I got bitten twice when I was a kid and so made it my damndest to understand dogs and never let it happen again. (I’m in my late forties now and I’m the kind of person that dogs run over to and want to be my best buddy forever.) I’ve always since approached dogs with an open hand/palm up so they can sniff. Rarely a dog has been hit from that position, is the theory and it’s worked so far. (For me.)
Maybe the back of your hand startled it? Also daucshunds though a bit goofy looking were trained to go after badgers, so they don’t play. Giant heart/small goofy body.
I saw a car parked outside the local grocery store the other day, with a big, black labrador in it, wagging his tail at people passing by. I snapped a picture of him to show some friends, and on my way back out, I offered him my hand to sniff, whereupon he savagely licked it.
We had a Springer Spaniel that was so sweet and gentle with everyone until he was in the family car. He would turn into Cujo protecting that car. I never, never touch a strange dog in a car. They are protecting their territory.
I had a paper route when I was a kid. Got bit three times, once by a dalmatian that was usually kept fenced in, once by the meanest dog in the neighborhood, the owner’s of whose paper I eventually had to have cancelled, because he was a constant threat, they didn’t take him in half the time even though I would phone them and ask them to because I was starting my route, and he also bit a sub once.
Also once by a Chihuahua-- who if he’d been bigger might actually have been the meanest dog in the neighborhood. He actually nipped my cuffs and put some holes in my jeans about a dozen times, but he only hit skin once. Miguel-- death from below.
The biggest menace on my route was a huge, friendly Golden Retriever who sometimes would follow me around and fetch the papers, so I had to redeliver whole stretches of the route.
Did the weiner dog have tags? I realize it’s pretty unlikely that little dogs have rabies, because if they get attacked by a rabid animal, they rarely survive, but still…
After I adopted my dogs (spent most of my life with only cats), I set out to learn about dog socialization and behavior. There are body language clues they do that are easy to miss if you’re not paying attention. Freezing, aka suddenly tensing up, is possibly the one that most people miss most of the time that leads to being bitten. Some dogs will freeze and hold that way until you back off, others will tense up for half a second and then strike, so it pays to train yourself to observe tension. Approach a dog slowly while you watch for tension and if he freezes, you back the hell off.
Another one is what some people call “whale eye”, when the dog faces away from you but rolls his near eye to keep you in sight. This is a distrustful dog. He doesn’t trust you, so you should be wary of approaching him too quickly.
There are also basic conflicts between normal human social behavior and normal dog social behavior. Humans approach straight on, usually with direct eye contact. For dogs, that’s too confrontational and intimidating. Strange dogs should be approached obliquely and without staring into the eyes. This rule changes with the relationship you have with the dog. When the dog adores you and trusts you, he allows you a level of intimacy where you can do things like hold his head while you lean in to plant a smooch between his eyes.
I was somewhere between 4 and 9 years old during the Biting days. I learned how to control myself, and most dogs know me as the dog guy. Knows where to scratch; knows where to rub. Knows when the fuck to NOT offer my fingers or face to the jaws of death. But I’m still not afraid of any dog.
You never met that Doberman on my paper route. Jumped a chain link fence to tear a hole in my paper bags. I’m glad it wasn’t my lungs. I threw their fucking paper into the yard after that, to hell with the porch.
My girl is a little nippy, usually but not always with women; some times she’ll just follow them, nipping at their fingers and heels. I can’t figure out what triggers it, and she gets severely chastised, but she still does it occasionally.
Maybe the dog is just a nipper, not fault on you. But watch that hand, please, and get it looked if necessary, not matter what Mrs. Johnny might say.
I’m merely reporting on a couple of decades of empirical observation here, so I have nothing really substantial to back it up with, but I am totally convinced that I am witnessing a very real phenomenon. A lot of dogs, particularly Lhasa Apsos and poodles, simply don’t like men. They’re fine with women, but anytime somebody with a Y chromosome approaches them, they go into ballistic red-alert mode. I have absolutely no idea why this is, but I’ve seen it over and over again and have been told by dog owners and even professional handlers that it is a very real thing. I’d really like to know if anybody has done any serious research into this, and what a possible explanation could be.
A lot of dogs don’t like men. My ex-SAR hound stiffens and barks at men but completely ignores women. My mom’s horrible dog is a love-fest with women but hates men. Most dog trainers and handlers are women. Obviously men and women smell differently. As to why dogs prefer women, draw your own conclusions.
