Mini-Rant

l.michelle

I probably offend other people with dogs.  lol.  Well, rottweillers, If I'm walking down the street and there is a rotti, I cross the road to avoid it.  Nothing against the breed or the owners, but I was viciously attacked by my cousins rotti when I was younger.  I wish I could tell the owners of them, as I get dirty looks for crossing the road to avoid them lol it's nothing personal to them, I just can't bring myself to come close!

Actually lol, I touched a rotti for the first time last year in yeeeaaaarss, okay well, it was 8 weeks old, but still lol felt like quite an accomplishment

But sometimes, people avoid certain breeds because of something that have happened to them.  I know not all rottis are bad and will attack me, but it's just hard to get my brain past it sometimes :)

I never really thought of that reason of people wanting to avoid Simba when they seem him, that one is a valid one. I've never been attacked by a dog, thankfully. I hope I never am. :-s And I can't speak for all rotties but I know one, Cubby, who is such a sweetheart. Only rottie I've ever met though, so nothing to compare her to. 

 Ahhh, this brings back fond memories of when I lived in my old neighborhood and would walk my dearly departed Rottweiler. My Rotti was a good boy, always under my control, never allowed off leash and I used to walk him at the park. It would never fail that some fruit loop would be running around with their off leash dog, who had no type of recall, and their dog would come barreling my way and the idiot would scream to me: "WATCH YOUR DOG SO HE DOESN'T ATTACK MINE!!", uh yeah. My dog is under total control and on leash but I have to make sure he doesn't attack your off leash and out of control dog. The best times would be when I'd walk my Rottweiler, Boston Terrier and the Samoyed I dog sit for. All of them were well behaved, leashed and under my control. The same situation would occur and these idiots would be screaming at me to control and watch *my* dogs.

 The highlight of my old neighborhood was the Siberian Husky who lived in the corner house across from the park. Whenever I'd walk my dog, he'd jump up and down, bark and act a fool. No biggy. That was until he cleared the gate and started running my way. Needless to say, I was freaking out because I did not know if he was people aggressive but the interesting part was Shiloh, my Rottweiler, got in front of me as if to block me from this dog. The dog ran up on us and a fight began. After a few moments, the owner came out trying to get his dog and was screaming at me, telling me he called the police. The cops come and I tell them exactly what happened which was I was walking my dog to the park, the Sibe across the street saw us, he managed to jump the fence, he ran my way and went after my dog.  The owner tells the cops that he always sees me walking my dog and that we taunt his dog and it was only a matter of time before his dog would go after mine. This is when it gets fun...

Officer: "Taunt your dog as in how?"

Idiot: "By walking her dog past my house."

Officer: "When she walks past your house, does she do anything to your dog like yell at it, throw things at it, allow her dog to bark and growl at your dog or anything like that?"

Idiot: "No. She just walks past my house and it gets my dog riled up. She knows this but she always walks her dog past my house anyways!"

Officer to me: "Do you walk past his house everyday?"

Me: "Yes, I go this way to the park."

Officer: "Do you ever walk on his side of the street or are you across the street?"

Me: "I always walk across the street. I don't go on his block."

Officer: "Well, it looks like we have a problem. The problem is it's not illegal to walk a dog to the park. Your dog is on leash and obviously under control because he's sitting here rather calmly. Sir, your dog is not under your control and jumped a fence. In fact, if her dog is injured, she can sue you for vet bills. You should be thankful that no one was injured. The public has a right to walk their dogs where ever they wish. If your dog has a problem with that then it's on you to properly maintain your dog on your property and that means either putting him on a tether, building a privacy fence or bringing him inside when there's people walking around. Ma'am, would you like to press charges?"

And the look on dude's face was priceless. Because I'm a kind person, I didn't press charges. Luckily, nothing ever happened again. 

I knew going in to getting one though, that I would have to be prepared for that. Heck, even FH's family was against us getting a Rottweiler at first, which was awkward because we spend a lot of weekends at his parents place. We actually took his mother to meet Timmy's breeder and talk to her and meet some of her dogs. That did lot to change her mind on the breed - now she's funny, she will tell her friends that her son has a Rottweiler and her friends will make all sorts of comments about the breed but she's right behind them saying what a wonderful dog Timmy is.

I actually am relieved somewhat when people avoid us when we are out walking. I'm not a chatty person by any means, and am terrible at small talk, so I like to not have to worry about meeting people out on a walk - as odd as that sounds, small talk makes me somewhat anxious. I also rather Timmy not be forced into a meet and greet with every other dog. He has his friends, and that's good enough for me.

With Timmy, we are just focusing on training him the best we can, so he can be a good example. He is starting agility in April, which I giggle at to think of a Rottie doing agility, but I'm sure he will have a blast at it. I am also working at getting him his CGC, or CGN in Canada.

 Wow, meilani I love how people always assume that YOUR dog, the one UNDER control would attack the other dog that isn't. *Rolls eyes* Haha I bet the look on his face was priceless. :P

punkchica321

 When will people stop being so prejudice towards certain breeds of dogs? I'm getting annoyed over how cautious people seem to be around Simba just because he resembles a pit bull. I'm sure I'm not the only one on this forum who have had people become scared/cautious over seeing a dog of yours.

I feel your frustration. In general, most people in our area are pretty good, mostly because I live in a neighborhood full of dog lovers, and they've know our dobbie since she was a wee puppy.  I do get frustrated when people at the off leash park yell at us to put our dog on a leash, or they make comments about her being "mean", just because of her breed.

Although if she senses someone is afraid of her, she'll bark at them - which doesn't help.

Some people are just plain terrified of dogs, once while in an offleash park we came across a young family. As Lexi ran up to greet them the kids started screaming, and what did the parents do? They swooped them up and rushed away. Geez, way to affirm your kids fear of dogs. Lexi's a 10 pound yorkie that resembles a teddy bear and how people could be scared of her is beyond me but they are.