Discrimination against dog breeds... By dogs?

[PuppyKono]

I've noticed whenever a white small dog goes by Kono will growl, but every other dog she'll greet. Its just weird... Maybe she thinks its a bunny or some type of prey.

[Gharrissc]

My Cattle Dog is like this. She loves some dogs and really just tolrates others.

[gagsd]

My first dog, an Aussie, strongly disliked Retrievers. I think it was more their happy go lucky in your face temperament, though. IMO he found them lacking manners.

[GsdLoverr729]

Puppykono- Hmmm... Maybe she thinks they're possessed squeak toys?

Gh- Does your cattle dog do this based on breed, or their energy/behavior?

Mary- I've actually met very few retrievers with that happy-go-lucky temperament. Poor breeding I suppose. But Koda tends not to mind when dogs are super happy or playful. So long as they're not certain breeds. Lol.

[Gharrissc]

Honestly it just depends the individual dog. There have been dogs that have been fostered here who I was certain she wouldn't get along with,but they were the best of friends. So really it's just a random thing. Otoh my friend has a Gsd/Golden Retriever mix that Saba didn't like at first,but after a couple of months she decided that she loved him. She's just a funny dog like that.

Originally Posted by GsdLoverr729

Gh- Does your cattle dog do this based on breed, or their energy/behavior?

[GsdLoverr729]

Wow! That's interesting. It's good that she tolerates dogs she doesn't like, though! (:

[Liesje]

Nikon *hates* Rottweilers, but I always wonder if he's just feeding off of me, lol. Other than Rotts, he's been really good with every other breed and mix that I've had as a foster or my friends or family have had. There is a Rott that lives behind us and provokes my dogs on a daily basis so at this point I probably would never force Nikon to try to interact with one.

[GsdLoverr729]

Well, a rottie pestering him gives him a reason not to like them! It would certainly rub me the wrong way.

[RowdyDogs]

Originally Posted by gagsd

My first dog, an Aussie, strongly disliked Retrievers. I think it was more their happy go lucky in your face temperament, though. IMO he found them lacking manners.

My ACDs also don't like retrievers, and I think it's exactly for that reason. Most retrievers just have a much more outgoing (often to the point of rudeness!) personality and it offends the heck out of the heelers. They're known as the "dog police" though, so they're a bit touchy!

I think most breed prejudice among dogs stems from differing body language and personalities between the breeds. Not that there's a huge amount of variance in body language, but there can be a little bit. Size difference is also a big one. My GSD tries to avoid very small dogs, I think because he doesn't really know what to do with them. He knows he's not supposed to chase small animals (like cats and rabbits), I've stopped him when he was playing with a toy poodle and started to get too rough (not that it was even that rough, but the size difference made me afraid he'd hurt her by accident), so he just doesn't know what to do and avoids them.

[LifeofRiley]

In my dog's case, I don't think it is a breed thing. But, there are some dogs he truly dislikes in our neighborhood and others he is happy to see! Outside of our neighborhood, he gets along with all dogs. Although, even then, there are some dogs that he seems to truly LOVE interacting with and others where he is fine but he does not have the same gusto and enthusiasm. I haven't cracked the code on this yet

One thing I have noticed is that Riley has an excellent memory. If one of the neighborhood dogs is snarky with him - i.e. lunges and barks at him - he will be snarky back and continue to be snarky unless we arrange for a positive interaction between the two dogs.