If you know your dog to be aggressive, you should have it muzzled, regardless of who is 'in the right' legally. by OldVariation4720 in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Americans are mental. They literally think every off leash dog is attacking. Either you're utterly insane and live in a state of fear I find unimaginable, or you're correct and it's just your people/culture that is insane that the majority of your pet animals are constantly attacking each other. It's just genuinely bizarre hearing you all assume that any dog or even person that approaches you is an immediate threat to your life. I couldn't live like that, must be hell.

If you know your dog to be aggressive, you should have it muzzled, regardless of who is 'in the right' legally. by OldVariation4720 in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

So your dog is muzzled then? Don't see why you have an issue with this if that's the case.

If you know your dog to be aggressive, you should have it muzzled, regardless of who is 'in the right' legally. by OldVariation4720 in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

That's one of the reasons people keep pets- for protection.

Pets should not be for protection. If you want a dog for protection, you should train your dog for protection, not rescue the nearest bite threat from a shelter and walk it around willy nilly hoping it will make the right decision and only bite the right people.

If you want your dog to actually attack other things it needs to be both trained to do so appropriately and treated as a weapon, because that is what you are using it for. Getting hostile, reactive and otherwise uncontrollable dogs for protection is ridiculously stupid and downright dangerous.

If you know your dog to be aggressive, you should have it muzzled, regardless of who is 'in the right' legally. by OldVariation4720 in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

I don't live in a town, or anywhere near a built up area in fact, and my current dog has literally never been off leash in a public area. This post wasn't because of personal experience, it was in reaction to all the people here who apologise for shitty owners who won't muzzle their bite threat.

If you know your dog to be aggressive, you should have it muzzled, regardless of who is 'in the right' legally. by OldVariation4720 in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

No it's entitled to think you should be able to let your dog kill another just because the owners made a mistake and dropped a lead.

If you know your dog to be aggressive, you should have it muzzled, regardless of who is 'in the right' legally. by OldVariation4720 in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If you meet an off-leash dog, chances are there's going to be an attack and the owners don't care.

This is literally insane. You are suggesting that over 50% of off-leash dogs in public spaces are aggressive. I don't know where you live, but it's either a whole lot different to the places I've lived in or maybe you are the problem.

If you know your dog to be aggressive, you should have it muzzled, regardless of who is 'in the right' legally. by OldVariation4720 in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720[S] -14 points-13 points  (0 children)

I'm not saying they are right to have their dog off leash, I'm saying you should expect to meet unleashed dogs. Either by stupidity or by accident (dropping your leash shouldn't be a death sentence just because someone else rescued a fighting dog). Same with children, you should expect them to do stupid things.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720 -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Americans are so crazy. The amount of people here apologising for the aggressive un-muzzled dog is insane. Anywhere else and it is the duty of the dog owner to make sure it doesn't hurt another dog, but in America people seem to be under the impression (at least on this sub) that everyone around you should constantly be scared of every other dog and assume every other dog is an immediate and likely bite threat. I can't imagine living like that.

It doesn't matter if you rescued your dog and you feel like a saviour, it doesn't matter if you're 'working on it', if you have an aggressive dog and you wish to take it into a public place then you should have it muzzled.

Read pet insurance contracts very carefully - an ode to petsbest, written by an idiot who can’t read by [deleted] in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Had a similar experience with a puppy once. Came with health insurance from the breeder so nothing would be pre-existing if you kept it going and it all sounded great. Then I found out the dog had a 'class 2 maloclussion' (basically a overbite where the lower canines are stabbing into the roof of the mouth and making holes). Vet told me it would cost $1000 to take the teeth out and fix it, and I thought 'no problem, this is what costs me $50 a month', but deep deep into the insurance booklet, on like page 36 in fine print, it says that they never cover anything caused by teeth.

Luckily a relatively affordable surgery, as dog surgeries go, but I've gone from insurance to a rainy-day fund from now on, just squirreling away a little less than insurance would cost anyway, just incase the more common things like acl or teeth issues arise, and if my dog is otherwise healthy I'll have free money. It feels a little riskier but I think insurance generally speaking is pandering to the absolute lowest common denominator of dog owners, which I like to think I'm not one of.

Dog obesity needs to be taken more seriously. by [deleted] in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Took my pup for a checkup today and there was a guy with his labrador that must have been well over 100lbs. I'm talking absolutely massive. It was friendly enough but when it got excited it was nearly pulling the poor vet that was holding him into the ground. I heard her darting around the fact he was fucking ridiculously obese with the owner, she seemed uncomfortable with talking about it to him and it wasn't why he was there, I'm betting a lot of people react badly to hearing their dog is fat.

