Do you own a breed of dog that people pre-judge on sight?

[DannyOD]

I have a Chihuahua who is particularly tiny. She is a rescue and the sweetest natured, loving little thing but people take one look at her and pre-judge both her and me as her owner.

I have actually had people say to me ‘Oh I bet she’s a horrible dog isn’t she?’ Or ‘Bet she’s a bad tempered, snappy thing isn’t she?’ Well, no she isn’t actually. It drives me nuts!!! I also get ‘Bet you dress her up and carry her round in a bag?’ No, she is a dog not a doll!!!

Anyone else fed up with this sort of thing?

Yes, I have always had Bullmastiffs. My current one is 7 months old and already people are extremely wary of him. It's a shame really as he is absolutely ace. He has been to day care since a young age so he is fabulous with all dogs of different breeds and sizes. He loves people and is very gentle with the children in the family (we have no children) He will play with his toys with them but won't snatch, stays away if they're eating, doesn't jump up, respects personal space and doesn't snatch treats. Passers by loved him when he was a baby but now not so much and it will only get worse.

As above people crossed over when walking my previous dogs which is a shame really.

My current chap gets so wriggly when he sees people and so happy but we always keep him close to us if they don't express interest in saying hello to him.

A prospective home boarder agreed to take my dog for my holidays subject to meet (one hour 's walk together in forest) and 24 hours' trial stay. We fixed a time for the meet and next morning at 7.30 am she 'phoned to cancel as "I think she'll be too strong for me"!!! - without even meeting her.
My sister's friend was invited for Christmas Day with all of us (he lives alone) and to come round for coffee to meet my Staffie one day beforehand, dog being on a lead and taken away to another room if he found her too frightening, to see if he could accept her presence on Christmas Day. He said, "No, those kind of dogs eat babies, I've read it in the paper" and refused to even meet her. He is therefore not able to come to Christmas Day lunch.

GSD and Rotties...

pippin8
I'm glad to hear your Dobie is starting to calm down now, was it a gradual calming with your Dobie? How is yours on lead?, our Ddobie still pulls so she's in a dogmatic face harness which is a godsend.

Dobies are such a handful aren't they, our DDobie has us in hysterics at the things she does, I swear she thinks she is this tiny little lap dog who can be carried around by us
There were times that she nearly broke me, and had me in tears and I came close to begging DH to let us re home her but I didn't and I survived and I absolutely wouldn't be without her now. She's my shadow, Just as the DD's let me go to the toilet on my own I now have a Ddog that likes to keep me company

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel - we can't walk her without being stopped over and over for people who want to pet her. She loves it though. Super friendly and wants to touch every human she meets.

Absolutely no interest in other dogs though, which people find strange. I have learned to accept it.

Also clever but stubborn. Cares more about her comfort than pleasing her owner

Also not necessarily breed related but I walk several dogs, some of them are cute but reactive. And you have some owners insisting on coming over or allowing their dogs approach. And then when the dogs lunge and bark, they go " that's not a friendly dog"

It must be hard to own a dog that everyone shies away from. I was walking past the car park in our local town when a lady unloaded a beautiful staffie from her car. I stopped and said 'What a lovely dog' and her response was to thank me profusely for stopping for a staffie.

I do think some people are a bit too sensitive to other people.
I doesn't bother me what they do unless they say something about my dogs.
My dogs are friendly, well behaved, they have lots of dog friends ... thats more important than some stranger changing direction on seeing us.

I don't think it's over sensitive to wish someone wouldn't scream when they see my dog. It upsets her!

Tabulahrasa, that is my observation too. Fairfax may not be like this,but there is certainly a section of the media not reporting attacks by labs etc. Like I say there was a serious incident weeks ago near me, a boy had his face torn off by the family labrador, nothing reported. If this was a staffy/gsd/mastiff/kita, the press would be all over it.

My Rotties are teaching people not to judge a dog by its breed - they've friendly, polite, inquisitive, and do not retaliate when barked at or lunged at by ither dogs (usually small ones).

For the record - I also have a small one who thinks he's top dog. I'd trust my big ones any day over the littlest one, so he's on a lead when out and about.

About labs - I worked in a vets and out of all the customers we had that had aggressive dogs, or whose dog wasn’t very friendly, the majority of them were labs and golden retrievers!

If you work closely with dogs then you’ll know Labs are often known to be aggressive, especially males

i have a Goldie and although he is a soppy thing they are big powerful dogs
We had them growing up and once he was attacked by a German Shepherd - this was back when they were sadly the dickheads dog of choice and the owner thought it was funny that our “puff dog” was growling back at his who was trying to attack us. Didn’t think it was quite so funny when his dog slipped its lead and our almost killed his until it ran away with its tail between its legs.
Also my lovely friendly boy was ill and in pain once and I did warn the vet who took him away to clean his abscess. Vet said he was sure it wouid be ok as he “looked friendly”. About 60seconds later vet reappeared and asked if he could sedate ddog. I agreed and then he came back with ddog 30 minutes later looking very disheveled and said it had taken 3 of them to pin him down!!!!
They generally are friendly dogs but I when they aren’t God help you, it’s why we have put so much training into ours

Our German Shepherd gets the looks and the avoidance from many people, yet she is as soft as an old sock. The silly thing is, if someone spots her missing leg they suddenly want to fuss her and say "awww" so what's the difference, all of a sudden?

My hubby saw a "Keep Calm, it's a German Shepherd not a freakin shark" hoodie that we should definitely wear.

Our terrier is a lot more cross and no one dodges him!

Yes, we have irish wolfhounds, and some people cross the road when I am walking them together. "Are those bears? , do they bite, can you ride on their backs? No, not bears, don't bite, except if anyone tries to hassle me, then they would, and no they are not horses to ride on. They are big soft hairy babies who think they are lap dogs and want to sit on our laps!

Not my own dog, but I often walk my neighbour's Jack Russell. I get a lot of comments from other dog owners about how Jack Russells are all bonkers, loud escape artists. They are right, my friend's dog is adorable but absolutely mad as a box of frogs

We have a Rhodesian ridgeback, he's well trained with excellent recall. ALthough we still get people visibly avoiding us when we're out, we get plenty of people approaching us to ask questions about him, or to stroke him. I've only been on the receiving end once of negative comments about the breed luckily.

Lab x staffy

Years ago I was walking on Southend seafront with a very shaggy golden lurcher, think deerhound size. Walking towards us was a little girl about four who took one look at the dog and said "mum it's a lion" the look on her face was priceless, she really thought it was. We did let her know he was just a pet dog and she was really disappointed!

I get judged for putting my Chi in a jumper, the bloody VET ADVISED IT!