Diverting the Blame!! - Page 1

That's not the correct repsonse you would expect from someone who has a barking dog that is barking at you.

Indeed, rude ( in my opinion )

If that was my dog, I would of apologized to the person walking by for my dog's behavior.

They are scared, plain and simple. I took my GSD to the Elementary school and all the kids adored him, the Principal, too. The woman running the event complained to my DH that her daughter was terrified of dogs. I didn't want to upset anybody so I took him home after only a half hour. Yet, another person remarked how that same daughter was one of the first ones to approach and pet our dog...... I call it an opportunity lost.

 Hmm,  while I was walking today I passed a yard with some mixed breed dog, probably 25-30 lbs.  The dog was barking like crazy at me and the three dogs I had with me.  The owner comes outside and I could hear him say to his own dog, shut up, those dogs would eat you alive if you got to them.  I kind of laughed.  

We have the occasional few who correct their dogs, or even bring them inside so they aren't bothering me. Then we have some who get angry at the fact that I'm walking past their yard and their dogs are going crazy.  Mine just walk on by like nothings going on.  I do wish some of these people would correct their dogs, I see too many Pit Bulls, one who broke her chain today, who want to come out and attack, many just bark your head off while on their chains.  And then on occasion I hear dogs inside peoples houses barking as I pass by, typically little yappy dogs.  One use to bark at us so much, and one day it decided to charge right up the hill at us.  My dog turned his head, bit the dog as it ran right into the pack, and the little yappy dog ran off screaming, and then turned and hissed.....never seen a dog hiss before, but he sounded like a ticked off cat.  They learned to control their dog after that point.

I don't think owners deflect blame just because you have a GSD, I think it's any powerful breed for that matter.

 walking the plank.....that sounds about right lol. I'd say we pass roughly 35 dogs on our walks, probably more.   Many off leash, but a lot of them are so use to us that they don't come onto the road.  Some yards have fences and there will be anywhere from 2-6 dogs in each "pack"

I agree, it is no excuse. I think a lot of times people with small dogs or less "dangerous" dogs in their eyes see it differently.  They don't think their dog could possibly do any harm so they don't see their dog as a problem.  

I am so glad that Vixen started this thread. I stopped taking my dog to one particular park with trails because of this issue. It seemed that no matter what time or day I walked, there was always one particular person with a very aggressive little dog who seemed to over react to simply passing my dog and me, thus reinforcing a bad response. Eventually, even my dog began to sense the anxiety of the situation. I stopped going there and was frustrated by the situation. Any suggestions on how to handle these folks with the yappy litle dogs? BTW, my daughter has yorkie at my house and my GSDs are not aggressive toward them.