It has become impossible for me to go and enjoy a cup of coffee with my dog there, as this owner lets his dog roam unsupervised through the whole restaurant. Definitely old enough to have learned some manners. I might add that the ‘young’ dog was over 10 months old. So the recall is not the owner’s responsibility? It is like a magic trick that a dog either has, or doesn’t. Owner’s reaction? (smiling and shrugging): “ He’s still young” and “ He has no recall“. That same dog had just chased away a family with young children for constantly heel-biting them. This infamous Tervuren (black, long-haired Belgian Shepherd) pestered my dog for over 5 minutes, no matter how many times I ask the owner to give us some space, and no matter how many times my dog growls and snaps. Owner’s response? “ The dog park is for everyone” (the irony seems to elude them…) There is this really wild Staffie in our dog field who bullies every other dog, and will not stop “play”-biting, even though the other dogs give calming signals and yelp incessantly. Owner’s response? I am “being hysterical” (I sternly tell him to get his dog on-leash), and “the dog is muzzled, he can’t do anything”. Muzzled German Shepherd repeatedly attacks my dog while I am walking with my 1-year-old child. These are a few of the shocking incidents that I see day in, day out, with large breeds.

The bad few that drag our name in the mud If someone feels intimidated by your dog, rightly or wrongly, be kind. … it’s all to do with emotion and perception, and nothing to do with reason and fact. I also know that bite statistics (for what they are worth) consistently fail to show one breed significantly more likely to bite than another. Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Pit Bulls, Rottweillers,…) are hysterically over-represented.

Scaremongering mediaĭon’t get me wrong, I also get frustrated by scaremongering, where the “sensational” breeds (e.g. They often complain: “ Why are people so ignorant? Rottweillers/Pitbulls/German Shepherds/etc. Sadly, many large-breed owners let their persecution complex get the better of their judgement instead of showing some common courtesy to the public.

But experience has taught me that no-one knows ‘ He’s just a big teddy bear’. I can relate, I have lived with my fair share of giants. Article about responsible dog ownership with large dogs.

Big dog and little dog going for a walk