Do you trust your dog?

Buddy who is 9 years old can be trusted around people or dogs.  Around adults and kids he is great.  He is fine to meet and socialize with other dogs in a neutral place.   But if put in a situation where he needs to defend, he will do that as well.  He reacts, he doesn't instigate. 

Heidi who is 16 months is still young and learning life.  She has however proven to be great around the kids and adults.  Rowdy kids playing in the yard is fun for her...she will run around with them, then settle and lay in a place close to them as to watch and protect.  Dogs, however are different story so far.  She guards the property and is still reactive when on walks (getting much better though).  But, when we go someplace neutral, she is happy meet and play.  So, we have a bit to go before I can trust her completely.

 It depends on my dog:

 Lexi - absolutely. She is 100% reliable with other dogs and extremely respectful of their signals -- inviting or otherwise. If another dog gets aggressive her preference is to move away from that dog, but I have also seen her send calming signals and get things "back on track" and friendly with other dogs. When Luna is rude, however, she'll give her an air snap or a growl that is totally appropriate to put the teenager in check. She is never overly aggressive with her corrections. She is great with people also, and will wait for an invitation to be loved on. Once she has that, however, look out because she will climb in your lap and curl her head into you.

Rosco - I don't think he has judgement of other dogs' body language. He's an Am Staff and part of me feels like they must have bred out the communication abilities to get greater same-species aggression. If a dog has a high tail carriage, he will react, if a dog is confident, forward and strong, he will react. By react, I mean Rosco will get tall and stare. He has never been in a dog fight, he has never bitten another dog, he has never been in trouble with another dog, but we don't give him the opportunity. He is reliable with dogs he knows and has never so much as raised a hackle at Lexi or Luna, even when they deserve it.

Whenever we walk him or have him in public I am armed with a truck load of high value treats to continually play the watch me game. He is trained to "leave it" and pay attention to me. He has never guarded our house ever, but my dog walker a few years ago when we had one) did say that she came to take Rosco for his walk one day while a guy was working on our dishwasher, and he tried to go over the counter to get at him in an aggressive way. After that, we expect him to be aggressive with people when we are not home. The same guy came back a few days later and "met" Rosco -- he said he could not believe it was the same dog. So I think has everything to do with our not being home.

Luna - I am starting to trust her judgment more. She is young and is learning to alert to anything she feels is a threat, and then turn to us to decide if we are concerned. She's an Aussie, so I do expect her to guard. When we are not home Luna is crated so that's a non issue. With other dogs, she just wants to play but can be inappropriate in her greetings. She isn't allowed to greet dogs we don't know because of this, and when greeting dogs she knows, I let them put her in her place when she is too boisterous. (Basically setting her up to be corrected safely by another dog for inappropriate behavior.)

 

ETA: half a graph that got cut off! LOL 

FourIsCompany

snownose

I guess, it boils down to what each animal is used for and how one can benefit the most

 

I think that's the crux of the matter right there. I want my dogs to be protective of our property. We live out in the country and have some "shady" people in the area. My husband travels on business. I'm glad the dogs, all of them, are protective of our home.

DH and I were just talking last night on the way home from class with Jaia, that we  would LOVE it if, in public, he would just look at other dogs and take notice of them, but not bark and lunge. He's getting better and I have hopes that he will eventually be secure enough to do that all the time. But I have no problem with him warning off people OR dogs who appr

You got it.......I, for one am not interested in showing any pets, I rescue most of my pets, and the two purchased GSDs are to be what they have been ......protection dogs by nature.......I can take them places and they behave(they are out of their environment), but, don't mess with our vehicles, our property and us..........and I appreciate their effort of being good dogs......as a matter of fact, I live out in the sticks, and I really appreciate their way of looking over me.........

Ares and Morgan I trust around people almost completely. Ares only if he doesn't have a "resource" to guard. Tyr I trust completely around people. He'll be aloof, he'll be friendly, he'll be protective. He does a great job of reading the situation as well as listening to me. Tyr doesn't just watch, he studies. I don't trust any of my dogs entirely around other dogs, and not even around each other. Ares is DA and getting worse as he gets older, Morgan is mildly DA, mainly towards other females, but while she'll grumble and bark, I don't believe she'd bite - not that I plan on testing that. Tyr has done some posturing and grumbling towards other males, and he also has a tendency to irritate some dogs (his two favorite games are humping and butt sniffing). Nyx I don't trust - to the point that I am debating whether or not to send her back to the breeder. All my dogs (except Nyx) have enough obedience that they are fine in busy places, the only concern I would have would be if a strange dog barreled over to them out-of-control faster than I could gain control over things.

Spanky is too social. He wants to be friends with every dog he meets even if it has no interest in him. He lacks good judgment. Miley has no interest in other dogs. She keeps on truckin'. Bandit has terrific sense on which dog is a friend or foe. I go by his judgment. He has yet to let me down. 

