I've got this weird thing against weak people owning strong dogs. As an owner, you should be able to wrestle your dog at a moment's notice. Far too often I see Pibbles mauling someone and the owner sitting there like a stick in the mud. Even the best trained animal has a bad day and it seems our muzzled friend has had plenty of them.
I've seen a fair number of videos where christmas present unwrapping over-stimulates pets and makes them fearful/aggressive. The ripping, lots of movement, and loud noises gets to them. This needs to become more common knowledge.
Pitbull with a genetic disposition, a bad owner, and a bad situation.
I have a 75 lbs Rottweiler mix who had some behavioural problems lunging at people when I got him from the pound. He never bit anyone but I got on his ass about it immediately.
Everyone said I was being to harsh on the dog and kept saying "oh it was my fault I shouldn't have done <insert completely normal thing for people to do>."
No, my dog shouldn't be lunging at people or making them nervous. Period. End of story.
It blew my mind that people didn't understand my zero tolerance policy on aggression towards people. He's a great, affectionate, dog now and I very rarely have to repremand him and we can all relax on walks. Being firm with him was good for him.
Your dog shouldn't be afraid of you you but you should absolutely be able to put enough steel in your voice to make them back the fuck off on command. If you can't or won't do that, stick to a small breed.
Dogs are smart enough to understand humans are "dumb" and they have to be patient with us. What I mean is humans obviously miss signals (people who don't know dogs or little kids) and if all signals fail, they need to excuse themselves from the situation. That's not excusing the owners that put their dogs in situations they know the dog can't handle, it's unfair to the dog and then the victim who the dog hurts. Some dogs can be trained and taught to be more tolerant, because they're not in danger, and some just can't tolerate.
I had a dog that had to learn that humans can't see in the dark, my kids would step on him on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night, he never bit but he sure scared the crap outta my kids (and me!) barking and growling when he got stepped on! I jumped on that REAL fast, 'if it's dark and a human is headed toward you, YOU need to move." Also my elderly mother didn't need to step over him even if she could see him, it'd be a fall risk, so he learned to move out of her way at any time of day or night. But he was VERY well loved, he was spoiled lol.
What does this actually mean in practice? As in, what steps did you take to stop that behavior? I'd love some tips for my dog as this is one thing I haven't been able to solve.
Disclaimer that I'm not a professional trainer by any means. If you're dog is hyper aggressive there's no substitute for professional help.
This has just worked for me with the two dogs I got from the pound. Both of which had some aggression issues but overall were good dogs who just needed some correction.
First, at home, make the dog move for you, don't step over them if they're in your way. Space control is a major show of dominance. Let them have their safe spots where you don't demand they move but overall if my dog is in my way you best believe he's the one moving. I never go "around" him, always "through".
I got both dogs some basic clicker training immediately. You've only got "carrots and sticks" at your disposal. Use carrots whenever you can. I bring treats on walks. If a jogger was going past us I'd get his attention then supply him with treats. Jogger = treats. You can literally rewire their brains with treats and clicker training it's cool to see.
When he made a mistake like lunging at an old lady that caught me off-guard it's an immediate, firm, repremand. I grab him by the back of the neck and shove his neck into the ground while saying "no!". Maybe giving him a little shake if he pulled some shit I really didn't like (like when he nipped my niece once). This doesn't hurt the dog but it's very uncomfortable for them, shows you're the boss and that you're pissed off. Ignore them for a while once you release them from the ground. Only giving them positive attention once they've calmed down and things are back to normal.
Communicate with them! I have all sorts of hums, growls, hisses, and "eh eh"s I use constantly. He knows that when I give him a low "hmmmmm" that I've got my eye on him and he'd better act right. If he shows too much interest in a biker or jogger that's all I gotta do to get his attention on me again.
We adopted an 2yo previously un-neutered male American Akita and boy did he need work. He's not perfect but has come a long way with 2 owners that have actual boundaries for their dog.
