its got to be.....perfect.

[merlina]

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My favourite is a local woman who walks in the woods with a stick. Which she brandishes if she thinks a dog is running her way. I have said- only once- she is attracting dogs with this behaviour because they think she's offering to play. Her shouted response was 'Why would I want to play with some horrible dog?' Not only is this offensive it doesn't even make sense...

 

[leashedForLife]

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I don’t know about the UK, but in the USA, dog breeds go thru fads of popularity - which often leads to the wrong breed in the hands of a novice owner, or major declines in overall health & temp, in the current Breed-of-the-Month.

Rotts & JRTs both went thru sudden phases of being “It” in the 80s / early 90s, & both breeds suffered.
Rottweiler registrations with the AKC briefly eclipsed those for Labs, which is never gonna be a good thing, IMO - folks who can’t put a fetch on a Lab, getting a guarding breed as a pet?... Hoo, boy. What could possibly go wrong, LOL?...

JRTs are vocal, snappy, & - as are most classic terrierrrists - reactive. *Shrug* It’s not criminal, it’s the nature of a varmint chasing terrier.
The breed HAD BEEN the well-kept secret of horsey folks, for decades - they knew them well, kept them busy, & taught them some manners. It was common to see a JRT guarding the horse trailer at a show, with the horses tied alongside & all the expensive riding gear in the stowage.
Then a children’s program came along, starring a sharp-looking, cute little JRT, & everyone was convinced that they were smart, biddable, friendly, would happily wear costumes, & could babysit the kids when the parents were busy. Yeah, right.
JRTs are capable of a lot of work, but they are not BORN as noble paragons of virtue.

To really put the cherry on the sundae, a few years later, Moose - a JRT who was scheduled to be euthed, due to his intractable major behavior problems - was adopted by a trainer, & after massive amounts of work, became a star in his own right on an evening-TV sitcom [‘Frasier’].

JRTs simply couldn’t be bred fast-enuf to meet demand, & shelters saw a surge in terrier surrenders - cute, yappy, mouthy, often hyperactive, untrained little monsters.
Then the AKC kidnapped the breed & the studbook, industrial-scale breeding began, pet stores suddenly sold JRTs, & the formerly healthy, sturdy, solid little dogs became a hot commodity, with the AKC stamp of approval on their papers... registering entire litters on their DOB as “purebred”, IN PLACE OF the breed club’s tough registration process, which demanded health screening, elbow tests, limits on size [upper & lower], & a breed knowledgeable judge to deem this dog, who must be AT LEAST ONE YEAR OF AGE, as “of good breed type” before s/he could be registered, or any of their potential progeny be even remotely registrable.

I watched both breeds go downhill fast. Breed fads are destructive - & have very long, lingering, bad effects.

St Bernards have never recovered from 3 separate in-breed fads, one in the late-60s / early-70s, & 2 after Disney’s “Beethoven” films. // Dalmatians similarly were badly damaged by Disney’s “101 Dalmatians”, 3 separate times; it got so bad, they were forced by the breed club to put a disclaimer on the 3rd film, which ran in the introduction, & i am SURE that not 1 person in 10 of all the viewers, bothered to *read the bl##dy notice*.


Breed fads are so frustrating - when the Obamas chose a PWD as their family pet for the White House, PWDs in their turn became “the ‘in’ breed”. There’s nothing wrong with PWDs, but they aren’t for everybody, AND —- they are an uncommon breed, with very limited active breeders...
so suddenly eejits with no understanding of them, health wise or behaviorally, were mating any 2 opp-sex PWDs they could lay hands on, with predictably sad results, & ensuing damage to the breed’s gene pool, gene diversity, behavior, etc.

Every time a rare breed wins Best in Show at Westminster in Feb, I cringe.
I know what comes next, & it’s ugly.

- terry

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[JoanneF]

My favourite is a local woman who walks in the woods with a stick. Which she brandishes if she thinks a dog is running her way.

Didn't she come on here looking for advice? If not her, someone else with exactly the same situation?

 

[leashedForLife]

QUOTE, Mad Murphy:

Talk about judgemental...
As if we dont feel bad enough.
____________________________________
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@Mad Murphy ,
did U get the impression that i was judging every owner of a reactive dog to be incompetent, lazy, or ASBO-worthy?
Or that i think anyone who owns a giant breed, or a guarding breed, needs the k9 equivalent of a concealed-carry license?
Or that i believe all owners of barky dogs should keep them at home 24 / 7, & only let them outside on their own property to void, before whisking them back indoors?...

None of those is true.
I think U work very hard to keep Murphy happy, active, & safe, & U work equally hard to keep him from causing bad feelings with neighbors or passersby. // I do empathize with owners who are struggling with their dog’s unwanted behaviors, but at the same time, YES, some owners really ought to take a hard look at their dog & themselves, & decide to either do something concrete to change the dog’s behavior [which entails changing their own, 1st], or yes... rehome the dog.

