The lady probably heard one story about an incident and from that decided that they are "notorious" for attacks...there are dumb people everywhere.

 

After the fact, I could not have ever spoken eloquently in the heat of it, but I wish I could have said something like, "Yeah, they will if you feed them that junk, they are intelligent and like meat."

But that wouldn't have served your purpose near as well.

 

Sarcasm on.

How dumb can some people be? I mean, everyone knows that it's Doberman Pinschers that turn on their owners.

Sarcasm off.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App

 

Yup....this is one I have heard. And yup....the brain outgrows the skull... I was so scared of dobermans when I was younger because of hearing this!

 

Another stereotype I've never heard of.

 

About Dobes? The supposed reason for it is that eventually their brain outgrows their skull, and that's what makes them turn on their owners.

The brain "outgrowing the skull" is a real problems in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, however. It doesn't make them "turn on their owners", though. It does cause neurological problems, and is quite painful, from what I understand.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App

 

Oh I haven't gotten that exact one, but when I had my GSD and my foster GSD out once, a friend wanted us to meet one of her friends who liked dogs. When he came out and both dogs vied for his attention, one rolling over for a tummy rub, he said something like "oh I thought these dogs are supposed to be vicious!"

Yep, real vicious.

 

I hate stereotypes like this. My sister has a pitbull (the sweetest, most submissive dog you'll ever meet) and gets that same garbage all the time. "You let her around your son? Aren't you worried she'll maul him?" Like, seriously? This is why so many of these dogs with bad reputations are in shelters.

I've had interesting reactions to Corey being my guide dog. "I thought schools stopped training shepherds as service dogs because they were too aggressive?" and "I bet she hates other dogs" and "Isn't it a problem because she's so protective of you she might hurt other people who get near you?" and "I'd never want a dog that unpredictable as a guide."

it's actually crazy ironic considering 1.) Corey doesn't have an aggressive bone in her body - the silly thing wants to befriend the pigeons, for Heavens sake. She tries to go say hi like she would to cats and other dogs and gets all pouty when they fly off. 2.) She LOVES other dogs! 3.) She actually isn't all that protective of me and loves people. I mean, she is protective of our house, but she hasn't shown much inclination to protect me from anything but oncoming traffic, and that's her job. 4.) Every shepherd I've met who has had a responsible owner haas been similar to this - friendly, loving, happy, sociable.

The only difference between labs and shepherds is that if a lab attacks you it can't do quite the same amount of damage as a shepherd. (Also that shepherds, pits, and rotties are more often named as specific breeds in attack reports, while labs, goldens, and other "family pets" are just "a dog.")

All of these stereotypes are just awful. They end up keeping great, wonderful dogs from finding good homes. Argh.

 

Perhaps a witnessed scene of redirected aggression towards the handler led to this rumor. It does happen with some GSDs. Most cases of handler aggression are no surprise, the dog usually has a history..

 

She must have seen a 2 month old teething GSD in action :rofl:
Good job defending this loyal breed!!

 

I love they way you kept your cool at her remark. Don't think I would have kept mine at such stupidity. The fact that she was representing a particular company could get her fired for such a remark.

Sarcasm - I'm afraid I might have gone off and bit her. After all you have to watch those GSD owners as well - they might just turn on a stupid person too. Okay sarcasm for today done.

 

I also hate stereotyping. It's ridiculous. Honestly I have never heard of a German shepherd or a pit bull turning on their owners. All of my pit bulls I have trusted with my 2 and 1 year old girls. I still have a pit bull puppy and I can trust him with my girls. I don't have a German shepherd just yet but if I have ever heard anything bad about them, which I haven't, I never believed them any way.

Sent from Petguide.com Free App

 

Dogs personalities are as individual as humans. Anyone who has ever owned a Big Bad Alpha male that was born to be president knows that they may challenge you for leadership. I am on my 3rd pair of Black German Shepherds. My first male was Satan, he was no doubt one of the best natural guard dogs ever born. As soon as I got him at around 8 weeks, I took him and his papers to a well known and respected trainer in this area. After looking at his line she told me that these dogs were vicious and she knew of 2 of them turning on their owners, she recomemded putting him to sleep. Well needless to say this so called expert scared me to death. Satan was about 2 years old or so when my daughter was born, to make a long story short, my daughter Brittney and many of her little friends grew up with Satan, they could pull on his tail, ears or whatever and even get in his food bowl with out so much as a growl. Yet at the same time, no stranger in his right mind would get out of their car with him around. Satan never challenged me or another human pack member. Jett, my second male never challenged any of us. The male I have now, Dex, is 18 months old. He has challenged me and my wife for correcting him, he has viciously challenged my daughter who is only home occasionally three times, she had refused to ever assert her pack leadership over him until this last time. These challenges are a thing of the past with the corrective measures we took, all were a result of what we were doing wrong, Dex was just being the dog he was born to be. He is the biggest loveable baby you have ever seen now that there is no doubt about his position in the pack.

 

If i remember right, the term "that shepard will turn on you', comes from the late 50`s early 60`s, because of Rin Tin Tin, everyone wanted a GSD, not knowing anything about the breed, other than the fact wanting a dog just like Rinty, lot of backyard breeding, inbreeding to keep up with the demand, and there were some incidents of GSD`s turning on their owners, in my travels with Max, i have been asked that question, and it from mostly people in their 70`s and 80`s, OP thanks for setting the dog food peddler straight

 

You shouldve said something like nutro has rabies in it. They are stalking around my petsmart also, me saying raw shuts them up.

 

I applaud you for correcting another act of ingnorance and stupidity

 

“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man.”


― Mark Twain

 

Perception: