Apropros of nothing, that is a fantastic photo. 
Thanks. He’s a happy boy :).
I’m a sucker for junkyard/ghetto/cur dogs. I had an 80lb neurotic hound dog in desperate need of therapy and a sense of humor. She was abused and abandoned when I got her. 16 years later when she died, it broke my heart.
She had a big, broad chest, square head and was ambivalent to every one in the world except for me. It would amaze me when people would assume she might be aggressive, but I understood. Heck, just being a big dog that doesn’t look like an absolute goof will do that to folks.
Keep going to class, keep working with your dog. Nothing in this world can change people, except really good examples. Train him on leash, off leash, heck, get him to be a therapy dog. If he is as good as you say, he will be an excellent ambassador.
Also, I know what you mean about not getting any calls. My new dog is a complete spaz and could benefit from the rigors of agility training. I called a ton of places trying to get into a class, also emailed them. I never got one response.
Also, give him a big ol’ butt scratch for me.
As the owner of a cranky old bitch miniature poodle, I can get behind this post 100%. She’s the cutest little fluffy dog that will bite the living shit out of you if you dare to sit next to her.
But in regards to you the OP, you gotta cut people some slack for being more intimidated by big strong dogs than by weiners and shelties. That’s kind of the point of big, strong dogs, isn’t it?
And you keep her around?
Ha, my uncle kept two dogs that had bit everyone in the house but him. The poodle couldn’t even be allowed out when company came over, it was locked in the backyard, and it would snarl and bark and growl till its eyes were red and it was in a frenzy.
The other one, some sort of boxer type, was a little more friendly, but it would lay on you and fall asleep and woe betide you if you moved.
And he had them for years. People are very weird about their dogs. 
Seems they get weirder the less they train them, ferchrissakes.
I suppose. I haven’t had a dog since I was ten, so I don’t know the particulars. I do know how to approach a strange dog, but it’s not the approachment - it’s when you’re just getting into your car and the person across the street is dragged over to you by their dog. Yes, that dog and person are not trained. Now if they are being dragged by a yellow lab, that’s one thing, and I have no fear - he just wants a new friend. But other unknown dogs, both large and small, make me nervous when the owner obviously doesn’t have control - it’s just that usually they’re not getting dragged by the little ones.
That was a bit off-topic, so sorry. As for my uncle, he is a retired Lt. Colonel in the Indian Army, so it’s not like he’s anti-training or authority or understanding that both dogs and humans need it - but he’s also a man whose edict is law. Everyone in his family just had to live with the dogs for years.
Hells bells, the dog bit his children. And he still kept them!
It’s the other way 'round, actually. As people get weirder about their dogs and lose sight of the fact that dogs aren’t actually oddly shaped humans in fur coats, they train them less. They also socialize them less, so the dog freaks the hell out at anything outside its normal routine like, say, visitors. And as we all know, the freaked-out dog is the one that will do its level best to eat you the hell up, regardless of its size. The increased likelihood of little dogs to bite isn’t because of their size, it’s because their owners are less likely to socialize them and establish dominance over them.
And back to the OP, if someone just showed me that first picture and asked me to guess the breed, I probably would have guessed a mutt with probably some pit or boxer in it. Those are a couple orders of magnitude more common in most necks of the woods than Catahoulan leopard dogs–I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those in person, tbh.
In many working dogs bred for behavior instead of appearance standards, there tends to be a lot of variation in appearance. This is true of pit bulls, Catahoulas, and Australian cattle dogs, to cite some examples well-known for this trait. When appearance is of secondary importance, it isn’t controlled as rigorously. This used to be true of collies, but since they became show dogs, their appearance has become much more standardized (some would say, at the cost of their intelligence and working performance).
I guess. This just seems really unacceptable to me. It’s a dog–it doesn’t train you. You train it. And if the dog won’t learn and it’s a danger, at some point it has to be destroyed.
ETA: I’m not saying every dog with training problems needs to be killed. But the attitude displayed here seems to be kind of, “Oh, look what a funny quirk the dog has, isn’t it odd?” and I find that a bit disturbing.
Amen.
When I lived in San Francisco, I got Daisy-Bob, a great little terrier mix, from the pound. She was my first dog, or at least my first that was all mine (as opposed to when I was a kid). I can’t say I was the perfect dog owner, but I did my damnedest to train her. And by the time I’d left SF, she could walk with me without a leash, she would always come when called (I got her responding to my whistle perfectly), she was very socialized (great dog parks in SF), etc.
When I moved back to Maine, I couldn’t find an apartment where I could keep her, so my sister took her. Since then … somehow she’s turned into one of these … “our dog doesn’t like other dogs”. And I keep arguing with my sister that it’s not Daisy, it’s the fact that she has become totally unsocialized due to her never seeing another dog and the fact that every time a squirrel or cat or anything crosses the yard my sister sics her on it – well not really, just gets her all freaked out, “Daisy, where’s the cat? Get the cat! Get that cat!” – dog goes nuts. And when she does take Daisy out in public, as soon as another dog gets within 50 yards, my sister starts to freak out … “Oh no, make sure Daisy doesn’t get loose” – she doesn’t see that she’s encouraging the behavior … as is the case with most ill-trained dogs, I suppose.
Sorry. Touched a nerve. Rant over.
Well, getting rid of your children requires a ton of paperwork - he probably just couldn’t be bothered.
That dog is adorable! What’s it’s name. I gots to know!
Oh, let me guess! I bet it’s “Cooper”!
Heh. You win :D.
Feel silly now, don’t you :p?
Yep, Cooper. He’s a sweetie, but it is easy to see why people might be intimidated by him at first glance. He’s actually a pretty typical pit - extremely friendly with people, but occasionally problematic with other dogs ( not invariably aggressive off the bat, but any dog that barks, snaps or otherwise challenges him is a cause for contretemps ). There’s a reason that in this shot, he’s on a leash/harness and his “sibling” is not. His recall is for shit ( single-track mind, despite training ) and sweet as he is, he’s best kept under control in public to prevent any possible clash with other animals. You just have to know your pets and use a measure of prudence.
But vicious he ain’t. He lives with a cat and one of mine adores him ;).
And I would tend to agree with you! I was just pointing out that people have a terrible blind spot with their dogs, not that it’s right. Thankfully my uncle lives in India and I in the States so I only had to put up with the dog a couple of times.
This is why I never trust someone off the bat who says “My dog wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Yes he would, every dog could potentially hurt someone. Do I think every dog will? No, but I keep my eyes open. I have had to deal with an aggressive dog or two and the memories definitely overshadow the “friendly” dogs.
It really pisses me right off when the dog owner is saying “He won’t hurt you” in the face of all evidence, even stuff like the dog jumping on you or charging at you when you try to ride past on your bike.
I love that picture of Cooper - http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff114/Timur_photo/DSCF0032.jpg.
Oh yeah, ZSofia,
Look out, guy on the couch, he’s going right for your neck!
That’s a great photo, but it needs a caption.
I can haz cheezburger!
I was thinking more along the lines of “insert hotdog here”. 