Liddle dogs and stinker kids
Alison Smiley
For a little background, my 6 yr old German Shepherd wasn't socialized
well to kids or other dogs as a pup. (My bad.) She really takes offense
(growls and postures) when other dogs approach her, and has been known to
growl at kids inside my house, and once pinched my (then 3 yr old) nephew
with her front teeth to make him squeal.
So this morning I took Miss Sam out to potty, and didn't see the approach
of these two boys (about 6 and 7) with their little ~15 lb. black-and-tan
Min Pin wannabe. I've seen these kids before, they can't control their dog
for anything, he pulls them around the neighborhood and he lunges for
every dog he sees. Last week he lunged for the dog-aggressive lab mix two
doors down, and that dog's owner was SCREAMING for the kids to take their
dog away, and they just played and romped right next to him for a while.
OK, the little boys are approaching, apparently the little dog sees Sam
and starts rushing for her. "Why do you make me run?" the boy holding the
leash yells as the dog pulls him our direction. Sam puts her hackles up
and whirls around to see the crazy critters. My first impulse is to
intervene. I go between the dogs and start manuvering Sam away. (We're at
my front lawn so I just have to make it to my driveway.) The boys move so
their dog can get at Sam. So I let her sniff, and growl, at the little
monster all the while hoping against hope that she won't rip his little
throat out. I step away a few steps and call her. Miracle of miracles, she
turns her back on the monster, hackles still up, and comes with me!
At this point the boy without the leash comes running up, Sam startles at
the sound of his footfalls and whirls around. He rushes right into her
face, saying, "I like dogs!", and starts patting her head. Sam's head is
at the level of his face, and I have no time or room to intervene.
She sniffs his face and wags her tail.
My heart starts again.
The little dog rushes up on the other side, Sam lifts a lip and growls a
bit, but again comes away when I call her. Now we're in the driveway and I
say, "OK, time to go inside."
Again the little boy runs up to pat Sam. This time I am a bit better
prepared (little kids ALWAYS get a little nervous when they see how big
she is, they ALWAYS slow down enough for me to tell them how to approach)
so when he comes at her full-throttle I just tell Sam what a good dog she
is and give her a loose leash and happily encourage her to give the boy
"kissies".
She sniffs his face and wags her tail. Then she calmly follows me into the
house.
GOOD DOG!!!
-Alison in OH
Mary Healey
> At this point the boy without the leash comes running up, Sam startles at
> the sound of his footfalls and whirls around. He rushes right into her
> face, saying, "I like dogs!",
While taking Jack on one of his rare constitutionals, we came across a
neighbor child who wanted to pet him. No, I said, he's very afraid of
people he doesn't know. But I like dogs, boy says. HE WILL BITE YOU,
says I, speaking very clearly. That's okay, he says, my dog at home
bites me all the time.
No, there was no petting. Jack looks like Clifford the Big Red Dog,
only fuzzier, and everybody knows cute, fuzzy dogs just adore being
smothered with pets and kisses. Not. The sad part is that the rough,
tough, scary-looking cowdogs adore kids, don't mind getting affection
from strangers, yet everybody wants to pet the fuzzy dog who can't
handle it.
--
Mary H. and the Ames National Zoo: Regis, Sam-I-Am, Noah (1992-2001),
Ranger, Duke,
felines, finches, and fish
The Puppy Wizard
You can't blame the dog for you mishandling IT.
"Mary Healey" <mhhe...@iastate.edu> wrote in message
news:3EB2789F...@iastate.edu...
Deb
>house.
>
>GOOD DOG!!!
Oh, VERY good dog! And good on you, Alison, for giving your Sam the tools to
not freak!
Sionnach
"Mary Healey" wrote:
> everybody knows cute, fuzzy dogs just adore being
> smothered with pets and kisses. Not. The sad part is that the rough,
> tough, scary-looking cowdogs adore kids, don't mind getting affection
> from strangers, yet everybody wants to pet the fuzzy dog who can't
I may have mentioned this before, but BOY can I relate! Laddie the
Chow/Golden - who was cute and fuzzy by anyone's definition- did *not* allow
touching by people he didn't know, but people simply Would Not Believe me.
(Nowadays, I think they would- I've gotten much more assertive aka blunt in
my middle age. <G>)
Worse, many would simply walk up and grab at him without a word to me; I
finally took to muzzling him in public for his own protection. (He wouldn't
actually bite, but would growl and then snap if the growl didn't back people
off.) Then the dumbasses would say "Oh, why does the poor dog have a muzzle
on?"
Meanwhile, many of the same people were afraid of Dafi the husky-
friendliest dog on the face of the earth, unless you threatened my sister-
because he "looked like a wolf".
Kassie and Cam
"Sionnach" <rhyf...@msn.com> wrote in message
news:b8ugru$dqt10$1...@ID-45033.news.dfncis.de...
>
SNIP
but would growl and then snap if the growl didn't back people
> off.) Then the dumbasses would say "Oh, why does the poor dog have a
muzzle
> on?"
>
> Meanwhile, many of the same people were afraid of Dafi the husky-
> friendliest dog on the face of the earth, unless you threatened my sister-
> because he "looked like a wolf".
I have a GSD who LOVES kids. ANd i have 2 huskies. The female who is a pound
rescue, is aloof with starngers, and the pup is just boisterous. Quite often
th ehuskies get all the attention, and i have to literally ask if people
will pat my GSD, Mojo, who is doing every trick in the dog book to get a
pat.