Jazi wrote:Wait... why would coat length affect temperament?
Because there is a different gene or something that causes the long coat that "affects temperament" or something. Since I don't go into the "prone to aggression" thing, I've never looked into why they believe that.
Saracirce wrote:IAmLink wrote:There is a HUGE difference between living with dogs that are not well trained/behaved and that annoy you, and a dog that you love unconditionally being the "bad dog" of the house and every day defending the right for that dog to be there.
Unconditionally LOVING an aggressive dog that everyone else sees as a monster is SO much different from just living around dogs that are not well behaved.
So much this. It's draining being the primary caregiver of an aggressive/reactive dog. You can only take your dogs to the vet during slow periods and hope that there aren't any other animals in the waiting room. (Even if you keep your dog in the car until it's your time, you still have to make that treck through the waiting room to get to the exam rooms.) Even routine vet exams or trips to the groomer are extremely stressful to a dog who is HA or fear aggressive. You have to guess at what the best time to take your dog out for walks is in order to decrease the chance of meeting other people/dogs. And those times change every day based on weather. You can't take your dog into the pet store or have to be very careful about doing so even if all you want to do is make sure whatever you're buying fits. Whether you like confrontation or not, you have to confront people to keep them and their dogs away from your dog because, short of putting a muzzle on the dog, people rarely listen or ask permission before approaching. You have to deal with other people not obeying leash laws and their dogs running up to yours. You have to deal with people giving you the stink eye or accusing you of being a bad owner when your dog does react. You can't invite friends over or have a party at your house because of your dog. You can't go on vacations whether with or without your dog. You can't take them to events in town like going to see Santa or doggy parades even if you really, really want to go. You can't participate in most sports even if you think your dog would really love it. You have to worry about what would happen to your dog should anything happen to you. You have to deal with friends and family saying 'why don't you just get another dog' because you're the only one who sees the value in your dog. You have to worry about where you're going to live because a dog /can/ cause you to be kicked out of an apartment/rented house. You have to watch your dog act like the world is it's enemy because, even with training, /most/ aggression, especially things like DA, HA, and SSA, can only be softened, not 'fixed'.
Owning and loving an aggressive/reactive dog is extremely stressful and heartbreaking.
Imagine how stressful it is to live in a house with your three dogs with 8 other dogs who are stressing your dogs out and fighting with each other and your whole life is set around keeping your own dogs away from the dogs who would attack them. They let those 8 aggressive dogs just fight among themselves all day long and I had to kee my dogs away from their dogs to keep them safe. Can you imagine living with 11 dogs and 8 of them have SERIOUS piles of issues? I am extremely glad I did devote my life into keeping my dogs away from theirs at all costs for that time because otherwise, Misty, Marty, and Kiba could have been really screwed up. Luckily, they turned out fine and now know how to ignore an aggressive dog to avoid a fight. It wasn't fun having make sure my grandmothers dgs were blocked upstairs this time and blocked downstairs this time and outside this time and inside this time just to maneuver my dogs around the house. It was not fair to my dogs at all and I ended up staying at the house on my grandfather's property most days with all of my animals in tow to keep them away from the chaos. One of my grandmother's boyfriend's dogs was almost killed in one of the fights, but thank god me and my dogs werent there when it happened.
