Across vast immense unguarded Dinner tables, our Dogs, cool and unsympathetic with drooling snouts, regard our suppers with envious eyes and slowly and surely and inexorably draw their nefarious plans against us. Everyday I meet happy Dogs with great personalities, for some odd reason, Dogs I do not know come running over to me and greet me, it surprises their owners, sometimes they are annoyed and jerk the Dog back. Dogs often have better personalities than do their owners.
Dogs are cool. However, because they have needs to go outside in any and all types of weather we are cat people.
Depends on the dog. I used to have a heeler/Australian shepherd mix that liked most people, but occasionally there would be somebody he just didn't like. I figured there was something disturbed about those particular people. He was especially suspicious of some men when my girlfriend (now wife) was around.
There are some people that have a personality that dogs like. My oldest son is similar to you in that regard. My mom says her mother was that way as well.
That's a cheap and totally BS comment. There is a 75-year-old right winger in our play group at the shelter who would do just about anything for the benefit of a dog in need. He's very effective in the play group and adopted one of the dogs recently, and even spent some bucks to get a DNA test to find out what mix of breeds the dog is. You owe Arkie an apology.
There was a lady that stopped at a service station I worked at, and me and her dog would sing, we would put our heads together and; Arooooooo ! Aroooooooooo ! Arooooooooo ! Woooo Wooooo Wooo..... She did not appreciate it much. lol
As a volunteer at a Humane Society I have witnessed that many times. Dogs commonly know the personality of a person by just glancing at them. Here is an example and a really great story... We recently received two sibling Australian Cattle Dogs from California with LMS (Litter Mate Syndrome). They were picked up as strays and were so fearful that they couldn't be adopted and they were scheduled for euthanasia. So our head manager asked to have them sent up to Oregon for us to work with. They are beautiful! Twins almost. And terrified. They had just one behavior. They would huddle together in the back of their crate in the back of their kennel like they were trying to merge into one dog with the male hovering over the female and both glaring out at us. I was given the job of bringing them out of their fear to make them adoptable. This is something volunteers do because the shelter can't afford to pay an employee to do it. I would go into their kennel and sit on the floor pretty much ignoring them while tossing bits of chicken into the crate for them. Finally they began taking the chicken. I worked with them for about 1 to 1.5 hours per day, 3 or 4 days a week, for a total of about 2.5 months. They were the toughest case I've ever had. After about a month the male would begin sticking his head out of the crate to take the chicken. And eventually he came out and would lie with his nose against my leg. His sister stayed in the crate. After a couple of weeks he came out one day and rolled to give me his tummy. BREAK THROUGH!!!! It was fast progress from there and what a sweet, sweet boy! Now, employees could begin to work with him. We had to separate them in order to get to the female and gain her trust. I worked with her for another few weeks and it was very, very slow going. We named her "June". I finally got her to lie down by me to get chicken while I stroked her. Nobody else could get her to trust or to approach them. The male then went to a foster-to-adopt situation and did very well. Then just last week a lady with lots of experience with the breed found out about June and wanted to adopt her to work on her fears. The lady came to the shelter to meet June and someone went to get her from her kennel and carried her out to the meeting room. She could not be walked on a leash. In the meeting room June looked at the lady and JUMPED INTO HER LAP! Deal closed! She had never jumped into my lap or greeted me in any way. June went to discover her new home. And a few days later the lady called to report that June was doing great. June had picked her owner.
I would say that many dog owners are good individuals. I don't think their pets would be respectful and obedient if they were not trained to be that way.
After volunteering at the local Humane Society shelter for over 2 years, I would say that the biggest problems we have with dog owners is failure to socialize their dog. A dog has about 4 months from the day he's taken home to learn to like people and other dogs, and this is accomplished with exposure.... LOTS of exposure. Daily. Without it a dog will be fearful of people and dogs, and fearful dogs tend to bite, and a fearful biting dog is one that is likely to be put down if he bites someone. We currently have an opposite story in the shelter. We have an American Bull dog that is huge, imposing, mean-looking, with the biggest head you've ever seen on a dog. And he is one sweet baby. He absolutely loves people and hasn't a mean bone in his body. So it's always a people problem, not the dog.
Dogs are wonderful companions. Its too bad most people keep them as mere pets. Cats are good pets. Dogs need a purpose.
Due to my volunteering at the shelter, I now know that dogs are far more sensitive, possess the full range of emotions, and understand more than most people realize. Greater love for them comes with greater understanding. My favorite saying now is "dogs are people too!!"
We just received 4 dogs from S. Korea at the shelter. They were being raised for food. I didn't know how they are raised and treated in S.Korea. They think the meat is better if the dog dies in extreme pain and terror, and meanwhile they never get any contact with people or each other. They're kept in separate cages off the ground and food is given through openings in the cages. I've never seen dogs so afraid. They are going to take plenty of work for a long time. P.S. The international animal rights agencies have been working on the S.Koreans for a few years and some progress is being made. The one these 4 dogs came from released something like 35 dogs to various shelter around the U.S. and the operation is being wound down with the expectation of closing completely eventually.