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Pet dogs should not be expected to defend and protect their families. It's this type of behavior that owners reward and perpetuate that leads to nuisance dogs who menace and are a threat to people.
To expect innocent people who are NO THREAT to your property and family to accept and condone your dog's misguided need to protect is just plain wrong.
"Griffy" is a dangerous dog. And he (or she?) could very easily have injured the man picking up his child. And anybody who would defend that by saying, "Oh....poor Griffy was just protecting the kids" truly doesn't get it.
Well aparently you don't know dogs very well and you need to EDUCATE yourself a bit. Dogs are pack animals and they will protect their pack. They should NOT be the alpha in the pack by any means, but wouldn't YOU defend YOUR family if an intruder came? That is what they are doing.
Let's use an example shall we??? A strange man tries to break into the house while the parents away and your kids (appropriate age to be home alone of course) are home alone. Say this person gets in the house. Would you really want your dog not to sense the danger there and let this person rob your house or worse?? I would certainly hope not. I would hope I had a dog that would bark and growl at that person and gave my kids a chance to call the police! Did I say bite? NO. But in that case, a dog probably would to protect!
What do you think police dogs, rescue dogs etc are for?? THE PROTECTION OF HUMANS!!! NO...YOU ARE WRONG. This instinct should not be trained out of them. And to say "Pet dogs need to have their instinct to protect trained out of them, so that they can be trusted around people." is IGNORANT. You obviously know very little about dogs, or animals for that matter. These and many HOUSE DOGS are trained to protect and save people.
No, I do not believe you know the difference between a "vicious" dog and a "warning bark" etc. I don't care how many "reps" you've received or whatever...you obviously can't tell the difference and aren't willing to do a little bit of research to find out. You seem like you want everything done to accomodate you.
If my family needs protecting, I'd sure as HECK rather have a DOG that barks at an intruder than put a gun in my house where that weapon could be used against me if an intruder came. And you can't really "train" a male dog to stop humping everything in site...you get them neutered or if you don't for breeding purposes many will have a little toy or something that hey "hump" instead. I have a male dog and he has NEVER ONCE humped a human, pillow etc. But, I suppose you think the "humping" behavior of a dog that is not neutered is "unnatural" as well.
Again...your apparently not well informed. If someone is walking by my house and my dog DOES NOT leave the yard...it can bark all it wants. Dogs are not mind readers! They don't know by looking at someone if they are a threat or not. They respond to body movement and they "sense" things...like FEAR. If they sense those things it is like a trigger that tells them to warn the possible intruder.
Again...showing how little you know about dogs. The girl who posted about Griffy did not condone the behavior. But that dog is not dangerous. If it were, it would have attacked the children LONG before that. A large dog who is dangerous will not likely tolerate a bunch if kids running around, pulling its' tail, fur etc. That dog CLEARLY is protective...but not dangerous. Dogs make mistakes and so do people.
It kind of amazes me that with all the bad/dangerous people that live in our society, how suspicious so many people are of others, with the crime rates going up all the time...that people would want their dogs to not bark and growl if they sense danger.
To state it again, I do not condone dogs that run off their property and bite etc. The example of the older gentleman for instance...definitely not ok.
But dogs will bark. This instinct to protect is a good thing and should/will never be trained out of them.
By the way...just want to let you know I've gotten over 10 private messages and numerous reputation comments about this thread. There are a lot of people who agree with me, but just aren't comfortable openingly debating here. It's good to know that I have a lot of support.
Whoo-eee goodie for you...I see I wasn't far off about the passive/aggressive thing I mentioned to you in a previous thread..you said you had never heard that before...well I am glad I could enlighten you! I think this thread represents that theory well as your title certainly invited controversy.
My plm with it is...you seem reluctant to do anything about your situation and clearly seem to dislike dogs and, well, you know that ole adage about people who don't like animals Well whatever, you're misssing out on mans best friend so it's your loss! There is really no love like the unconditional love a dog gives
Since you passively determined after all the rehashing you will just stick to your treadmill you could have just went with that in the first place and saved the rest of us the bother of replying here but you got lots of rep points out of it..you rock
About the husky comment (and this can also tie into my previous post)...