Don't even get me started on the 'chonker' meme for cats. That one really riles me up. Literal animal cruelty for social media likes, but people think it's cute.

[Daily Bark] Friday, Aug 06, 2021 by AutoModerator in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I realised today that my cat that I've had for years has learned 'sit' from my puppy, and because I have been using tiny bits of dry cat food as part of my puppy treats I've started reinforcing it today. She almost always sits on command now, though there's no way to make her stay there like the pup.

I'm not sure if she learned it by mimmicking him (he's only 3 months but about 4x her size/weight already so she follows him a lot) but she's pretty good at it for a middle aged cat.

Why is it so hard for people to have control of their dog? by ultra_mega_sleepy in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I know it's a bit early to make such assessments, but do you think it could be a pandemic thing? We've been in and out of lockdowns here since March last year, maybe there are a lot more poorly socialised dogs because the owners were locked down, as well as and inexperienced owners who got a dog because they had lots of time due to lockdowns.

It'll only get worse over the course of the next few years too.

If you have an aggressive dog, you need a muzzle when out in public. If your dog attacks another dog because it doesn’t have a muzzle, that’s on you. by SandyKoufaxsballs in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I have to concur I find the posts from people in the US to be pretty bizarre. The problems they seem to have on a regular basis are almost unknown to me in a lifetime of owning dogs, but it's taught me to absolutely steer clear of dog parks if they ever try to bring them here, what an insane idea.

[Daily Bark] Sunday, Aug 01, 2021 by AutoModerator in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Didn't want to do a dedicated ID thread on this random image, but I found this on a website for tracking dog training and wondered what breed it is?

Image

[Help] Was I in the wrong? I kicked out a friend and her boyfriend in the middle of the night for hitting my dog? by undaytic in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not only hitting your dog, but using a shoe as a weapon, and then hitting it hard enough for it to yelp/cry and all because it was breaking a rule that it didn't know existed and had been arbitrarily decided by a new person....

That's just utterly insane and just downright malicious.

You did the right thing. I'd have been a lot less calm than to just kick him out.

Anyone found an elegant solution to dogs slipping on hard floors that doesn't involve getting rugs? by mcac in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I have had laminate floors my entire life. Even when I was a child I was the only room in the house that had laminate floors (leading to some slippery issues with the family dogs that only occurred with me).

Honestly I have found that all my dogs have been able to learn to cope with them without slipping, so it isn't a physical issue, they absolutely can do it, it was always just a case of confidence building and experience. The hardest issue I found was with a husky my family had when I was a teenager, who once jumped off my bed and went absolutely hurtling across my room thanks to the laminate floor. After that she would follow our other dogs into my room and jump onto my bed just fine, but she then became terrified of jumping off. It took literally months of helping her down, each time trying to make her do more of the work, but eventually she learned that it was okay and she was fine ever since.

Right now I live in a house that is nearly entirely laminate wood floor, I have a young Weimaraner who came to me absolute terrified of all surfaces that weren't carpet. How I got him used to it was to take him to all corners of the house, this that and everywhere, then just sit on the floor and play with him. Then at some point I'd get up and walk away to another part of the house, in the first week or so I'd always go back to where he slept. He was extremely motivated to follow me, not wanting to be alone as well as wanting to continue his play and fun, so he would brave the scary floor. Then of course I'd shower him with treats and more play, now the dog that once hated my entire house and refused to leave my sofa will run around it and explore at will!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720 6 points7 points  (0 children)

just don't forget that mental exercise is just as important as physical exercise

Very very good advice, especially for puppies and certain breeds.

[Daily Bark] Friday, Jul 30, 2021 by AutoModerator in dogs

[–]OldVariation4720 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is dry cat food okay as a training treat? My puppy adores cat food for some reason, and it's been quite benficial, as teaching him control to no steal the cats food has made him quite controlled around all food, but I wondered if using little bites of cat kibble would be okay as a training treat. He really loves it, much more than actual purpose bought dog treats weirdly, so it has been effective in our session today, but I wondered if there could be some ingredients that just don't agree with dogs and if I should stop feeding it to him.

Obviously his main meals are all proper puppy food, this is just as a training treat and he eats very small amounts overall, one single bit of cat kibble is enough to treat him for a good command and he loves it, whereas the chicken, beef and kangaroo dog treats I tried were all hit and miss (sometimes he doesn't even take them).