Wary Of A Particular Breed... Anyone Else...?

[trinabean]

I'm not scared of every dog of this breed as such...but I'm definitely on my guard with Rottweilers.

Incident 1....A neighbour's Rotty escaped his yard and I knew her as a friendly dog. I grabbed a lead, called her over, clipped the lead on and walked her back to her house. She seemed relaxed and happy. As soon as we got down the driveway towards the gate (which had blown open), her body language changed and she growled. My blood ran cold. Knowing she had Hanrob obedience training I somehow snapped out a few commands and she obeyed me...while I opened the gate, ushered her in and hurriedly slammed it shut behind her. She was left with my lead attached. It scared the **** out of me.

Slightly OT but I wonder if this Rotty got a fright when the gate blew open and when you brought her back and she growled it may actually have something more to do with the gate and what happened originally than you - this being the case I'm sure most breeds (large or small) would have the same reaction

Yes,I thought the same thing gsdog2.

The growl may have been about the gate behaving suspiciously/ making an unusual noise.

My boxer reacts to some noises this way and may well have done the same thing.

[sandgrubber]

Now, if I were a house burglar, there are a number of breeds I'd be wary of.  In my book, that's good (so long as the same dogs don't bail me up in the park or attack my dog in a dog park).

Edited October 5, 2011 by sandgrubber

[dee lee]

Tim'sMum I totally understand your wariness after being exposed to that sort of behaviour.

However it is the behaviour that changed your mind not the breed per say. Until the dog growled in incident 1 you had no problem with the breed. You handled the dog beautifully by the way by switching the dog into working mode using obedience commands Interestingly in the second incident you were not concerned about the first Rottweiler, only the two dogs exhibiting threatening behaviour.

May I ask if both incidents involved a Lab, and it was the same sort of behaviour exhibited, would you be wary of Labs?

I can't answer for Tims Mum, but I would be very nervous in either incident with any medium to large dog breed/crossbreed.

I would think that would be a normal & sensible reaction to a potentially dangerous situation.

My current canine nemesis is a Dalmatian, who has attacked my dog & charged both of us on 2 separate occasions.

Just cause he's apparently sweet looking doesn't make him any less dangerous. Any dog that can do me or my dog serious damage I am wary of.

My next door neighbour has an out of control vicious Maltese. I care less about that because as long as I am wearing shoes, he will come off worse in an attack.

[gsdog2]

I can't answer for Tims Mum, but I would be very nervous in either incident with any medium to large dog breed/crossbreed.

I would think that would be a normal & sensible reaction to a potentially dangerous situation.

My current canine nemesis is a Dalmatian, who has attacked my dog & charged both of us on 2 separate occasions.

Just cause he's apparently sweet looking doesn't make him any less dangerous. Any dog that can do me or my dog serious damage I am wary of.

My next door neighbour has an out of control vicious Maltese. I care less about that because as long as I am wearing shoes, he will come off worse in an attack.

I agree, the Rotty has just had a frightening experience and without realising it Tim's Mum was taking it back to where it happened (the gate) - a frightened dog can be very dangerous, whatever the breed

[Tim'sMum]

Tim'sMum I totally understand your wariness after being exposed to that sort of behaviour.

However it is the behaviour that changed your mind not the breed per say. Until the dog growled in incident 1 you had no problem with the breed. You handled the dog beautifully by the way by switching the dog into working mode using obedience commands Interestingly in the second incident you were not concerned about the first Rottweiler, only the two dogs exhibiting threatening behaviour.

May I ask if both incidents involved a Lab, and it was the same sort of behaviour exhibited, would you be wary of Labs?

If both incidents were with another breed or cross breed that was big and powerful....yes, I would be wary of that breed instead.

It just happened to be Rottweilers both times when I have been seriously scared of a dog. The only time I have actually been bitten by a dog was a JRT....again lost but I knew the owners, seriously stupid people who let it roam. I had collected it once again from the busy road outside our house and it bit me on the hand as I tried to get it into my car to take home. I'm fine with JRT's but then they are small and can't do all that much damage.

