They have a maid, right? While I doubt she gets on TV I would bet she is the one picking up the poop.
My sister has a Jack Russell that has never been house broken. Eww, eww, eww. She has a maid too. I think I’m seeing a pattern.
I know whatever I say can and will be used against me in the pit…
I should have included all dogs in my thread. Maybe even cats to be safe from a rebuttal thread. I’ve been around “little” dogs who aren’t trained… maybe even more than “big” dogs who aren’t trained. I’m just a 5’5" guy who happens to feel more physically threatened by “big” dogs simply because they can probably do more harm to me. Maybe its because, ever since I was a child and chased and bitten by a “big” dog with no leash, I’ve had more injuries caused by “big” dogs in my lifetime.
It’s quite possible that they pick up on my fear and see me as a threat or something.
If someone’s walking their “big” dog down the street, I’m more cautious in greeting the dog because the dog can possibly overpower me and their owners if they aren’t well behaved, (I know this isn’t all about “big” and “little” dogs, and there are some tough small dogs with BIG jaws that can really do some harm if they go to bite someone.)
When I said they are more “manageable” I guess what I meant by that was that the owners probably have more control over the situation if the dog is acting up, as they can probably pick the dog up and put in somewhere where it wont be humping my leg.
My ex has a little Chihuahua that barked like crazy when I would knock on the door, as I entered it would continue to bark, and would “bite” my hand… but it never clamp down hard enough to break any skin, or even hurt me. It just gets excited, and after a few minutes would pass, it would be back to it’s normal self. I could pet the dog. It would lick me. I actually think the dog likes me, but just goes crazy when there’s company. He also goes to the bathroom in the house at times.
A friend of mine has a “little” dog named Darlin, that has bit me before, (and almost everyone else she’s in contact with), but Darlin is kept in separate part of the house with a gate she can’t scale. The only reason I got bit was because I asked to try and make friend with the dog… held out my had for it to sniff, and it just bit me. The bite did hurt, but still didn’t break any skin.
I already listed the harmful encounters I’ve had with “big” dogs in the thread that I made, (aside from the experience I had when I was a kid which I spoke about earlier in this post.)
Once again, I shouldn’t have singled out “big” dogs. I understand why it needed a rebuttal thread. “Little” dog owners shouldn’t be excused for their dog’s bad habits, and they aren’t always “manageable”. Stoid, I’m sure you love your “big” dogs very much.
I even love my big dogs.
(Whatever else you do, please ease up on the quotes… yikes!)
Are you hip to the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan? I thought of him when you said you were 5’5" - I’m pretty sure that’s his height as well. He’s a noticably little guy, which might have influenced his desire to feel comfortable and at ease around dogs. If you watch the show it’s very clear that he does what he does psychologically, not physically - when he’s dealing with a stubborn dog that outweighs him, he has a very hard time. He’s extremely fit, so he manages, but the effort is clear.
It’s very entertaining, and you might take a little something from it about your own interactions with dogs.
I was biking on the street the other day and I saw a woman with two very tiny chihuahuas, one that was a real teacup, and a tripawd to boot (3-legged). Her little toenails were painted pink. Very cute. She came over to me to be friendly but when I reached down she scooted away. Then her owner picked her up and apprached me and the dog instantly started snarling and showing her teeth to me. I didn’t want to get into it too much with a stranger on the street, but I had to ask her and did, as nicely as I could:“Why do you put up with that?”
And she did that thing that little dog owners with nasty little dogs do: looked at her dog and made kissy faces while saying “She’s just protecting her mommy…aren’t you, coochikins?” and I couldn’t stand it, so I then said, again as gently as I could: “Well, ok, but would it be ok if she were a Rottweiler? Why is it different?” and the woman just made a face and turned away.
So fucked up. So obnoxious.