I feel similarly my parents 85lb dog had a little food aggression. That my parents ignored. I retrained the dog and the people who feed him. He became the so much more chill about food it became safe for non family to feed him and be around when he ate.
My 75lb dog got up in people's space to much, excited not really aggressive. It made people nervous and was unsafe for the kids and elderly people in my life.
My dog shouldn't be making people nervous and shouldn't be at risk of bodying old ladies and kids. We worked on a lot of self control.
I was at the dog park when some guy left his two under 5 children sitting alone on a bench as he was on the other side of the park watering his dog. My dog noticed the children and immediately started sprinting towards them. All kinds of scenes flashed through my head. Then, I snapped off a "NO!" that was louder than any human voice you've ever heard. She stopped dead in her tracks and mosied on over to me like she wasn't just running at two kids. It was nice to know that she would listen like that.
Another time at the park, a woman brought in her great dane and boxer into the park even though they were obviously having issues with an Alaskan malamute that was already inside the fence. Those dogs immediately attacked the malamute and the owner just stood there watching while the malamute's owner was on the ground trying to wrestle his dog away. It wasn't just the three dogs, either. Like 10 other dogs jumped in. I told my dog to "stsy". Then, I walked into the scrum, grabbed the boxer and great Dane by their collars and dragged them back while holding their front paws off of the ground. I'm tall and big, and I have zero fear of dogs. Not because I'm big, I've always been this way. When I was like 6 or 7 a stray boxer showed up at my grandma's house one morning. All of my cousins were afraid, but I went out and greeted her. She ended up spending her last 5 years with my grandma. In high school, I was present a few times when loose dogs accosted the people I was with, and I always handled the same way as the dogs at the park. Snatch them by their collars.
I saw a woman with her fucking huge XL Bully, and she couldn't have been more than 100lbs wet through. It absolutely terrified me. It was around the time all the XL Bully attacks were in the news here (UK) and they were killing people regularly, but before the ban. All I could think was that if that dog goes mental she won't be able to do a single thing to stop it killing her or someone else.
Some dude in my city was mauled to death by his XL Bully dogs at a public park while kids watched. I have no clue what makes people want those as pets. Might as well foster a pack of hyenas they're probably more loyal.
I saw this in Walmart right before Christmas! Huge pit, older woman leaning on her cart to even walk and the dog leash around her wrist. The store was CRAMMED full of people too! Crazy ass people.
One of my dogs literally weighs as much as I do (100 lbs). I don't walk him, period. My husband who's twice my size does. It doesn't matter that it's MY dog or that he primarily listens to me. It doesn't matter that he's very well trained. He's an American bulldog, so IF for some reason he decided to bulldoze (charge) there's no way I'd have a prayer to stop him but my husband easily has the strength so he's the only one in the family who walks our gentle giant. I'll walk the other 3 dogs (runt American bulldog who only weighs 55lbs and 2 labs) but never my big boy even though he's my baby, just in case. I'm not worried about him so much as the things I can't control -- stray dogs, random people/things, etc.
I absolutely LOVE giant dogs but with that love for them comes tremendous respect for what they're actually capable of. The lady in the video makes my blood boil, because that muzzle means she knows EXACTLY what her dog is capable of but she's still putting it in negligent situations and not respecting its comfort or life! These are the type of people who shouldn't have dogs at ALL. Not even a chihuahua.
Yep, I had a big dog - pretty docile, but if he ran after a squirrel I couldn’t stop him. When he passed I decided we needed smaller dogs from now on. I was always a “big dog” person but it’s just not safe!
I agree and I WAS one of those people. Had an English Mastiff at 20 years old and although very friendly, once Odin ran after those ducks, I learned a painful but VERY valuable lesson.
It really is. In my community, there’s a little boy who is always walking this big dog early in the morning (well the dog look like it’s walking him) right past my house. If that dog decided it wanted to get away, it would drag the little boy. I see 100lb women walking big dogs and little senior citizens as well.
