UK Pet Forums Forum banner
21 - 36 of 36 Posts
Many years ago we were taking our GSD puppy to the vets for his inoculations. Hubby had him inside his coat. A woman stopped us and asked if she could stroke the puppy to which husband said yes. She then asked what breed is it, hubby replied GSD whereby she pulled her hand away as if the dog was going to savage her. He grew into the most gentlemanly GSD you could meet. He loved everything and everybody.
 
I don’t think I have any prejudice against particular breeds per se but from experience, the half dozen or so GSD’s around here are not well socialised (varying reasons/backgrounds) and are reactive so I do give them a wide berth.
 
I tend to give most dogs a wide berth to be honest as Nooka isn't the most sociable and Fly (who is on lead) gets too excited and can bubble over into bitey-ness. Puzzle is fine with dogs and can in fact be too friendly, so I am encouraging him to ignore dogs out and about. Nooka seems to have an issue with pricked eared, pointy-nosed types like huskies, GSDs, Akitas, even shelties! So those we avoid especially. She does seem to like collies and cockerpoos for some reason!
If I avoid dogs it's more because I'm worried that Nooka will kick off and I don't want her to start anything, and don't know how the other dog will react so it's safer to avoid!
 
I tend to give most dogs a wide berth to be honest as Nooka isn't the most sociable and Fly (who is on lead) gets too excited and can bubble over into bitey-ness. Puzzle is fine with dogs and can in fact be too friendly, so I am encouraging him to ignore dogs out and about. Nooka seems to have an issue with pricked eared, pointy-nosed types like huskies, GSDs, Akitas, even shelties! So those we avoid especially. She does seem to like collies and cockerpoos for some reason!
If I avoid dogs it's more because I'm worried that Nooka will kick off and I don't want her to start anything, and don't know how the other dog will react so it's safer to avoid!
I was once chased across a field by a man with a little staffy telling me his dog was friendly. I was trying to tell him it was my dog who is a doofus !
 
Georgina's quite convinced there are only two dogs in the world - her and Gwylim! Other dogs tend to avoid her anyway which is fine by me. The small black hairy creature hates dogs of any breed or size that bark behind their garden fences and I have to make sure we don't go too close because he has been known to nip a nose or two if it's sticking through the fence!

Georgina's a great favourite with all the staff at the vets, because she has the dubious distinction of being the only Shar Pei patient who's never attempted to bite them! :rolleyes:
 
I don't think I have any prejudice against particular breeds per se but from experience, the half dozen or so GSD's around here are not well socialised (varying reasons/backgrounds) and are reactive so I do give them a wide berth.
Same here . Ive had dreadful trouble with some GSDs here but I blame the owners. why do they let them off lead in the park when they know they will run up and chase /attack other dogs .
Not all owners I might add , a couple are brilliant and their GSDs no problem.

Of course other breeds attack too but I;d rather it was by a smaller dog than a larger one.
 
I was once chased across a field by a man with a little staffy telling me his dog was friendly. I was trying to tell him it was my dog who is a doofus !
That happens so much :rolleyes:

I walk a tiny old Border Terrier, she looks like a teddy bear but I try to avoid everyone, she's 15, deaf and almost blind but she'll still have a go. At her age though, I don't think it's good for her to get that het up.
I even have to pick her up at times to prevent other peoples dogs upsetting her. The owners look at me as if I'm mad, but I'll not leave a vulnerable old dog to get pestered into fighting just cos they think their dog is friendly
 
When I first got my staffy pup people would come from all directions to see her. Now as she's got bigger and filled out a bit people with dogs avoid her like a repelling magnet.
Which really is a shame because she's such a playful pup all she wants to do with other dogs is play lol.
 
I'm quite ok with people avoiding us on walks. Holly is incredibly friendly with other dogs and has taken a fair amount of **** from other dogs (big and small and none of them GSDs) over the years and not reacted back. She's actually scared of GSDs ironically, but I tend to find that most of the GSDs we've met on walks have been quite happy to ignore us as long as we leave them alone.

I don't avoid any particular breeds. If I see dogs coming towards us then I will take a different path if possible. If not then we will just keep out of the way. The only types of dogs I avoid are those who:

a. Look like they may go mental at Holly if she goes anywhere near them
b. Have bundles of energy which may result in a chase one way or another
c. Are not under good control by their owners

I do find it sad how many people seem to dislike shepherds and it really annoys me that they are more likely to get the blame for things just because of their breed, but I guess some people will never get the joy of knowing and loving a good one. I have and that makes me :D
 
When I first got my staffy pup people would come from all directions to see her. Now as she's got bigger and filled out a bit people with dogs avoid her like a repelling magnet.
Which really is a shame because she's such a playful pup all she wants to do with other dogs is play lol.
See I would give you a wide berth but purely because I don't encourage play with my dogs and if we see dogs that I think are going to try to play with mine I will change direction or we will stand still and be utterly boring and uninteresting until you've passed.
 