And as funny as they can be for the hell of it on YouTube, the many videos of hysterically vicious chihuahuas (really, they are probably the #1 for nasty) bug me because even the people IN the videos are laughing at how hilarious it all is to see this dog being violently, aggressively, threateningly apoplectic. Completely apart from the dog’s effect on people and other dogs nearby, what in the fuck makes you think that a dog who is behaving like that is a happy, healthy dog? Do you think your dog is taking pleasure in acting that way, that it comes from some weird fucked up internal vicous doggy place that brings satisfaction? Cuz I got news for you: it doesn’t. Your apoplectic dog is stressed, scared, insecure and one way or another, not happy. Deal with it. Stop encouraging it by provoking it so you can laugh at it.
And one last thing: when your dog is scared or stressed or unhappy and behaving in a way that you find distressing, whether it is to be fearful or aggressive, NEVER try to fix it by petting, cooing, giving snacks or anything else that’s “nice” designed to chill the dog out.
If you haven’t ever learned this, it’s incredibly important for your future happiness as a person who enjoys dogs as companions: at the moment your dog receives something pleasant from you, even if it is just a kind word, you are rewarding and reinforcing whatever the dog is doing at the moment you do it. So if you coo “coochikins” when it is snarling, it is rewarded. If you reach down to pick it up when it snaps at someone’s heels, it is rewarded. If you pet it and give it treats when it’s shivering and whining in fear, it is rewarded. What you reward, you reinforce and get more of.
Your dog is paying a thousand times more attention to you in far greater detail and nuance than you can even begin to imagine. You are training it every minute you are together. So be aware of what you are absent-mindedly encouraging. So the next time your dog is being absolutely perfect: quiet, sweet, calm, chilling out in the corner, go over and pet it and make it feel good.
And if you and your family tend to be neglectful and fail to give the dog enough attention and stimulation and it acts out, pissing you off, well, they are just like kids: if they can’t stimulate your good attention by being good, they will provoke negative atention by being bad. They just want you to pay them some attention.
Sorry… big topic for me…
My ex girlfriend loved to provoke her chihuahua by putting her finger right near the dog’s face without touching it, and making a noise. The dog would snap at her finger. It use to piss me off.
I’ve seen Dog Whisperer, BTW, good show.
Ewwwww.
I’ve known far too many people that see no problem with their little (and sometimes big) dogs messing in the house, and they don’t have maids.
It depends on how you pick it up - when puppies/little dogs get out of hand at my house, I pick them up by the scruff of the neck and hang them in the air. Takes the nasty right out of them!
This. I hate this. If that was a pit bull doing the same thing someone would call animal control on it for being a vicious dog. But the meanest chihuahua on the planet is teh cutest evar!
I don’t like Cesar Milan though. He used to get very physical with the dogs, flipping bulldogs over on their backs and holding them down by the neck until they submitted. He would also use a leash to yank upwards on a dog’s neck if it did something it wasn’t supposed to. Since he’s gotten a lot of criticism for this, he has essentially stopped these methods. But what I also don’t like about him is when he’s called in to train an “outside only” dog who barks and attacks people, and the asshole family has a little dog that gets to live inside – and Cesar says nothing. He also lets the owners use pinch collars.
Victoria Stillwell (from It’s Me or the Dog) on the other hand, will make them get rid of pinch and choke collars before she even begins to help. And she will pointedly ask why is the dog outside all day long? Much better show and much better training methods. Dogs aren’t wolves like Cesar thinks. Yes, they evolved from them, but they’ve lived with humans for a long time and have come a long way.
I agree it’s annoying, but the big dog is a public safety issue whereas the little dog isn’t - well, not as much of one, at any rate. Safety organizations like animal control (or coastguards, or firemen, or whomever) have to prioritize things, and those things which carry more of a risk have to be prioritized over those that have less risk. It sucks, but we don’t live in a world with the available resources to eliminate every risk.
I pit people who not only don’t train their dogs, but when they have guests over and their dogs are misbehaving and discomforting their guests, they defend the dogs by saying that their dog can do anything it wants in it’s own house.
Fuck you, then don’t have guests over.
I don’t feel like being clawed at, bitten, having my property destroyed, shoes chewed on or pissed on, or my leg humped or pissed on… Only to have you yell at me and say I should shut up and live with it because your dog is in it’s own house. And yes, I used to have friends who did that. Note the “used to” part.