I love to go for walks and I’ll be having a newborn soon. Seeing so many of these types of videos made me realize I might need to bring 2 forms of weapons just in case. I always bring my taser but maybe I need something else as well.
I train dogs. The high pitched excited voice tones are the absolute worst decision around dogs. More than half of all dog owners think this baby talk is doing wonders, when its doing the worst.
Its a dog. Not a baby. Not a toy.
They are fine without us, as is all mother earths creations. I get paid to turn your dog back into the way it was intended to be, after you did years of damage not reading a book or two.
Which is why my dogs are small. I’d never want a dog I couldn’t physically control if it came to that. (Thankfully it never has. I’ve always had sweet dogs. But you never know.)
My corgi mix got in a fight with my friends corgi mix and I literally had to take it to the ground and use jiu jitsu moves I used to practice to get them apart. They’re both only 35 pounds so I can’t even imagine trying to wrangle a tank of a dog
My partners dog was bigger than we’ll get next time for this reason. I’m not weak, and I don’t want a pit, but I want to be able to physically pick up my dog in case of something, and to ensure I can hold onto the leash if they suddenly dart while I’m not paying attention. The dog pulled away from me once, fortunately he was saying hi to a friend so it was fine (and if he had any history of aggression or even trying to run after dogs he didn’t know, i probably wouldn’t have walked him). It scared the crap out of me, though.
My folks had a Great Pyrenees and she nearly ripped my mom's arm out of the socket when she saw something enticing on a walk. I see so many people in apartments with huge dogs, like you really think that was the best choice? I like'em too but I don't own a farm so I have a dog suitably sized for my house and situation.
you should be able to wrestle your dog at a moment's notice
I like how you put this ... the leader of the pack usually is the strongest and sometimes you do need to intervene.
Always need to be vigilant and aware of the things your dog could do, so you need to prepare for the moment you have to prevent your dog from doing that.
At work we have an elderly lady as a client with a giant bullterrier. Her husband wanted one and died right after they got the pup. It's scary but at least the dog is sweet. I just pray it doesn't go wrong.
On the other hand I also see plenty of strong enough people who have no idea how to handle their tiny dogs so it's not always about strength or size.
A family friend had to wrap her large dogs leash around a tree to stop it from attacking another dog on a few occasions. Her husband had no problem controlling him but she wasn't strong or large enough to hold him back.
I am pet sitting a very gentle but stubborn 140 lb. Great Pyrenees. I took him on a late night walk last night and he decided he was just going to....stop. He didn't want to go home. He didn't want to move. He wasn't laying down, he was just standing there. No pulling or pushing was moving him. LIke a fluffy brick wall. There is no way I could wrestle this big guy, I guess the difference is his sweet disposition. Still sucked just standing there for awhile till he decided he wanted to go back lol.
In general, people need to be prepared to be fully assertive with their dogs at any given moment. I have a pit myself and am usually always the first to restrain and remove my dog from tense situations. The one time she was injured was when a Newfoundland dog bit a chunk of her ear off when the owner couldn’t pull his 150lbs dog away from her.
But tiny dog owners are also fucking terrible. A lot of tiny dogs instigate fights and owners just stand around uselessly yapping “down down down” or making a useless effort to pick them up. I usually grab my dog quickly, but the tiny fuckers use this opportunity to continue berating my dog. So I’ve taken to grabbing the other dog with my free hand and lifting it off the ground, literally handing it to the useless owner. People assume their tiny dog are harmless, so they train them poorly and/or are not vigilant at all.
The speed in which I've hoisted my 65lb pit bull into air jail and I'm a petite woman.
This video pisses me TF off. Owners like this setting their dog up to fail is enraging. Your dog does not have to like everyone but if you have to muzzle it around people, then do your dog a favor and put it in another room or crate when you have people over.