Timber is uncomfortable with broad fronted dogs (staffies, bulldogs, mastiffs etc) and someone here - maybe @O2.0 - suggested that broad fronted dogs appear to have a very direct, face-on approach and that can be intimidating in canine body language. Nothing to do with the dog itself, just it's shape. Maybe Woody sees that @Bugsys grandma ?
Do you think that could be it? Even though we have two mastiffs in the family who he spends a lot of time with? They both lived with us for a while before my daughter bought her own house and moved out. The older mastiff was here when Woody came to us and the younger one came to us as a puppy, about 18 months later.
 
I have owned many a rotts and I have had this experience more times than I can count. Just from the other side. More often than not rotts get avoided. I have seen people crossing streets just to avoid a chance of contact.
We have had very similar experiences with our mastiffs, I've had people move away and actually walk in the middle of the road with their children rather than walk past us. Our mastiffs are the most gentle, soppy dogs ever, but they are very big so I can understand why people might be nervous.
 
When I first got my staffy pup people would come from all directions to see her. Now as she's got bigger and filled out a bit people with dogs avoid her like a repelling magnet.
Which really is a shame because she's such a playful pup all she wants to do with other dogs is play lol.
The main trouble with a grown Staffy, is that they are built like a brick and their play method is that of a terrier. They are just too tough and rough for many other breeds of dog who don't understand the terrier way
 
I think sometimes people jump to the wrong conclusions about why others are avoiding their dog.

There could be 101 different reasons why I’ll avoid another dog, and none of them are anything to do with the breed. Phoebe is scared, likely to bark and turn into a screaming drama llama at anything bigger than her. She also has hip dysplasia so I don’t want her over doing it or being jumped all over and getting hurt. She’s also usually wet or plastered in mud so I don’t want her getting too close to anyone and getting them filthy. I’m not sociable and don’t want to interact with strangers. We’re often doing wee bits of training on a walk and I don’t want to be interrupted or Phoebe to get distracted. We might just be out for a quick walk and don’t have time to stop and play/chat, or quite simply, I feel like changing direction and walking a different way!

A few years ago there was broken glass all over a bridge in the park so my OH picked Phoebe up and carried her across rather than let her walk through it. A man coming towards us with a GSD jumped to the wrong conclusions and shouted a really snarky comment that his dog “isn’t going to touch our precious dog” When my OH set Phoebe back down on the other side and pointed out the broken glass, the man was pretty embarrassed. He was nice enough to apologise and thanked us before turning round and going back the way he came.
 
I think sometimes people jump to the wrong conclusions about why others are avoiding their dog.

There could be 101 different reasons why I'll avoid another dog, and none of them are anything to do with the breed. Phoebe is scared, likely to bark and turn into a screaming drama llama at anything bigger than her. She also has hip dysplasia so I don't want her over doing it or being jumped all over and getting hurt. She's also usually wet or plastered in mud so I don't want her getting too close to anyone and getting them filthy. I'm not sociable and don't want to interact with strangers. We're often doing wee bits of training on a walk and I don't want to be interrupted or Phoebe to get distracted. We might just be out for a quick walk and don't have time to stop and play/chat, or quite simply, I feel like changing direction and walking a different way!

A few years ago there was broken glass all over a bridge in the park so my OH picked Phoebe up and carried her across rather than let her walk through it. A man coming towards us with a GSD jumped to the wrong conclusions and shouted a really snarky comment that his dog "isn't going to touch our precious dog" When my OH set Phoebe back down on the other side and pointed out the broken glass, the man was pretty embarrassed. He was nice enough to apologise and thanked us before turning round and going back the way he came.
Yup, I got confronted by someone with a staffy once because I put my dog on the lead. The people were approaching and the staffy was by their side. I thought it was on the lead so I got Holly on the lead too. Then the staffy started running towards Holly. I assumed it had slipped its collar or something so I tried to keep Holly out of the way. The owner shouted "that's right, people see a staffy and assume it's going to attack their dog!" I explained that actually I thought that their dog was on the lead and slipped its collar and that I knew how it felt to have a dog that got judged purely because of her breed.
 
I had a snarky comment once from a staffy owner walking towards us when i dived behind a large bush with my neighbours border collie. What I wasnt in a position to explain was that our behaviour was purely because the collie was a rude want to meet every dog and bounce on their heads and be a right pita and they wouldnt welcome his advances. I was avoiding all dogs not just staffies. But thats a bit hard to shout across the road at someone.
 
21 - 36 of 36 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top