Confronting An Owner Mistreating His Dog

[Sheridan]

Well, I got a confession to make. I used to smack my rotti's butt with a loosely rolled up newspaper when he gets all aggressive towards the mailman with his scooter. It doesn't hurt him (I tried it on my brother)but it does create a loud noise to distract him and turn his attention back to me. That would not be considered as abuse right?

Why aren't you training your dog not to react instead of hitting him?

I tried, I got someone in to take a look. My rotti REALLY hates the mailman. He's fine with everything and everyone one else but not the mailman. I think it might be because the mailman did some stuff to him while he was younger. He gets into a 'I'm gonna kill you' mode only with the mailman. I tried almost everything, only the newspaper can snap him out of that aggressive mode. Probably because of the noise it makes.

Then why is your dog in a position where he can see the mailman? And if he isn't, why does it matter if he goes OTT at the sound? Does he redirect aggression?

[persephone]

Hate it when I see anything like this. There is nothing you can do.

The only time I ever did anything was as a teenager. A crowd of us were in the park when we saw an old man belting the hell out of his german shepherd. One of the boys said he always does it. I ran around the back of the bushes & leapt out behind him & kicked him up the a**e so he fell to the ground. Stopped him that time but not advisable.

No advice for you as I am not subtle when it comes to this type of thing. Its upsetting.

They think its ok to so this, similar with children too.

You kicked an old man to the point of knocking him down?!

Teenager at the time or not I find that as disgusting as belting the dog.

Moreso .

[andrewang]

Well, I got a confession to make. I used to smack my rotti's butt with a loosely rolled up newspaper when he gets all aggressive towards the mailman with his scooter. It doesn't hurt him (I tried it on my brother)but it does create a loud noise to distract him and turn his attention back to me. That would not be considered as abuse right?

Why aren't you training your dog not to react instead of hitting him?

I tried, I got someone in to take a look. My rotti REALLY hates the mailman. He's fine with everything and everyone one else but not the mailman. I think it might be because the mailman did some stuff to him while he was younger. He gets into a 'I'm gonna kill you' mode only with the mailman. I tried almost everything, only the newspaper can snap him out of that aggressive mode. Probably because of the noise it makes.

Then why is your dog in a position where he can see the mailman? And if he isn't, why does it matter if he goes OTT at the sound? Does he redirect aggression?

I live in a house, fully fenced and gated at least 2m high. My rotti have full access to the house. The mailman rode in with a scooter. The engine of the scooter can be heard hundreds of meters away. My rotti will wait for the mailman by my front gate. I tried redirecting his attention with toys and checking him whenever he tries to pounce but I find rolled up newspaper the most effective. It creates a light touch and a sound. He'll turn his attention to me and I praises him. He doesn't show any aggression towards me. By the time the whole routine is over, the mailman will be gone and he return to being fun-loving Rocky.

BTW, what's OTT?

[Loving my Oldies]

Hate it when I see anything like this. There is nothing you can do.

The only time I ever did anything was as a teenager. A crowd of us were in the park when we saw an old man belting the hell out of his german shepherd. One of the boys said he always does it. I ran around the back of the bushes & leapt out behind him & kicked him up the a**e so he fell to the ground. Stopped him that time but not advisable.

No advice for you as I am not subtle when it comes to this type of thing. Its upsetting.

They think its ok to so this, similar with children too.

You kicked an old man to the point of knocking him down?!

Teenager at the time or not I find that as disgusting as belting the dog.

To a teenager, anything over 25 is old.

[RiverStar-Aura]

That's not really the point DD. You shouldn't be kicking anyone!

Edit: not you as in you specifically DD.

Edited January 13, 2013 by RiverStar-Aura

[DobieMum]

Well, I got a confession to make. I used to smack my rotti's butt with a loosely rolled up newspaper when he gets all aggressive towards the mailman with his scooter. It doesn't hurt him (I tried it on my brother)but it does create a loud noise to distract him and turn his attention back to me. That would not be considered as abuse right?

Why aren't you training your dog not to react instead of hitting him?

I tried, I got someone in to take a look. My rotti REALLY hates the mailman. He's fine with everything and everyone one else but not the mailman. I think it might be because the mailman did some stuff to him while he was younger. He gets into a 'I'm gonna kill you' mode only with the mailman. I tried almost everything, only the newspaper can snap him out of that aggressive mode. Probably because of the noise it makes.

Then why is your dog in a position where he can see the mailman? And if he isn't, why does it matter if he goes OTT at the sound? Does he redirect aggression?

I live in a house, fully fenced and gated at least 2m high. My rotti have full access to the house. The mailman rode in with a scooter. The engine of the scooter can be heard hundreds of meters away. My rotti will wait for the mailman by my front gate. I tried redirecting his attention with toys and checking him whenever he tries to pounce but I find rolled up newspaper the most effective. It creates a light touch and a sound. He'll turn his attention to me and I praises him. He doesn't show any aggression towards me. By the time the whole routine is over, the mailman will be gone and he return to being fun-loving Rocky.

BTW, what's OTT?

