Between our walk this morning and going to a new pet food store that opened near us, my dog got to interact with quite a few dogs today. And I'm appalled at how poorly socialized dogs are in the suburbs! Out of five dogs, four of them got aggressive with her and had to be restrained by their owners! The owners all seemed to know it would happen...then why did they approach us and inflict that on someone's dog? My poor dog just freezes up, she never fights back.
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Aw, sorry!
Our dog has been socialized since the day we got him (at 6 weeks) but he's part boxer so his initial reaction is always to get on his back legs and put his front paws in the face of another dog. He's not being aggressive, that's just how he introduces himself to others. But who wants a bunch of paws in their face? No one (not dogs or people!). So he's socialized, he just makes a bad first impression
ETA: That means I usually keep his leash very tight and if he starts rearing back to "box" I pull him away immediately.
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I try not to read too much into the dogs mind. My dog is perfectly socialized, but is extremely "alpha female." Dogs that don't know her oftentimes get aggressive or start trying to hump her as soon as they meet. Often owners are shocked at their dog's behavior, but it's really just pack mentality. Especially when everyone is leashed and right next to their owners. I bet if you threw them all together in a yard, they'd work it out with little aggression and fairly quickly.
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My dog is the sweetest dog ever when she is in our house and she really good when we have guests. She doesn't chew or has never bitten anyone before. She does get a little excited when my DH or I come home. She does get a little defensive around our guests for the first 10 minutes but she's fine after that. When I take my dog out, she can get a little defensive and whiney when she sees other dogs. It all depends on how threatened she feels. Sometimes she ducks her head down when another dog is barking at her. Sometimes she growls. Sometimes she cries. There was this one time where she growled at a pregnant women and I felt so bad. That was the one and only time I've seen that. She tends to like women over men but for some reason she did not like this woman. I wonder if she was having a boy. Anyway, I don't know how other dogs are and I can't always judge how my dog will react, so I'll just give other dogs and their owners space when I take my dog out for a walk. I usually cross the street if I see another dog coming my way.
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@highwire: Oh no, by poorly socialized/aggressive, I mean snarling and biting. I have actually seen a little dog fly off a bench once and attach herself to my dog's back as we walked by. I think my dog's response to your dog's "front paws up" would be "front paws down, butt up" because that's a game to her.
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@spaniellove: Whoa okay, two different things!
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@spaniellove: While I have never been bitten by a dog, I do give dogs their space. My dog was adopted from a shelter and my DH and I think that she might have been abused by the previous owner. It's so sad considering how sweet my dog is. Dogs can have their emotional issues just like any of us can. I'm not saying that it's okay to have dog bite you but I don't think I can blame it on the owner. I can say that if my dog did try to bite someone I would be completely apologetic. Did the owners seems to care that the dog tried to bite you?
ETA: Oh, I see that the dog was trying to bite your dog and not you. Yeah, I would restrain my dog tightly if I knew my dog was aggressive towards other dogs.
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@bluestriped bee: The situation was actually that they came up to us and wanted their dogs to interact with my dog. (I also don't ever touch anyone else's dog, and no matter how much I trust my own dog I don't let anyone touch her without talking to me first and don't let children pet her without asking their parents and having me hold her.) The owners never seem apologetic when their dogs go after my dog, but they indicate that it wasn't the first time ("you know you're supposed to be nice", "she likes people better than dogs"). Which annoys me that they came up to me in the first place. In the city, "is she friendly" was such a common thing to say first.
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honestly, my pup is very poorly socialized. not in the aggressive way you're referring to, but in the way that he is absolutely terrified of other dogs. if another dog approaches him--whether it's smaller, bigger, friendly, or agressive--he cowers and jumps into our arms. when he was a puppy we didn't have anywhere to socialize him with other dogs, so he became really accustomed to humans. he LOVES people. he loves on and licks EVERYONE... he's never met a stranger, he's friends with everyone. i wish he was the same happy-go-lucky, sweet, friendly pup with other dogs, but no matter what we do he freaks out. it's sad.
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My dog is poorly socialized! I have to keep a short leash on him and avoid other dogs. He is a shih tzu that thinks he is a tough guy.
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Our dogs are people-friendly, but not very well socialized with other dogs, besides our friends' dogs that they play with... wish there was a dog park near our house
We keep them on short leashes when we take them to the outdoor mall near our house; we've never had an altercation with other dogs.
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Suburb dogs don't always get that daily interaction with other dos that city dogs usually get!
