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Size Does Not Excuse Behaviour!


Danois
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Years ago i was walking my very first Bull Terrier, and i had to once lift him up into my arms to protect him from a SWF roaming the streets. Owners thought it was hilarious. I have had to do the same thing taking my dogs to the vets, some owners in the clinic dont have their dogs on the lead inside and i have to stand there holding my Bully up too keep both parties safe.

I would maybe complain to my vet about that, thats not on at all. Most vet clinics have policy saying all dogs must be leashed!

That situation you just describe (having to pick your bully up on the street) is actually the very reason my trainers try to teach a perfect stay so that instead of picking you dog up you can put them in a sit stay leave them and deal with the other dogs and not have to worry about your dog getting up etc.

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I have an aggressive small dog. I'm training him out of it. Ironically when he gets aggressive & corrected, I'm the one that gets "the look" as if I'm abusing my dog (complete with the disapproving "Oh, tsk tsk" :)). I get this look from big dog owners more unfortunately.

Also met a GSD owner that keeps throwing ball pass us when I was training my dog. Mine's on lead, his wasn't. My dog reacted after about 3x (he likes fetch). I gave him the dirtiest look I could and he moved to another spot. How can people be so stupid :o

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Oh gosh, I used to live in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, near Queen st in Woollahra and there were a lot of small dogs raised as substitute children (half had clothing etc). Anyway, one guy had three pomeranians, all ill-tempered and he didn't seem to think they needed leads. Unfortunately we came across him many times, and every time, all 3 of his dogs would charge mine barking and even nipping him. My dog would stay super close to me and fortunately allow me to handle it, but one time, whilst I was again trying to protect my dog and tell them off, he's like, oh you should just let the dogs sort it out.

Oh yeah, doberman sort out the 3 poms, why didn't I think of that...

Best is when they think it's funny. You're sitting there hoping to god that your dog will just continue to let you handle it and ignore the dogs even if they bite him, knowing that one bite back from yours could do serious damage, whilst the owner of the little ones is laughing and saying something like, oh my dog thinks he's actually a big dog and isn't it funny..

I ignore incompetent owners now and just protect my dog. I have grabbed small dogs by the collar and spoken very firmly with them and I don't care what the other owners say, I don't want my dog to be in the position where he's uncomfortable and feels he needs to defend himself.

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We just can't go to the off-leash Sydney Park at all, & until I get eyes in the back of my head we won't be going back. :cry:

Being tiny should not be an excuse to act up and it's definitely not 'cute' or funny behavior. I don't want mine nipped at by other smalls and there are big dogs there who could flatten mine without trying. All it takes is one and I'm sad my dogs aren't safe off-leash.

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We had 2 SBTs, a husky/shep cross and a foxy cross (supervised by 3 adults) down the leash free beach area. We'd been there for several hours just playing and enjoying the company of other lively doggies. Two SWFs came down the beach with their owners and once near our group came over snarling and carrying on so one of my SBTs defended us. Mine didn't go the other dogs but stood in front of us with her hackles up and fight face on. Of course the owners of the SWFs accused me of being a terrible owner letting a viscious dog loose on the beach. At first I felt guilty because I obviously have the stronger dog, but then I thought about it and told the guy that next time his dogs did that to me I wouldn't be calling mine off.

Some people just don't realise that the behaviour of their dogs sets off the behaviour of other dogs. If a dog can't walk past another without a strong reaction then they should never be off leash regardless of size. And if you want to get your dog out of its fear and aggression habits then you need to put some effort into doing it safely and non-confrontationally in a controlled environment first. Off leash parks are not for experimenting.

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And if you want to get your dog out of its fear and aggression habits then you need to put some effort into doing it safely and non-confrontationally in a controlled environment first.

Mine have passed this stage.

Off leash parks are not for experimenting

And is now at this stage. I believe it's a necessary step in rehab. Properly executed of course.

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i was at a dog park (which is a race occurrence of me but no one else was there) and a guy and his small foxy type came in. His dog was snapping at Scarlett's face and carrying on (the poor girl was so confuses, she's used to polite dogs!). Thankfully the guy was responsible enough to turn around and leave with his dog. He apologised "he gets like that sometimes".... and you're taking it to a dog park, why?

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Went to the park yesterday morning, with my girl to push-bike around the track. No other dogs in the park, which I knew at the time I went there never is!!!!

Well a woman drives up lets her dog out of the car which proceeds to race well over 200 metres to attack mine.

Words were said.

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It has nothing to do with the size of the dog. Its not acceptable for ANY dog to be acting that way and it is the owners responsibility to do something about it.

The title of this thread should read 'idiots and ignorance does not excuse behaviour!'

It works both ways. I see big dogs being harassed by small dogs at the park but I also see small dogs harass big dogs at the park too.