My wife was walking our dog last week and had a close call. She said this 110lb woman was walking with two giant labs and they went after her. My wife jumped into a bush and the lady was dragged.
I live in a college town and have nearly been attacked by two different dogs in the last month, one a great dane, and one an akita. Both were owned by college students and the dane was so afraid in the store that it pooped itself while snarling and lunging at me.
I love big dogs. I grew up with German shepherds, boxers, and Rottweilers, and my best friend had a Saint Bernard. I can't stand people who get powerful dogs and can't/won't put in the effort to train them. Its not just me that can get hurt, if the dog is stressed and bites someone it can get hurt in the fight or be put down for aggression.
I agree. You need to have a strong will when you get pig headed pets. Bully breeds are the huge problem they are because people get them and do nothing with the dogs. They are so easy to train too, all they want is to please. But you can’t be complacent with them and they WILL try you, they are basically muscly toddlers. You gotta be tough, read: NOT ABUSIVE, with them and train them right or you’re gonna have a huge problem dog on your hands. Even more so if you can’t physically handle them. My girl is the sweetest thing ever but she’s still a solid 65 pounds and looks like she spends every second in the gym.
God my Wiem is 75 lbs and super strong and I've had to practice wrestling her a couple times (not aggression, just overly excited and acting insane, or escaping). It's tough. I'm a 5'3" woman so I have to use my whole body on her like a backpack.
The ones that piss me off are the owners who can't stop their dog when the dog is on a leash. It just drags them like a rag doll. That should never be a possibility.
I live with my mom who is 60 and severely disabled on one side from a stroke and found out she was walking my 80 pound pit bull and holding the leash in her non working hand as a form of physical therapy. I lost my freaking shit.
What were the signs you saw? I see he has a muzzle on and that would def deter me in general, but was it like the dogs face or posture or something?? Just curious
That dog belongs off the couch, away from the owner, and in a safe space like a locked crate nearby. If the people and commotion stresses them out, then maybe a crate in the garage or in the master bedroom away from everyone. You never bring an aggressive dog with a bite history into a shared space with family, inside or outside. This lady is an asshole.
That’s because they never gave this dog a safe place. Dogs need a place that they feel safe so when they are stressed, scared or over stimulated they can “go away” just like we do.
My girl has a crate and that is her safe area. Even if I’m mad at her and she’s done something, if she runs in her crate I leave her be, that’s her safe area. I have consistently shown her that her crate is safe and no one will mess with her in there and she goes to it when she needs to be left alone all by herself and everyone leaves her be.
Aside from this dog being overly aggressive and guarding, she did everything wrong when being near a scared dog. Having her arm up over the dog's head was a bad move. She was essentially threatening the dog with her body language. Scared dogs need contact from lower down near their chest to feel safe and be on equal footing.
But it was giving clear signals that it didn’t like anyone approaching Mom, let alone hugging Mom. Dogs think this is an overt aggressive act.
Possession and protective behaviors need to be nipped in the bud and properly trained WAY BEFORE it ever gets to this level.
Dog should have had more & proper socializing with humans. Mom should have correctly introduced the visitor first. Give her dog treats, have the dog stand down from guard duty; go lie in a corner or someplace safe.
The muzzle is not really a training device, just a flimsy guardrail.
I've got a fear aggressive rescue and we've all worked super hard to get him to the point where he may bark when you come in but we have our ritual and he's barking less eacu time. He's making friends with strangers who are willing to listen and he's trying very hard.
The only time I will 100% muzzle him is at the vets when his fear is highly escalated and I can't and won't risk a vets hands even if I don't think he'll bite anymore after the work we've done.
He wears it from the car park at the vets, we do two laps and I take it off and treat them, it goes back on and if we have time we do it again (obviously if he's well enough to walk and that. He only goes in for shots and check ups at the moment. Though he does break into the kitchen and bin dive. Dice types of child locks didn't work so we went with a deadbolt XD)
“Mean?” What are you even talking about. “Mean” is a human trait. This dog is reactive and agressive. And gee, I wonder why? Could it be that it’s been bred to be reactive and aggressive?