I'm not saying what you do is right or wrong, that's not for me to judge. What I'm writing for is the dog's perspective. He's lying quietly in his yard and then this horrid noisy thing comes up to his front gate. Your dog races up to the gate telling him to "wrack off" and the bloke with the noisy thing does and usually quite fast. Your dog has had a huge win and this happens each and every day.

[andrewang]

Well, I got a confession to make. I used to smack my rotti's butt with a loosely rolled up newspaper when he gets all aggressive towards the mailman with his scooter. It doesn't hurt him (I tried it on my brother)but it does create a loud noise to distract him and turn his attention back to me. That would not be considered as abuse right?

Why aren't you training your dog not to react instead of hitting him?

I tried, I got someone in to take a look. My rotti REALLY hates the mailman. He's fine with everything and everyone one else but not the mailman. I think it might be because the mailman did some stuff to him while he was younger. He gets into a 'I'm gonna kill you' mode only with the mailman. I tried almost everything, only the newspaper can snap him out of that aggressive mode. Probably because of the noise it makes.

Then why is your dog in a position where he can see the mailman? And if he isn't, why does it matter if he goes OTT at the sound? Does he redirect aggression?

I live in a house, fully fenced and gated at least 2m high. My rotti have full access to the house. The mailman rode in with a scooter. The engine of the scooter can be heard hundreds of meters away. My rotti will wait for the mailman by my front gate. I tried redirecting his attention with toys and checking him whenever he tries to pounce but I find rolled up newspaper the most effective. It creates a light touch and a sound. He'll turn his attention to me and I praises him. He doesn't show any aggression towards me. By the time the whole routine is over, the mailman will be gone and he return to being fun-loving Rocky.

BTW, what's OTT?

I'm not saying what you do is right or wrong, that's not for me to judge. What I'm writing for is the dog's perspective. He's lying quietly in his yard and then this horrid noisy thing comes up to his front gate. Your dog races up to the gate telling him to "wrack off" and the bloke with the noisy thing does and usually quite fast. Your dog has had a huge win and this happens each and every day.

I'm really open to suggestions as to what I should do in the future. Rocky lived a good life and is no longer with me but I wanna know what I should do in case my next dog have the same problem. The reason why I see this as a problem is because who knows one day the gate might be open when the mailman arrives and bad things happen. I just wanna desensitize Rocky from the mailman. And seriously it's just the mailman. Courier guy is fine, random charity person is fine, garbage guy is fine, just the freaking mailman on the scooter. lol

p.s. mailman is muslim, he can't touch dogs.

[Loving my Oldies]

That's not really the point DD. You shouldn't be kicking anyone!

Edit: not you as in you specifically DD.

LOL, lots of times, I'd like to kick someone. Particularly if they were kicking a dog.

I do understand where you are coming from, but some people only understand one language.

[Loving my Oldies]

Andrew, perhaps start a new topic - LOL. I think you were doing fine. I have a rolled up newspaper too -- for the noise. I whack it on the table or the railings of the deck.

Actually, holding it up gets the right reaction LOL.

Giving a large solid dog a bit of a whack on the btm to distract him isn't all the bad, it is when a dog is being kicked or hit just because the owner is angry is not on.

OTT = Over The Top. An excessive reaction to something.

[Ruin Maniac]

While I don't think I've witnessed anyone flogging their dog in public, but D'smum reminds me of the time an old gentleman was walking his dogs (a chihuahua and a golden) on the campus grounds. The chi ran from him to greet me and he was calling after it. I told him it was okay and that I loved dogs, not realizing that after having successfully fooled me into believing I was being approached for the sake of sharing the love around, the Chi had taken off with the packet of hot wedges I'd had tucked into my library bag :laugh:

I found it funny, and I'd have let him and the other dog have the food if I didn't know it was bad for them. Old man was apologetic but had a laugh with me about it afterwards.

I think I'd have some fairly strong, loud words with anyone I saw abusing their dog in public.

[Erny]

I was driving from a consult appointment and along the way I saw a person walking his dog in a head-collar, giving the dog a solid hard few jerks from the leash because his dog was getting excited at the sight of another dog. I cringed, big time. Felt like stopping but the traffic around me prevented that. I didn't see the episode described by the OP and I'm not condoning it, but from what I read I'd cringe a bit less at a slap by the lead than I did at what I saw happening with the head-collar abuse.

[Blackdogs]

Meh. Probably not the most effective training tool, but not a huge deal unless you have a very soft dog. No different to correcting a dog with a check chain or a head halter, really. If I flicked my dogs with a lead they'd probably not even notice.

<<Flame suit on>>>

[melzawelza]

Meh. Probably not the most effective training tool, but not a huge deal unless you have a very soft dog. No different to correcting a dog with a check chain or a head halter, really. If I flicked my dogs with a lead they'd probably not even notice.

<<Flame suit on>>>

I'll have to put mine on too because I agree. Useless in this situation because the dog just learns to never come back when called but if your situation and timing is right a flick with the end of the lead across the rump is a good distractor/breaks focus/gains attention if you need to use it.