This occurred with my sister when her kids were young. Her youngest now is 16 and they have two Boxers now and they treat them as they should be. Which makes me happy to know my sister wasn't just cruel, but didn't have proper time for the care of a dog then. Them Boxers are huge and they think they are lap dogs. My mom was mad when she got them, because off baseless stories of them being viscous. They're like two little babies. But, protective. You take them on a walk and see another dog and its all I can do to hold on to them. Well, the male at least, female not so much. I love those dogs and they have always been gentle with my kids. My 2 year old playa with them and its a sight. They let him do anything to them and then knock him down and lick him til he's sopping wet, lol. Its all about how you, the owner, treats a dog.
That's good to hear. I do think that most people who mistreat animals like that are not actually cruel (though certainly some are), but like you said don't have the time to deal with the animal, or don't really know how. Which is a good argument in favour of waiting until you are ready to deal with a pet responsibly...
It is truly amazing how a dog will reflect its owner's behaviors.
I firmly believe that there aren't any 'bad' dog breeds.
I also believe equally strongly that not all people should be allowed to have any dog breed. Some breeds just take more work than others to behave appropriately.
They all take some amount of training, but some are more strong headed than others, and people who don't know how to take care of dogs end up making poorly behaved dogs. Toy breeds are the worst in that regard - you have owners who don't have to train their dogs properly because the damage they can do is minimal. No one is calling the police when the Chihuahua bites your ankle. Unlike, for example, everyone's favorite breed to hate - pitbulls. They can be intimidating looking to begin with, and they are stubborn. The owner needs to know how to be in charge because people will call the police if it sniffs impolitely in their direction.
But regardless of the breed, if you treat a dog like it needs to be treated (ie like a dog and not like a human child or a slave) its absolutely incredible how resilient and happy they can be, even coming from terrible situations.
I think people would be much happier with their dogs if they had an appropriate dog assigned to them by someone who knew what they were doing, rather than letting people get dogs because they like how they look.
That is very true. And I can relate to that in how my sister raised her Chihuahua - I love that dog and have known him since he was a puppy, but he
can be pretty agressive and antisocial. Never socialized enough or early on with other animals, especially other dogs. Doesn't get enough exercise. Not much that can be done now, since he's already an adult dog (4 years old) and not my dog to raise after all (doesn't even live with me, only around when my sister comes to stay with us every now and then).
Getting dogs based on how they look is such a stupid thing to do. It goes back to my earlier comment on how some people get a new cat or dog as if they were getting a new piece of furniture. Back when my mother got our first dog, she chose a Labrador based on the breed's personality, and it worked out well for everyone. No one here would be able to train or deal with a dog such as a Pitbull adequately, so guess what, we never got one. No problems. People really should do some research or ask someone who knows for advice before getting a dog of X breed because "they looked so cute" or some similar reason.