 It depends upon the size, sex and body language of the other dog.  Small dogs Xerk will back away from unless they are being overly aggressive.  Males that challenge and show dominant body language get met with exaggerated dominant body language.  If they make the first lunge, Xerk will not back down-ever.  PHs do not like to be the "reactor" they like for other dogs to react to them.  Oh and if any of Xerk's "pack" are around, the other dog is hamburger.  There are 5 or 6 dogs that follow Xerxes around like he was his namesake.   His ability to communicate to them is baffling.

 So the short answer to the original question:  Do I trust him?  Only if he's on the hunt (he'll ignore all other dogs) or if the other dog is either smaller or a female.
 

 Onyx is ok with other dogs.  She thinks everyone is there for her benefit.  She's pretty confident when it comes to winning other dogs over and oddly, even aggressive dogs tend to ignore her after a bit.  She knows the calming signals, she shows them to Crusher all the time. 

Crusher is fine as long as the other dog is submissive.  So, no I don't trust his judgment.  He was fine until we got the girls and then he got a taste of being top dog and he just doesn't seem to be able to let that go for any reason.  

Rory: With dogs she is compltely clueless, she thinks everyone wants to play and even when a dog is telling her to back off she still does the puppy play bow thing. She has been bitten twice, once by a poodle and once by a Golden, each time she had no clue what to do about it. When the coyote came into our yard she was all tail wags until Primo took charge and even then she was just running circles around it and followed Primo's lead. Afterwards she was happy happy, like "whew what was that all about"

Primo: is absolutly ok too unless its a unaltered male, then we may have problems. Also if he is inside his yard he is a bit vocal but once we go out to say hello he is a happy guy. In the few cases we have been around ofdf leash dogs he will remain stock still until they get close to us. He guards me with his body and is very good at hiding his intent and waits to see what the otehr dog is going to do. He is true to his breed, he won't start a fight but he would finish it if need be.

With humans: They are both overly friendly unless the person is visibly strange

 

Both of my dogs are fantastic around people. Well, they don't care for kids...they are afraid. Kaiser once lunged at a guy late at night...it was really really strange, i assume there was something not right there.

with other dogs...

I have to be really careful with Kaiser. He's never STARTED anything, but if something is started he will react aggressively. I don't take him to the dog park anymore, he's pretty dominant. The other day my neighbor's pit came over and Kaiser kept bumping his chest into her and putting his head on her back. She tucked her tail and was shaking. I usually see how an initial interaction goes, but for the most part i keep him away from other dogs.

Wyatt has been totally trustworthy up to this point.

1. I trust Dublin to know who is okay to play with and who isn't at the dog park.  He can read the signals very well in there.  As far as someone he doesn't know coming into our house.  NO WAY do I trust him right now.  I did not realize when socializing the hell out of him the first year that I should of worked on our home also.  He is great at Petsmart and at the park but he is really showing signs of being extremely protective and scared of anyone who comes over that isn't known to him.  In some ways it is good because we have a nutcase that moved in next store who I would love to have have step in unannounced just once!  I feel safer knowing he will protect the house.  But I am avoiding having dinner parties etc without crating him which isn't helping him learn that when I say ok it is okay!  Trying to find friends willing to come over and get used to his lunging bark and working with us isn't easy!! 

I trust Gunnar with other dogs, he is a gentleman and speaks great dog, he defuses other dogs very well and I am comfortable with him loose around pretty much any dog unless it is very dog aggressive.

 Hektor is a different story, he is a bit of a brash young male and although he loves to play and is friendly he speaks dog arrogantly.

 With Kirby, it depends on the situation.  On leash, I don't trust his judgments regarding other dogs.  On leash he initially had fear based leash reactivity around larger dogs he didn't know.  When I first started out like him he would look like a mini Cujo in an efforts to scare away other dogs.  On his part, it was complete posturing.  If any dogs got within three feet of us at that point he would go to Plan B and tuck tail and hide behind me.  That being said, I have been doing a lot of work with him to get him over his fears.  At this point it has him who has been learned to trust that I will protect him from strange dogs.  With his confidence in me, he has also gained the confidence to not feel the need to display.  I still don't have him were I want him yet though.  He has lost most of the fear and now has more of an impulse control issue with pulling and getting too excited.

 Off leash at places like the dog park, I trust him as much as you can trust a dog.  He is a naturally very polite dog when dealing with other dogs and people.  He is friendly and wants to meet everyone but he is very conscious about space and reading the other dogs to make sure he isn't infringing on their comfort level.  He loathes conflict and would much prefer to avoid it and will give out calming signals and such when faced with a tense situation and uses the appropriate dog warnings when other dogs are over stepping his comfort level as far as space and play styles.
 

snownose

Penny called the bluff and was lucky....most Huskies are not aggressive.....just my experience.....now, with a more challenging dog like a GSD, this would not have gone down as peaceful as what you described.........

