# Rant-Some People Know Nothing About Dogs



## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

So, I was taking the dogs out tonight for their final business transactions and took them on a short walk after. One of my neighbors had a bonfire going across the street from his place and there were a couple of guys hanging out there.

Shasta, my boy hoodlum, doesn't like a lot of guys. Again, his history is that he and his sister, (girl hoodlum), were found in traffic, tossed like garbage, at three months old. There's no telling what happened to them before they were found but something did because Shasta has a problem with most guys.

So I've been trying to get him used to guys, to learn that guys don't have to be bad and that he won't be harmed by them in the future. And most of the guys have been co-operating with this. Shasta will bark at them if they are walking down the street in my direction, even if they are just going to their own home, Shasta barks and growls at them. I will bring Shasta over to meet the person, or re-meet the person and I tell them to just let Shasta come to them. If they want to put their hand out, that's fine but let Shasta come to them, don't tower over him and try to approach him. Because when they do that, Shasta backs up, growls and gets his hackles up so I'm trying to do this the slow, patient way. Just let him start being around guys, eventually, he'll realize, no harm is coming and he'll start to trust a bit more.

I have one guy that I can give the leash to Shasta to him and he will take Shasta on short walks. Very short walks but it's a way to get Shasta to get over this fear of males.

Now, I must say, he is not this way with all males. There's a few males that he has no problem with at all. These are typically younger males, males who also have dogs or males who he feels pose no threat.

So, tonight, I walk by this bonfire and one neighbor, who is respecting my requests that the hoodlums sit before they get petted, is trying to pet them. Sakari of course loves the world so it's not a problem with her friendly nature. Getting her to sit takes a few tries but she does and gets rewarded by these neighbors.

And Shasta usually does well with this one neighbor but I guess maybe it had something to do with alcohol consumption because Shasta was not in to this neighbor tonight. He woofed at him slightly, very slightly growled, and backed away. And that was the end of it. Shasta left the guy alone, did not even attempt to go near him. Fine. He's still here, around guys, he's still getting used to it all.

So we talked a little bit, these four guys at the bonfire and the one neighbor who Shasta doesn't normally have a problem with kept trying to get Shasta to come over to him. I told him that maybe Shasta doesn't like the alcohol, I'm sure he can smell it, it's something foreign to him, (I rarely drink), and he doesn't like it so he doesn't want to come over and say, 'hi'.

So this neighbor decides to get all offended. For real? You're offended because a dog doesn't like the fact that you're drunk right now? Really?! Moron. He proceeded to state that the dog needed to sit and stop acting all...I'm not sure I can use the word here but I'll say it means, "high and mighty", in front of his place that he "runs this place" and the dog is going to listen to him.

Ok, now you're gonna tick me off. Don't you dare threaten my dog. 

I said, "You run this place? You RUN this place? Really?" He said, "Well, ok, I mean, this is in front of my house, I mean this area is mine." (No, actually, it isn't. It's public property but whatever.) I told him to settle down, that the alcohol smell is probably bothering him and frankly, don't worry about it, Shasta isn't doing anything but sniffing around on the ground. If he doesn't want to come sit and be petted, who cares.

This idiot proceeds that if Shasta doesn't want to mind him in front of his place, that he would let Shasta know who was boss.

Oh really? You think so **********!! Try it.

He said if Shasta didn't mind him he was going to snatch my dog by the neck and pin him down until Shasta knew who was boss around here.

That's when my blood started to boil. I could feel the rage boiling.

I told him that he would not be touching my dog, he would not be treating my dog like this, we would have serious and I mean serious issues if he thought he could treat my dog like that and he interrupted me saying, "Then don't bring him around here."

First of all, jerk, where you are is public. Second, jerk, we were on a walk and stopped to say hi. Third, JERK, you are not the only person here and FOURTH, JERK!!!!, you do not run this place. Touch my dog like that and it will be the sorriest you have ever been in your life.

He said that he knows how to handle dogs, he's had dogs and he knows how to train them. You have to show them who is the boss and if he has to beat the dog, then that's what it takes.

Now I'm ready to explode. And frankly, get violent. I'm not a violent person but when you talk about touching my dog like that? I'm gonna get violent.

I told him that if a dog is afraid of something, you have to work on that, the last thing you do is bring him more fear. He told me I was wrong, you have to "physically" let them know who is in charge and here, at this place, HE was in charge, not my dog.

I told him that maybe it isn't that Shasta is afraid of guys after all. Maybe it's that he knows a POS when he sees one. I said, "Maybe the reason that Shasta is growling and barking at you is because your attitude sucks and he can sense that. Maybe he just happens to be a good judge of character and it has nothing to do with gender."

With that I turned and walked away. 

But I am livid. Don't you DARE threaten my dog just because my dog didn't cow tow to you the second you wanted him to. This is MY dog, NOT YOURS! You will NOT harm him in any way.


