No such thing as a bad dog ?

Author
Discussion

J4CKO

Original Poster:

41,287 posts

199 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
Just saw this on another thread and have heard it numerous times, is it true, can dogs never do any wrong ?

Anyone had a dog, that no matter what was still aggressive, badly behaved or whatever, surely, like people dogs can have mental problems or are just wired wrong ?

Is it always down to the owner ?

bexVN

14,682 posts

210 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
I can definitely say there are pups out there that are 'wired wrong' from birth and so no it is not always the owners. It is not common and sometimes it's a result of bad breed lines being used but when you see an 8 week old pup with an aggressive nature you know it can't be the owners, esp if litter mates are fine.

Now with the right owners these pups may turn out ok but obviously the wrong ones it's unlikely. However it is still far more common that poor understanding of a dog (inc breed and behaviour) is the reason for 'bad dogs' not the pup being born bad.


Johnnytheboy

24,498 posts

185 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
My family have had six dogs of the same breed that have varied widely in aspects of their behaviour.

The males have had characters between coward and thug.

The fact that they have all been treated the same means nature must have some influence on their character.

Jasandjules

69,825 posts

228 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
J4CKO said:
Is it always down to the owner ?
No. Nine times out of ten it is though..

TwistingMyMelon

6,385 posts

204 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
Jasandjules said:
J4CKO said:
Is it always down to the owner ?
No. Nine times out of ten it is though..
This!

Xtriple129

1,148 posts

156 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
My first dog was a Collie from a farm. He was the runt of the litter and my stepdad brought him home curled up in his flat cap with tissue paper wrapped round him - he was tiny! Cost, 50pence.

He was a the worst dog in history but I still loved him of course. Took him to dog obedience classes and the woman trainer eventually got so frustrated with him she told me to 'have him put down - he's untrainable' i left him in my car one day (Triumph 2.5 p.i.) and he ate the interior - carpets, seats, door cards, the lot! He was in there for less than an hour...

He went through a glass front door after the postman, realised he'd got his freedom and scarpered, dog warden brought him back about five hours later - puppies expected!

He was a skiny little runt, but wirey and boisterous and he'd fight anything from another dog to his own shadow, nothing was safe round him.

He never learnt to be anything other than a commplete pain on a lead - constantly at the end of his lead at full strain, frequently made himself sick from the effort and if you let him off, it was always 50-50 if you'd ever see him again. Chased sheep acros Dartmoor for miles one lovely day... I thought for a second or two about letting him go and getting shot by the farmer, but I didn't and near killed myself trying to get the bd!

In the car he was unbareable, constantly barking and leaping around, used to sit on the transmission tunnel with his head through the gap between the front seats so you could hear him better.

He finally started to calm down a bit when he was twelve, he was just horrendeous then until he finally carked at nineteen!

Loved him to bits of course, but he was a bloody nightmare from day one, never known another dog like him. You'd think he would have put me off dogs for life, but no....

Fugazi

564 posts

120 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
Stories like that always remind me of this cartoon, especially the line at the end...

Oatmeal said:
"Maybe that's why we love them because their lives aren't lengthy, logical or deliberate but an explosive paradox composed of fur, teeth and enthusiasm"
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/dog_paradox

Edited by Fugazi on Tuesday 2nd September 18:17