When I was a child, I do not remember anybody going to dog training, and yes, there seemed to be no food issues. But we did make our dogs some doggie stews with giblets and vegetables. Having a dog was not very popular as it is today. Our backyards were large, so many people did not get out and walk their dogs so much, unless you lived in a place like NYC.

About behavior: we had a pure bred Beagle (1969) - looked like a show dog, but was not trained well and did get aggressive and bit people including me. I blame this on my clueless parents, they did not put any effort into him. He had a stroke at 12 yrs and we put him down shortly after. When I was 15 yrs old, got a pit, terrier, lab mix. I trained him myself. He was very well socialized, but still had occasional issues with aggression once he got to be about 2 yrs old. Everyone loved him, I moved and left him with my family. He died young, 9 yrs of cancer.

My next door neighbors had a GSD, they were born in Germany. Their 1st GSD looked like it was from Europe, straight back, strong and stocky female. We had lots of quiet time together, just standing next to each other at our common fence. Their next GSD must have been ASL (early 1970's), male with very sloped back. He paced back and forth constantly. I liked the female better. This family did no training, no did they ever walk their dogs. My friend had a Great Dane and another neighbor had a Collie that looked like Lassie that I loved. A block away someone had a Chihuahua that was just as nasty as they are today.

Overall in my experience, the dogs did not behave better, but they certainly seemed healthier - no allergies, diarrhea, physical defects, seldom did we go to the vet other than vaccinations.

 

I grew up in the 60's and while I did not own any dogs as a child, my best friend had a GSD named "Prince". I think that back then the dogs ate what they were given because that was all they were going to get, no special treats or cookies. They were better behaved because quite frankly they were not given the option not to. We were in a different time frame training wise and did not have the training tools that we have today.

I also think that back then they didn't go out of their way to socialize dogs and have doggie get togethers at "dog parks". I think because of this dogs back then didn't have the opportunity to get aggressive to a certain extent.
The way I see it is that now a days we have come to humanize our beloved dogs and treat them as though they are our children. Don't get me wrong, I love my dog and not having had one when I was a child it is a very special thing for me now, but I just think that in today's society we have elevated them to a different status and spoil them to where it creates misbehaviour problems.

Believe me I think that the way we treat our dogs in terms of training and socialization and food is much better than it was back then. I just think it was a completely different time...look at how our children have evolved, some for the better, some not.

 

Dog's don't attack people any more than they did back then. We tend not to remember the bad moments or bad events in life unless they were HUGE (assassinations, 9/11). We remember the good times, and the happy moments. I don't believe that there are THAT many dog attacks. You just hear about them faster and louder these days due to facebook and twitter. At the same time...back then...if your dog bit someone, it probably got taken out back and shot, or put down right away. There weren't people willing to put up with those types of behaviors. Any type of aggression was probably generally dealt with in that way, rather than letting a dog live out its life in a kennel.

A local dog attack in New York would never be news in the Midwest...but now due to facebook, everyone knows about it. I get amazed that I have people from Wisconsin sharing "lost dog" posts from California...like...what's the point of that? The dog is NOT in Wisconsin...lol.

The sickness thing...people are sicker than we were 50 years ago...and only because they have a disease for everything now. And they come up with medication to sell you for everything now. Same with pets...more disposable income...more people going to vets to figure out why their pet is itching too much, or pooping too much, or whatever too much. Back in the day...you just had a dog that liked to scratch a lot.

No one went to training because there weren't that many "pet" training places. People didn't have the money to spend on training a dog. Now there is more disposable income and so more people take their dog to training to get it to sit, stay, down. People saw a business opportunity...there was money to be made...and they took advantage of it. They sold a new idea...no longer is pet training only for the "problem" dogs...its now for all dogs. There are probably hundreds of businesses open right now that weren't even an industry 50 years ago.


I'm not old...only been around a couple decades...but that's just the facts of human advancement and psychology.

 

Dog's don't attack people any more than they did back then. We tend not to remember the bad moments or bad events in life unless they were HUGE (assassinations, 9/11). We remember the good times, and the happy moments. I don't believe that there are THAT many dog attacks. You just hear about them faster and louder these days due to facebook and twitter. At the same time...back then...if your dog bit someone, it probably got taken out back and shot, or put down right away. There weren't people willing to put up with those types of behaviors. Any type of aggression was probably generally dealt with in that way, rather than letting a dog live out its life in a kennel.

