Listen don’t bother me with your stupid excuse crapola. I grew up with shepards, schnauzers, dalmations...and guess what. I was able to hug them without my face being torn off. The woman lives with this pit bull...her son/DIL and DOG moved in with her about a year ago...they had a baby and the dog knows her...she hugs it and gets attacked....it’s a PIT BULL. That should NOT have happened. Case over...no excuses.
We all know that pits are the only type of dogs that bite.
Is there a subject that you know less about than dogs? I sure hope not because less than nothing is like dividing by zero.
Yet again you blithely disregard cold, hard facts and post alleged anecdotal “proof” to emotionally support your own pet neurosis.
[yes, bless your heart..that was witty word play]
I rather think that ~you~ should be at DU where you can more comfortably and freely express your feeeeeeeeeeeeeeelings.
A dog may tolerate a child’s breech of canine protocol (though not all do); however, that does not mean you properly observed canine protocol.
If, as a child, you had behaved rudely before adults and they turned a blind eye to your breech of etiquette, most people would view that as a credit to their maturity, not your behavior or maturity.
Since you have posted that the dogs did not discipline *you* for that breech of protocol, you reveal that the dogs overlooked your major canine faux pas—you do not justify the faux pas.
You are blaming the dog for acting like a dog and for responding to aggressive/dominant behavior on the part of your friend.
Taking personal responsibility for your behavior—particularly when it comes to inter-species relationships—is a conservative position. Responsible dog owners remember that dogs are dogs, and study how dogs process human behaviors so they can be better owners.
Irresponsible dog owners pretend their dogs are human infants or children, and try to treat them as though they were human infants or children.
You are taking a liberal position—”it’s not my fault if I behave inappropriately (in canine terms) with a dog; it’s the dog’s fault for enforcing proper canine boundaries”.
By the way; how is it that your childhood experiences with those dog breeds and your clear educated opinion of their behavior inhibited you from spelling the names of those breeds correctly?
I agree; the woman should not have hugged her dog. She should have learned about dog behavior and not have swallowed the liberal nonsense that animals are no different than people; you choose to defend that nonsense by trying to justify, hugging dogs, even after you have been informed that, from the dog’s point of view, that is a Really Bad Idea.
You can do your friend a favor by emailing her a link to this thread, including Salmander’s posts in which she links you to additional information; I hope your friend takes the opportunity to learn to improve as a dog owner.