I for one have a small dog who can be reactive to bigger dogs. I manage this and work on it every day and would NEVER let her harass another dog. But honestly this reactivity has been stemmed from her being attacked and harassed by other big dogs many many times. Why do big dog owners allow their dogs to harass my dog?

It works both ways.

So seriously forget about the size of the dog and start looking at the owners as the true issue!

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Kiesha we all accept that owners are the problem not the dog or the size of the dog. You will find several responses in this thread that talk about that also.

Its more that when small dogs attack/charge/bark/harass etc their owners use their size as an excuse or think its "cute" because their dog is small hence the title of the topic.

With big dog owners the excuse is usual "oh he/she is friendly" or "he/she just wants to play" etc (there is also topics on this as well :) )

ETA - Grammer/Spelling

Edited by Keira&Phoenix
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My favourite is when people come up to me and say "oh, my dog's not good with big dogs, it will do him good to have yours beat him up a bit". Sure... an Akita is the right dog to do that to :wave: Kuma is a mild mannered, neutral temperamented dog and I'd like to keep it that way. He won't start anything but it wouldn't take much for him to finish it - and then I'd be in hot water.

One of the dog parks we frequent is rather small, about the size of an old suburban back yard (which is huge in comparison to mine! :eek:) We will always ask the owners of the dogs already in the park if they are comfortable with us coming in. We always say he's really gentle, but understand if people have issues with a big dog playing with the smaller dogs. We would walk away if someone had an issue.

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The only dog that has ever bitten me hard enough to break the skin was a little maltese-type creature.

Oh baykinz ... you've just brought back a horrible memory. When I was a little kid, I was out riding my bike when the street's savage German Shepherd (he had bitten several people before) knocked me off my bike and bit my thigh. Legs all bloody from the fall and the bite, I went racing down the road screaming my head off with the dog behind me - just as I got to my front yard, the aggressive maltese across the road joined in and bit me on the ankle before I managed to get inside the house! The story sounds funny now, but at the time it was very traumatic for Mini Koala ... Especially as I had to have tetanus shots that same morning :wave:

That's terrible I hope those dogs owners were delt with.

As the owner of both large and small dogs over the years I always expected the same social behaviour and manners from all my dogs. A dog is a dog and needs to be educated equally.

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My favourite excuse is "ohh he has small dog syndrome"

Ok, now let's look at it from the other perspective. I have two small breeds and while I was walking in the park not too long ago, a man with a boxer came up behind me. I don't panic and I allow my boys to interact if the other dog and owner are OK with that. One of my boys is 8kg. and this boxer was quite large, overweight in fact. He was friendly enough but was very rough in his approach. The owner kept trying to reassure me that he wouldn't hurt a fly, perhaps not, but I could see that he was about to hurt my boy. I asked that he be held back while I walked away and I was told not to be such a mother hen and baby my dogs. I don't baby them at all and let them get in and play with other dogs. My concern was that the way the boxer was pawing my boy was in fact an accident waiting to happen. Of course, this owner went on to tell other owners that I was paranoid, but what he didn't know is that my old boy is 13 plus years old, has only one eye and almost blind in that remaining eye too. In such a case, who else is there to protect him? Admittedly, I don't take him to the part too often now but still, I shouldn't have to ask the owner of the larger dog to hold him back. Don't get me wrong, I have had giant breeds, namely great danes in the past and still love the breed, but age on my side tells me to go smaller in size.

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It has nothing to do with the size of the dog. Its not acceptable for ANY dog to be acting that way and it is the owners responsibility to do something about it.

The title of this thread should read 'idiots and ignorance does not excuse behaviour!'

It works both ways. I see big dogs being harassed by small dogs at the park but I also see small dogs harass big dogs at the park too.

I for one have a small dog who can be reactive to bigger dogs. I manage this and work on it every day and would NEVER let her harass another dog. But honestly this reactivity has been stemmed from her being attacked and harassed by other big dogs many many times. Why do big dog owners allow their dogs to harass my dog?

It works both ways.

So seriously forget about the size of the dog and start looking at the owners as the true issue!

Sorry but the number of times my Dane has been rushed at my SWF is...who knows....lost count....I've even had to kick them off my dog.

I'm also sick of people not training and socialising small dogs properly just because they're small and can be picked up or more easily handled.

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Small aggressive dogs - well anything that rushs in attack mode us WILL be a small football if I connect. No excuses if its aggressive I dont want to have to take my non aggressive dog to the vet due to their error. I got so sick of two out of control shih tzus a couple of years back I charged them. Seems if a small aggressive dog is charging your dog and YOU rush it they turn and run the opposite way. However your dog must be trained to stay behind you and let you deal with the problem.

Well I think those Shih tzus are now walked on lead around the area instead of taken to the park and left loose to charge others. I complained to the council and mentioned to others to just do the same to get the owners educated in controlling their animals.

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