FuzzyThePunkCat wrote: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.
Okay, that's a start, Fuzzy. Now imagine that that's your dog that's being aggressive. Imagine it's a dog you love to your very core and they're deadset on acting like other dogs are for eating. Imagine being that dog's only advocate. Imagine you have to be that vigilant both inside and outside of your home. Imagine constantly fearing that an idiot is going to cause your dog to have a bite record/be declared dangerous because they wouldn't keep Rover on a leash or wouldn't heed your warnings. Imagine constantly fearing your dog is going to end up being put down because of those idiots. Imagine that there is no 100% safe place. At all. That's what MacGyver has to go through every day. That what IAmLink has/had to go through everyday. All of us who have 'problem' dogs have to go through at least some of those things, including the ones in the post you quoted.
You keep talking about fairness to your dogs... Is it fair for our dogs to be labeled 'bad' or 'mean' or 'annoying'? Is it fair to us when ignorant people tell us we didn't raise them right or aren't doing enough to try to 'fix' it? Is it fair to us that the entire world seems to assume that all dogs should be friendly to everyone and accept everything thrown at them and, if they can't live up to those RIDICULOUS expectations, they should be dead? Is it fair for me to constantly hear 'it's always the little dogs who are mean' when someone finds out Lolita bites? Is it fair to us when our dogs have major setbacks in their training every single time an idiot doesn't listen to us and causes our dogs to react? Is it fair to Clemmy to have people pulling their children away from her and acting like she's going to murder them because she reacted to a DOG? Is it fair to us or to our dogs when people tease them/us? Is it fair that my mom and I had to fight tooth and nail for an entire year for Lolita's right to live? Is it fair that Lolita bit a child and caused us to nearly be kicked out of our apartment because the child didn't listen to me and I wasn't able to pull Lolita away in time? Is it fair for us and our dogs to be forced into compromising situations because PEOPLE. DON'T. GET. IT? The world isn't fair, Fuzzy. As unfair as some things are to your dogs, it's even more unfair to those of with 'problem' dogs.
