A dog's breed is as bad as a bite for some insurers

Seattle Post ^ | 2.15.05

[Slings and Arrows]

I wonder if the demon dog is a demon because of pack order. Sounds like a misplaced alpha taking out its aggression on cats and other creatures.

That is a very interesting idea. My JRT is a natural alpha (like all JRT's) but when I visit my family and their two dogs, she's at the bottom of the pecking order. It drives her nuts.

I wonder if the Schnauzers who gave you grief were allowed to dominate their owners. Any dog can be trouble if it thinks it's alpha to you.

Schnauzers are terriers, and I'm a terrier fan through and through, but you have be firm with them. "Napoleonic Complex" is a pretty fair description of their worldview.

I'm reminded of Bill Murray in Stripes: "Folks, avoid the schnitzel, I hear they're using schnauzer!"

"o/~ Oh, the cat's in the kettle at the Peking Moon... o/~"

[Tabi Katz]

WOW! I didn't know schnauzers were so nasty. They sure are ugly, though - and there aren't many dogs I'll say THAT about (the only other breed I can think of is the monstrous pit bull). Schnauzers look like they were bred with horses in the distant past and got the short end of the aesthetic stick. That schnoz!

[Slings and Arrows]

As I said, one of sweetest dogs I knew was also a mini-schnauzer. In my limited experience, the demon dog is the exception, not the rule.

[Slings and Arrows]

P.S. When I mention the Napoleonic Complex, I was thinking of tough little terriers in general, not just schnauzers.

[Slings and Arrows]

It sure is hard to dislike a dog or a cat for that matter.

Yep. I rarely make the effort.

[RepoGirl]

I know that Napoleonic complex well! When I was a toddler, I was tormented by my mom's obnoxious little Yorkshire terrier. His name was Socrates, and boy did he think he was living end. He couldn't have weighed more than a pound or two, full grown, but thought he was the size of a bullmastiff or a wolfhound.

Met his match under the wheels of a Nash Rambler back in '70.

Fast forward five years and a terrier/dachs mix is left on our doorstep. A better dog, temperment wise, and a cute, scraggly little ugly thing that we adored and spoiled for the next fifteen years. Still, she could hold her own with any dog ten times her size.

The funny thing is, my rott has a wire-haired coat--so she actually has a strange, wirey little goatee hanging from her chin. People always ask if she's bred with schnauzer.