Oh, and hey, if you’re going to get bent out of shape when I push your dog away from me and yell at me for doing it, then FUCKING KEEP YOUR DOG OFF OF ME IN THE FIRST PLACE.
I like dogs. We had several at a time when I was a kid. Doesn’t mean I hate dogs when I express my displeasure at being mauled by yours.
Gladly!
I mean no offense to you, but FUCK THIS. A little dog chased down, cornered and bit my little girl a few months ago. Little dogs can be scary when they are vicious, and when they bite a kid they can do a lot of damage.
We’ve always referred to her as the “Doggie Dominatrix” but that has more to do with her costume than how she interacts with the dogs. 
What I have learned from TV dog trainers in general though is that it doesn’t matter what theories the trainer has (I’m pretty sure that there is no such thing as “calm, assertive energy”, for instance), it’s all a matter of timing and patience. A guy like Cesar Milan can use any training method he wants and it will probably succeed because his timing with commands, corrections, discipline and rewards is impeccable. The same is true for Victoria Stillwell.
By the way, I’m with you on the pinch collars. I took my dog to a training class when he was a puppy and the trainer told us we had to buy pinch collars. When there was some murmuring from the group, she put the collar on the arm of one of the dog owners to show how harmless it was. I suggested that it would be a more fair example if I put it on her neck and yanked it since I was over a foot taller and at least 150 pounds heavier than she was. As you might expect, we didn’t stick around for the training session.
Of course there is, and he displays it all the time.
There’s a reason the Wicked Witch says “I’ll get you! And your little dog too!”
Of course, if you’re a witch in that world, you could end up horribly disfigured if it pees on your leg.
I’m not sure I understand you. Are you under the impression I was saying that little dogs are incapable of biting?
I was merely describing how safety services assess risks.
Yes, and I’m sure his aura is excellent and blue.
I didn’t say the man wasn’t calm nor did I say that there was no such thing as calmness or assertiveness. Obviously, these things exist as moods, attitudes, or states of mind. What they aren’t are a form of energy. He might as well be claiming to realign the dogs’ chakras.
My mother has a teacup Pomeranian that is partially trained. It’s a quiet friendly little dog until a person does one of two things:
- Anybody who opens the door to go in or out triggers a tirade of loud, shrill yapping.
- Anybody who tries to hug my mother risks getting bitten by the ridiculous little dog.
When it exceeds my tolerance, I throw my hat at it, causing it to flee to mom’s bedroom where it hides under her bed.
I understand, and, as I said, I meant no offense to you. It just angered me, because the response of the owner and of Animal Control was very dismissive, even though I had a little girl with bite marks on her leg. Just because a dog is little does not make it harmless, and vicious dogs should be restrained or put down, no matter their size. The fuckheads who own this particular dog allow it to roam the neighborhood at will, and it’s an awful creature. Animal Control apparently doesn’t care (they “promised” to keep it locked up, they didn’t, and the city won’t come back unless it bites someone again).
Well, that’s a good thing since apparently you had no desire to learn how to properly use the tool. OTOH, yanking on the neck of a dog wearing any sort of collar doesn’t sound like really good training…
You are layering things that aren’t there into what he’s saying. Using the word energy to describe the way a person (or dog) is perceived by others is extremely common and there’s nothing even slightly mystical meant or intended. And that’s what he’s referring to exactly.
Oh don’t mistake it: he’s 100% trained. It’s just that he’s been trained to be obnoxious, and he’s been trained by doing it and being tolerated or even rewarded.
Love me, love my dog(s). That’s the rule in my house. You don’t like dogs, feel free not to come over. Your loss, not mine.
And the absolute worst thing my dog will do to you is snuggle against you on the couch and possibly lay his head on your leg. He stays away from doors when visitors come. Or if he does come close, it’s to have a good look at you. And he weighs 40 lbs. Is that really a problem for people?
We never walk our dog off leash and we take him to a leash free fenced in park. Where he avoids all other dogs but every human he approaches loves the shit out of him.
(I like posting in the Pit. I can curse here.)