Could People Think You Have Abused Your Dog?

[far_kenell_73]

Another thread (Rescue Dogs - Clues To Their Lives Before You.) about not knowing the history of a rescue dog and making assumptions about the dog's history has got me thinking. If your dog ended up in a shelter and a new owner took them without knowing it's history does your dog do any quirky things that could make the new owners feel that the dog had been mistreated or abused in some way.

For example my dog Dex has never liked you offering his food to him in his bowl, he will actually back away and run off if you hold it up to him. Hence if somebody adopted him from a shelter I'm sure they would assume he has been abused round dinner time, which has never been the case and I have no idea why he get's scared.

He is also scared of photo frames, as one fell near him and made a loud bang when he was a pup, if you have a photo frame near him he gets really scared, so again a new owner would think he has maybe been hit with a photo frame.

So does anyone else dog do quirky things that could mislead new owners about their history?

[Alibi]

I have always thought that. My last dog had a few quirks, she was scared of some very mundane noises and things that if we didnt have her from an 8wk old pup we would have thought she had been treated badly. She would even run and hide with her tail between her legs at the click noise of the back of a tv remote being clicked back into place.

[twodoggies2001]

Our mini schnauzer, now gone to the bridge was absolutely petrified of squeeky toys and children. We got him from the breeder at 10 weeks and he had never come into contact with small kids whilst under her care. He was also terrified of anyone sneezing.

[RiverStar-Aura]

The only thing I could be accused of is starving my dogs of love, huggles and affection.

Or so they think :D

[Bjelkier]

I don't think anyone would think that of my Samoyeds. But my puppy farm Lab is a different story. He has a lot of issues he's afraid of children, asian men, disabled people, fishing rods, the list goes on. Yet we raised him exactly the same way as the others.

[pepe001]

My giant schnauzer could easily have been seen as being abused by a man. She was very scared-defensive and if approached would fly into attack mode. I got her from a good breeder at 9 weeks and she has never had one as bad as her. She wasn't stable at 8 weeks but I though love and the right training would fix her. Nope, she died a unrtrustworthy unstable loon many years later. But just before being put to sleep the vet found weird infections inside of her which without more testing he couldn't define. He predicts that she may have had permanent urinary track infections - so no wonder she was unstable - always in pain.

[curly]

He he. My Very Large Poodle acts like he's been beaten to a pulp every time I leave the house. He creeps around the gate with his head and tail down, back away if I call him inside, cringes when I go to get him, creeps on quivering legs to the front door... then bounces happily inside to play with the cat. Of course, if I mention the C.A.R word he's instantly the happiest dog in the world! He's not really a petrified wreck, he's just a boy who wants his mummy. All the time. Other people, dogs and cats just don't cut it. I'd hate for anyone to see him when I leave every morning!

[Jumabaar]

Yes-

Finnish Lapphund freaks out when you pick up the broom. Tail between her legs sooking, running and hiding. She knocked the broom over at 3mths of age and has been petrified since.

Not abused but my eldest Kelpie will also randomly decide she knows someone- so it may make someone think she recognises that 'type' of person. But mostly its just random and she has to wave and pull toward them.

[tdierikx]

Dog only knows what a stranger would think of my disabled girl Pickles... she's a one of a kind type of dog... lol!

Zeddy is terrified of thunderstorms, but has never been shut outside in her life - I'm sure a stranger with good intentions might want to believe that she'd been locked outside in a storm...

Zeddy and Trouble do not like being in a kennel environment, and will try any trick in the book to get out of one. Pickles and Harper couldn't care less, so may give the impression that they'd been kenneled extensively... again, not true - they are couch potatoes of the highest order...

Trouble is a clown, and will try to prove to people that she has had no obedience training - until you put a collar on her... then she knows it's time to behave. Zeddy is older and more sedate these days, but she also knows that collar = behave appropriately...

Pickles' disability dictates that she wears a harness to go out - super sensitive spots on her neck preclude the use of any collars. You put a collar on her and she will continue spasmic back leg scratching until she falls over... and even then will often continue to scratch while prone. Even if you touch that spot, her leg goes off on it's merry dance... *sigh*

Harper is only 11 weeks old, but she is mummy's girl - quite aloof with strangers... even people she knows well. She's my new heart dog... *grin*

T.

[*Oscar*]

Our golden retriever who I have had from 8 weeks has many things that someone might think is odd.

If its dark and my daughter has left a toy in the hallway out of place he will bark at it like its going to kill him. If you ask him to drop whilst standing to close and use a hand signal he will flinch like you are about to hit him (no one has ever used physical violence against him). If my husband jokingly raises his voice to rough houses with our daughter he will get her away from him and continue to growl and bark at my husband until my daughter is atleast 3 metres from my husband.

