Bad Day, Ignorant man says, "your puppy attacked me"...

[GSDMUM]

I hired a handyman who has two assistants. I told the handyman on the phone that I had two GSD's and is he and his workers comfortable with dogs as they have to use the yard occassionally. He said, "yeah". They were working on our shed and the first time I let my gentle elderly dog and 6mth old puppy outside everything was fine. I sat there and watched the dogs and though a little afraid, the pup did well.

In comes our dog trainer. It was a great opportunity to have her show our pup how to behave around strange people so we both walked in the yard again. My sweet gal ran up to one of the workers to greet him, since she already met him and he starts screaming at my pup, taking his cap and swatting it around like a person swatting killer bees. The pup thought he was playing with her and she was happy. He kept swatting at her and then "barking at her and lunging at her!!!" Both the trainer and I yelled at him to stop it right away, he kept on doing it saying "That dog attacked me! I was bitten by a dog before and she wanted to attack me!" He was making the situation Waaaaay worse for an already people fearful dog who up to this point was progressing well in overcoming it.

The trainer yelled at him, while I caught my pup and we put a leash on her. The trainer said, "Sir, I am a dog trainer and saw that the dog didn't come near your body and definitely did not attack you!" He yelled,"You a lousy trainer , go and train her the right way... Dat dog ain't right in the head". Which got me VERy angry. The trainer said, "YOU, You're the one not right in the head! and some other choice words. The boss told him to shut up and end his tirade of complaints and the other worker told the trainer that she'd never win arguing with the other guy as he never gives in. If I would have known, and now I do , I will always keep her on a leash in the yard in case of crazy rabid people.

Another thing that upset me was that the other quieter helper, BEFORE, this event, was petting my gentle elderly dog and saying things to him like,"You're the good one, the other little dog is not nice like you, she's bad and you're good." All she did was barl alot at a dog on the other side of the fence, ran all over the yard and playing rough with my other dog. I overheard him and let that one go.

I told the handyman never to bring them again. He was petting my pup and my pup was just fine with him because he approached the pup as a normal person should.

I just will never really trust any stranger and will have my dog on a leash to protect my dog from ignorant people. If she was agressive or fear aggressive as an older dog, I would never have her out there even for a short potty break. I have been working with a trainer to socialize her with both people and dogs. She's a great pup, sweet, rowdy as pups are, playful, and joyful. I love her so much. The trainer said that the way the guy was lunging at my pup, started to hit her with his cap, was bordering on animal abuse.

[doggiedad]

who was afraid you or the pup? if you were afraid of what
the pup might do you shouldn't have let her out. if the
pup was afraid you should have brought her in immediately.
i can see usuing that time as a training session but not
with the pup unleashed.

2>>>> you heard this comment. to me it doesn't seem like
the worker thought your pup is gentle.

when people are working in or around our homes i think
it's safer to contain our dogs no matter how gentle they
are, no matter how well trained and socialized they are.
the gentleness, the training and socializing comes in handy
if there's contact made with the dog.

Originally Posted by GSDMUM

1>>>> I sat there and watched the dogs and though a little afraid, the pup did well.

2 >>>> Another thing that upset me was that the other quieter helper, BEFORE, this event, was petting my gentle elderly dog and saying things to him like,"You're the good one, the other little dog is not nice like you, she's bad and you're good." All she did was barl alot at a dog on the other side of the fence, ran all over the yard and playing rough with my other dog. I overheard him and let that one go.

[BlackPuppy]

That is why I contain my dogs when workers are around. They might not say anything, but they are all nervous about strange dogs, I can see it.

Balto is a love bug and when he was 8 months old, ran across the street to say hello to a couple taking a walk. The woman fell on her butt and started ranting that I had a vicious dog and he should be locked up. I yelled back that he was 8 months old and he just is overly friendly. Never saw them walking my way again.

[MaggieRoseLee]

Originally Posted by BlackPuppy

That is why I contain my dogs when workers are around. They might not say anything, but they are all nervous about strange dogs, I can see it.

Truthfully, my experiences with people who are NOT dog people, and have a GSD tear up to them, is EXACTLY what happened to you with the guy terrified and using his hat to swat your puppy. In fact I think you are lucky your pup didn't get kicked/injured.

The fact the I KNOW my puppy is friendly and wants to play doesn't change the fact that the other person was afraid and felt threatened and attacked. The world is full of dog people and people who are NOT dog people. And those that are afraid are. You add the fact that a POLICE DOG is the one running at them and all bets are off.

I had a yellow Lab who was the most friendly dog in the world go to greet a girl who was walking by my house. This dog could not be wagging her tail harder or trying to greet and lick the girl more in a friendly way didn't have any affect on the true SCREAMING TERROR this girl had. The crazy fact that the girl tore into my yard (closer to us?) to cower in terror against my car made things worse for her. It didn't matter that I had my Lab by the collar and was telling her it was ok and my dogs was friendly. The reality was the girl was truly hysterical and didn't calm until I got my Lab into the house.

