I for one think dogs are nicer than some people

[HarryWarden]

Dogs are wonderful. My current dog, a 12 year old Golden Retriever rescue named Milo who I adopted when he was 5 from an abusive owner who blinded him in one eye through beating him, is my best friend and so much fun to be around. He's still a ball of energy even at his age and the only regret is that I couldn't have had him since he was a puppy and therefore save him from years of abuse and neglect.

[Legion777]

Originally Posted by HarryWarden

Dogs are wonderful. My current dog, a 12 year old Golden Retriever rescue named Milo who I adopted when he was 5 from an abusive owner who blinded him in one eye through beating him, is my best friend and so much fun to be around. He's still a ball of energy even at his age and the only regret is that I couldn't have had him since he was a puppy and therefore save him from years of abuse and neglect.

How anyone could beat any dog is beyond me but Goldies are so sweet natured it does my head in.
My 13mo Rotti is pushy, demanding, would love to be boss & his PICA makes training quite challenging.
Under all that he is a very sweet boy.
I shudder to think how he would've been treated by someone less patient or less experienced.

The fact that your boy is your 'best friend & so much fun to be around', shows that the past abuse is, if at all, a distant memory. Bless you for adopting him & giving him a home that he deserves.

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by Legion777

How anyone could beat any dog is beyond me but Goldies are so sweet natured it does my head in.
My 13mo Rotti is pushy, demanding, would love to be boss & his PICA makes training quite challenging.
Under all that he is a very sweet boy.
I shudder to think how he would've been treated by someone less patient or less experienced.

The fact that your boy is your 'best friend & so much fun to be around', shows that the past abuse is, if at all, a distant memory. Bless you for adopting him & giving him a home that he deserves.

Part of this comes from training techniques that said that dogs are like wolves and you have to dominate them.

Unfortunately that research was done on wolves in zoos where a whole bunch of different wolves were put together, and none could leave. This is not how wolf packs in the wild are. More recent wolf studies in the wild have shown that none of the dynamics that you see in zoos exists in the wild. See books by Cognitive Science Researcher Alexandra Horowitz, PhD.

Dogs trained using all positive reinforcement do not show a need to dominate you. If you model dominance, they will learn dominance. Children are the same way.

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by sheena12

You will get no argument from me! I don't think I have ever met an evil, narcissistic or manipulative dog.

I did have a mentally disturbed Labrador Retriever 2 dogs ago. It may have actually had some kind of seizure disorder when if you touched it while dozing or while eating its food, it would attack. We tried everything, but he got progressively worse, and eventually we had to euthanize him. We were actually scared of him as he weighed 120 lb, and had already injured me. One moment he was loving and the next moment he would attack going for our throats, and literally the next moment he was back to loving and licking. When not eating, we had to keep him muzzled all the time(like being in a straight-jacket if you were human).

I saw a kind of psycho-motor seizure disorder in children that was similar when I worked as a counseling psychologist for the 40 years before I retired. That was very very very rare, even in residential populations for mental disorders.