Breed Prejudice

[lovemesideways]

So I'll be the first to admit there are a few breeds than when I see them, I keep a extra close eye on them. And it bugs me! I love pretty much every dog I've met, but I find myself nervous around certain ones now due to bad experiences.

BF and I where doing some on leash training in and around a off-leash park yesterday, when a guy came in with 4 staffys, all entire. 2 boys and 2 girls. (I know they're entire cause of previous experience with this guy)

I immediately get nervous when I see an off leash staffy, simply because of the rather horrible experiences I have had with them Which is a shame, because I find them to be a really beautiful breed in general.

In this case, one of the male staffys quickly approached Ricky the GSD who is himself entire and postured up to him and growled. BF did a really great job of just walking Ricky away and getting him to ignore the other dog while I let my labs go and ran over, growled and stomped at the staffy who scuttled away quickly.

The owner, between screaming commands at his other dogs who where racing all over the place, says "Oh don't worry, hes fine". I said, "No it won't be fine if the shepherd had reacted badly to being growled at." The guy sniffs at me, takes a swig of his beer and says "Well I got 4 staffys mate, and I'm pretty sure they would rip your guy up good if he tried". Like that was a good thing?? Am I crazy in thinking its completely idiotic to proudly state your dogs would seriously injure another dog?

I replied "Men like you are the reason staffys have a bad reputation" and I got the hell out of there. As I was leaving I heard some commotion and saw the guy was yelling at 2 of his dogs while he was on his knees, trying to hold the other 2 back by their collars.

I hate that now every time I see an off-leash staffy I get nervous . Is there anyway to get over a breed prejudice like this?

Edited June 8, 2011 by lovemesideways

[megan_]

I do. I don't have a problem with it. I have small dogs so I stay away from large, powerful high prey drive breeds. I don't think this is a bad thing - it is sensible. I also cross the road when I see them, even if they're on leash. One lunge and my guys are dead.

My dogs safety is my priority, not someone else's feelings.

[Kavik]

Some of my dogs don't like being rushed at, body slammed or postured so I avoid breeds who tend to do that (mainly Labs and Staffies). Just keeping them safe.

[Pretty Miss Emma]

Definitely have breed prejudice!! But it is all due to previous experiences of the breeds. I generally go in assuming a breed will be fine unless I (interpret that as me or my dogs!) have had a bad experience with the breed. I guess in some ways though this generally applies to me exercising caution when I meet a new dog of a breed. Once I get to know them I'm able to see them as who they are rather than just their breed (and so do my dogs!!).

But as megan_ said your own dogs safety (and mental health) has to be the priority.

[TessiesTracey]

Yep - off leash ANYTHING. But off leash white fluffies do my nut in.

Got harrassed by 3 of the buggers that came charging out of their owners home 100 metres down the road, teeth bared to get at my two Staffords.

Thankfully my two are always under control, disinterested and carried on walking by my side.

BUT the owner of the white fluffies was crapping herself and almost crying trying to run around trying to gather her voracious little 'loves' up.

Can imagine her breed prejudice being different to mine

[Henrietta]

I don't like seeing any offlead dog. My girl doesn't like other dogs and it becomes tiresome when other people's dogs are offlead and don't have control. And from experience, the great majority of people don't have that control.

But yes, I do cross the road if dogs are onlead in certain circumstances. I don't really mind what others think. I always have the safety of my dog as a first priority. Also, I wouldn't put her into a situation where she could frighten or hurt another dog either. I always try and be two steps ahead. She is a small dog.

[Dory the Doted One]

I pretty much take a dog as it comes...so long as that is not off lead and charging with malicious intent...

I don't let it's breed stop me from interacting with them, but I let their body posture and the attiude of the owner

be my guide.

When I had big dogs I was hassled by little dogs, when I had little dogs I was sometimes hassled by big dogs. So...'eh'...

There are some I wouldn't own because of breed tendencies, only for the fact that those tendencies don't suit

my personality or lifestyle. But I do enjoy them as 'dogs' owned by others.

