Ohhh, yaaay, let's bitch about how I'm such a careless pet owner now...
I love how you are bitching about me when you weren't even there. Hey, let's go judge people and their dogs!
Seriously, get a life. I'm normally not a rude person, and I normally don't get offended, but you should really lay off. My dog is well trained... whether your believe it or not. I don't even know why I'm getting worked up about this when I know that my dog wouldn't hurt a fly. If you knew Jackson, you would understand. You don't know him, though, and you don't know me, and you weren't there.
I've found that my dogs are VERY aware of my body language, and their reactions to people are VERY dependent on mine. This has been useful in making me aware of staying relaxed and friendly towards people who AREN'T threatening me, which has in turn helped with my anxiety.
On the other hand, if someone makes me nervous, Beowulf will immediately put himself between me and that person and start giving them the "I may have to eat your face later" stare. No hackles, no teeth, no growling, but a definite "You are skating on thin ice, bubba" type look. Tink is very much the same way, only with growling. She's way less subtle.
Sort of inadvertently, I think. Well, more consciously as I noticed what was happening and started doing things like laughing at them when they reacted with fear/hostility to someone I wasn't wary of. For some reason, giggling at them seems to tell them "Oh, hey, maybe I shouldn't be worried" without the danger of reinforcing the behavior that comes with patting and saying "that's ok" and without being so aversive that I risk squashing their natural warnings (stiff posture, growling, etc). Did that make sense? It's a little late. Heh.
First snapped at my ex once. He was walking up the driveway and he pulled his sweatshirt up over his head so it was covering his face, hunched his shoulders and started doing his best 'gangsta' walk. First snuck up behind him and grabbed the back of his pants below the knee, then ducked and dodged, just like she would if she had heeled a cow. I called her off.
It's the only time she's ever shown anything resembling aggression to a human, and she treated him exactly the same after as she had before. It showed me that she would respond in a certain way to that kind of stimulus.
She's a sheepdog, not a guard dog. I don't think herding the homies towards me would be very effective somehow. And the idea of her taking on a human aggressor freaks me out on her behalf. More likely scenario is I would tear the person's throat out for trying to hurt my dog. ;-)
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What the fuck is with the XOXO to me? UGH.
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I love how you are bitching about me when you weren't even there. Hey, let's go judge people and their dogs!
Seriously, get a life. I'm normally not a rude person, and I normally don't get offended, but you should really lay off. My dog is well trained... whether your believe it or not. I don't even know why I'm getting worked up about this when I know that my dog wouldn't hurt a fly. If you knew Jackson, you would understand. You don't know him, though, and you don't know me, and you weren't there.
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On the other hand, if someone makes me nervous, Beowulf will immediately put himself between me and that person and start giving them the "I may have to eat your face later" stare. No hackles, no teeth, no growling, but a definite "You are skating on thin ice, bubba" type look. Tink is very much the same way, only with growling. She's way less subtle.
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It's the only time she's ever shown anything resembling aggression to a human, and she treated him exactly the same after as she had before. It showed me that she would respond in a certain way to that kind of stimulus.
She's a sheepdog, not a guard dog. I don't think herding the homies towards me would be very effective somehow. And the idea of her taking on a human aggressor freaks me out on her behalf. More likely scenario is I would tear the person's throat out for trying to hurt my dog. ;-)
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