Friday, January 26, 2007

As most of you know I am a dog person. I am not just the person who likes dogs, I love them. If I see someone walking down the street walking their dog I will go out of the way just to maybe get to pet it. Whenever I see a dog or puppy of any kind it makes me smile. I love all kinds of dogs....Big, small, fat, skinny, ugly or hairless. I do however have a pet peeve when it comes to little dogs....

Small yippy dogs drive me nuts. When I am walking a muscular Pitt/chow/lab mix and we encounter a little shitzue or whatever it was and the little thing starts snarling and baring its teeth it really irritates me. Why do owners let them behave in such a manner? Is it because they are small? If my dog acts like that she is punished and she knows she cannot get away with it. Why when the little dog is aggressive it is cute or because they are small they need to show they are tough. Yet when a bigger dog acts in such a way they are labeled as vicious.

Another thing I was thinking about today is how dogs are judged by their breed. Most of the people doing the judging have no knowledge of the breed they just base their opinions on what they see on the news etc. One of the dogs I walk is a Pitt mix. My own dog who is a lab mix has some Pitt in her. It makes me sad that society has been set in a way of thinking about breeds such as Pitt bulls without even really having the knowledge to make a fair judgment. There could be 20 dog attacks in the country and ONE could be by a Pitt bull and THAT is the one that will be reported. No one ever bothers reporting when its anything but a bigger "bully" breed of dog. I knew a family who's perfectly healthy golden retriever attacked their two children. But you don't hear about those stories on the news. I am not saying that everyone should love big breeds like Pitt bulls, German shepherds etc, I am just saying I wish more people would think twice before making the judgment and realize that dog attacks by ANY dog are usually caused by fear, parents leaving small children unsupervised with the family dog etc. ANY breed of dog can be trained to attack on command, sadly because Pitt bulls and other big muscular breed of dogs are trained sometimes to be this way people assume they are all that way. So think twice next time you are walking down the street and cross to the other side because you see someone walking towards you with a big dog and instead of assuming it will somehow eat you right there on the street maybe stop and ask the person what kind of dog it is and if its friendly.

I realize I may have opened a gigantic can of worms here. I hope you can realize this as my opinion and not turn the comment section of this post into an argument.

Oh and I almost got ran over 3 times today. People don't seem to get that when they have a red light and I am crossing the street they cannot go.

4 comments:

Jenn said...

I couldn't agree with you more.

Kelley said...

I agree too. I loathe little dogs. I feel like they want to chew on my ankles. Give me big dogs any day.

( and your dog us utterly lovely )

Zoe said...

LOL!! I am sad to say that we do have a little Chihuahua. Yes, I know . . .

My dream dog is actually a Weimaraner. I LOVE big dogs but, my husband says that he cannot handle a big one in our house. :(

My dog always gets so aggressive with the bigger dogs. It is interesting to read your comments about owners not punishing their dogs for doing that. I must be honest, I never thought to do that! I mean, I will tell him "No" and to stop but I never really punished him because I guess that I just figure that he is not a threat. But, as I am writing this, I am thinking that we know most of the big dogs that Marcello encounters-and vice versa. So, we just shake our heads and laugh at his inferiority complex.

However, if he ever growls at children, adults, etc. he is in SERIOUS trouble.

So, reading this post has made me realize that I need to not give Marcello leeway because he is a "small" dog. Thanks for speaking openly about it . . . otherwise, I would have never known or thought about it! :)

Anonymous said...

I like dogs, real dogs not those lap things(sorry for those with little dogs),i have a Husky/sheppard cross, big and hairy...
Dave