There was a fellow tenant at Marina Shores Apt complex in Va Beach, whose 125# Cane Corso bitch was an absolute menace - & she was completely incompetent to handle her, often letting her aggro dog wander at will at the extreme end of a loosely-held 6-ft long nylon leash, clipped to a buckle collar.
Exactly how she expected to restrain that powerful animal when the dog lunged at passersby, or other dogs, i do not know.

luckily, i moved away before anyone was badly bitten, but i am certain that was sheer luck; she bought the dog as a 6-MO, & the bitch turned 2-YO shortly before i moved out.
Her dog regularly threatened other ppl & their pets, & she would explain, “that’s just her breed - she’s PROTECTING ME”. // From a 7# Shih-Tzu on a leash?... Ye gods.


I am more than willing to refer owners to resources for DIY help, but i have no patience with folks who make constant excuses for their dog’s unwelcome behaviors, & don’t restrain, control, or train them, either.
YOU are obviously not one of those owners. U invest a lot of time & effort, & are in no way “to blame” for Murphy’s anxieties; he’s very lucky to have a committed & caring owner, who is responsible & thoughtful. Kudos!

- terry

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[merlina]

There was someone like that JoanneF - but more extreme I think. Was convinced she'd been 'assaulted'?

No, this is quite a mature woman who I've been aware of for a few years. People with dogs try to keep their distance from her. People without dogs try to keep their distance, as well I imagine.

 

[JoanneF]

There was someone like that JoanneF - but more extreme I think. Was convinced she'd been 'assaulted'

That's the one. I hope she got some sort of satisfactory outcome.

 

[Mad Murphy]

Well the sleeve arrived and has been attached to Murphys lead. It gives OH a bit of confidence as he sometimes lacks the social or vocal skills to tell people to back off.

I am practising my drop dead stare and my stop commands as its half term next week..
Amazing how a two year old dog is supposed to have perfect command of its emotions yet a 10 year old child can behave like an idiot and get away with it!

 

[JoanneF]

I am practising my drop dead stare

Love it! I'm going to try that and add a lip curl to show my teeth too - maybe we can learn something from canine body language!

 

[Nanny71]

Most of the children where I live know Dudley. Those who don't usually ask if they can stroke him
He loves the attention. Will go towards those he knows. I find adults more of a problem as they never ask and always try to pat his head, which he hates and will back off and try to hide behind me.
The worse was a man who just bent down and picked him up. I had to ask him to put him down.

People he knows and likes he greets with a waggy tail and body.

The sleeve should work. We have two dogs in the village that have them on their leads. Plus the two wolf dogs which are also muzzled.
Hope the warning on his lead works. Both the dog and owner deserve the freedom to enjoy a walk

 

[JudyN]

The worse was a man who just bent down and picked him up. I had to ask him to put him down.

Never mind Dudley, I think I'd have bitten him!

Mind you, I'd like to see someone try that with Jasper

I do think dog awareness should be taught in schools (and info sent home to the parents so they don't contradict it). You know, ask before approaching, ask before petting, don't leap around and squawk, dogs often don't like being stroked on the head. And simply, if you wouldn't want a stranger to come up to you and do it, don't expect a dog to appreciate it!

 

[Mad Murphy]

I do think dog awareness should be taught in schools (and info sent home to the parents so they don't contradict it). You know, ask before approaching, ask before petting, don't leap around and squawk, dogs often don't like being stroked on the head. And simply, if you wouldn't want a stranger to come up to you and do it, don't expect a dog to appreciate it!

Agreed ; My son inlaw specialises in exotics, reptiles, spiders etc. He regularly gives talks at schools here explaining about not only how to care for these animals but the types of sizes they grow to and just how long they will live , something many are not prepared for. He and my daughter lost their red knee tarantula ( Matilda) at the age of 22 last year. The talks he gives are always really well received and well attended.Normally he is happy to do something if the place involved will provide him with food and refreshments.

A little animal awareness need not cost the earth for schools, lots of students and collages would be more than happy to give talks, or maybe charities could be involved and most kids would love to have an afternoon learning about an animal rather than sat in class with a text book.

 

[JoanneF]

ask before approaching, ask before petting, don't leap around and squawk

I have had to body block squeaky kids running at T to pet the cute puppy - which he would have hated. If they had been calm I would have allowed it because he would be fine with that but I admit I was making a bit of a point too.

 

[Biker John]

Most of the kids we have come across have been fine, but two in particular were brilliant. A boy and a girl somewhere around 10 or 11 or so, (I'm useless at guessing ages), with their mum. As we got close the girl asked if they could say hello to Folly, I said yes of course, at that they both knelt down Folly approached them they held their hands out for her to sniff she then went right between them and they stroked her, she nuzzled their ears. I commented to the mum how well behaved they were she said she always taught them about dogs.