 

Well that's my point, really. I don't think she was lucky. I've never seen her do that before in all her 12 years, but I've never seen another dog approaching that way, either. I very much doubt Penny would call a bluff if it was going to result in her copping it. I don't remember her ever doing that, actually. Like I said, if a dog looks like trouble to her, she stays away. Of course, that didn't help us much when we were charged by a territorial GSD one day, or the nutso ACD cross that used to live next door. Penny reacts to being charged by running if she can and freezing and buckling down for impact if she can't. I can't say either are a very good response to a charge, but when you're small, I don't think there's any good response to a charge except to let the people deal with it. Don't know if there's much I can do in the face of a charge beyond immediate evasion, either. Good thing we've never had to find out.

Anyway, I'm confident Penny knows when to call a bluff and when not to, otherwise I wouldn't have let her lunge at the husky in the first place. In fact, I probably would have picked her up like so many small dog owners do. That didn't help Penny or my mother much when she did that in the face of another charge from that nutso ACD cross from next door, either. But at least it got the neighbours to put a fence up for our protection.

What I find interesting is that Penny doesn't make many mistakes. She made mistakes with Chloe, who never acted the way anyone expected, and she's got herself in trouble with other resident dogs once or twice due to hormones or in the aftermath of Chloe when she was still scared of being ripped to pieces. But I've had her since puppyhood and she appears to have learnt all this dog sense with very few physical arguments. I could count the fights she's got into with strange dogs on one hand, and every single one (except the charging incidents, which I don't count) was instigated by her for some reason and was harmless. I've also seen her do all sorts of things to strange dogs that scared me, but actually served to defuse the situation, or get another dog out of her space.

She's making me wonder just how many problems dogs have with other dogs are because people are afraid their dog will get aggressive or something and so won't let them even say hello. I see people on the street all the time with lunging dogs that hustle them past Penny even though Penny wants to say hi. Penny met a dog just like that at the park on the weekend. She told the dog to back off, but then she making friendly advances right after. And yet she'll avoid other lunging dogs like the plague. She must know whether they're friendly lunges or unfriendly lunges. She knows better than me. Sometimes I'm not sure.

Having said all that, Jill is a crayon short of a box when it comes to social skills and still gets herself snapped at on a fairly regular basis, despite being 4, now. She's never been hurt by another dog, though. And even she's starting to learn to avoid some dogs. Do people think it's possible to teach a dog social skills just through sitting down with the dog at the dog park and watching? 

Cadie is 8 years old and I trust her completely. She doesn't care for other dogs much and will definitely let them know if they are being too pushy or rowdy, but she has never once approached one first. I think she has great judgment with both other dogs and people. The only dog she plays with is Riley and any others are annoying to her. She is great with people but is protective and she knows where to draw the line.

Riley, on the other hand, is 1 year old and let's just say a little less wise. : P He thinks every dog wants to be his best friend forever and doesn't take any shame in this. He will literally whine when we pass another dog or, even moreso, a small child because he wants to play with them so bad. At the dog park, though, he is really good with the other dogs and I think he knows which ones to stay away from. He is never one to get guardy or snappy there like other dogs do at times, and that is something I could not put up with if my dog did it. With people, he is very protective of the house and us - the hair on his back goes up just about anytime someone comes close to the house and he barks quite aggressively, but I know he's not actually *aggressive*. Overall, I trust him in certain situations but not in others. We still have a ways to go.

One of my late dogs, Ozzie, could have another dog running into him and a kid pulling on his tail and he would just stay there and let them. Not because he was afraid or cowardly, but because it just didn't bother him. It was like he was above all the "dog drama", lol. He was a good boy. : )

CoCo is a submissive wuss, so I dont ever have to worry about her biting anything, but rather other dogs getting too aggressive towards her! lol 99% of the time, she will roll over on her back and be extremely passive towards ANY size dog.

However, when it comes to little kids, it depends on the kid if I trust her or not.  Almost always I dont have to even supervise her and kids.... but my cousin's grandson came over and I just knew I had to!  The little toddler is a terror!  He's not scare of anything, and repeatedly kept "hitting" CoCo.  He's only 18 months old, but just "love" dogs a little too much.  ie. When she was outside and was panting, he kept pulling her tongue every time she stuck it out... lol  Then he was eating something, and dropped it....so CoCo helped him clean up, but he decided he wanted it back and reached right into her mouth and stole it back from her.... lol  I'm sure if CoCo was any other dog, the little boy would have at least received a growl... but no... Not with CoCo.... she just LOVES little kids.

 However, when he kept "hitting" her, she decided to give up and just laid down on her side and let him continue to bully her....however....he decided to grab her hind legs and pull....lol he even hates ME touching her back paws!  As soon as he did it though, my dad who was supervising, and me who was close by, both jumped up and startled CoCo so that she wouldnt even think of growling!  She doesnt really bite down, but she does mouth when you touch her back paws with a growl, and we didnt want little Diego to be scared.... I was very impressed with her though.... she's not around little kids much, but when she is, she is so well behaved!