I had a husky growing up. That dog loved us and would have given her last breath to protect us. She was wary of strangers and strage cars. But she recognized vehicles and if she knew you, you were ok by her.
However, here is my reason why I personally think dogs have every right to be wary of strangers; if not to protect us...themselves.
That same dog disappeared when we were on vacation. My grandparents lived right up the lane (out in the country) and watched her. She wasn't there when we got home, but that wasn't too unusual. She would go up to my grandparents all the time and play in their barns etc. She never showed up. We called all the local vets, shelters etc. NOTHING.
Finally my parents called the game warden since there were some woods close by. They showed him a picture and his answer was simple. "Someone probably shot her thinking she was a coyote and when they went to get the body saw the collar and license and didn't have the guts to tell you." So...my dog, MY PET was shot and killed b/c of the way she looked.
She probably would have been one of those dogs that the OP is scared of on her walk, but if you just knew her name, she would have been the dog that took a walk right with you and would have deterred the dog that charged you. She kept strange dogs and people off our property and never hurt anyone.
HMMM...I wonder why I would be so against people thinking that dogs need the protective instinct "trained" out of them when they use that instinct to benefit us? Or I wonder why I would be so against people making assumption based on the way a dog looks?
I think coming to this thread and warranting this much attention from a barking dog instance is ridiculous. I dare say if bad rep could be given, you would be getting your healthy share of that as well. I would also bet you that others who have tried to help you, who you choose to ridicule and ignore, have probebly gotten good Rep and DM's for their views as well.
It is obvious you have more of a problem than with just this dog. This debate could go on forever and you will continue feeding it because you are enjoying the attention. I have not seen once where you have said, "maybe I WILL try that to see if it works", you just keep on with the negative.
I have two wonderful dogs to play with and have tired of this cry for attention. My dogs deserve the time I waste on this thread. Good luck with your fear of dogs, maybe you can get professional help.
So she needs professional help for expressing her frustration about not being able to walk around the neighborhood without having an unleashed dog going after her?
Good thing you are going back playing with your dogs, maybe you can learn something from them.
My father (who walks with a cane) was told by his doctor that he needed to exercise more, so he started walking laps around his block. One morning he walked past a house where a very large dog sitting on a frotn porch started snarling and growling at him. My dad just crossed the street and walked on the sidewalk on the other side.
On my dad's second lap the dog started snarling and growling again and then suddenly raced across the street and grabbed my dad's leg. My dad tried to beat him off with his cane but the dog wouldn't let go. A car coming by stopped and started hitting the dog with a car jack. Finally the dog let go and the driver of the car chased him away.
My dad's leg required over 70 stitches. The dog was euthanized.
You should sue their pants off for that.
This is one time it is the right thing to do. Find the biggest sleazeball lawyer and go after them. Besides the physical injury, your dad will have that memory the rest of his life. He could have been killed.
Being someone with both cattle and dogs, I am aware that there is a difference between the two - many differences, in fact.
Cattle don't train so well not to go walkabout. Nor do they protect the property (though some folks are taken aback by the bull until they see him resting his head on my hip so that I can give him a neckrub).
Dogs, on the other hand, are trainable. And, as mentioned several times in this thread, there are always invisible fences, which keep the dogs in, but do nothing to allay the OP's fears and irritation since SHE can't see them, even if the dogs are well aware that they are there and will not cross that barrier. So the only solution for her fears, since she's rejected all efforts to help her deal with them herself, would be to require everyone who has a dog to fence in their front yard so that she can see the fence and feel "safe".
Don't know what that would do about the occasional dog that has no owner, though, or that gets inadvertently let out of the fence by the meter reader or someone.
Hey! Do you think the landowner who yells at your grandkids for no reason at all should be fenced in, too?
Depends on the bull. Depends on the person. Depends on the person's attitude towards the bull, and how that person has raised the bull. Depends on how close an eye the person has kept on the bull and how well the person knows the bull and can read its body language. Depends on a lot of things that take a bit of thought and work.
Sort of like dogs, come to think of it, in that regard, or any other animal, including humans.
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Well whatever, you're misssing out on mans best friend so it's your loss! There is really no love like the unconditional love a dog gives
