Armchair quarterbacks! - Page 2

I told him to keep his ears up!!!

Yoshy,
That how this whole thing started, from reviewing a video some one posted.  It was a great video, with a great dog and great training and the thread went down in flames.

Bgstout,
That's an awesome picture.

Here's me working some dogs, all fear biters, all insecure because the ears are down.









Just making a point that you can't always read a dog by the ears.  I think all of these dogs would definitely bite, I know they would.  There is not an insecure bone in any of these dogs.  f I need to I can post more pictures, I'll keep including some of me just so I can clear up the rest of the confusion some people have.

FWIW,

Jim

I just had that argument with a friend. He is wanting for me to tell him how to judge a dog by outwards signs.
I am trying to explain that although there are outwards signs like facial expressions, body posture and so on, what really makes the biggest difference to me is the presence of a dog. The overall look.
Most any dog can look fearful, strong, insecure, obstinant or whatever else in a split second picture. Another reason why it is so hard to make any comments on pics. Vids sure give a bit better idea but stil, nothing beats real eyes on a dog and real long time experience working with them to put it all together.
But the more people think themselves trainers and have access to training, books and videos have to stick with a clear line so that the everyday person has a guide. What in my opinion they do not stress enough is that nothing is ever written in stone when it comes to animals.
Just my two cents worth though! LOL

........................

Ok, Ok, this dogs ears are up and so is everything else!

GSDSrule,
I am also a pet owner that loves my pets, just like you. 

Ninja,
LOL.

Hbfanatic,
I just had that argument with a friend. He is wanting for me to tell him how to judge a dog by outwards signs.
I am trying to explain that although there are outwards signs like facial expressions, body posture and so on, what really makes the biggest difference to me is the presence of a dog. The overall look.

The overall look is exactly right.  You can't judge a dog based on one signal or one split second.  You have to look at the whole dog and read all of the signs the dog is showing you.  You can read the dog by taking the sum of all the signs and putting them together to interpret what the dog is telling you.  If you take one signal out of context you will get the entirely wrong message. 

Jim