As for the 3 Rottys in the incident I described...one did not exhibit threatening behaviour and just seemed to disappear or wandered away? I remember seeing the 3 of them initially as we walked back to Oh's parent's house but I don't remember where it went, as my husband and I were pretty busy concentrating on the two who were confronting us. We were walking in the direction of their home, so I can only guess that they considered the paddock we were in as part of their territory? Our kids were small at the time and these dogs were well and truly big and strong enough to have killed them....any parent's worst nightmare.

As for approaching the gate with my neighbour's Rotty, her owner felt her reaction was because I had gone towards her 'territory'. I had told him about the situation later that day when he came home. He has his dental surgery downstairs and she was there a guard dog (plus as a family pet) for when he wasn't home, to deter people from breaking in to steal drugs. He had thought the gate could not be blown open with the heavy latch it had, but padlocked it and the gate on the other side after that. I had met her numerous times when she was out with him or his son on lead and she was friendly. I know Rottys were originally herding dogs...but they certainly adapt well to be guard dogs as well.

You can pick apart, analyse and find reasons for any confrontation with a dog...but as far as I'm concerned, any breed that shows the level of aggression I was confronted with, is one I will never completely trust and definitely never own.

Edited October 5, 2011 by Tim'sMum

[Guest DBT]

I'm wary of Corgis. We grew up with one who was always trying to bite us, and did a few times. He bit my brother quite badly once. ....And after 25yrs of working with dogs every day, the one breed i find consistently nasty to handle are Corgis. The only other breed I am a little leery of is Rotty types as the only 2 times i have found myself truly petrified of a dog, both times were Rotty mixes. I would add that with the Corgis it seems quite consistent that they don't like to get up close and messed about with by strangers. I treat them with respect and have never actually been bitten by one (except for or childhood pet) The Rotty types were different crosses so I can't really draw any conclusions there.

The dogs in general that i am truly wary of are any dogs showing me signs that they're fearful of the situation they are in.

[jacqui835]

Only one 'breed group' and only if I have my dog with me. I absolutely love bully breeds if it's just me - I think they're one of the most loving and safe breeds with humans, but if I have my dog I'm a bit scared. He has been attacked 3 times by members of this group, and they were serious attacks. He nearly lost an eye in one case, and the vet explained to me that if he hadn't been a long-snouted breed, his eye would not have been able to retract into his skull and well that would have been it.

Yes he has also been attacked and/or humped by countless small fluffy dogs, and even been scratched by their teeth, but I'm still not scared of them because they don't have the power to do any real damage to a doberman (I know there's that one case of a toy breed killing a doberman but it seems unlikely).

I think all terriers are a little more highly strung, just the bully breeds have power to go with it.

[gsdog2]

You can pick apart, analyse and find reasons for any confrontation with a dog...but as far as I'm concerned, any breed that shows the level of aggression I was confronted with, is one I will never completely trust and definitely never own.

Sorry, I didn't mean to analyse - just sad that these situations have now caused you to be concerned about Rotty's, a breed that I have only had great experiences with

I'm glad your neighbour has done the responsible thing and padlocked their gate

[corvus]

I don't get why it's such a big deal to react to a few bad experiences with wariness. It's not a big deal. It's perfectly natural and adaptive. You can bet I am damn wary of any cute and fluffy glider I have to handle. I know from experience they chomp regularly and do a fair bit of damage when they do. Oh, what a shame I can't love them the same way I love harmless little native doves. I am also damn wary of getting large parrots or hawks out of mist nets. I'm wary of any cornered animal, including dogs of any breed. Because I've been chomped on or attacked by cornered animals. Associations happen. Who cares? I will never look at Irish Setters the same after we had that one charge us with teeth bared and roaring. He turned out to be friendly with a very bizarre greeting ritual, but I didn't know that when he was scaring the pants off me, so the negative association lingers. With enough positive or neutral experiences it will naturally fade. That's evolution, people, and I'm grateful for it. Otherwise I'd get chomped a lot more often or I'd be wary of a lot more things than I need to be wary of. Approach/avoidance is one of the most deeply emotional and subconscious things we can learn.