And while this was clearly an extreme reaction it made me 100% aware that when I meet up with people that are not 'dog people' they will not react properly.

As a RESPONSIBLE dog owner I need to protect my dogs. Period. So I need to socialize and train my dogs to not hurt someone. I also need to be aware that there are many people in the world who do not like dogs and do not want MY DOGS in their space. So when I have workers in my yard/house I manage the situation until I KNOW the people and if I need to keep the dogs on leash or away from the workers, then I do it.

[x0emiroxy0x]

If a dog runs up to me barking, tail wagging slowly I scream and get ready to kick it.

Three pit mixes have attacked my dog and one terrier mix has attacked me.

Regardless of what you and the trainer saw, this man was scared to death. He had been attacked before and german shepherds are scary to many people.

I never let my dog off leash unless I am at the dog park. Even though he will run right next to me and not go up to anyone, I am not going to ruin anyone else's time by having them be scared.

Don't feel bad but take this as a learning opportunity--just because you know your dog is nice doesn't mean others do. Your dog could have bit this man because he scared her by hitting her with a hat.

[x0emiroxy0x]

By the way, assuming your puppy is around 50+ pounds, a german shepherd, and was really riled up...the man easily could have thought it was attacking him. This doesn't make him ignorant.

People have more rights then dogs. My soon to be father-in-law worked for AT&T and he repaired lines in people's backyards. He always asked if there were dogs before he went, and asked for them to be put up (he was mauled by a german shepherd at 18 on the job)

One person "forgot" they had 2 labs that were very defensive and when he went in the backyard, they both bit him. He hit one of the dogs in the face with his tool kit to get it off of him and the dog lost vision in one of its eyes....they tried to sue him but they never went to court (obviously) and AT&T dropped them as a customer.

What if the man had been offensive instead of defensive? Your pup could have knocked out teeth, lost eye, etc...

[GSDMUM]

Originally Posted by doggiedad

who was afraid you or the pup? if you were afraid of what
the pup might do you shouldn't have let her out. if the
pup was afraid you should have brought her in immediately.
i can see usuing that time as a training session but not
with the pup unleashed.

2>>>> you heard this comment. to me it doesn't seem like
the worker thought your pup is gentle.

when people are working in or around our homes i think
it's safer to contain our dogs no matter how gentle they
are, no matter how well trained and socialized they are.
the gentleness, the training and socializing comes in handy
if there's contact made with the dog.

I wasn't afraid because I let her out before and all was well. My trainer said it was her fault really because she should have insisted on having the leash on her but the guy was a butt head anyway saying something happened that clearly didn't. I have learned from this never to let any of my dogs loose with any worker unless it's someone I know and who is a real dog person. I did tell the owner to bring only people that are dog people with him. He said they were all fine with dogs when one was in fact afraid. I would have appreciated it if the guy came up to me and told me he was afraid of dogs, I would have never let them out. I never will again with any workers I don't know well.
I'm just upset by the way he said the pup attacked him when she NEVER, with 4 witnesses, got anywhere close enough to him to touch him. The first time I let her out he was even petting her.

[GSDMUM]

[QUOTE=x0emiroxy0x;2388591]By the way, assuming your puppy is around 50+ pounds, a german shepherd, and was really riled up...the man easily could have thought it was attacking him. This doesn't make him ignorant.

People have more rights then dogs. My soon to be father-in-law worked for AT&T and he repaired lines in people's backyards. He always asked if there were dogs before he went, and asked for them to be put up (he was mauled by a german shepherd at 18 on the job)

Then the owner was clearly at fault as your father-in-law did warn them and she should have never let her dogs out near him. I have always asked service people if they were afraid of dogs before they came through the door. If they were, I isolated my dogs.

If you saw this guy, he was ignorant in many ways. He was driving the owner up a wall and the other worker implied he had a few screws loose.

[MaggieRoseLee]

Originally Posted by GSDMUM

My trainer said it was her fault really because she should have insisted on having the leash on her ...............

Think you need to just focus on that statement.

The world is (sadly) full of people that over react and don't understand normal dog behavior. Being the owner of a GSD (or pitbull, or Rottweiller or Dobermann or.....) just makes us have to be even more aware and responsible for these people.

I know my dogs are friendly too, but I also know I've seen people truly terrified of them. Doesn't matter what I think or know. So making sure I keep my dogs safe from people like this is what I have learned over time.

[GSDMUM]

Originally Posted by x0emiroxy0x

Don't feel bad but take this as a learning opportunity--just because you know your dog is nice doesn't mean others do. Your dog could have bit this man because he scared her by hitting her with a hat.

Good point. Thanks.