[jacqui835]

I guess I'm the opposite. I had no fear of any breeds, didn't see any as any different from any others having watched Cesar Milan...

Anyway, then I started visiting dog parks. I witnessed many dog fights - since I was there like every day, and more often than not a staffy was involved. Additionally though, when a staffy was involved, you just knew it was going to be bad - injury wise. What scared me was that I started to feel like most dogs perhaps have a scale, 1-10 of how worked up they are and hence how likely they are to fight, but with staffies, it was more like a 6-10. And yes other breeds make lots of noise, but I'm talking actual fights. They do happen with the other breeds but I have yet to see another dog need vet attention from a fight involving anything other than a staffy (and I visit many dog parks several times a week).

My dog has been involved in 3 fights, all 3 were with staffy types, only 1 was provoked imo. The first, he just got charged and fortunately I could still pick him up at that stage because I don't think he would have been ok otherwise. He actually screamed when I went to put him down afterwards. 2nd time, he was chased by another one back to my legs, I wasn't quick enough and the staffy bit his face. The vet said it was lucky he was a dog with a long snout otherwise he would have lost his eye (because on dogs with long snouts, the eye can be pushed into the socket). He did not fight back on either of these occasions, just squealed and cried.

3rd occasion, I had left my bag and lead on the ground to go put a poo bag in the bin. It was my fault. The staffy tried to grab my bag for whatever reason, my dog growled at him, the staffy attacked. The staffy had no collar, and the owner had to literally lie on top of my dog to save him. When we finally got him away, my dog didn't need a lead, he didn't want to fight. The staffy was lunging, barking and carrying on because it wanted to attack my dog an had to be dragged away.

I am scared of all staffy type dogs now (only when I have my dog, I can see that they have no issues with humans), and unless I know them very very well, I leave dog parks when a big one arrives.

I think it's naive of people to say that staffy types are no more likely to want to fight than any other breed - that's like saying my dobe would have as good a hunting instinct as a hunting breed.

Edited June 8, 2011 by jacqui835

[Meea]

I have no dog predjudice but gee I have some pretty solid dog owner predjudices ;)

[Fatsofatsoman]

I used to with Bull Terriers because of an incident ending in my sister getting bitten on the face - time has taught me that was more down to bad manners by my sister and a badly trained dog (wasn't only incident it was involved in) so really could have been any dog.

I do think some dogs tend to attract bad owners - which result in bad dogs, and this doesn't help the breeds at all.

Boonie's best mates at our local dog park are a Staffy and a BT - these experiences help break down any prejudices.

I'd have to say though that I do steer clear of small maltese x type of dogs - but that's because I own a young Lab and they don't appreciate his energy. I have noticed and did quite recently (K9 Capers Sunnybank) that those type of dogs are always quite aggressive but because of their size seem to have escaped any training - owners being able to contain a smaller dog probably let it get away with more posturing/barking/aggressive behaviour than larger breeds.

Again this is all based on my experiences and where I frequent so is not a true reflection of any breed as a whole.

All dogs when trained and handled correctly are great - it's just a shame certain dogs have idiots as owners.

I suppose I do also avoid the Staffy owner who comes to our park sits down and cracks a beer and never looks at his dog. Stereotypes - horrible arent they.

[TessiesTracey]

I guess I'm the opposite. I had no fear of any breeds, didn't see any as any different from any others having watched Cesar Milan...

Anyway, then I started visiting dog parks. I witnessed many dog fights - since I was there like every day, and more often than not a staffy was involved. Additionally though, when a staffy was involved, you just knew it was going to be bad - injury wise. What scared me was that I started to feel like most dogs perhaps have a scale, 1-10 of how worked up they are and hence how likely they are to fight, but with staffies, it was more like a 6-10. And yes other breeds make lots of noise, but I'm talking actual fights. They do happen with the other breeds but I have yet to see another dog need vet attention from a fight involving anything other than a staffy (and I visit many dog parks several times a week).

