Can’t stand them. Also think most of their existences are cruel unless you have loads of land. The fact you have to ‘walk’ a dog is just odd. It’s an animal, it shouldn’t need walking because it shouldn’t be so bloody restricted in the first place.
I don’t understand why people would spend money on furniture, carpets etc. To then let an animal that chews on things, scratches things, ****** and ***** everywhere, barks every time someone turns up at their house. Puts their dander and fur all over your house so it stinks (yeah, you might grow immune to the smell, but if you ever go round a dog owners house they always stink of dog). Yeah, not for me. In the same way I don’t agree with zoos unless it’s for helping endangered species, I think forcing an animal into a human mould is cruel. And find it baffling that most people don’t see it that way.
I know I’ll get bashed for this post because as others have said we’re a nation of dog lovers. I’m happy to go against the grain. I don’t like them as pets. I admire them as working dogs. Watching sheepdogs in action is fantastic. But most people having a dog in a residential situation. I don’t get it.
Tbh, I felt the same about dogs until it became the only thing my partner would talk about as her goal in life. I agreed under protest, but now I would bawl like crazy if they were taken away. Which is why they are as well trained as possible so that it reduces the risk of anything happening to cause them to be taken away to a minimum.
/snip about dog behaviour/training/innate behaviour
I agree. I'll keep this brief.
Our first puppy we picked up at 4 months from the breeder and only one bollock had dropped (vet said this could and could not cause testosterone issues, very vague and non-committal as usual from them I've found), then found that he was terrified of everything including his own body. First training session almost led to bloodbath, the "little" guy just wanted to fight every dog it saw - so from then on it was 1-1 very expensive training for him but he was fine with people after they were introduced.
Then another stage in his development started and he now was being fearful of everyone apart from us or people he had extensively been introduced to, and his reaction was to bark to warn people away. Introducing people to this "aggressive" dog was impossible to do safely and he now stood no chance of being socialised properly, especially as anyone new would come bumbling up with the "I've got dogs, they love me" attitude which was greeted with a lovely "GET THE **** AWAY FROM ME" bark from our guy. Training continued but we could sense it was now becoming quite desperate, and the behaviourist we'd been working closely with all this time was also being realistic with us on the expectations for the rest of his life and the requirements that would take.
For my partner all the trust, built up little by little through small gains of non-stop training, was completely eroded by the time he started to air snap and lunge as a progression from his stand-off behaviour of the early days. We just couldn't risk this dog being any near general society, and it was incredibly upsetting thinking it was our fault. We believed it was our fault right up until we got further dogs and realised the breeder must have set this dog up to fail or he had a neurological issue that was out of our control.
After 7 months of NEVER having that new puppy feeling, because believe me that dog was a beast from the very start, he went very tearfully back to the breeders. They kept all the money that had been paid (fair enough), would not keep us up to date on how he progresses and wouldn't even guarantee he wouldn't be re-homed near children. I believe very strongly that that dog was bad right from the start, and if we didn't have the option of returning him to the breeder (it was in the agreement that they had first refusal) then we likely would have had him PTS ourselves as painful as that would have been.
If you had told be that dogs could be like that after owning the two we have now? No way in hell would I believe you. All the money spent however has made us much better owners, more respectful around others and only let them off in areas that the excitement levels can be kept to a minimum. I suppose in a way I'm agreeing with your points that people should be trained before owning a dog, but I think it goes beyond just the owners as the reaction and education of the general population also has an effect on the dogs behaviour. Especially when socialising them - please people, stop and ask owners from a distance first if you can pet their dog! We have mini anxiety attacks when we see people come flying up to our guys because of the experience we've had. You have zero knowledge of that dog's upbringing, it's temperament or it's triggers and not only do you put yourself at risk but the dogs life due to the law.
Above all else, if an owner cannot reliably recall the dog it should NEVER be let off lead near other people or animals.