[jacqui835]

I don't get why it's such a big deal to react to a few bad experiences with wariness. It's not a big deal. It's perfectly natural and adaptive. You can bet I am damn wary of any cute and fluffy glider I have to handle. I know from experience they chomp regularly and do a fair bit of damage when they do. Oh, what a shame I can't love them the same way I love harmless little native doves. I am also damn wary of getting large parrots or hawks out of mist nets. I'm wary of any cornered animal, including dogs of any breed. Because I've been chomped on or attacked by cornered animals. Associations happen. Who cares? I will never look at Irish Setters the same after we had that one charge us with teeth bared and roaring. He turned out to be friendly with a very bizarre greeting ritual, but I didn't know that when he was scaring the pants off me, so the negative association lingers. With enough positive or neutral experiences it will naturally fade. That's evolution, people, and I'm grateful for it. Otherwise I'd get chomped a lot more often or I'd be wary of a lot more things than I need to be wary of. Approach/avoidance is one of the most deeply emotional and subconscious things we can learn.

And something that we would not have been able to survive without.

Wariness is also different from dislike. I don't dislike bully breeds, I am just wary because I know what they can do, how fast they can move and how damn difficult they are to get off your dog once they latch on. I also know if you manage to separate the 2 dogs, the bully breed will likely be desperately trying to continue what it started, even if the other dog is so obviously keen to walk away. So yeah if I see one off-lead that I have never met before, well it just doesn't seem worth the risk of treating it the same as a little poodle cross cavalier.

But I love watching them on youtube performing in different dog sports, and at my local pet supplies store one of the girls owns an adorable pitty/mastiff cross - he is one of my favourite dogs and I would never ever support BSL.

I would be very supportive though of regulating who could own these dogs.

[Paptacular!]

I'm a little wary of GSD's. Think I was exposed to too many RAAF dog handler demonstrations (where they attack the padding) when I was a kid.

[Nic.B]

Hi, I have been reading about BSL in the other threads and kept thinking I would gladly run into

a Pit Bull or any mix thereof than an unnacompanied German Shepherd Dog or Siberian Husky

I think I have a bit of a fear of GSD's since my cousin was bitten by a nasty one back when I was 10.

It lived on a corner we had to walk past to go to school and it was out one time and bit my cousin.

Have been wary of them ever since. Not that I think they are all nasty or anything.

Also, saw a girl in emergency one time that had a nasty bite on her arm from her friends Sibe. Not nice.

Wary of them as well, though I think they are beautiful looking animals.

We also had a cranky, huge rotty live next door when I was a kid, but I am not afraid of them at all.

Probably since I have met so many over my lifetime and most are real sweeties.

So I was curious if anyone else has a bit of wariness regarding any particular breed (whether it be

from a childhood trauma or not) or if you have been bitten by any breed, are you wary of that breed?

Souff is wary of men with red hair, and snakes.

Horrible things, both of them.

Have nasty memories of both and will cross the street not to be anywhere near them.

Toads also are in Souff's bad books ... there is just no need to have those ugly things so cant we just nuke them all?

I spose there will always be things that I don't like and things that I do like.

I don't like those cars that look like they were made in the 1940s but had a revival here a few years ago - people paid big money for them I hear, but I think they are just plain ugly. Cant nuke them too I suppose?

Souff is not really wary of any dog breed.

Am more wary of some of the owners really, and very wary of people who give breeds a bad name.

Souff

[flycow]

I'm wary of unattended tiny fluffy adult dogs mostly. They are the more feisty ones in my area even despite their lower population. If they run close enough to me bearing teeth they'd get a kiss from my boot.

[HugL]

I'm wary of small, fluffy, x-bred, surrogate children. No way to read body language and usually no or minimal training. However, have made a point to meet many pure bred small fluffies around the show ring. Found that they were all friendly and well socialised.