My dog has been involved in 3 fights, all 3 were with staffy types, only 1 was provoked imo. The first, he just got charged and fortunately I could still pick him up at that stage because I don't think he would have been ok otherwise. He actually screamed when I went to put him down afterwards. 2nd time, he was chased by another one back to my legs, I wasn't quick enough and the staffy bit his face. The vet said it was lucky he was a dog with a long snout otherwise he would have lost his eye (because on dogs with long snouts, the eye can be pushed into the socket). He did not fight back on either of these occasions, just squealed and cried.

3rd occasion, I had left my bag and lead on the ground to go put a poo bag in the bin. It was my fault. The staffy tried to grab my bag for whatever reason, my dog growled at him, the staffy attacked. The staffy had no collar, and the owner had to literally lie on top of my dog to save him. When we finally got him away, my dog didn't need a lead, he didn't want to fight. The staffy was lunging, barking and carrying on because it wanted to attack my dog an had to be dragged away.

I am scared of all staffy type dogs now (only when I have my dog, I can see that they have no issues with humans), and unless I know them very very well, I leave dog parks when a big one arrives.

I think it's naive of people to say that staffy types are no more likely to want to fight than any other breed - that's like saying my dobe would have as good a hunting instinct as a hunting breed.

I'm sad that you feel like that.

I'd like to add, that because the girl (who owned the 3 fluffies, and I also apologies for calling them fluffies, but I have no idea what breed they were!) was in such a state, I continued my walk, took my two dogs home and then (as she didn't live too far away), walked back to her house, knocked on her door and asked her if SHE was ok. I told her that though my two were under my control and wouldn't be too reactive, they weren't particularly keen on having their backsides chewed by little dogs. I also added that I was more concerned about her dogs being run over if she couldn't recall them!

She appreciated the gesture, but was more worried that my dogs were 'big', not the fact that her 3 dogs were waaaaaaaaaay out of control. Go figure.

[Roxy Lady]

I have a bully that shows absolutly no interest in another dog, except to play. We walk past yards where dogs are going off tap and she does either one of 2 things. Ignore or wag her tail and want to make friends LOL.

I don't have predjudice on any breed, although i don't like dogs off leash, i still take into account the body language first. Most of the time i'm pretty confident there won't be an attack even if the dog is staturing up to us, due to Roxys indifference and i will usually tell the dog to "get" before it gets anywhere close and IMO 'most' dogs that stature up at a bit of a distance are putting up a bluff to see the other dogs reaction.

I'm lucky we haven't had a dog rush at us with intent to attack yet. Although the SWF across the road the other day as we walked in our driveway snuck up onus and rushed us from behind poor Roxy shat herself and didn't know where to run and nearly tripped me over LOL, but the little dog ran back across the road as soon as she'd finished scaring us LOL.

It does make me laugh though when we get little foxies/dashies/SWFs and chi's rush at us going off their head. Roxy would bounce all over them if they tried to attack, tiny tuff dogs on a dopey bouncing bully, i could just picture it

[corvus]

Not serious ones, but I do have breed filters that change my management practices sometimes. I'm wary of staffies as well. They have a really boisterous play style that Erik doesn't really enjoy with a dog he doesn't know that well and woe betide if he should tell them he's not having fun. One of his best pals is a SBT bitch that he lets barge him all over the place, but he's known her all his life. So I just kinda move the dogs on and don't let them linger with staffy types as a general rule. It's just better for everyone that way. I will admit that I'm wary of GSDs. Some of them, anyway. Some are fine, but others have this barely contained intensity I think is not a good idea to test with a small dog that looks like some kind of weasel when he runs. We've never had any problems, but I'm not big on waiting to see when I've got a glassy-eyed GSD watching Erik's every move.

[whiskedaway]

I'm wary of small white fluffies (doesn't matter what type, neighbour has a maltese cross that started it though) because my Husky has been terrorised by the neighbour's dog so many times that she's extremely reactive towards them. As soon as I see them, I do something to remove ourselves before Akira sees them. She's slowly getting better but I don't want her to do something because she's a lot bigger and while there might not be malice involved, a 15kg dog jumping on a little one is bound to cause some sort of injury.

