Breed Stereotypes

Poodles, like some other breeds, are hair breeds.  They shed about as much as humans.  The thing is, they shed hair, not fur, and in so doing, they do not have the dander that is associated with allergies, thus, they are hypoallergenic.  This is one reason many people are running to cross poodles in the hope of creating other hair breeds that are also hypoallergenic.  The vast majority of these efforts have failed.  The most successful was the Labradoodle, and they still shed fur and dander.  There are quite a few hypoallergenic choices out there.  I prefer the poodle for their attitudes.  They are regal, yet can turn and act like clowns.  They can step in and protect their owners, are a joy to own and are easy to trian--in fact if you are not careful, they will train you.  If you laugh around a poodle, you have just rewarded him for his behavior, no matter if it is good or bad, and he will try to repeat it....

Oh, did I mention that most poodles are referred to in the female sense???  I have 2 males and 1 female.

Karen

The breed stereotype I always hear regarding Great Danes is how much room they need since they are such large dogs.  To hear people unfamiliar with the breed talk you would think one needed a pasture to own a Dane.  In actuality though quite the opposite is true, these gentle giants are very low energy and do quite well in apartments provided they are given 2 good walks a day.  Complete couch potatoes, they are never happier then when they can monopolize the bed or couch and watch you go about your business.  I would take my Dane to the park where he would get in one good gallop around the area then hunker down and watch the smaller dogs play. 

Incidently, on another breed, I often hear people talk about the various Labrador Retriever colors; chocolate, yellow and black as though they were different breeds with different corresponding personalities.  They are one breed that happens to come in 3 different shades and often you can see all 3 colors in the same litter.  It is like saying blondes are aggressive but Brunettes are much smarter.  A lab is a lab is a lab by any color.

I'll have to get back to you on Goldendoodles as I pick up my first this Saturday...

Chad 

American Bull Dogs

everyone automatically assumes that they are pit bulls(which i don't mind i love pits)

also everyone thinks that they are aggressive and non-safe...lol (mean while they are known to be gentle giants)

personally the larger dogs i meet are very friendly while the smaller dogs tend to be more bossy and mean towards other dogs but of course not to there humans...lol but that is just from what i have experienced (i have had smaller dogs as well as work at a shelter and kennel)
 

Of course, we all know how I feel about breed stereotypes...

However, and I will put my flame suit on, stereotypes ARE based on something- perceived reality- and sometimes there's nothing more to reality than individual perceptions.  Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it!!

Now, I'm going to go in a different direction here and expose MY OWN breed stereotypes...

I am inherently suspicious of chihuauas.  They ALWAYS seem to bite me.  I have never had one NOT snap at me.  I know, not every chi is like that, but every one in MY world has been, and thus results the stereotype.

I think that labs are the most difficult breed of puppy around.  I have never had more trouble with a dog than I have with my lab mix.

I think that all bullies are nice... WRONG.  I will approach a pit or pit mix or AmStaff or any of their cousins without a care in the world.  Until I was almost attacked by one at work.  Here's the rub, and I think DumDog hit the nail on the head in an earlier post: they make great family dogs if they are allowed to be part of the family 24/7.  Otherwise, they may not.  Despite all suggestions to the contrary made by ME about breed genetics, APBT and their cousins and mixed cousins are subject to the same attitude problems that ALL neglected yard dogs are.  NO, they should NEVER bite a human, according to breed genetics... but I can see now that they will under the right (or wrong, for that matter) circumstances.

 What I'm saying is, and this is an unpopular opinion, even with myself, that stereotypes are based in reality.  Individual as that reality may be, it is still a reality. 

 This is coming off sounding all BSL and that's not what I intended.  Suffice it to say that at my new job, sadly, some of the scariest, hardest to handle dogs have been pits or pit mixes, and it's taught me a lesson.  On the other side of the coin, they are also some of the sweetest, easiest to handle dogs (my own come to mind).  All I'm saying is that this job has shown me an alternate reality to my little cocoon.

 There are two GSD stereotypes I've been bumping into a lot that are REALLY getting on my nerves:

1.  The assumption that GSDs are "guard" dogs and are "protective" and thus we should assume they are going to be guardy and possessive of people and things...or that, GSDs do this but are excused b/c "that's what they were bred to do."  WRONG.  ANY dog that is too guardy and possessive is NOT ok.  That is not proper protection work, that is fear aggression and reactivity.  Not appropriate for a GSD or any dog. 

2.  "oh, that's herding behavior" as if it's an excuse to allow a dog to be too nippy and too drivey.  I'm OK with herding being an explanation for a behavior, but not an excuse.  When Kenya is playing with more than one dog, she gets a little too herdy.  She circles and then goes in for a grip on a hock or shoulder.  Right now, I address this by short time-outs when she gets too drivey.  I don't want to correct this, b/c this IS appropriate instinctive working drive, but it is not appropriate withing the context of playing with other dogs.  So, if she gets too drivey, she gets called off.  I'm looking into an appropriate outlet for this work, if I can find a sheep school around here.... 

walking lady

Oooh, I can't begin to say how much the stereotyping of afghans, by supposed dog experts as well as people in general, bugs me!!!  The perception of afghans being brain-dead because of their narrow heads and incapble of learning, makes me so mad I can't talk!  I guess that means pretty much all sight hounds except for maybe Irish wolfhounds are beyond learning.
 
