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Worst advice I ever heard

2K views 15 replies 12 participants last post by  Ellimaybel 
#1 ·
Some guy at my husbands work told him that we should NOT teach Gunther not to bite us. His logic was that Gunther won't bite someone if the situation were to arise where it were necessary. :confused: Really??????????? If this unknown person has dogs then obviously he hasn't trained them. Unless I'm missing something here and I should allow my dog to bite me so that he'll bite a stranger harming me? It either makes me laugh or cry. I'm not sure which yet.
 
#2 ·
That argument is illogical as Spock might say.

We do allow our puppy to bite our hands though, she has to be gentle which she is. Our reasoning is that maybe encouraging a soft bite is better than trying to teach no bite to a biting machine.

But that's just our way, not necessarily logical either, haha but it's been quite effective.
 
#3 ·
I have a job which brings the me misfortune of dealing with victims of crime on a daily basis. I have learnt that most people overestimate their dogs. This is especially true if the perpetrator is not afraid of dogs. Most well socialized pets can be intimidated by an aggressive offender. I have two dogs that look the part, I rely on them as a visual deterrent only.
I speak from over 20 years experience, I know that there are exceptions, but as a rule, when push comes to shove, most dogs are all bark and no bite, and I for one am happy with that where mine are concerned!
 
#4 ·
Yeah I know people overestimate their dogs. I really don't know what Gunther would do in that situation and I never want to find out. What really blew my mind was this person saying basically that if we allow him to bite us, his owners and handlers, he would know to bite a stranger in a dire situation. The opposite is of course also implied in this persons logic. None of it is logical in any sense lol. It hurts my head to try and understand this thinking.
 
#5 ·
Yes, strange logic indeed, let's hope this person doesn't ever decide to get a dog. It would probably be encouraged to become mouthy, then get disciplined when the owner got fed up with having an ill mannered dog. Result..a confused dog no doubt...funny how some people are "experts" that feel you would benefit from their wisdom!
 
#6 ·
It's not that strange...if you've ever seen an older dog that has been taught bite inhibition for years try to get started in some sort of bite work, you'll see how hard it could be to get that dog to bite. Now, many times its because the dog never played tug or anything like that either, but teaching bite inhibition on humans will cause your dog to learn that its not okay to bite humans.

More likely than not, your dog would only bite if HE was cornered and had no escape route.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Apparently some people believe a dog cannot differentiate between being a jerk to its owner and biting a decoy or helper agitating the crap out of them with a stick.

These people are misinformed.

You can then transfer that to hidden sleeves and whatever. If your dog wont bite a decoy it probably wont save you if you ask for it. Most people have watered down pet versions of the breed these days anyway. A lot of them have little to no ppd value. People think they can just get a gsd of craigslist and it will be capable of an IPO3 or something. Its like thinking you can pluck a random kid off the street and train him to be a world class athelete. Most of the time its just not there.
 
#8 ·
That's pretty funny advice, lol. When you think that if the dog does bite you (really, more like mouthing since I teach a soft bite too) then it's playing - and if the dog bit someone because it felt threatened, it sure as heck wouldn't be playing - what, is the dog a wind-up toy that can't use discretion with its jaw power? Strange, what people will come up with, lol.
 
#9 ·
Some guy at my husbands work told him that we should NOT teach Gunther not to bite us. His logic was that Gunther won't bite someone if the situation were to arise where it were necessary. :confused: Really??????????? If this unknown person has dogs then obviously he hasn't trained them. Unless I'm missing something here and I should allow my dog to bite me so that he'll bite a stranger harming me? It either makes me laugh or cry. I'm not sure which yet.
There was a technique explained to me about 25 years ago and it went kinda like this. A stranger comes into the yard or house and flanks the dog. For the people who don't understand this term it's a; "strong pinch to the fatty part (front) of the hind quarter's near the belly. It hurts, don't do it..

This will make the dog hate and distrust strangers. Advice is like rain, it's sometimes nice and sometimes a real drag. Teach the word: Fuss...

Don't think the dog does not know when the time comes to do the intended job....

Sometime's not knowing when to laugh and when to cry is like a dog not knowing when; "Showtime" is...
 
#10 ·
Yeah, it's one of those myths that repeated often enough become gospel. I was told it enough to believe it....for a while....but have learned differently now.

Same with playing tug with your dog will make it aggressive, or dominant, or the devil or something like that.

The sad thing is once these sort of things take hold amongst popular pet owning culture it's very hard to dispel them......
 
#11 ·
Some guy at my husbands work told him that we should NOT teach Gunther not to bite us. His logic was that Gunther won't bite someone if the situation were to arise where it were necessary. :confused: Really??????????? If this unknown person has dogs then obviously he hasn't trained them. Unless I'm missing something here and I should allow my dog to bite me so that he'll bite a stranger harming me? It either makes me laugh or cry. I'm not sure which yet.
Wouldn't have happened to tell you to also not train your dog until he's 2 because "German Shepherds don't learn and listen before that so it's pointless to train them that early." :wild:
 
#12 ·
After reading the responses to this I have deduced that maybe it wasn't the worst advice I have ever heard, perhaps just worded badly. We are going to meet up with a co-worker and take Gunther to get him worked with to defend me against an attacker. He doesn't really bite me, he just likes to grab me and it bruises. I do know he will bark to scare someone off the property and I would like to think that's enough but I am also aware of the types of criminals that I arrest and the ones my husband works to keep locked in the maximum security prison that is right around the corner from us. We make a lot of criminal enemies so while I don't want Gunther to be mean, I do need to know that he is going to jump to action if the situation were to arise. If it never does, that's even better!

Thanks for the input guys, it helped my perspective a little.
 
#15 ·
After reading the responses to this I have deduced that maybe it wasn't the worst advice I have ever heard, perhaps just worded badly. We are going to meet up with a co-worker and take Gunther to get him worked with to defend me against an attacker. He doesn't really bite me, he just likes to grab me and it bruises. I do know he will bark to scare someone off the property and I would like to think that's enough but I am also aware of the types of criminals that I arrest and the ones my husband works to keep locked in the maximum security prison that is right around the corner from us. We make a lot of criminal enemies so while I don't want Gunther to be mean, I do need to know that he is going to jump to action if the situation were to arise. If it never does, that's even better!

Thanks for the input guys, it helped my perspective a little.
And what are the qualifications of this co-worker? What makes him more trustworthy than the other advise giver?
 
#13 ·
The most *interesting advice I ever got was a guy at Home Depot. I was with my previous GSD, had him in a down/stay while we were looking at something. Guy told me I was mean to have him in a down/stay while we were looking at something. I said he's in training and we're working on obedience. He asked what kind of training, and I said Schutzhund. Then he said I shouldn't be training him in that...he said, "Schutzhund isn't for German Shepherds, he is a German Shepherd, right? Then he shouldn't be training in that, it isn't for German Shepherds, that's for Dobermans." Mmmhhmmm. Have a great day, thanks for the advice. lol
 
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