Can you trust your dog?

 I 100% trust Neiko and Dakota around people and kids. Lily I haven't had long enough to know for sure but I'd say I trust her 90%.

I did have a dog once with a bite history and even with training I would not have trusted that dog 100%.  

 I trust both of my dogs 100% in that I know they will always give me a sign that things are not great with them.  Onyx will not bite.  I know she won't bite anyone unless she is severely threatened.  And I can't even imagine where her threshold lies.  We've never come anywhere close to it, and her being a very sketchy, scared dog, we've pushed her lots. 

As we've found out, Crusher's threshold is much lower than Onyx'.  He will bite, but not without plenty of ''Get me out of this mess'' notice.  So I don't trust him 100% to be alone with any kids.  Or Moronic adults for that matter.  One of our ex-friends thought she might alpha roll him one night because she does it to her dog all the time when he gets rowdy.  I hauled her off of him in a big hurry and put myself between them.  He would have taken off her face had he thought he had to handle it himself.  Luckily for her he was satisfied with the tongue lashing she got from me.  And well, kids do stuff that annoy him, not to annoy him, they just do.  If I'm there he lets me handle it. 

While I never trust any dog 100% (not because they are devious, just because they are dogs and think differently than we do sometimes), of all my dogs, I trust Fergie the most (she just loves EVERYbody), then Sioux and Maska, my therapy dogs.  As to the little beanhead speckled monstah, Sequoyah, she is fine in nearly all situations, but she tends to be more reserved with strangers, and is territorial about our property and my truck (as many working Aussies are), so I do supervise her interactions with new people and dogs very carefully.  Once she knows you, and likes you, she remembers you as a friend for life!  But, do not try to get in and take the silverware LOL. 

I trust Coke 100% around other people and 95% around other dogs.  The 5% lacking from "other dogs" is because he loves to play and sometimes he is the one that scares a shy dog.  For example, last week he met my friend's dog, he trotted over to her and went in to sniff her butt and she growled and lunged at him.  So it's not him that's the problem, but I do have to be aware when other people have dogs with issues (my friend is fully aware of her dog's unnecessary reactivity to other dogs and is working on that).

Kenya I trust 100% around me, Coke, my friend Taylor, and my cats.  Everyone else (person or dog) I'd say 85% trust.  Kenya is quite reserved and is a velcro dog so she has very little interest in any other people but me and any other dog but Coke.  The problems arise when people rush up to her and try to hug her or grab her head.  She gets confused, scared and she backs away from them.  Unfortunately, most people think this is "cute" and instead of giving her space, they continue to talk to her in a loud baby voice and continue to reach in her face.  She never bites, barks, lunges, or growls, but she will curl her lip or point her nose up and snap at the air.  It's interesting because over Christmas, some of my in-laws would NOT listen to me and stop pestering her, even when she was obviously uncomfortable (looking away, tail tucked, trying to move away) but when they do the same things to the resident dog and he growled, they immediately backed off.  I've always felt spoiled to have a dog that never growls, but now I sort of wish she did.  It seems like JQP gets the idea when a dog growls at them, even though I've always perceived that as more aggressive than the dog curling a lip and turning away.  Anyway, I only trust Kenya 85% around people because I don't trust the people.  It's the same for dogs, she's a little overwhelmed by really pushy, outgoing dogs.  If a dog comes in nicely and does the butt sniff and circle routine, she's fine, but if the dog comes charging up to her barking and play bowing in her face with no introduction, she gets nervous and walks away.

I also hold her to a higher standard because of breed.  I don't like doing it, but I have to.  Everyone else assumes that she is not trustworthy and will bite and be vicious.  I think I pay a lot more attention to her behaviors even though honestly there has never been a major incident that is cause for concern. 

No, I don't trust my dog, at all. I behave as if I do (I don't avoid doing risky things like brushing his teeth, for example), but I know the likelihood that I will get bitten at some point is pretty high. He's bitten me before, but inhibited-ly, but he has not been so generous with others. Rascal interprets everything as a life-or-death situation, and interprets every little thing as a grave threat, so...

I trust Rocky 100% around other people and animals.  Brownie is a little unpredictable with cats!  She wants to eat them!  With people, as long as we "approve" of them, she is fine.  Dipstick is well... A Dipstick!  He loves people and other animals but he is so big that he can knock you down without even trying!  He can also be a little dog aggressive at times so I have to keep a constant eye on him. 

 I don't trust anything with teeth that I can't reason with, so no.  But I can rely on Ben not to bite without warning, and he's never bitten anyone or anything beyond his puppy nipping stage. 

 I trust Cheyanne with myself 100%. She isnt aggressive with people or kids but I know if annoyed/bugged she will defend herself if she cant get away.

Lillie I trust 100% with everyone. She is a very submissive dog.
Jayde I trust 100% with people she knows. She has a needing to please everyone thing.
Kujo I trust 100% around everyone. She LOVES people.
Ginger being a baby I trust 100%.She is a very calm loving puppy.
 

I trust Cherokee a million percent with me. She hasn't been at all aggressive with me in years, and even then it was very minor (a growl or two if I tried to take something from her, or move her from somewhere..total resource guarder..but she's over that now). I can do anything and everything to her and I know she won't bite me. That seems arrogant, but it's not. She trusts me, I trust her.

I don't trust her like that with one other person in the world. Why? Because not one other person trusts her like I do. EVERYone is at least the teeny tiniest bit scared of her, and that's make a huge difference to Cherokee.