No problems with medium or large dogs. Just check body language and respond appropriately (hopefully!!)

[gsdog2]

I'm a little wary of GSD's. Think I was exposed to too many RAAF dog handler demonstrations (where they attack the padding) when I was a kid.

I think that's why I love shepherds so much - I loved the RAAF dog demo's and now have one of there foster pups

[german_shep_fan]

I'm a little wary of GSD's. Think I was exposed to too many RAAF dog handler demonstrations (where they attack the padding) when I was a kid.

I think that's why I love shepherds so much - I loved the RAAF dog demo's and now have one of there foster pups

same gsdog2

And you train them to do that lol you can't hold a sleeve up to any random shep and expect them to attack it lol

I do think a lot of the general public think that all sheps are all like police dogs though, i overheard one bloke say to his kid to say away from my dog when we were walking cos gsds are trained to bite!

Edited October 6, 2011 by german_shep_fan

[gsdog2]

same gsdog2

And you train them to do that lol you can't hold a sleeve up to any random shep and expect them to attack it lol

I do think a lot of the general public think that all sheps are all like police dogs though, i overheard one bloke say to his kid to say away from my dog when we were walking cos gsds are trained to bite!

I've had that happen too gsf - I love shepherds so much and when I hear something like that (or read this thread) it comes as a bit of a reality shock

[german_shep_fan]

same gsdog2

And you train them to do that lol you can't hold a sleeve up to any random shep and expect them to attack it lol

I do think a lot of the general public think that all sheps are all like police dogs though, i overheard one bloke say to his kid to say away from my dog when we were walking cos gsds are trained to bite!

I've had that happen too gsf - I love shepherds so much and when I hear something like that (or read this thread) it comes as a bit of a reality shock

Makes me really angry when i hear the public tell their kids crap like that tbh

[Atanquin]

I know we saw a golden retriever out side a cafe once so thought oh good they don't mind dogs so we went over y dad sat outside with kovu our gsd ( he was long haired and he came with us when we moved from England)we went in and ordered and asked if it was okayto sit outside with our dog and thy said no problem we have dog out there all the time they are not allowed inside, so we sit outside waiting for our drinks and kovu snoozed under the table when the girl brought out our drinks she looked at kovu having a snooze then quickly rushed inside and got her manager oh then came and told us to move as he did not want a dangerous dog outside his shop!!!!! So we had a bit of a yell and told him we wanted a refund which he tried to refuse but the lady with te retriever came over and joined in telling the manager that he had just lost her as a regular customer as our dog was well behaved and not being a pain the the arse like the toy poodle that was there the other day and then she walked of. He did give us a refund thank god seeing as we pointed out that we had not drunk our coffee and we had been told dogs where allowed outside. Some people just see a gsd and immediately think omg it's goig to kill me even tho that doog is having a jolly old snooze!!

Edited October 6, 2011 by Atanquin

[german_shep_fan]

I know we saw a golden retriever out side a cafe once so thought oh good they don't mind dogs so we went over y dad sat outside with kovu our gsd ( he was long haired and he came with us when we moved from England)we went in and ordered and asked if it was okayto sit outside with our dog and thy said no problem we have dog out there all the time they are not allowed inside, so we sit outside waiting for our drinks and kovu snoozed under the table when the girl brought out our drinks she looked at kovu having a snooze then quickly rushed inside and got her manager oh then came and told us to move as he did not want a dangerous dog outside his shop!!!!! So we had a bit of a yell and told him we wanted a refund which he tried to refuse but the lady with te retriever came over and joined in telling the manager that he had just lost her as a regular customer as our dog was well behaved and not being a pain the the arse like the toy poodle that was there the other day and then she walked of. He did give us a refund thank god seeing as we pointed out that we had not drunk our coffee and we had been told dogs where allowed outside. Some people just see a gsd and immediately think omg it's goig to kill me even tho that doog is having a jolly old snooze!!

ugh typical Thats the general reaction i have personally found from the public towards GSDs.

How long ago was this?