The idiot side of that equation is that my, leashed, dog might. So if you can’t keep it away from mine all bets are off.
I have a normally ridiculously sweet Shepard mix but she has a protective streak common in the breed. 9 out of 10 dogs she’s fine meeting on a leash. That tenth though is a problem. No rhyme or reason to it that we’ve been able to figure out yet. But the number of times I have to tell some jackass to keep their off-leash dog away for their dogs safety, not mine is annoying.
Before he passed I was my German Shepherd's reactivity trigger. My vet learned pretty early on as long as I wasn't in the room with him he was a joy to work with, but if I was sitting there next to him he did not want to be on that table. When I wasn't around he was sort of "off duty" and he'd let his guard down. If I sent someone into my house to pick something up he'd hide in a corner and they never even knew I had a dog. If someone opened the door while I was home they shut the door pretty damn quick because he'd be at the door waiting for them with teeth bared unless I specifically opened the door for them and let them in.
Dude took his security role serious. We went hiking a lot, if another dog was off leash and came up to us I unfortunately knew I had to tackle my own dog for the safety of theirs... and that sucks. If your dog doesn't respond to voice commands around other dogs than it can't be off leash. I shouldn't have to muzzle my dog on a low traffic trail if I have him on a 6' leash. Always infuriated me.
Oh every side of that equation is idiot lol. "He doesn't bite" is what you could have said about literally every dog that has ever bitten someone right up until the moment they did...
Seriously. The look and feeling offensive of people when I tell them not to approach my dog because he is head shy. He probably won't bite, but he is adopted and had a history of abuse, so just don't even attempt. They get so offended. Yet if he did but they'd want him out down.
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u/bitdamaged 15h ago edited 15h ago
The idiot side of that equation is that my, leashed, dog might. So if you can’t keep it away from mine all bets are off.
I have a normally ridiculously sweet Shepard mix but she has a protective streak common in the breed. 9 out of 10 dogs she’s fine meeting on a leash. That tenth though is a problem. No rhyme or reason to it that we’ve been able to figure out yet. But the number of times I have to tell some jackass to keep their off-leash dog away for their dogs safety, not mine is annoying.