ok, I'm sure this topic has been covered and it probably has happened to alot of you out there, but I really just have to rant for a second.
I am sick of everyone siding with a small dog when your dog gets in a tiff. I don't mean all out dog fight, but just some growling and snarling. About 95% of the dogs who have bitten my older 90 pound akita mix are jack russels/daschunds/beagles, etc. We go to off leash dog parks all the time and these little dogs see my dog as a threat and just run up to him, growl, and bite him. Sometimes they just run up to him and bite him without any warning as he's sniffing the grass or walking by them 3 feet away. For example, there is a little daschund who goes to the same park and he always chases my dog around and bites his privates! And when my dog is sitting down and sun bathing or being pet, the little daschund will try to mount him or bite his privates again! and as expected, my dog gets pretty darn angry. He'll growl and the daschund will bite him, then he'll take his paw and smoosh the daschund on the gorund to keep it from biting him while he's making scary noises to scare the daschund away. Of course, I am blamed and people are kicking my dog or grabbing him by the collar and pulling him away while the little dog is taking freebie bites out of my dog. the little dog's owner acts so angry and offended that my big bad wolf tried to eat his private-biting angel. That little devil has even growled at me a bunch of times when I see him going for my dog's privates and I try to run defense.
I think as large dog owners, we know that some people fear our dogs or fear that our dogs may be aggressive. So we overcompensate by training our dogs, socializing them, training them some more, and socializing them some more. We are sure to let them know what is okay and what is not. As an owner of a "bully breed," I make certain that my dogs have exposure to as many types of people, children, animal, sites, sounds, etc. But some little dog owners think their dogs can do no harm b/c they're so small and it's the big dogs you have to look out for, or that their little jack russel is so cute being so tough and taking a bite out of a huge dog. These little dogs get away with murder! It might be in the smaller dog's nature to snap at larger dogs when they feel threatened, but this is where training comes in. It's in my akita's nature to eat little dogs, but I've trained him and conditioned him that he just ignores them now. I blame the owner, not the dog. My dogs don't react by tearing the dog apart, but they do bark a "get off of me!" or they smack the little dog with their paw with a scary sounding growl just to get it off of them.Â
I mean, how would you feel if a smaller person came up to you and smacked you in the back of the head? I'm pretty small, but Ican't just walk up to a tough looking guy who is just walking by on the side walk and smack him in the back of the head or kick him in the shin and expect him to do nothing or blame him when he gets mad. Or if he yells at me to stop, like how my dogs bark at the little dog, and I still keep standing there kicking him over and over again, I can't blame him for trying to get me away from him. I think it's the same thing with little dogs biting larger dogs. You can be under 20 pounds and still be a bully!Â