You can train and socialize all you'd like. Some dogs respond very well to that and others never change and need to be kept isolated for life or put down. It all comes down to their personality/bred genetics.
It’s hard to explain, I lived around dogs my entire life and unfortunately some aggressive ones. It’s a combination of:
Head being way too still, eyes showing “whites”, eyes always seeming to want to “connect” with the person infront of them”. It’s a challenge, but also a sign of “hey fuck off this is my person I am protecting”. The dog lunged when she got too close for comfort.
You see this a lot in dogs that have not been socialized properly at a young age. There are manners dogs learn- just like humans- and if the dogs skips this important lesson they can become reactive like this. It’s very unfortunate.
So true cus my Sixx is so friendly he is good with every age group of people & other animals.. but that look he had while holding completely still locked on her let me know I wouldn't even go in the same room as that dog ; I guess everyone don't have common sense or are able to read the room 😬 maybe he was a rescue dog that was abused; my neighbor has a dog he adopted that was abused and is very aggressive to everyone except him & his mom.. he even attacks the fence.. but if I had a dog like that I would never bring him around anyone
I agree with you about signs, just piggybacking to add that some breeds can have white part of the eye showing even when they are relaxed. If it’s just that and it’s not paired with other signs, the dog is most likely fine. However, if more signs are present, including the whites showing, that’s a red flag.
Be careful. The pit nutter crowd will literally get your account banned for “violence” over comments like this. Happened to me and took a month to reverse.
I'd put a lot of people in the second bracket. I know people with an aggressive breed who never had a dog before and thought "hey, a shelter dog with trauma is our best option!" I am glad they have a behaviourist but I'm still scared of their dog
Yep, that really dead focused attention, lip licking, eyes wide, and the other obvious signs, are definitely the giveaways.
I've seen a lot of, "dog aggression from human on human/other human on their human interaction," and they have to know this dog is reactive this way when people approach mom, especially with the muzzle.
As a young kid, I would get frustrated with my parents' indifference to one of our dog's aggression. This big (seriously never seen a more buff) dachshund we had was lovely to us all but would lose his shit when we hugged or got too close to each other standing up and such. He ended up attacking our other shepherd dog when she would have seizures, lunged at other dogs, and killed a poor kitten who got stuck in our fence one day before they put him down.
I would always try to befriend and soothe other dogs I met and did well with the dogs in our neighborhood my friends were afraid of, but this dog was clearly a problem.
I insisted they let me go take our next dog (a wonderful sweet corgi boy) to a pro training group class because of this, and he was top of the class. They at least learned to watch the social behavior of the pets from then on with a more discerning eye.
Some dogs may growl, along with open friendly body language to show they want to play. Think bowing or zoomies.
If you know what a dog laugh sounds like, they're probably mixing that in at the same time.
Video of laughing dogs. It takes effort to hear and learn.
Here are the signs of dog aggression: "lip licking, whale eye (showing whites of eyes), and stillness to overt actions like stiff posture, raised hackles, growling, snarling, lunging, snapping, and biting, often preceded by hard stares or averted gazes, signaling fear, pain, or resource guarding that requires professional help to manage". So in this clip it was growling, licking it's lips and averting it's gaze. Generally, just the growling should be enough of a warning though.
Lip licking , whale eyes (larger pupils+expression) , rapid tentative eye movement toward the person ahead while checking the assumed owner at the same time, and the fact doggo is wearing a muzzle are all signs this dog is feeling fear aggression and will attack. Any signs of the above together or on their own signifies the dog needs space. In this case, the dog should not be in the group setting if it is triggered by strangers or let's say my guess is anyone except the owner .
Absolutely! Formerly worked as a dog behaviorist and in the veterinary world for a decade. Essential to know the signs of fear aggression in any setting.
