To think that 'reactive' dog owners should stop kidding themselves?

[realpeopledontlikebites]

Their dogs are simply aggressive. If you've been doing everything within your power and finances to make your dog happy and it still goes for people and other animals, whilst you diminish your whole world to accommodate it..... bearing in mind most dogs WANT to please their owners and live without conflict ..... then it's time to do right thing and remove the dog from the possibility of harming anyone.

Stop kidding youself. Stop putting children and vulnerable people in danger. Stop pretending there is any other solution , because there isn't . Visit your local vet and discuss the only humane sensible thing to do.

I've been there. I've blamed others for walking too fast. For looking at my dog. For breathing anywhere near him . He was wired wrong and he was a danger and we did everything we could and we made all the excuses.

He bit people and when he tried to lunge at my baby grandson I knew we had to take him to the vet and end his life humanely.

I wish we'd done it sooner and I am so fearful of other dogs when I see them the same as my dog was. I know how dangerous they are. I Know their body language.

If you're soothing your dog constantly to stop them attacking people or you have to walk in the dark or hire a field, you own a dangerous dog and it is a liability . PLEASE do the right thing before your dog kills someone.

Yep! I have a friend who has a small cockapoo type thing who yaps at every single thing...the TV, the radio, cars passing, people passing, just plain thin air... She just yells at her to shut up, which obviously does nothing.
But small dogs are seen as harmless so their owners let them get away with antisocial behaviours.

My late dog was reactive when we got her because she was horribly abused. We did the work, and eventually she became the sweetest, gentlest thing. It just takes time, patience and knowledge. She never bit anyone or anything either. She wasn't aggressive, she was terrified.

Reactive does not always mean aggressive.

Equally some people do have ill behaved, aggressive dogs and blame it on them being reactive, which results in things like this - dogs that could be turned around with work being stigmatised under the same umbrella by people lacking in knowledge about dogs and canine behaviour.

It's a shame.

My dog is reactive. He would not be capable of killing anybody even if he tried. Stop talking crap, OP.

I rescued a dog who had not be socialised by her previous owner and who was reactive. She never bit another animal but was very vocal. It took me a year of patiently and kindly working with her to give her the skills and confidence she needed to be able to be a happy dog. It wasn't even difficult - it just took time and persistence.

She and I then had 12 wonderful years together in which she lived a full, loved and happy life and was a sociable, polite and confident a dog (with people and other dogs, horses and animals) as you could ever imagine. It would have been a crying shame if she'd been destroyed when she was a young and troublesome dog.

0/10 effort.

Too early in the week for all this ignorant anti dog tripe innit

Shit owner syndrome more like it.

Whats funny is that the whole anti-dog MN is moaning against people commodising their dog, yet they do exactly the same.
Dogs bark.
Dogs sometimes don't like something and react.
Dogs are being dogs.
Dogs get spooked.
Dogs are not robots, they react to stimuli.
Not the same as being aggressive or dangerous.

You don't like dogs, thats fine, but stop playing the victim card all the time. You're not going to be killed in your sleep by a yappy chihuahua that got spooked by a moped, stop being outraged at everything like its your hobby.

I agree. Some people expect dogs to be silent little robots who show no emotion.
Like people, they are complex little beings with their own likes and hates.
I have seen posts on here where a dog owners is in the wrong because their dog growled at someone. Dogs growl as a warning sign. It is their version of a human saying "please stop doing that, I don't like". Yet they get labelled as aggressive and PTS.

My dog growls at puppies that are annoying her, I’d never tell her off as it’s important behaviour and tells me as well as the other dog she’s not happy.

My main issue is that I have a friendly, well trained and sociable dog. If I see a dog on a lead she goes on a lead. I understand reactive dogs owners feelings to other dogs but my dog should also be allowed to play and have fun, it feels like reactive dog owners are anti any dog they see playing.

I agree to some extent, but being PTS isn’t always necessary.

