Black Dog Syndrome

[grumpette]

Thanks for the lovely comments. Zephyr is gorgeous and an absolute clown, but then I am biased. He has the best smile and certainly knows how to use it.

Leelaa your GSDs are beautiful.

puglvr and MTD stunning black beauties. Very Men in Black

Eza once you have had Black you can never go back.

[Rascalmyshadow]

I personally am not a huge fan of black dogs mainly because they don't photograph well and they age faster. I do however love dobes and think they are beautiful in black.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I personally like to avoid dogs with white faces because of the cancer risk.

And I love black dogs - we used to have a almost completely black heeler x kelpie that used to scare the crap out of people because she could jump into the fork of a tree about 3m high, and look down with her beady yellow eyes - and in the dusk she got mistook for a black panther a few times. There used to be lots of stories about escaped big cats at the time.

But black dog stories associated with evil or death are pretty ancient. So I think that humans are scared of them in the same way they're scared of snakes and spiders and wolves and sharks.

In western society "black dog" is another name for depression. I think Winston Churchill (or his staff) used to call his bad moods his "black dog". And there are several books about depression which have "black dog" in the title.

http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/public...ained/index.cfm

And wiki has a reference to black dog in celtic mythology as being an evil creature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_dog_(ghost)

And Egyptian god of the dead - had the head of a black dog.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anubis

A god to be feared.

Edited April 29, 2011 by Mrs Rusty Bucket

[Leelaa17]

Thanks for the lovely comments. Zephyr is gorgeous and an absolute clown, but then I am biased. He has the best smile and certainly knows how to use it.

Leelaa your GSDs are beautiful.

puglvr and MTD stunning black beauties. Very Men in Black

Eza once you have had Black you can never go back.

thank you grumpette. your baby definitely has a great smile!!!

[Little Gifts]

I have an SBT, always a beautiful shiny black with only a couple of white toes, white tip of the tail and small streak on the snout. She's still shiny but at almost 17 is now mostly white everywhere but her back! Even her butt hairs went white!

I have a soft spot for white dogs with really dark eyes but never thought of black dogs as evil! Chinese wont eat a dark skinned dog either so that could be part of it?

[wolfgirl]

We have some people cross the road when we're coming but mostly people want to pat Bear especially as black Long Coats aren't that common and he gets admired by many people on our walks. He definitely not evil and has loads of character and such a smile that melts hearts.

[Kirty]

I have somehow always ended up with black dogs! LOL! My childhood dog was a black Kelpie x. My first dog of my own was a black (with bits of grey) Kelpie/BC/Heeler mix rescue, then we got Billi a black and tan Kelpie x (RIP), Champa a black Lab x GSP and my first Dane Kika was also black (RIP). Phoebe was my first non-black dog, closely followed by Pia. I have a soft spot for black dogs, but I do think solid black and solid brindle dogs are the hardest to rehome.

[SmoothieGirl]

Absolutely - the black males are the hardest to adopt. Not only are they bigger than the females, but "black dogs look vicious". Black females are the next hardest to find homes for.

And of course there are more black greyhounds born than any other colour which make it even more difficult!

I'll keep that in mind when I one day adopt a Grey. I love male greyhounds and love black ones, so that might help one out in the future.

[Leelaa17]

We have some people cross the road when we're coming but mostly people want to pat Bear especially as black Long Coats aren't that common and he gets admired by many people on our walks. He definitely not evil and has loads of character and such a smile that melts hearts.

bear is GORGEOUS!! what is he??

what a beautiful face! And that picture with cat is magical! I love it!!

[Guest english.ivy]

My Belgian Shepherd is 99% black and she looks wolfish .. people who don't know her are sometimes scared of her.

I've had people in the streets cross the road so they don't walk past her. If they came to say hello, they'd find out how sweet she really is!

I personally love black dogs But yes, people are scared of black dogs.

[becks]

Who says black dogs don't age well?

Here's my nearly 13 year old giant schnauzer

[wolfgirl]

We have some people cross the road when we're coming but mostly people want to pat Bear especially as black Long Coats aren't that common and he gets admired by many people on our walks. He definitely not evil and has loads of character and such a smile that melts hearts.

bear is GORGEOUS!! what is he??

what a beautiful face! And that picture with cat is magical! I love it!!

He's a solid black long coat GSD

[possum86]

That is completly unjustified and psychotic! I have 2 black dogs and a black cat!! So does that mean I have 3x the ammount of bad luck? What morons! LMAO though.

[Crisovar]

A lot of what we consider to be odd beliefs have cultural roots, simply different to our own, not psychotic or insane, simply different.

I'm sure there are some cultures that feel some of your quirks are moronic too.

[tarope]

It's a strange world and there are a lot of strange people in it, but to dislike a dog because of It's colour is just crazy. :D :D

[mac'ella]

Personally, the only hassle I have ever found with black dogs is that they are damn near invisible in the dark!

Nope - the black ones stand out in the dark, it's the brindle ones that completely vanish!

Agreed... we had a black staffy and you could always see some contrast to the surroundings at night but our red blends in, even at dusk, brindles would be worse

[rubiton]

Who says black dogs don't age well?

Here's my nearly 13 year old giant schnauzer

Thats what I was thinking - this is our dog who was 12 a few weeks back. Photos were taken in mid March (and it was a cool day not that she cared)

http://www.barnesphotography.com.au/reynel...r11/IMG7293.jpg

Edited April 30, 2011 by rubiton

[MadWoofter]

In my short experience I've found that black fosters take a lot longer to rehome than other colours. I think people just generally (and I'm talking about the wider uneducated public here) think black dogs are scary. The amount of people that will willingly go up to Tess is a massive amount more than go up to Fleming - yet she's a great deal bigger than him!

Poor Flemo never had a chance - a black dog with three legs !! Lucky for me he had no interest in him & I got to keep him :D

ETA Here's a pic of the scary black dog

Edited April 30, 2011 by MadWoofter

[corrie]

Who says black dogs don't age well?

Here's my nearly 13 year old giant schnauzer

What a gorgeous dog.

Leopard print collars just look so good on black dogs. Come to think of it, black dogs look great in most colours.

[JoeK]

I breed and show GSD's. Over the years, I have had people want the darkest puppy in the litter because they are the most savage!!!

I found this amongst the Greek, Italian and Maltese families that wanted puppies. I also found that I was frequently told this myth at training over the years. A coloured South African friend told me that in South Africa black dogs were not as popular as lighter coloured dogs, she actually commented it was to that level some white people's mindset went to.

With pure black GSD's I find that they are often easier to sell. I used to have a bitch who carried the black gene and I had people always after black puppies!!!

For me, I must admit, I don't care what colour a dog is if I like it, and I do like a solid black or bi-coloured GSD.

I tell a brief story in 30 years of training the German Shepherd Dog in Schutzhund and protection, rarely a dog short on pigment in the face has healthy level of active aggression. Is myth yes, but always seems active aggression is more in the darker faced show dogs for some reason?. In Europe there is many breedings of the guarding Shepherd Dog of over sharpness from working lines of the dark face and color where people learn the nice show dog color is probably some bluff in the bark but to watch out for the dark Shepherd Dog who means business bred for being nasty dog.

Joe