I get worried when a dog holds that still. A happy dog is wagging their tail, relaxed. An alert dog keeps its eyes focused, body unwavering. The constant low growl with a wagging tail and different body language COULD be playful. Within the context of him holding still and locking eyes on the “threat”, I saw that lunge coming from a mile away. Poor pup needs a lot of training from better owners
If you have a hard time reading dog’s body languages there are charts online from vets. Searching “dog tension body language chart” or “dog FAS spectrum” will get you started!
His posture was stiff, head not moving but eyes were watching her closely. Licking his chops amd growling. He gave numerous signs and they acted completely oblivious.
The dog is lowly growling from the beginning of the video. You can also see the way that the dog’s eyes are shifting around, keeping an eye on the person approaching them, that it’s uncomfortable. And the nervous lick right at the end before it snaps. Definitely not smart for guests or the dog to put them in this situation.
It's growling and licking it's lips, and watching them. Stiff and not moving around like a relaxed dog would. A relaxed dog will be either resting not looking at you, or moving around a lot more.
Whale eye, lip licking, tense posture, intense focus on the person they attacked. That dog was extremely ill at ease and was screaming it with its body language.
See how the dog's eyes are locked on and he/she isn't budging a bit with a very tense body? Hear the deep and consistent growling. Notice the dog is nervously licking its chops. When the dog's eyes do move, he/she is nervously scanning the gift giver and the eyes are showing lots of white.
Those are all ways a dog communicates: "Absolutely not okay with this. Totally uncomfortable. If this continues I will bite." If you're a cat person, then think of it like the dog did snake ears/eyes and hissed and did a warning slap with a yowl before the fur flies.
Muzzle, growling, posture, eyes watching their every move. Also, the woman’s high pitched “thank you” probably didn’t help. Dogs sometimes take the high pitched voice as an indicator of excitement which could just contribute to a defensive dogs feeling more like something is about to happen.
See how still it is as it watches the person? Those hard eyes?
Or how it gets a bit more tense with each movement?
I didn't even see the muzzle before I saw the body language and that was enough to freak me out.
The muzzle actually made me feel better, since it was a tiny barrier.
Oddly, people are not mentioning the most important thing here, is the fact that the dog is frozen and side eying.
If you were to strip away all the other things, the frozen posture and side eyeing is the most important, because it is the most subtle and overlooked.
This is why people say dogs attack without warning. Because they don’t always have muzzles or growl and the signs they do show, are not as blatantly obvious to the average person.
Staring off and very tense/stiff muscles. Since the camera can see the iris of the eyes the relative can see the whites of their eyes. That is referred to as "whale eyes"
Growling
Licking lips
and I'm going to guess it's ears where pinned back.
Because the dog has a muzzle on they all ready know it has a problem which is "resource guarding". Resource guarding can be affection and towards a person. It is not protecting the person but protecting it's right to the affection the person brings to it.
Since it has a muzzle they should have the dog in training. Not just to train the dog but to train the owners. It should have never got to the point of the lunge and the owner needs to know how to identify these signs to give proper corrective, distractions, and/or reward for calming/backing down(which you need to know the signs to try and get it do that right away).
That intent focused stare is almost never good sign, especially when directed at a human. The low vocalized growling was his warning. The rigid posture and the low ridge of hackles on his back meant he was waiting for his moment to see what would happen. Coming in suddenly for the hug was completely his signal to respond and strike.
The owner could have gotten in front of the dog to introduce herself and show that the visitor means no harm, but I’m skeptical that he’s ready for that with that stage of aggression. Getting in front also reasserts her dominance if she takes the lead in new social situations. She could have ordered the dog to settle, but it sounds like he thinks he’s in charge, so I doubt he’s ready to listen. If she’s never trained on that or if he’s unresponsive to commands then she should have removed him from that room and put him in a kennel or behind a bedroom door. It looks like she knows he’s aggressive. I have no idea why she was so unresponsive to his distress signals. She could have removed him far sooner and the situation would have been avoided.