[Mystiqview]

SWF - Small white fluffies....

Bad tempered little crits.. When I was a groomer.. I was bitten more by these than any other breed..Well apart from Pomms..

Many joe public with small dogs do not think they need to take them out and socialise them, and when they do, they get all scared and defensive..

I went touring a year or so with 4 BC's.. One 8 week, one 12 week and two adults in a dog trailer.. some parks we stayed at, they allowed one SWF... but you heard more from their ONE SWF than you did from 4 border collies???

It is not so much the breed.. but just the ignorants who keep a vast majaority of them.. Why people think SWF's are perfect dogs for small houses/flats.. they yap and yap and yap...

Staffy's: dont mind the breed. It is a shame that they can attract the wrong owners.. the yobbos who believe a dog needs to be tied up outside and thrown a bowl of food once a day.. and kicked at least twice a day..

Personally I am not fond of Jowley breeds.. but that is just the slobber.. not so much breed bias.

[claireybell]

Yes I am prejudice towards certain breeds but not all the time. If I see one of the breeds I am prejudice against while I dont have my dogs with me I am more than happy to interact with that breed. However if i have my dogs with me then I give the breed a very wide berth.

I am only prejudice because of issues I have had with these breeds towards my own dogs.

[Oskar & Zsa Zsa]

Interestingly enough, I have had mixed reactions with Staffy's. Both good and bad. Oskar loves them for some reason??? He will even seek them out when there are other dogs he can play with. He isn't scared of them and if they get too rough, he let's them know and most of them back off. However, there have been incidents where the dog has not backed off! Then, when the intensity increased, Oskar submitted and the Staffy kept going.

On one occasion, the owner was standing a few feet away and I asked if he was going to do anything? He said that his dog was not hurting mine. But, it was on it's way for sure. So I told the guy (I am a hot head) that i would break his and his dog's legs if his dog marked Oskar in any way. He chose the right path and grabbed his dog and departed thankfully. I really wouldn't hurt the dog because of the owner's ignorance, but I would have broken one or both of the owner's legs!!!! :) Happily!

So, much like some others, there are breeds I may pay more attention to if they are around. As in just keeping things from escalating. But I don't stop Oskar from playing with them. I just watch carefully..........

Having said that, the fights I have seen they more often than not will involve Staffy's, Labs, German Shepherds, Heelers and Pit bulls or derivitives of..........

So, I guess, while I am wary of some, I won't avoid them, unless either I know them and know they are aggressive or they charge. However normally, I allow the dogs to try and work it out first. Oskar handles himself really well in situations like this and is getting better and better at it as he gets older. He will just stand his ground with his tail wagging and his playfull bounce/bark continuing. Often it's funny watching the reaction of the other dog. They sometimes can't work out why he isn't scared of them and soon enough, as he isn't intimidated, they tend to play OK.

[skyesblue]

Yep small fluffies and staffy's (even though i own a very friendly one). Having said that my little foxie was attacked by 2 groodles a couple of weeks ago without any warning while out walking. The owner said that she had $2000 worth of fines since xmas because they kept escaping.

[Fatsofatsoman]

He will just stand his ground with his tail wagging and his playfull bounce/bark continuing. Often it's funny watching the reaction of the other dog. They sometimes can't work out why he isn't scared of them and soon enough, as he isn't intimidated, they tend to play OK.

This is Boonie to a tee.

[sheena]

I don't like Schnauzers....they are cranky little buggers & almost every time without fail, they will lunge at my BC girl, who if she lunges back, gets into trouble, while the Schnauzer owners just ignore & let them get away with it. She was badly lunged at by one when she was a pup, so maybe she gives off vibes when in close proximity. I have been told by a Snzer owner that they ARE cranky little buggers, even to each other & to their owners.