I’m a cat person, but I love dogs too. Small dogs are usually manageable, but if you’re going to get a big dog, don’t expect me to enter your home unless you’ve trained it. I don’t want it to bite me, I don’t want it to jump on me, and I don’t want it’s nose in my crotch or up my ass. I know so many people who have big dogs they never bothered to train. If you have a big dog that needs to sniff the crotch of your guests, you should be embarrassed.
Good luck with this one.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my years at the Dope is that the two most nondangerous things in the world is a loaded gun and an unleashed Pit Bull.
Who said anything about a pit bull? Why are you trying to drag this thread off track before it’s even started?
Just heading it off at the pass. It’ll get there, trust me.
:rolleyes: I’m sure it will now, thanks to your brilliant contribution.
You’re welcome.
Back on track - I agree with you OP. I am a huge dog lover, and don’t believe there are “bad dogs” (although there are certain breeds I don’t entirely trust), but one of my biggest pet peeves are owners that are not responsible enough to teach their dogs manners.
My friend and I went to the dog-park this past weekend and while I know that these off-leash areas are pretty much the “wild west” there were some classic examples of people that should not own dogs. There was a large English Sheepdog that was roaming and trying to dominate/pick fights with every single dog and then a very hyper lab that ran directly into my friend, knocking her over.
If you have a dog, you need to take the time to train and socialize the animal.
We were walking through the off-leash area home from Safeway last weekend (the multi-use path goes through the area - the path is actually an on-leash area), when we saw a guy let his husky off leash. The dog was GONE - ran down the path, crossed the busy road, and was off up the path on the other side of the road in minutes, running over to visit every person and other dog along the way. That guy is damned lucky he got out of that with his dog still alive, and no fights with other dogs. I’m hoping he learned from the experience, but I doubt it very much.
I’d say big dogs aren’t even the biggest problem for not being trained; more people get that a large dog needs to be trained. It’s the small dogs that people don’t seem to bother training at all, and while you can boot a small dog across the room, it’s still annoying for them to be jumping and sniffing and barking and clawing at you. Plus, the owners get miffed when you do boot their dog across the room.
I carry this dog repellent spray with me whenever I have to walk through the off-leash area (like you say, it’s treated like the Wild West - anything goes, in spite of the laws).
http://www.scpr.org/news/2012/02/06/31150/pit-bull-defenders-take-bite-out-mcdonalds-ad/
The comments about this ad is what inspired this thread. I agree the ad is stupid, (though nothing to make a big deal about.) It just got me thinking about how I hesitate to go inside someone’s home if they have a big dog. Jack Batty was might have been right about where this thread is going since it singles out Pit Bulls.
I’d have to disagree with you.
Small dogs tend to be far worse than big dogs on this issue.
I don’t want your little mutt jumping on me, scratching me, nosing me, licking me, or biting me, either.
Aside from that, you’re spot on. 
I have big dogs and I train them, but if you come to my house, they will be happy to see you and want to check you out. Then they will go lie down somewhere. Seems most of my friends are dog people and are fine with that. If you don’t like dogs, we probably don’t have much in common and it’s unlikely that I would invite you over anyway. And knowing that I have dogs, you are free to decline any invitation that I extend.
Far worse? I agree all dogs should be trained, but big dogs jumping on me, scratching me, nosing me, licking me, or biting me, are much more threatening .
I LIKE dogs… but I don’t like them jumping on me or sniffing me… do your dogs do that? If not, I would be happy to meet them.
The OP would be better if it didn’t mention the size of the dog. I’ve never been bitten by a big dog but I’ve got a few scars on my hands from small ones. Toy poodles seem to hate me and their owners seem to think small means it is OK for their dog to do as it pleases. “Isn’t that cute, you’re hardly bleeding at all.”
Unfortunatley, it isn’t always possible for the average citizen to make a dog be completely well behaved all the time. My dog is a big sweetheart but he doesn’t like strangers in the house and I think that is a good thing most of the time. In those situations he needs to be somewhere where he doesn’t bother people like outside or in another room. 'Cause he’s a dog, not a human.
Pit bulls don’t even have a trigger finger so we should be safe. A lazer mounted pit bull - that would be dangerous.
I’ve encountered dogs big and small. The big dogs can do more harm… as they are bigger. I’m sorry, but big dogs are just more dangerous if they are untrained.
So I admit, I shouldn’t have singled out the size of the dog. I just know that I can deal with untrained smaller dogs easier. They are less a threat to me, so that’s why I singled out the big ones. I see there’s already a ‘small dog’ thread… good.
Yeah, it’s not that the little ones do more damage it just seems that there are so many more untrained little dogs. Even morons are sort of forced to train a little with a large dog to avoid getting dragged away themselves but the little ones are easier to ignore.
I’m back on a retraining kick with my boy as his latest vet adventure has made him snappy with men. I guess three weeks of some big guy sticking his fingers in your sore eye will do that but the problem is that once he’s comfortable with someone (and that takes only a few minutes) he doesn’t do it anymore. Makes finding a way to train him to stop challenging. OTOH it means I only need to watch him very closely for the first few minutes with new male visitors and then we’re fine again but the fed ex guy would really like me to fix this 
Sorry to hear that. What was wrong with your dog’s eye?
I also have issues with dogs, (usually big ones because they take up more space), confined to small spaces all day.
I had a friend with a big dog that would jump on me with excitement and also sniff around places that were embarrassing to me. They didn’t train it right, and the dog got no chance to run around in an open area. They would yell at him if he got excited and ran around the house, because it would knock shit over and stuff.
There was also a big dog I encountered who’s owner thought that hitting the dog was a good way to discipline it. It bit me in my in the crotch, (bruised me pretty bad, but didn’t pierce any skin), and on a separate occasion, it bit my brother who needed a tetanus shot afterwards.
I pit people who don’t train their dogs…no matter what size.