A friend of mine had a rescue dog, adopted very young, who was very aggressive with other dogs.

She just muzzled her when out and kept her on lead. She rented a field so the dog could get proper exercise safely.

This. And I say this as someone who has had a reactive dog pts. He weighed 4kg, he was never going to seriously hurt anyone. But two years of being day in day out attacked by him while seeing every behaviourist under the sun was exhausting and yes we were bitten (dh quite often). I do think some dogs are wired wrong.

And I think with my dog if he’d just been the way he was outside of the house we could have coped. Muzzle and a lead with a small dog is achievable on walks. But when the aggression is in the house against the owners it’s very difficult.

As a non-dog person I think it can be hard to understand the lengths that people will go to and the extent to which they will limit their lives for a dog. To me if a dog is so reactive and anxious that it can't cope around people it doesn't know then I'd think what sort of life is that for either the owner or the dog?

🙄

It's quite clear what the OP is referring to.

Is a “reactive” dog the same as a “spirited” child ie a professional acceptable way to say they are a bloody nightmare?

No.

Reactive dogs often have incredibly difficult starts to life - puppy farms, abusive owners, an 'incident' with people or other dogs (being attacked) when they are young. It means their instinct is to be on the defensive.

Typically, the owners who are 'managing' their reactivity are doing all they can do improve that dogs life and make them more comfortable and confident - because that's the crux of the matter; reactive dogs are not confident and the are not comfortable.

DMum has a cocker who is/was (she's mostly better now but still has her moments) reactive. That was due to her upbringing - abused as a breeding dog in a puppy farm, tormented by children and generally had a shit life. She's 99.9% better now because she has the right family who love her and taught her not to be scared. You can't do that with an aggressive dog.

In comparison, spirited children are the result of lazy parenting as, so often, aggressive dogs are the result of poor ownership.

One bite is one too many. If you can't train your dog to interact safely with others and not endanger them then it's sentimental indulgence to keep them in a family situation.

You are 100% right.
Of course you try to train the dog. If it does not work, that is it.

You failed to manage your dog’s behaviour to the point it had an opportunity to lunge at a baby and you think everyone is that clueless? How many people did you allow it to bite before you did something?

it’s not nice being judged is it? My dog is reactive and I walk him in the dark - he is as soft as butter with people and gets on extremely well with dogs he knows. He has never bitten anyone or even gone to bite a person. You and I are not the same as dog owners

We have a saluki who has never heard the phrase “wants to please their owner” in her life.
She is very dog reactive - we do a mixture of muzzled walks, private fields and controlled lead walks to limit her exposure/cortisol stacking.

She is THE BEST dog our toddler could ever have hoped for as a family dog, minus thieving his dinner if he turns his back.

What annoys me most is the ones who put a big yellow hazard sign on the dog's coat/lead saying that the dog is "reactive" and they think they've done their bit. That any negative interactions are your own fault because the sign warned you.

The truth is, you should not be walking around in public with a hazardous dog. It's dangerous and it's always someone else's fault with these people when things go wrong.

I think what you meant to say was "my dangerous dog hasn't bitten anyone YET".

It can be limiting, but do you agree with the OP that the animal - which is likely itself frightened, has been treated badly (generally reactivity comes from bad experiences and treatment) and probably love its guardians should be destroyed?
We often choose to “limit” our lives for those we love, and I am sad for people who have such an limited understanding of love that they don’t see why they would make such choices for “just an animal”.

He never will. Because I know how to manage his behaviour and I dont put him in situations where he feels as though he has to react. If I had a dog that was known to bite people it would certainly never be in the same room as a baby.

My DH has a small 8kg dog who gets excited and jumps up when you enter. No aggression, but. reactive/excited yes.

We have a large 50kg dog who does the same but with the potential to cause injury due to her size. No aggression AT ALL but way too excited.
We have done training, does really well but doesn't carry through to real life. As such we have him under control, always on lead when out and about. Going to be working with a trainer for home interactions!