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

Ugh, I hate people sometimes... Sorry you live near this idiot


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

:jaw:Wow, almost had a little :boxing::boxing: going on!

In all seriousness though the world is full of ignorance, and more times than not you will find those ignorant people... I've learned to just breathe and i really don't stop to talk to anybody anymore because of this.


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## pandaparade (Dec 29, 2010)

I am so sorry you had to deal with this. I would be livid as well. People are just ridiculous ugh.


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## SilverBeat (Jan 16, 2011)

That kind of attitude is seriously disgusting.


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## pandaparade (Dec 29, 2010)

Agreed.. people like that need serious help.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

SerenityFL said:


> But I am livid. Don't you DARE threaten my dog just because my dog didn't cow tow to you the second you wanted him to. This is MY dog, NOT YOURS! You will NOT harm him in any way.


Don't hold back, go ahead and say what you mean. :wink:


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## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

Honestly, you should probably just avoid any group of folks who are out getting drunk when you have your dogs. It typically isn't something that ends well. Animals don't tend to like that type of behavior. More than likely he was acting that way because he was drunk, I wouldn't indulge him by arguing. He's drink, no point in hanging around, continue on your walk, or turn around and go home.

It's no fun to be around the drinking folks if you're not drinking and there's no point in arguing with someone who is drunk. I wouldn't let it get to you.


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## xxshaelxx (Mar 8, 2010)

BoxerMommie said:


> Honestly, you should probably just avoid any group of folks who are out getting drunk when you have your dogs. It typically isn't something that ends well. Animals don't tend to like that type of behavior. More than likely he was acting that way because he was drunk, I wouldn't indulge him by arguing. He's drink, no point in hanging around, continue on your walk, or turn around and go home.
> 
> It's no fun to be around the drinking folks if you're not drinking and there's no point in arguing with someone who is drunk. I wouldn't let it get to you.


I was going to reply with basically the same shpeal, but you've already got it covered! Well said!


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

BoxerMommie said:


> Honestly, you should probably just avoid any group of folks who are out getting drunk when you have your dogs. It typically isn't something that ends well. Animals don't tend to like that type of behavior. More than likely he was acting that way because he was drunk, I wouldn't indulge him by arguing. He's drink, no point in hanging around, continue on your walk, or turn around and go home.
> 
> It's no fun to be around the drinking folks if you're not drinking and there's no point in arguing with someone who is drunk. I wouldn't let it get to you.


First of all, not everyone there was "out getting drunk". The three other people are actually a bit more respectable and may have a drink or two but they were not drunk. And yes, as I said, it was apparent that Shasta was not in to the smell of the alcohol but he's been around some of these people before when they've had a drink or two and it wasn't a problem. I don't think he's ever been around a drunk person before and at first I didn't realize this one neighbor was drunk.

Second, unfortunately, this is that neighbors line of thought when he's sober, as well. Because I have very limited space where I can walk my dogs, especially at night, I do walk by that place from time to time. There really isn't much of a choice...you would have to see the layout where I live to understand. 

Third, I've never asked him to train my dogs. Ever. He seems to think I have...which I just found out last night. ALL I have ever said to him or any other neighbor is that if they wish to pet the dogs, the dogs have to sit first. The dogs do not get to jump on them and they pet them and talk about how wonderful they are. The dogs need to sit. I need their co-operation.

It certainly wasn't my intention to stop by a drunk fool last night. I was walking them in the area I can walk them, saw the bonfire, saw people I know, stopped to say hi. Everyone else was fine. But that one neighbor, I realized after a minute, was drunk. Shasta reacted and then ignored him. My dog was not the one causing the problem.

Either way, I won't be stopping in the future. You can bet on that. I will just walk on by, in the future. I don't drink much at all, hardly ever and I certainly do not hang around a bunch of drunks. But drunk or not, you don't threaten my dog. Period.


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

SerenityFL said:


> Shasta, my boy hoodlum, doesn't like a lot of guys.
> 
> So I've been trying to get him used to guys, to learn that guys don't have to be bad and that he won't be harmed by them in the future. And most of the guys have been co-operating with this. Shasta will bark at them if they are walking down the street in my direction, even if they are just going to their own home, Shasta barks and growls at them. I will bring Shasta over to meet the person, or re-meet the person and I tell them to just let Shasta come to them. If they want to put their hand out, that's fine but let Shasta come to them, don't tower over him and try to approach him. Because when they do that, Shasta backs up, growls and gets his hackles up so I'm trying to do this the slow, patient way. Just let him start being around guys, eventually, he'll realize, no harm is coming and he'll start to trust a bit more.


