Curious...

Just been for a lovely walk with Shéara and met a few dogs. However, the first was a sheep dog who apparantly has been bitten twice in the past by a staffy which means the dog has a hatred specifically towards staffies. The second was a greyhound, same story.

So am I right in saying if a dog has a bad incident with another dog, the dog no longer gets on with that specific breed?! This is ridiculous, every dog has its own personality. Rant over x

I don't know, Moo hates boxers, always has, never a bad experience, I put it down to the tails being docked but even now days with tails she hates them! Can't explain it!

So bizarre!! Still not nice when they dont let their dogs socialise with poor Shéara His friend Rumor (the rottweiler) is coming to visit next month so they can tear around together and have a good play x

Moo gets along with all dogs and has lots of play mates but not boxers, she hates them! Can also kinda understand that if a dog has been attacked the owner must be wary Xx

I believe dogs can tell breeds apart or at least the general shape of them. Logan hates GSD's and wolfytype dogs from bad experiences and is 100% with any other breeds.

Not necessarily, it depends on the individual dog and also how the owner deals with it from that point on. Loki's best friend, Buster, is an American Bulldog x Boxer that's been attacked by Staffs often, so he doesn't get along with Staffs. He's made an exception in Loki's case because he's known him since Loki was a tiny little puppy though. It's not ridiculous though, dogs don't use logic like we do, if they react to something badly, they may remember the general look of the dog and be scared of them because of the bad experience.

kita90 wrote:So bizarre!! Still not nice when they dont let their dogs socialise with poor Shéara His friend Rumor (the rottweiler) is coming to visit next month so they can tear around together and have a good play x

I do agree with this though, it's a shame she couldn't socialise. Albeit, it is very stressful having a dog that is nervous aggressive to certain dogs/breeds.

Hopefully Shéara can have a good play with the Rottie

Worse was my last bulldog was racist not just with dog, but worse... people. So embarrassing. He never had a bad experience with either, just was prejudice.

Your right Tara, its not ridiculous, im just in a fettle as ive moved to a new area and all the dog walkers just dont seem to be interested in socialising their dogs and the last thing i need is a lonely Shéara x

kita90 wrote:Your right Tara, its not ridiculous, im just in a fettle as ive moved to a new area and all the dog walkers just dont seem to be interested in socialising their dogs and the last thing i need is a lonely Shéara x

I've had a similar problem. People have no problem with Loki meeting their dog, but none of them want to let their dogs play, either because they're too busy or because Loki's a maniac. It's just a case of finding someone who shares the want to socialise their dog. My vets organised a dog walking group so that's helped loads, maybe you could ask around and see if something similar could be started?

A dog walking group sounds fun...i'll look into that, thanks Tara x

Manny doesn't like jack Russell's, he has no reason for this, in fact my son has a jrt that manny has played with from dot, yes when he meets one out walking, he avoids it, shies away, or ignores then, any other breed, and he wants to play, it's very odd!!!!

Rocky went for a female gsd once, the only time he's ever done anything like that without me being to work out why. Only handbags, but he started it. Gsd owner said afterwards "staffs always attack her". Only explanation I could think of for his behaviour was that maybe either the dog or the owner or both were subconsciously fearful/hostile towards staffs?

canthavethat wrote:Rocky went for a female gsd once, the only time he's ever done anything like that without me being to work out why. Only handbags, but he started it. Gsd owner said afterwards "staffs always attack her". Only explanation I could think of for his behaviour was that maybe either the dog or the owner or both were subconsciously fearful/hostile towards staffs?

I do think that dogs can pick up on their owner's fear/hostility, especially when they're on the lead (it "runs down the lead", as we've all heard tell); what I can't work out is how they transmit or translate that basic emotion to another dog (pheremones perhaps?) but I'm sure they do in the silent dog language we can never fully understand, and the other dog will react to it according to his/her own temperament or understanding/misunderstanding of the situation.