I trust her second to most with my cousin's 4 1/2 year old. Seems weird, because honestly..Cherokee hates kids. But Alleen is different. She's been around Cherokee regularly her entire life. A growl means something to her, and she knows how to not elicit a growl. She knows how to and how not to treat dogs because of Cherokee. I trust Alleen 95% not to do anything to warrant aggression, and I trust Cherokee 95% not to be aggressive towards her. That 5% means they're supervised, and it means I would never put them in a situation together that could turn bad.

Everyone else has varying degrees of trust, and I accept that there's a possibility that she could bite them. Though lots of them are "sure" Cherokee would never bite them, and get terribly offended if I tell them not to touch her in a certain situation.

Like Cherokee HATES people standing in my bedroom doorway. Any people. Usually if they come in, it's fine, but standing in the doorway drives her nuts. So my sister walks into my doorway the other day, and Cherokee growled. She walked into the room, and Cherokee was seemingly fine, but my sister walked over to try to pet her, and I told her not to. She acted like I was ridiculous, walked a little closer, and Cherokee growled again. All three of my sisters "know" Cherokee wouldn't bite them, so they're really cocky about it. I think that took that sister down a notch though.

(I do realize that my telling her not to touch Cherokee may have contributed to the tension and growl, but the dog was already tense and in a growly mood, so I had to say it. Silly me thought my sister would listen. )

If people would actually listen to me, I'd trust Cherokee with them a lot more, but hardly anyone listens.

I wanted to amend my earlier answer after peeking back at the "Are dog bites avoidable?" thread.

In normal situations, I 99% trust Rascal to not bite me because I know how to make him feel safe with me. However, in an "emergency situation," I think it's likely that he would. For example, if Rascal were to get loose on a walk, he would probably be frightened by the noises/people around him. If I were to lunge and grab him to pick him up suddenly - maybe if a car were coming or something - the likelihood of him biting me would be pretty high. Likewise, if he were feeling the need to bite someone else (like the vet, or a guest) and I intervened, I wouldn't be at all surprised to get "caught in the crossfire."

Like many (most?) animals, when Rascal is frightened, his brain sort of "shuts off" and he's not thinking normally or rationally. As such, I can't expect him to act like "himself," so I'm not even sure if "trust" would come into play in such a situation. The only difference between Rascal and other dogs, IMO, is that he reaches his "shut off" fear threshold much sooner than most. 

I trust Bubblegum 99 1/2% with me..

A week ago I might have said 100% but we were trying to put ear medication in her ears last week....and each day she got harder to deal with...by the third day,,,she was kind of biting at my hand... kind of like pushing it away I guess. But thats it...it was not a mean or nasty bite and I don't think she would bite me.   However...that is not true with others.  She is afraid of guys....and leary of just about everyone. You can see she wants to love people...especially girls. She will run to them and lean on them...but yet if they move too fast she get frightened and then either backs off or barks. At those times I think she could bite. I will never trust her with others..but thats okay. She is my responsibility.

 I trust Kirby to be himself first, and a dog second.  For me there isn't any special percentage of my trust, more of me knowing what I can and can't expect of him.  When it comes to me handling him, I have zero fear.  I'm not worried about a bite, not because he can't, but because I know if one were to occur it would be for a damn well good reason and most likely an accident on both parties.  I trust him fine with people he knows well, as for all the other humans in the world, it's not him I don't trust, but them. 

I know in a normal situation if a person approached him properly there would be no problem.  Kirby can be reserved around strangers, but he is a submissive dog who when dealing with unwanted people and dog attention will first try to politely get out of the way or throw appeasing diffusing signals.  If those are ignored he would move to lip curls, growls, and then air snaps.  I also know however that if he felt cornered and his signals are ignored he will lash out.  I don't need to see him do this to know that he is very capable of a bite and will resort to it if he felt it necessary.  I consider my job as a owner is to make sure he is never put in that sort of situation.  It is why I have no problem stepping in front of him if someone isn't listening to me on how to approach him, or telling rowdy people/kids, "No you can't pet, hug, pick him up, sorry."

 Bugsy hasn't bitten anyone and I don't think he would.  he mouths when he's very excited, much less now, but despite our best efforts he on a rare occasion still has an open mouth to a hand or arm.  It is a completely open mouth but at his size it can make you nervous.

He has absolutely NO inclination to bite a dog.  He has actually been nipped and he thought it was play (can you say big galut)

He is very good with kids but he scares some of them with his size and quickness.   Once they get freaked you can see him escalate, he wants to play but they freak him out.  So I wouldn't want any child to walk up to him unattended. It amazes me how one four year old can feed him grass and tickle his ears (sticks it in) with clover and another one the kid is screaming and Bugsy is wild.

I honestly don't think he would harm anyone on purpose but I am aware that his size and power mean that he could harm someone pretty badly accidentally.  For this reason and because his prey drive is so high I would say that I would never 100% trust him. 

i trust kaiser and wyatt with me, my friends, family, and boyfriend 150%. WIth children, i wouldn't want them to be near ANY unless i was there...they're both kind of scared of children, because the only place they've been exposed is at the pet store. I don't trust kaiser with other dogs...he's usually fine but does not take well to being mounted, and he will fight back if someone starts something. Wyatt i mostly trust, but prefer to keep an eye on him. I don't trust either of them with cats or small animals- their prey drive is too intense. That being said, neither has snapped or bitten any person or small animal, but kaiser has snapped at other dogs.