All I can say for a fact, is that when I was obedience training my newfoundland, my afghans learned in less than half the time, remembered what they learned and had a lot of fun!  The true part is that sight hounds won't do the same thing endlessly, but then I believe that's true for any really smart dog - they need variety to keep things interesting.

i used to own an afghan mix, and she very much had the brains of the afghan, and i have had the opportunity to enjoy working with a few other afghans.

they absolutely are very high in intelligence. and very quick to learn. awesome personalities too. i think it's the allofness of the sightnounds that leads people to think they're not trainable.

I'm new in the forum... so I hope it's ok I'm bringing up this thread again.

I think that the biggest influence in a dog's behavior is his owner. Where we live I always look at the person who has the dog. I can tell that says what kind of dog they have raised. So, I know if I have to cross the street or walk by their side.

In my building we have one creepy pitbull, his owner has like 7 reports at the police about dogs and people attacks. So, when I see it I feel afraid. But, in the other hand, my friend has two sweet pitbulls and I always play with them without concern. When I met my husband's familiy, they had one really mean chihuahua, he almost bite me that very first day and he was used to pee on the pants and bags of visitors. Here we have a tiny-tiny chihuahua and he is super sweet, he is aloud to smell Thor paws and they never have had any problem...

Neo mastiffs are know by aggressive temper, laziness and a very little intelligence. I can say that is not Thor way of being. Even the trainer told me that he almost never accept to train mastiffs, because they don't get interested for a long time on something, neither with a hand full of sausages. But Thor is completely different, he loves to learn new tricks and is very friendly. He likes contact with people and children and dogs and cats, and he knows that he has to be different with everyone. He'll be super crazy playing with his golden retriever friend, and very gentle with the cats. He lives in an appartment and he is the most well behaved dog of the building, he goes out to run and play and have fun, so at home he plays with his toys and sleeps with the cats. My 83 years old neighbor says that Thor does jigsaw-puzzles and reads the newspaper LOL, because she never hears him barking and my house is not messy.

Of course, we have neighbours who are scared of Thor and specially one who carry his son and always says "BE CAREFUL" even though he has seen Thor on the leash for the last 2 years and never has had any problem with him. Stereotypes are in people's mind... and for me are in the same range of superstition: because everybody says that may be true?? Don't think so!

I'll take no offense to that since Misty's only 6mos. and she can do roll over on command!  LOL  It's true though, what you said about Irish Setters, that is what I had always heard when I was a kid.  I didn't care, though, they could be dumb as rocks as far as I was concerned.  I think they're a beautiful breed!  Love that long red hair!

Apparently many people think that American Eskimos are mean and barky. When Dakota started his first agility class, the instructor told me to my face that Eskies were mean dogs. A few minutes later, she got her face near Dakota's face, and he licked her glasses right off! Now she LOVES all three of our dogs and can't say enough good things about them. Yes, Eskies can be barky, but we have ours trained to know when to stop. Ours were also socialized like crazy as puppies, so I'm sure that's made a big difference as well.

Misha's mixed - half Pyr, quarter GSD and Chow. Someone told me that GSD and Chows were mean, but that because he was half Pyr and Pyrs were nice, they might like my dog.

He's fluffy so he's friendly (he's not). He's orange so he's not actually Pyr, he's a Golden Retriever mix. He's big so he's mean (he's not). I have had several big dog owners look at Misha and draw up their dogs on a short leash like he might bite their dogs faces off. Little dog owners never have any problem with him. I've only heard good things about Pyrs - they're sweet, they're nice, they're good looking.
 

i have a pug and a vizsla!  odd pairing, huh?  haha

not too many people know about vizsla's, so i'm unaware of too many stereotypes for that breed.  i will say that he is extremely smart!  he LOVES to be cozy under a blanket and wants to lay on anybody...even kids.  i think stereotypes are that they're very hyper as puppies, even up to about 5 years old.  it did take my vizsla almost a year to calm down as a puppy, but i would consider that normal.  another stereotype is that they can have separation anxiety issues. i can say that this IS true.  my vizsla tears up beds or anything that is near him when he's away from people.  we've worked on this & he is better than he used to be, but he really prefers to be near people.   the breed is known for being one of the only sporting breeds that owners will keep inside with them...they are a good family/people sporting dog.  i don't know if you'd call this a stereotype, but a LOT of people think he's a weimeraner.  NO, vizsla's are NOT weimeraner's.  vizsla's have red coats and eyes to match, just like weimies are grey with blue eyes to match their coats.  they're smaller than weimies, but do look similar...floppy ears and all.  i even got one lady that asked me if he was a rhodesian ridgeback!  since most people have never heard of vizsla's, i get a lot of questions about him & everyone always says he's a beautiful dog!  they do have that natural pointing instinct.  i didn't get my vizsla for hunting purposes, but he just naturally points at birds in the yard. he'll hunker down and straighten out his body and naturally point.  it's neat to watch!  i did look to find a breeder that is very knowledgable about the breed and has spent years trying to preserve it's natural looks & instinct.  they have preserved a specific line of vizsla's that descend from a female that was a champion in national field trials and won the national derby stake three times (despite having no real formal training), and have natural instincts to point, retrieve, back and hunt.  i think that's important with any breed...find someone who is really intent on protecting the breed standard!