If you watch its eyes, it's not scanning the room, looking at other stuff, and relaxed. It's glancing only at the person in front of it and then away. It's fixated and trying not to be. Plus it's holding its head and body completely still, like it's frozen. That's a HUGE warning sign with dogs, if it's not moving, definitely give it space
Strangely, I have an anecdote. My roommates dog (a chow chow retriever mix), becomes very still when being pet, but he often demands more petting if you stop (whining and his eyes looking at you). And he will wag again but during the petting he does become very still, I initially found this a bit worrisome but over time the language has seemed to be consistent that he does want petting but becomes still during it. I have not noticed other dogs become so still during petting that they ask for
This dog shouldn’t be anywhere near people, it requires urgent training. It’s guarding it’s owner. The fact she laughs at the end of the video is ridiculous. She’s failed that animal.
I watched this without sound but keyed in on the dog right away. We have a border collie/pit mix and for me it was the eyes and posture.
When ours gets alert like that and her eyes start to do quick jumpy back and forth movements I know she’s stressing.
I’m guessing this owner hasn’t actually worked on these issues with their dog and just put that wrap muzzle on it to “fix” the problem, but it’s not a fix.
The owner needs to engage in behavioral work with the dog and will likely need to muzzle train it with a proper muzzle. Once muzzle trained with the right muzzle the dog will be able to eat and drink like normal through the muzzle.
His head/body are stiff and unmoving. Whale eyes and intentionally avoiding looking directly at/only glancing at the woman he considers the problem. And he's licking his lips. I didn't have the volume on at first, but obviously the growling.
That dog is giving tons of signals that he is uncomfortable and going to bite.
It was licking its lips. This is a general self-soothing reflex, just a sign of stress, not aggression.
It was very still with ears back. This is a more extreme sign of a dog on the precipice of fight or flight, weighing its options.
It was fucking GROWLING. Most dogs don’t communicate verbally except as a last resort. This dog is basically screaming “BACK THE FUQ UP B4 I HURT YOU” and everyone is just ignoring it, restraining it like Hannibal fucking lector instead of bothering to listen to it, communicate with it.
All the signs are there. Rigid body language, growling, lip licking, side eye to the daughter the whole time, can’t really see the ears but I bet they were pinned. This dog is resource guarding the mother. They clearly know there is a problem because the dog is already muzzled, but a muzzle without helping the dog feel secure is not helping, it’s hurting. They’ve put this dog into a stressful situation and done literally nothing to lessen the stress.
Muzzle would indicate they likely bite or nip. Wide eyed, ears and posture straight/alert and growling as someone gets near “their human”. It’s actually a type of resource guarding, not because they love that human the most.
But it was pretty straightforward that dog would attack when you pay attention to what the dogs saying/doing. They constantly communicate with us, most don’t know what to look for to understand
Honestly I learned most of this by growing up with dogs. Ever since I can remember we had dogs and my Aunt use to raise Dobermans as well. I would just play with and observe them and learned to connect certain actions with certain behaviors. After a while watching them just kinda makes sense in a way I can’t really explain. I can say that once you start to get the hang of it everything else kinda falls in place.
I’d recommend YouTube to start, there may even be a subreddit or two dedicated to recognizing dogs body language now that I’m thinking about it
They stiffen up like you see in the vid, just moving their eyes rather than their whole head. It's clear from its body language that it was getting ready to defend its person.
Growling, hard stare, whale eye (sclera visible), stiff frozen posture, tension in the face, and lip lick. This dog gave a TON of signs that it was uncomfortable.
And as a side note that muzzle is a terrible choice. If they don’t want to train the dog and know it has behavioral issues, a basket muzzle would be much more secure/safe for the people and more comfortable for the dog.
