It finally happened
We took off for Memorial Day weekend to our local favorite spot. We got checked in and took our dog over to the dog walk area. Our dog a Amstaff with already a flag(because of how she looks) on her ...
Forum Discussion
I definitely think we need Dog Experts. I see too many people who simply can't "read" their dog's body language - and then when something happens, they do the WRONG reaction which further reinforces the bad thing to start with.
Example: I was just taking my dogs (Aussie and Cattle Dog) out the door (on leashes, of course) for a potty break, when we got charged by a loose Yorkie with a badboy attitude. I saw his owner a couple RV up the street, put my guys in a sit/stay - and I yelled "Call your dog or he's going to get hurt!" because the Cattle Dog was ready for action. I stepped in front of my dogs to punt the Yorkie if needed - but he stopped (I'm sure I was giving off a lot of bad juju....LOL!), still ignoring his owner completely. She finally got to our site, scooped him up in a huff, and then snarled something about MY aggressive dogs. Who were still sitting/staying, although the hackles on the Cattle Dog were raised so high he looked like a Stegoaurus....
So the lady managed to reinforce everything the Yorkie was doing wrong. It was OK to not listen; and her reaction indicated that he was right - MY dogs were clearly a threat. (smack my head) I didn't say anything - figured sooner or later little Mr Bada$$ was going to try to tear up the wrong dog....
Example: I was just taking my dogs (Aussie and Cattle Dog) out the door (on leashes, of course) for a potty break, when we got charged by a loose Yorkie with a badboy attitude. I saw his owner a couple RV up the street, put my guys in a sit/stay - and I yelled "Call your dog or he's going to get hurt!" because the Cattle Dog was ready for action. I stepped in front of my dogs to punt the Yorkie if needed - but he stopped (I'm sure I was giving off a lot of bad juju....LOL!), still ignoring his owner completely. She finally got to our site, scooped him up in a huff, and then snarled something about MY aggressive dogs. Who were still sitting/staying, although the hackles on the Cattle Dog were raised so high he looked like a Stegoaurus....
So the lady managed to reinforce everything the Yorkie was doing wrong. It was OK to not listen; and her reaction indicated that he was right - MY dogs were clearly a threat. (smack my head) I didn't say anything - figured sooner or later little Mr Bada$$ was going to try to tear up the wrong dog....