Rabies is endemic in Thailand. Once symptoms develop, there’s no cure. You will die. One newspaper story interviewed victims’ family members, and one mother said her son apparently contracted it just by kicking a dog as he passed it on a motorcycle. He was wearing thong sandals, and he died. IIRC, the dog was trying to attack him. He didn’t think he’d been bitten, but the dog’s saliva got into his system somehow.
Not in all cases obviously, but in many cases (with rescue dogs), it’s because they were more likely abused by men. I used to volunteer in dog rescue and this was often the case. Dogs who had been abused and rehabilitated so they could be rehomed often had issues with men.
For dogs who’ve never been abused I have an untested theory: men’s voices. I noticed that when I interact with my pups, I usually use a high chirpy baby tone of voice with them. But my husband often lowers his voice and sometimes almost growls at them while he’s going “who’s a good boy?” I pointed out to him once that he was growling at the dog and he stopped, but he still forgets. Most dogs figure it out that there’s no threat, but it’s definitely conflicting messages. Sort of the human equivalent of screaming angrily at your spouse “I love you!”.
Smaller breed dogs develop this “imprinted” behavior unfortunately due to the amount of time they are carried by the owner. The dog grows up in the arms of a human and this prevents them from experiencing and negotiating their world.
Woman are mainly suspect in causing this behavior because woman are awesome and protective of their little fur babies, where as a man would not be very manly carrying around a 4-6 pound chihuahua with a pink sweater and bows.
The only world the pup grows up knowing is in the arms of a coddling human and the little pup responds by providing protection to the protector.
The best thing the owner of a small breed dog can do is early in life get a Ferret collar (because they are smaller collars) and place it on the pup. Attach a thin groomers leash 4-6’ in length to the collar and allow the pup to drag the leash around. This leash will becomes your communication line to the pup because the last thing you want to do is cause fear by scruffing a puppy for going potty inside or chewing something that could cause harm.
While outside I attach a 15’ training leash and allow the puppy to explore while I am there to support and explore. Socialization if you will.
The fear period in dogs occurs around the 20 week mark. The puppy begins losing teeth, runs a slight fever of 103-103.5, gets diarrhea, dilated eyes and becomes very suspicious of everything. The pup is no longer the puppy that follows you around, instead becoming more independent. If the pup is carried around and coddled to much during the fear period then later the owner can expect a little overly protective dog. Many times the owners take this as a compliment to how much their little dog loves them and others will begin to test this by teasing which further reinforces the behavior.
When we get a client with a small dog with this behavior we will call them out which in turn will be met with denial.
A few ways to tell that the behavior is caused by human.
Person get out of vehicle carrying the dog
When the dog is placed on the ground during evaluation the pooch seems stressed and begins whining at the owner.
Cowers, defecates or urinates or fear bites when a strange person attempts to handle them.
Owner is anthropomorphic
I could go on but in short this behavior is mainly caused by humans. Not saying 100% of the time because some dogs are just little shits.
My hound, who doesn’t particularly like men, weighs close to 100 pounds. No one has carried her around since, well, possibly never. I hate carrying dogs so even when she was a puppy I never carried her anywhere (you have 4 legs I have 2 you can walk). I acquired her at age 8 weeks and no one has abused her. She’s been a working dog most of her life and therefore has not been coddled; quite the opposite. She just doesn’t seem to like the body language of men or maybe she thinks they smell bad. She hasn’t said.
My observation is that a lot of men try to “dominant” dogs by using threatening body language while women tend to not.
You are comparing working lines to small breed pets as per OP
I have two Malinois (PSA), a Border Collie and a Golden. All work in the field they were trained for and have very high drive. My Malinois and Border Collie will play well with any one that has a Frisbee or tennis ball but if they have not been worked can become edgy to say the least.
The Golden on the other hand is high drive and excels during field trials however he is happy just to hang around and do nothing and does not require constant work.
I have had beagles and Bloodhounds in the past for SAR and the Bloodhound was not very nice to anyone, 140 pounds of nose and teeth. lol
I totally understand that their are hundreds of “my dog” examples that do not fit the mold of certain common behaviors. Admittedly K9 behaviors do not always fit a certain mold and sometimes talking dog problems via internet or phone is not a good idea. Spending time with a dog during evaluation is the only true way to be certain of the issue(s) .