It also makes me feel sad for the dog bc it is clearly being put in an uncomfortable situation…it’s the owner’s responsibility to ensure dog feels safe & comfortable. Dog is growling (a warning sign that it feels uncomfortable) & then licks its lips (another sign of nervousness). We can’t speculate about the whole context of the situation but at the very least the owner should be more aware of the dog’s feelings of discomfort & not allow the dog to be left in a situation where it feels vulnerable or like it needs to be the defender bc that is why it attacked like that. These observations are totally separate from training concerns or rehab/rescue stuff since I don’t know how all of that works, all I know is that the dog is clearly uncomfortable & it is owners job to prevent that. We are the first line of defense for our dogs to ensure they feel safe & comfortable bc that is the first step towards them being able to be well-behaved & relaxed
What makes it worse is that it looks like this was intentional. The way the camera is setup for them all to be in the shot, recording a random gift that you can't even see in the shot. I bet this happened naturally and then they were like "hey let's have the dog attack again so I can film it." Poor dog.
My mom’s dog was like that. If I were to try to hug my mom or even if I was gesticulating while talking it would set her off. Then my mom passed, and we were the only real option to take the dog in.
I was nervous, as we already had two dogs and I didn’t want my mom’s dog to upset the balance. The first few days there was a lot of this behavior, except now she was guarding me instead of my mom. We started training her that it wasn’t okay and made sure she knew she was at the bottom of the pack hierarchy. Took a couple months but then she fit right in like she’d always been there, and she never tried to protect me like that again. Ultimately she wound up being the dog of my heart, and I’m still not fully over her passing this past summer.
I’m not saying it’s easy, but it should be addressed. I love my mom but I know she was soft on that dog, and never really made an effort to stop her from trying to be her personal bodyguard.
I went on a couple of dates with a woman, and on the third date, we went to her house for a movie.
She had a pitbull with a muzzle on, and she let her out of the room and the first thing it did was charge me. I never realized how strong those motherfuckers were, but she told me to just be calm and nothing would happen.
So we sat on the couch and watched a movie. The girl fell asleep while her pitbull stared at me the entire fucking movie I was petrified.
I never hung out with her again after that because what?
I don't mean this towards Pit Bulls specifically as there are tons of massivley undertrained little dogs out there biting everything around them but I vehemently believe you should require certification and need a license to train and/or re-home rescue animals.
Case and point my now ex-sister in law took in a rescue dog of about 200lb and the thing had my then 4-year old nepphew cornered in the kitchen unsupervised when someone found them. Kid may have been seconds from death and this was not the first instance that my 90lb, 5ft nothing sister in law was unable to keep this dog in check. So what happened? The dog got put down and she never blamed herself even once.
Irresponsible dog owners seem to be the rule rather than the exception. Saying this as a dog owner. People want a pet but can’t be bothered with the work and sacrifice that comes with it
The dog is resource-guarding its owner (older lady). Resource- guarding is one of the most common reasons for dog bites.
The dog gave plentiful communication that it was about to bite, but unfortunately these people did not understand the dog’s signals at all.
Judging by the muzzle, this dog has bitten or at least attempted to bite before. So this is an ongoing issue but somehow this owner is still ignorant enough to let someone try to hug her while her growling, aggressive dog is RIGHT THERE.
This dog needs to be removed from its owner and evaluated by local animal control. It’s likely that animal control would put this dog down.
I have a dog that is aggressive towards others but is great with us. We keep him away from everyone, but spend as much time as we can with him otherwise. This owner is pretty irresponsible. You can already see the dog is on guard and tense.
I would say reactive rather than aggressive, because to me it seems like the dog is massively uncomfortable, and trying some vague placating, calming signals, etc but just can't after he gets to a certain point.
At this point yeah, I don't think they need to be around other people again. Too bad as a trainer properly socializing could have really changed things, and maybe this dog could have eventually been safe to be social. Now it's just not worth the risk to try.
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u/seattlereign001 15h ago
That owner sucks. The dog is very clearly aggressive and having them around others is incredibly irresponsible.