[minimax]

Max is scared of newspapers and magazines, because when she was a puppy and obsessed with eating newspapers and magazines, she was up trying to paw at them on a table to get it off, but the magazines came crashing down next to her.

Poor puppy, abused by a stack of scary magazines when all she wanted to do was eat them

[DobieMum]

My Dobie talks constantly. Not a barker, but like a staffy talk. It's either that it whining, so I'm sure people think I'm abusing him by not taking him to the vet to get this pain sorted out. He's not in pain, it's just him, he's a talker. People either look at me badly or they're running away, cause they think he's going to attack them ;)

Modified to fix my spelling mistake

Edited November 19, 2012 by Pauchel

[Sares]

my Frenchie is afraid of her harness. I have had her since 8 weeks old so not sure why. She is fine if I pick up her leash, but the moment I go near her harness she runs away and even wont come to me even if i have treats. She is normally extremely food motivated. So if I want to put her harness on, I have to pick her up first and then carry her over to her harness before she realises what I am doing.

Another thing she is afraid of is our vertical blinds, but I know why. When she was 9 weeks old, one of her toys rolled under the vertical blinds, and before I could stop her she tried to get the toy out, got herself tangled in the string at the bottom and freaked out because she couldnt get out. Now if one of her toys roll under the blinds she will stand there and stare at it until I get it out for her.

[zeebie]

Recently at a dog comp (not show) just a fun event at local park run by council - oh lordy did steam come out of my ears when I overheard these 2 adults criticising this woman who had her 3 dogs on lead in their cute costumes,the 'accusers'- 'That woman should be reported to RSPCA for cruelty to animals!' then it went on and on with all sorts of derogatory remarks until in the end I had to interject -"um excuse me but those beautiful little dogs are actually fine examples of their breed, which are hairless by breed, and skin is discoloured due to freckles etc and they are called Chinese crested dogs becuase they have little tuffs of hair around their head". 'So not abused or unloved or anything else", and then i simply walked away before I said anything else. Hopefully they learnt something that day. It is terrible how people do jump to conclusions before actually knowing full facts or understanding life in general.

Love this saying -> 'To ASSUME is to make an ASS out of YOU & ME' :)

[dogbesotted]

one of my girls ( came to me around 12months of age many years ago) as she has aged she cringes when called to "come" and approaches almost crawling along the ground...

I have absolutely no idea where this behaviour has come from.

H

[cowanbree]

Asya is extremely grovelly and does the submissive cower with eye shuts a lot. I bred her and know she has never had as much as a smack in her life but people would think she was abused and has been beaten. Her mother who I brought in as an older dog used to do the same thing

[WreckitWhippet]

Yep, I'm afraid that my Whippets would be mistaken for abuse victims if they ever got out. They will not approach strangers, infact they would act terrified if they were out on the street. Give them a day without food and some weight drop and you'd have people screaming at th3e RSPCA to do something about the poor neglected animals.

[Lollipup]

yes - Chester is just so sensitive and will cower at loud noises or if anyone raises their voice or lifts a hand up towards him. We have never hit him, he has just always been that way. I often say that a stranger would think we abused him. It makes me sad

So many people think their dog has been abused in the past when they have an unknown past and I wonder how many actually have.

[Maddy]

I have a nine month old grey pup and at the moment, he's going through a bad case of the teenage uglies- gangly and skinny, despite a really good diet. I get dirty looks from people when I walk him and I'm sure if he ended up in the pound, most people would think he'd been starved (which obviously isn't the case, he's currently getting almost double what the adult dogs eat, we're just being mindul of his intake to ensure he doesn't end up with joint/growth problems).

He's also going through another fear stage so strangers are terrifying again (unless he's in our house, where he can navigate around better) and he's also scared of any container with tap water in it- this one I have no idea about- he won't drink tap water, either (and he definitely wasn't abused by any tap water that I know of :p )

We have several adult dogs who are afraid of brooms (after brushing past the broom in the dog room and making it fall over) and two dogs who are scared of me carrying things above them (because I've dropped things while trying to carry them through a pack of giddy, excited hounds).

Most of the greys will also cower at loud noises and shy away if someone raises their arms suddenly. None of them were ever mistreated, they're just cowardly lions.

[Guest Clover]

One of mine would not even make it to adoption stage. And the others are somewhat normal dogs. The youngster is very submissive with people but it is more to suck up than fear related.