my pug is just great!  stereotypes for them:  class clowns, stupid, and overweight.  they ARE clowns.  my pug has LOTS of personality and she's sassy!  she's not stupid either...she was a bit hard to potty train, but she eventually got it.  her problem is that she doesn't give you any kind of signal that she needs to go outside.  my vizsla will ring a bell on the door but my pug does nothing.  so, i think she just trained me!  haha  i just took her outside often & she eventually learned that she needed to potty outside.  as for the overweight part, unfortunately most pugs i see are overweight.  the breed does have the genetics to be overweight, but that's the owner's fault if they do get that way!  no table food for my baby!  if i see her gaining a pound or two, i immediately cut back her food.  she has to keep her girlish figure.    my vet is always happy to see her because she is a great example of what the breed should look like. i am very picky with my pugs...i didn't want her to have bug or crossed eyes, as i will see a lot with pugs.  the pug is a popular breed and people overbreed them, which shouldn't happen.  my breeder does breed show pugs, so i researched & found her because i knew she cared about preserving the nature of the breed.  they are wonderful little dogs with a lot of personality and are great around kids.  my father-in-law wants nothing to do with my pug, because, as he says, "she has no purpose."  he has an airdale, doberman & a dalmation, and they all were bred to do specific jobs and have a purpose in life!  well, i beg to differ...my pug was bred to be a companion dog and she is a great one! 

Bamaeskie-

I will say, when I was seriously researching Eskies, I met a LOT of iffy dogs that I wouldn't want to own. I think the breed has really been hurt by puppymills and BYBs producing dogs with iffy temperament, unfortunately. Interestingly enough, the spitz personality is noticably different.  

Wow!  There are a lot of Stereotypes that I never even heard of.  I mean, when I was a kid, there weren't even pitbulls, the "mean" dogs were either Dobermans, or GS's.  That was pretty much it!  But I've met doberman's and GS's, in fact, my sister had a fantastic GS, she was such a great girl!  My sister cried, and took her death so hard!  I don't blame her she was a great dog!  Not too many people around here even know what a Border Collie is, and those who do, after talking to them, one person didn't think they could swim!  Most dogs can, so, we were stumped.  Another was so, excited, he said 'oh, they're the kind that are real good playing frisbee, etc.'  I didn't think anything of it, but "yea, she is good at frisbee!"  LOL

And for those who have pitbulls or any part of pitbulls in them, I truely feel sorry for you, your pups definitely get the worst stereotype and criticism of them all!  (I used to be one, not any more!)  But after reading posts that people walk across the street when they see you walking your dog, and leave you alone, I told my husband yesterday, my next dog is gonna be a PitBull!  Damn, if having a pitbull keeps people away from me, I'm gonna pretend I'm blind and take him/her everywhere!  I like my elbow room!

Pwca

Bamaeskie-

I will say, when I was seriously researching Eskies, I met a LOT of iffy dogs that I wouldn't want to own. I think the breed has really been hurt by puppymills and BYBs producing dogs with iffy temperament, unfortunately. Interestingly enough, the spitz personality is noticably different.  

Yes, you're right about the puppymills and BYB's ruining dogs. That's why we did lots of research before we decided on a breeder. The breeder we chose really cares about her puppies and has all sorts of "rules" that she wants her puppy people to follow (such as enrolling each puppy in at least two obedience classes,...). Eskies are wary of strangers by nature, so if you throw in a breeder who doesn't care, you've got a dog with a not so great personality. It's sad.

I find that there are more negative stereotypes against pits with non-dog people, and more against labs among dog people.

Some of the things I have heard:

-Labs are stupid---Not the ones I've met.  Mine acts goofy, but trust me, he is most definitely *not* stupid.  See following thread:  http://community.dog.com/forums/t/67890.aspx  

-Labs are mindlessly obedient--   Apparently Jack forgot to read that chapter of "How to Be a Lab,"  because he definitely has a mind of his own.  He's more stubborn than his pittie sister.

-Labs have no personality--Just because a dog is generally happy does not mean that he lacks personality.  It means he's an optimist.  A dog doesn't need to be a challenge to live with to have personality.

-All they care about is food--Well, they do care *very* much about food.  However, Jack responds well to praise and is very much the Velcro dog with me.