CC interact with others. People seem clueless, even people who claim they know dogs. Considering that CC's are so particular in their behavior, have unique personality and drive tendencies, I always limit and supervise all interactions between him and others. And frankly, I DO NOT want random strangers coming up to us and petting my dog. No thanks.
As far as my friends and family, well, when first meeting him they are told to basically ignore the dog initially, and 'no touch', 'no talk' and 'no eye contact'. Yes, even looking Luther in the eyes makes him react to the person. And attempting to pet him within a minute of meeting him, (even if he comes by to check out the person in question), still is not a guarantee that he won't snap at them, he might as he has before, so I basically tell everybody to 'keep your hands to yourself'. IMO it's disrespectful to a dog to be handled by strangers he just met, just because he is a dog I am not going to force him to interact with people he does not want to. Plus, he is a working guard dog and my companion, not a toy. I understand him, he's staunchly protective of his territory and his “pack†(immediate family) and he does not readily accept new members without a significant “warming up/getting to know you†period. And neither do I, but that's just me.
Also, personally I would NOT take my CC to a dog park, way too many irresponsible dog owners and unbalanced dogs running around unsupervised out there. That's just asking for trouble.