I've raised a lot of Chow's that don't particularly care for meeting new people. And I had one 'professional trainer' who decided that she would put reach over and hug my Chow puppy from behind to "see if he was dominant or not". Needless to say, she scared the stuffing out of the puppy and he never let her near him again ( and I didn't care) ! :biggrin: 

There are a lot of people who are just plain stupid about dogs, even ones that supposedly train them for a living. Actually, there are a lot of just plain stupid people. 

When we are on a walk, everyone wants to pet the cute, fuzzy Chows. I always carry a treat bag with dried lamb lung. I have them give Rocky a tiny piece of lung after he sits, then I tell them to pet him UNDER his chin. Chows HATE when anyone reaches over their heads and will keep backing up and ducking from the hands, and will eventually growl a warning to stop reaching over them. They consider it a very aggressive move on the humans part to reach over their heads where they can't see what is going on. If they pet him under his chin, he is sooooo much better about it and they can even ruffle his fur a little. 

However, it seems that everyone is compelled to reach out at a dog and pat it on it's head. It's really much harder to train humans then it is dogs hwell:


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## BrownieM (Aug 30, 2010)

I am so sorry that you had to deal with that! Unfortunately there are a lot of people who know nothing about dogs and are incapable of reading their body language.


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## dogmom (Aug 14, 2010)

I am sorry you and Shasta had to endure this. The guy sounds like a jerk that I wouldn't want to be around even if he wasn't drinking and I certainly wouldn't let him anywhere near my dogs. I think it shows how insecure and weak a person really is when they use that kind of power over any animal and they should never be allowed to have one of their own. We share this world with some real scumbags.

By the way, I think you handled him perfectly.


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## wags (Jan 31, 2009)

Drunk People are hard to deal with!:yuck: Thats a strange situation! They believe they are right and that is that too bad for them!! He seemed all high and mighty and the oh so powerful :nerd:trying to dominate a dog not thinking how rediculous and assine he really sounded and looked! Ha hope the hangover was bad for him haha:biggrin:! Too bad you had to be confronted by drunk idiots just by walkinmg your pups!! Thats a shame! Your dogs never going to like that guy and you wont either!


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

A lot of guys are jerks, a lot of (mostly) Hispanic guys have this "macho" thing going on, which makes them even bigger jerks. Drunkness only adds to the jerk-factor. Oh, and did I mention Miami is full of jerks?
You should have jabbed him one in the face D:<


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

oh, how i wish i were there......


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

chowder said:


> I've raised a lot of Chow's that don't particularly care for meeting new people. And I had one 'professional trainer' who decided that she would put reach over and hug my Chow puppy from behind to "see if he was dominant or not". Needless to say, she scared the stuffing out of the puppy and he never let her near him again ( and I didn't care) ! :biggrin:
> 
> There are a lot of people who are just plain stupid about dogs, even ones that supposedly train them for a living. Actually, there are a lot of just plain stupid people.
> 
> ...



You reminded me, with Shasta, I do tell them to pet him under the chin. It's less aggressive. They forget, then I remind them, they remember, then they forget...but, for the most part, they are trying and I appreciate it. The idiot last night was just in a state of mind...it heightened what he already thinks about "training" dogs and it made me angry.

He was telling me that my dog had to respect him. Uh..no. My dog does not have to respect you. The only person on this earth my dog NEEDS to respect is ME. If I tell them to sit and wait for a pet, they do it for ME, not for the other person.

Anyway, when I got home tonight, I walked and exercised the hoodlums and as I walked back to my place, that neighbor was visiting some people next door. He said, "I didn't mean to upset you last night." I only said, "Well...you did" and left it at that. Two reasons: The first is that I'm still disgusted over it. The second is because I didn't want to have that conversation in front of all of my neighbors. If he wants to have that discussion, we can do it away from the people I live near. I can be forgiving but not until I know he understands that these are my dogs, they respect me, they follow my orders and no one else. But I think that forgivness will be a long time coming because like I said, he believes this even when he's sober. And frankly, I don't want him touching my dogs anymore. How can I ever trust that he won't one day do what he said he was going to do last night? I don't. And I have to protect my dogs. He will do so much damage to Shasta if he ever tried that and I'm not willing to take that risk.

The good thing that came out of this, (I always try to find the good in everything), is that Shasta got seriously loved on when we got home. I know he's going to be protective of me and I now know he's a dang good judge of character. But I realized, last night in that moment after my idiot neighbor threatened him, just how much I love Shasta. (And Sakari of course.) I was ready to beat this guy down if he touched my dog. That's love, man.


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

3Musketeers said:


> A lot of guys are jerks, a lot of (mostly) Hispanic guys have this "macho" thing going on, which makes them even bigger jerks. Drunkness only adds to the jerk-factor. Oh, and did I mention Miami is full of jerks?
> You should have jabbed him one in the face D:<


Boy are you right. I've lived in a lot of places and every place has jerks but this town....man....this town has cornered the market.


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