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We live in a very dog friendly area and go to many events where there are dogs everywhere, like arts and crafts festivals, live music, etc. Usually the dogs are as friendly as can be but every once in awhile there will be one who isn't, and I also don't get why someone would bring them. We have a dog and a baby with us and I like to know that they're both going to be safe!
I'm not sure why people think suburb dogs are poorly socialized. Most of my neighbors have dogs so we always see dogs on our walks, we go to the dog park, we take him to eat with us all the time and there are dogs at the restaurant, we have play dates with other dogs, and like I said we go to many outdoor events where dogs are all over the place. My dog is very well socialized.
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@artbee: I raised dogs growing up in the suburbs, and felt that way too. But after moving to the city, I was blown away by the overall difference in socialization! That's just my own personal experience though... and I definitely don't mean to suggest that all dogs in the suburbs are the same way! I'd like to think that my own suburb dogs were well socialized...
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@artbee: In my particular suburb, dogs don't really go anywhere.
You might see them being walked in the neighborhood or sitting in the car waiting for their owner, but there aren't any restaurants that allow them outside and we don't have any dog parks! If I asked about play dates (my dog grew up having awesome play dates!) they would look at me like I had two heads. It seems like it depends on the culture of the suburb, and we're really glad our dog got to live in the city her first few years!
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Of my three dogs, the one I got first was socialized out the wazoo, and she still doesn't enjoy strange dogs getting in her face (she wants to check THEM out of course, but won't tolerate any attention in return *rolls eyes*). She just gets snippy/attitude about it though, has never acted out aggressively. We never walk up to other dogs, but there are plenty of dogs on those darned retractable leashes that check us out while their owner is completely oblivious.
My second dog was a rescue at 2 1/2 years old, so I didn't have much to do with her early socialization ;).
My third is so small that I think she gets overwhelmed at times if a LOT of dogs walk up to her. But she's been to dog shows along with the other two, and generally acts pretty happy around people and dogs.
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@spaniellove: That makes me sad, our suburb is completely different. There are dogs everywhere we go. There are menus for dogs at restaurants, and water bowls already out for them when we go. They're allowed into some stores. They have nights at the baseball games for them called bark at the park. My pup has separation anxiety so we try not to leave him home alone if we don't have to, so we know all the good outside, dog friendly restaurants and there's always other dogs there for him to say hi to.
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We socialized the crap out of our dog (like down to daily charts of things to expose him to in the first 16 weeks), he's 2 1/2 now and is just a snot. Not sure if it's because we exposed him to literally everything and he now calls the shots on what he cares about? Ha!
Other dogs? Doesn't even look at them, but if they insist on saying hello and he doesn't like the way they're acting toward him? I can totally tell when he's going to get nasty! He just can't be bothered, he will say hello nicely depending on the other dogs energy, humans he will give anyone the time of day who is willing to give him a little ear rub!
His lack of interest in other dogs and bombproofing is awesome at agility class (and soon to be competitions) as he is totally focused on us and other external things don't phase him at all.
I don't think it's a suburb/city/country thing, it's all human dependent!
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IMHO, I think the owners are responsible for their dogs being aggressive and it's not as much related to the suburbs. I have a 9 lb Maltese who grew up in a big city and then moved to the burbs and is now less social than ever now that I have a 3-year-old and a 6-month-old. So I'm guilty of having a barky dog. She's not aggressive at all and actually is cool with kids, but she does bark at other dogs a lot now. I can't seem to control her bark but at least she's small enough that I can bend down and command her not to bark or at least try to distract her whenever she sees another dog. It's all about being educated on how to socialize (or not) your dogs on walks.
Sorry you had to encounter dog owners with aggressive dogs though.
My advice is to keep on walking and ignore all those other dogs. I used to pick up my dog whenever bigger dogs came barking/growling at her; but I learned that's not the way to go with little dogs. I actually make matters worse by picking her up, letting her know that it's okay to bark at other dogs when provoked. Wish I had more time to re-socialize her but she gets enough attention from her two brothers now and a big space to run around. Happy and healthy! -
DH and I signed up to volunteer at puppy playtime at the local vet school - we get to socialize working/search dogs! Maybe this will make me feel better.
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Insert our dog names here.
Our dogs never get out and are HORRIBLE around other dogs. We can't take them for walks when it's just one of us, the stroller and them. They act like they want to bite the other dogs heads off. Yet, they would lick a human to death if they had the chance. They are both leash aggressive. If they're not on leash, they're fine.
That being said - we don't take them places like pet stores or dog parks (anymore) and we don't let them get close to other dogs. Honestly, I hate it when people just let their dogs willy nilly go up to other dogs. You never know how the other dog is going to react if the owner didn't give you the go-ahead!!
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