[nagdu] your thoughts on this

Tami Jarvis tami at poodlemutt.com
Tue Sep 17 16:01:08 UTC 2013


Good question. Honestly, if you don't know the dog and don't know how to 
read body language, there are times you can't tell. Well, and people who 
are afraid of dogs will see aggression in anything. People who don't 
know dogs will be scared of things that people who do know dogs will see 
as amusing play or excitement displays.

So the hard and fast rule about lunging, snapping, snarling, barking, 
growling turns out not always as easy as it sounds. One person sees the 
dog moving forward to give a friendly greeting, maybe even straining 
against the leash, but just trying to be friendly. Another person sees 
an attack lunge. One person hears a greeting "woof." Another person 
hears Cujo. This is why it would be so great if the dogs really were as 
perfect as advertised in their public behavior. It's embarrassing enough 
if your dog does something doggy, but there will be a variety of 
perceptions and responses all around while you're dealing with the dog, 
or even after you've reminded the dog to be perfect and it is again. Sigh.

A temperament test by some designated expert might be a useful tool in 
case things get ugly in a situation where someone has complained about 
aggression. With a program-trained dog, that testing will have been done 
probably at several points during the dog's raising and training. So 
that's a plus. It would be nice if the handler's judgment carried enough 
weight, but if someone is complaining and an authority figure is caught 
in the middle, then having an expert to pull out of your pocket is 
awfully convenient.

Anyway, there's not necessarily a hard and fast rule. I mean, we all 
know those sorts of behaviors are inappropriate, and we know aggression 
is a deal-breaker. But some of the inappropriate behaviors don't 
necessarily mean an aggressive temperament, so then those can be dealt 
with behaviorally in many cases. If the dog still can't manage too much 
excitement and learn to manage its behavior, then that is a problem, 
too, but a different one than real aggression.

JMO

Tami

On 09/17/2013 05:58 AM, Star Gazer wrote:
> This does make me wonder if there are define standards on "aggressive" v.
> "excited" behavior, and also who gets to be "The Decider" when something
> like this goes down.
> Anybody know?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Laura T
> Sent: Monday, September 16, 2013 4:55 PM
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nagdu] your thoughts on this
>
> First I would like to say that I was surprised by the activity did not know
> it was going to be taking place second the quite place was the idea that the
> guide dog school came up with third the problem was Vegas got excited was
> not aggressive as the professor is letting on. Vegas was in his lets visit
> everyone mode that I am trying to break him of for the rest of the meeting
> that is why I was having trouble holding him back fourth this started
> because wen he got excited he scared someone who was afraid of dogs and she
> complained afterwards to the professor
>
> Laura L. Thompson
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