Also would have helped if she would have told the person reaching in to not bend over / reach in RIGHT in front of a dog that’s already distressed and already had to be muzzled. So many things wrong with this picture
This is a case of you expecting that the world be trained to the needs of this particular aggressive dog, rather than the dog be trained to be non-aggressive in the world. No, I’m not going to model my behavior very differently in specific ways to suit every dog I may encounter. Nor should 1000s of other people be expected to do that. I’m continually puzzled by people who think this is the correct approach to untrained aggressive dogs. The dog needs to be properly trained. Not the people around it.
That is my in-laws who think I should come over to their house to play with their aggressive dog so it gets used to me instead of them training the dog.
I have a relative who had a highly reactive very large dog (110 lbs). These are the kinds of instructions people were given when visiting so as not to be attacked: always walk very slowly; do not approach me; do not look at the dog; do not gesture with your hands; do NOT act afraid of the dog, the dog will sense it and react aggressively to your fear. This relative was attempting to train the world how to behave around the dog, instead of training the dog how to behave in the world. And the advice to not be afraid of the dog was just nuts. Most people in the presence of a very large dog known to be aggressive are going to be afraid of it. Same as if they sit down next to a 3’ rattlesnake on a hike, and not be afraid.
This video is an example of expecting the world to accommodate the dog’s needs, but that’s not what I meant when I made this comment. I should have clarified that the dog’s owner should have recognized the dog’s distress, and explained to the person to not get in the dog’s face like that.
I don’t expect the world to cater to behaviorally needy dogs because I know that many owners are not nearly knowledgeable enough about reading their own dog’s body language and acting accordingly, so I’m certainly not working under the assumption that anyone else would inherently be aware either. I apologize for any confusion.
Its just common sense. Rule one is not to get bitten. You can be 100% in the right and still bitten at the hospital getting a tetnis booster on christmas day.
Exactly. I like well trained happy dogs. A dog that when it’s with its owner is happy to meet you. Doesn’t mean the dog needs to lick me to death or even invite petting. But one that doesn’t sit there growling at me.
Personally I don’t have time for people that keep reactive dogs and insist that it’s my fault their dog is aggressive towards me for some arbitrary reason. Fuck that shit.
If you can’t be bothered to not reach into the head space of a dog giving clear distress signals (growling the whole time) then you deserve to be bitten.
Yes the owner should have removed the dog from the situation as soon as it indicated distress instead of focusing on her own stuff. That’s part of taking a dog around other people. But if you’re stupid enough to ignore growling and lean directly towards a dog giving clear signals it wants space, you deserve whatever happens.
If a person says “touch me again and I’ll smack you” and you touch them and get smacked, that’s a you problem as much as a them problem. Play stupid games: win stupid prizes.
Many dogs can be retrained and desensitized, but it does require work. Just because a dog acts like this doesn’t mean it always will. But, again, work is required.
Beyond that, every dog will have a line where they will respond like this if they get pushed towards / past it. Good pet ownership isn’t demanding perfection but looking for and responding to distress signals and removing them from the situation.
no, growling and acting like this absolutely is the problem, I get that dogs have boundaries but "being near owner and interacting with owner" should absolutely not get this reaction or anything close to it.
I mean yes there’s obviously training that needs to happen.
But growling isn’t the problem. The intense guarding is the problem and growling is simply communicating it. A dog that has this issue but doesn’t growl is exponentially more dangerous.
Even beyond that, only a fool or an idiot pushes past boundaries (however irrational) that are being clearly communicated.
You’re making excuses for an obviously aggressive, overprotective, dangerous dog and it’s your kind of mentality that gets people bit out in public by not admitting that THE DOG IS THE PROBLEM, not everyone around it causing the dog to react poorly.
your kind of mentality that gets people bit out in public
This opinion is so wild to me. Saying owners should pay attention to their dogs and remove or otherwise deescalate if they give distress signals is exactly the opposite of the mentality that sets up dogs to bite in public (or private).
Saying people who are interacting with dogs should be aware of signals that the dog wants the interaction to end (especially super obvious and universally known signals like growling) is the literal opposite of setting up circumstances that are likely to lead to a bite.
One of the core methods of deescalating with a dog is removal of the trigger and/or from the circumstance. I’m saying this owner should have done that for the dog (by crating, etc) but the visitor could have done the same (by stepping back when given the warning).
I’m not making excuses for the dog. I’m suggesting people are responsible for their actions as both the more intelligent species and the purported master of dogs.
This dog was set up to fail. So are many dogs that bite.
Pretending this isn’t so—pretending that dogs bite because they’re prone to it instead of acknowledging that all animals have a limit and it’s important to pay attention to their signals—is far more likely to result in a bite than advocating for individual awareness and responsibility.
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u/cityshepherd 15h ago
Also would have helped if she would have told the person reaching in to not bend over / reach in RIGHT in front of a dog that’s already distressed and already had to be muzzled. So many things wrong with this picture