Why do dog owners get so defensive about their dogs?

Question

"My Staffy wouldn't hurt anything" etc etc.

I'm not singling out a particular breed, Staffy came to mind because I see so many nowadays.

Answer 1

I never tell people my dog won't bite, as you never know how a dog will react to a stranger. I know what you mean though, some people will swear they know how their dog will behave etc. and I think it's silly. Dogs have a mind of their own so nobody can ever know for certain how a dog will behave.

Answer 2

Because the general public are stirred into near hysteria by the press. The dog with the highest bite 'quota' as a breed is actually the Jack Russell!!! Well behaved and well trained dogs in the company of a responsible owner are perfectly safe and better behaved than most children. You don't hear calls for rampaging brats to be kept under control, even when the little loves are making everyone's life a misery. These are usually also the families with ill mannered dogs....wonder if there is a connection there perchance? I am sorry for the child who was bitten, but poor springer, he was obviously startled by being run into and made a mistake, or was frightened. He was an older dog and sometimes they are arthritic and can be sore. He certainly paid a big price. Yes I know it isnt a popular point of view, but we used to have a much more balanced view of things. I feel we are becoming a race of hysterical timid creatures who dont believe that we are responsible for our choices.

Answer 3

Well, it depends on the situation whther the defensiveness is warranted or not. Sometimes people assume that a large dog or a certain breed ot dog is automaticly vicious, even if the individual dog isn't doing anything. In that case, assuming the owner is being responsible and knows the dog well, they have every right to be defensive if someone starts complaining about the dog for no apparent reason. However, if a person's dog is running around loose, not under the owner's control, barking uncontrollably, running up to everyone in sight, and generally making a pest of itself, any defensiveness on the owner's part is totally unwarranted. "Oh, she's really gentle" or "He just acts like that because your dog is on a leash." or "Why'd you yell at him and try to shoo him away? Can't you see he's wagging his tail?" are not valid excuses. I don't care. If your dog is not behaving, people are going to be critical and act negatively and they have every right to do so.

A good example just presented itself last night in the form of a labrador retriever running through my backyard. I could hear his owner calling him from the bike path on the other side of my fence, but the dog still went the entire length of my yard befre presumably returning to the owner. Now if I had actually confronted the owner and he started going on about how well trained his dog was and how the dog is obviously friendly and so on, that would be uncalled for defensiveness. The dog was somewhere s/he shouldn't have been and was not under adequate control. However, if I then went on to act like all labs or dogs off leash or dogs of any kind were going to wander through my yard, their owners would have the right to be defensive because I would be making unreasonable assumptions based on one experience.

Answer 4

Some people think of there dogs as children. My mum used to be like this with her dog, he was a Springer Spaniel who was a family pet for 11 years and he seemed very friendly and we didn't think he would hurt anyone. We made a big mistake in trusting him as 2 weeks ago for no reason at all he attacked my 1 year old nephew. My nephew needed over 50 stitches on his face, he has however been very lucky and will only be left with a couple of scars. it could have been a lot worse, he missed his eye by about 1mm. The dog was taken by the police and put to sleep. Even though we did trust the dog we still taught my nephews not to harass him or pester him and they were NEVER left alone with the dog. The night it happened my nephew was very excited, running around like an idiot and accidentaly bumped into the dog who, for reasons unknown, just snapped! We are all just grateful he wasn't more seriously injured or evem killed, and this whole experience has made us realise not to trust any dog, they are after all animals and so unpredictable. I used to be a dog lover but this put things into perspective. It sounds harsh but my nephews come before any animal.

Answer 5

Truly I don't like that attitude about owners. When people say that they don't TRULY know their dog. Lets say "staffy" bit some one and it was seen by a few people, they consult the owner of staffy and all they say is "are you sure it was MY staffy!? My little Staffy wouldn't do such!"
Obviously they don't know there dog to say that. Like if my dog nipped someone and they told me. I would believe them. Knowing my dog I would do something about what my dog did.
Pretty much just ignore those kind of people. For YOU know the truth.

Answer 6

With Staffies, other "pit bull" type dogs, rottweilers, dobermans, akitas, and mastiffs etc., people are Forced to defend their dog on a daily basis. I own an American Pit Bull Terrier and Every Day on our regular walks we get some kind of comment about her. People cross the street when they see us coming, they snatch up their kids, and I hear "She is beautiful, but is she mean?" It has kind of become a routine to educate people about my dog, and about the breed in general.

Answer 7

Their dog is a reflection of themselves! A responsible dog owner will become knowledgeable about training and understanding their dog.
Staffy will hurt if not trained correctly and not understood by his owner!

Answer 8

Some good reasons have been given, but I think another part of it is that the owners get defensive about their own training skills. If you suggest that a dog bit someone, you're implicitly suggesting that his owner didn't train him properly or bring him up right...thereby challenging the owner's aptitude and responsibility as a dog owner. Therefore, people get insulted and defensive.

Answer 9

Because so many people have a prejudice towards certain breeds and with recent breed ban implimentations we have to be in order to protect our pets. I have written to congress as well as local county council members trying to discourage breed bans and restrictions simply because it takes the responsibility away from the owners. Taking away a few breeds only gives these people room to corrupt another breed. Eventually they can't simply ban every breed. They need to stop making new laws that prevent people from being held responsible and enforce the ones already in effect. This would prevent a lot of the dog attacks going on lately.

Answer 10

Because their dogs have lived around the people, and depending on that persons actions, affects how the dog reacts, so if someone says "my staffy wouldn' hurt anyone" they are protecting it, because if they admit it would, they are admitting that they have something to do with why it does this

IE: They would be insulting themselves if they said their dog would do it, because they own the dog, and have taught the dog actions because they live with it, so if they say he wouldnt do this or that, they are complimeting themselves.