We have 4 adults and 5 dogs in our house, 2 Yorkies, 2 ShihTzu’s, and a French Bulldog.
The Frenchie is owned by my housemate who has a new boyfriend. The Frenchie looooooves everyone…and is scared to death of the boyfriend. She shudders, backs away, and barks at him. She barks at nothing else…just him. None of the other dogs react to him differently than any other stranger in the house.
Can dogs judge a person’s character? Do they have a sense about if a person is good?
Or is it just reaction? Does the dog perceive that we don’t like him? Wouldn’t the dog me more likely to take her cues from my housemate who obviously likes the guy?
My dog spent the first five years of her life with my ex-wife and me who are both tall and thin. She is ten now and has always been wary of new people but she takes much more quickly to tall, thin people. It doesn’t matter what they are like.
It could be anything that is setting the Frenchy off. A look, a smell an attitude. It’s probably not character though.
From my experience it depends. I had a shepherd collie mix who seemed to be very good at judging “bad” people, i.e. mean people, like the ex-landlord, a guy who beat his wife and was just an evil person. She would always bark at him like she knew he was evil, and she seemed to be able to sense that in others too that were also mean people.
On the other hand, I had a full blooded german shepherd who liked everyone, didn’t matter who it was. He was an awful watch dog for that reason, would greet any stranger like a long lost friend. If anyone wanted to rob the place, he would wag his tail and keep them company while they loaded my stuff into the back of a moving van.
My current dog Hanna, a purebred german shepherd cannot seem to judge character, barks and is defensive of all people, at least until becoming briefly acquainted with them.
No, I don’t think dogs are good judges of character. Most often if a dog reacts oddly, it’s because of fear or stress from the person (that you may not pick up on) or some undefineable Scary Thing the dog has decided is unsettling. And/or, the Frenchie is picking up some vibe from you about the boyfriend. Dogs are exquisite judges of body language and can pick up on subtle stuff you can’t imagine.
I don’t particularly like dogs because I don’t like my face liked or my arm painted with snot by them. Therefore, they won’t leave me alone. I’m guessing they like the back-rubs I give them too.
My guess is Mr. wonderful as dropped kick the dog when nobody was looking or maybe his owner is a screamer during sex. hard to say.
I swear to gods, I was just having this conversation. Just. Someone jokingly said he thought it was time I meet his dog, so I asked if he was one of those jackasses who thinks their dog is a good judge of character. The answer was thankfully no.
Another friend of mine has this asinine theory that dogs are good judges of characters because they don’t respond to fake smiles or unnecessarily firm handshakes. They just respond to people on a primal level, and therefore their opinions are to be trusted. This is, of course, nonsense. If a dog reacts negatively to you, it can be for all kinds of reasons. Maybe you’re nervous, in a bad mood, or sending off any miscellaneous strange juju that’s unsettling to a dog that has nothing to do with character. Or maybe the dog is just feeling pissy. But no, according to her, if a dog doesn’t like you it’s because you’re a bad person.
Dog behavior is quite complex. There is a whole list of factors starting out with reading people’s emotions, both the person and others. They can smell pheromones people give off too. Then there are other factors. I once had a job where I would occasionally have to handle gasoline. None of our other puppies seemed to mind, but Prince wanted nothing to do with me. He also disliked smokers and some ladies wearing perfume. I blamed it on having just put down moisture cure urethane on our hardwood floor before getting him. We could no longer detect the horrible fumes, but he may have.
The new boy friend may remind the dog of somebody in the past. Thegirl may have misgivings about him. It could be simple jealousy.
Bottom line, I would be careful of anybody my dog disliked.
Does the bf wear a hat? I’ve found that dogs get worried about people who wear hats. That’s mostly because dogs bark at me when I’m wearing a hat. Or maybe its because my goal in life is to have all dogs and cats fixed. There is something about cutting balls off that upsets critters.
The only person Tilly has *ever *snapped at is my brother’s ex-wife. I’m not happy my dog snapped at someone, but that’s one person I’d turn a blind eye towards if Tilly wanted to do it again.
Dogs can have bad characters too. In such a case if they don’t like a person it doesn’t necessarily reflect badly on that person, but possibly just on the dog.
My dog is generally a pushover. But he dislikes my uncle. Its possible that I’ve never realized my uncle is a serial killer, but I don’t think so. My uncle is a friendly, helpful guy that will come over to do some odd jobs for me once in a while. The dog also hates one of my son’s friends…but just one. Far as I can tell, this is a nice kid - respectful, decent. And he likes most dogs - except this little white Scottie that walks by.
No. They understand the world, and perceive humans, very differently than we do.
My dogs mirror my own feelings. They love my friends, are indifferent to most people, and react with suspicion or hostility to anyone who makes me uncomfortable.
If they are, I turn into a supervillain when I hold an umbrella. Dogs are nice, but they are kind of stupid.
They are really good at picking up on it when I don’t like someone, but I’m not a great judge of character, either.
Dogs don’t have any conception of human moral codes, or what makes a good character or a bad one. So no, they are not judges of character, good or not.
They might have a fear response to aggression or somesuch, or identify a person, object, or smell with past pain due to similarity, but that’s about as far as it goes.
They certainly can read body language better than we can and react to someone’s emotional state. So if someone is feeling aggressive, a dog might pick up on that.