A local dog attack in New York would never be news in the Midwest...but now due to facebook, everyone knows about it. I get amazed that I have people from Wisconsin sharing "lost dog" posts from California...like...what's the point of that? The dog is NOT in Wisconsin...lol.

The sickness thing...people are sicker than we were 50 years ago...and only because they have a disease for everything now. And they come up with medication to sell you for everything now. Same with pets...more disposable income...more people going to vets to figure out why their pet is itching too much, or pooping too much, or whatever too much. Back in the day...you just had a dog that liked to scratch a lot.

No one went to training because there weren't that many "pet" training places. People didn't have the money to spend on training a dog. Now there is more disposable income and so more people take their dog to training to get it to sit, stay, down. People saw a business opportunity...there was money to be made...and they took advantage of it. They sold a new idea...no longer is pet training only for the "problem" dogs...its now for all dogs. There are probably hundreds of businesses open right now that weren't even an industry 50 years ago.

I'm not old...only been around a couple decades...but that's just the facts of human advancement and psychology.

It was already obvious to me that you never lived in the 60s. I'm not talking about nationwide dog attacks. I'm talking about where I lived in Baltimore. We sat on our porches and congregated at the neighborhood store. Nothing happened in our community that we didn't know about. If there had been a vicious dog attack, we would know. And even 50 years ago, you couldn't shoot your dog in Baltimore City.

Don't tell me everything was rosy and that's all that I would remember. I remember just fine. I remember when I was 6 and my best friend was killed by a drunk driver. I remember every detail right down to the exact words spoken by her brother and the look of anguish on the face of the drunk mans' young son. Likewise, I still remember the names and breeds of my old neighborhood dogs. The only troublemaker was Beetle. He was a large mix, escaped his yard frequently and bullied the other dogs. I remember that he was hit by a car and I remember his teenage owner crying. I am quite certain I would remember a vicious dog attack.

Baltimore City today - same neighborhood, there are vicious dog attacks. I'm not talking about a single bite or a nip. I'm talking about attacks. I can still get this information the same way I did in the 1960s. It's called a newspaper.

It wasn't lack of money that kept people from training. We weren't poor. It would never have occurred to us to go to obedience class, even if there was such a thing. Of course there are new industries today. My point is that in my day they did NOT exist and we did quite fine without them. Vet care was not as expensive as today. We took our pets when they needed to go. If anything, I would expect dogs to live longer now than they did in the 60s. Are you saying people are sicker and do not live as long? That has also not been my experience.

 

Well, yeah. Same reason good ol' farm dogs are good ol' farm dogs. If they weren't, they were shot. There wasn't so much 'breeding for looks' or 'breeding for extremes'. "Pet shop puppies" weren't available at every strip mall.
All the 'best' dogs we see at our vet clinic are farm dogs. A guy in overalls who comes in with his mutt using his belt as a leash... that's going to be a good dog. They never give us trouble. Smile at you while you draw blood, lick your hand when you trim their toenails. Don't flinch when you give shots. Almost every single 'show dog' that comes through is a prissy, high-strung pain to deal with. They bite, they carry on in the kennels, and the owners won't let us do our jobs for their pet. And I can say that because I'm part of that group; all my colleagues don't believe I show my dogs because they're not over-pampered pets.

People are trying so hard now a days to force any dog to fit into their lifestyle. When I was a kid, every family had a lab mix or a retriever mix or a shepherd mix that just... was good. Never crate trained but never pottied inside, never chewed up anything, trusted with all the neighborhood kids, never on leash but always stuck around the yard.
I also think training and attitude has changed. In my day, if a dog stole a hotdog at the block party he got a thump from whomever was closest and that was that. Dog dropped hotdog, everybody laughed, party went on. Now people would call animal control on an 'abuser' if a neighbor smacked someone else's dog.

Good post. I'm interested to see how this snowballs, I'd love to hear others views.

 

a completely different time...look at how our children have evolved, some for the better, some not.[/QUOTE]

Wow so true!


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Life was much simpler back then. My grandma used to feed the dogs Alpo. I know I was always outside playing, running around with which ever dog she let me have. Kids today sit inside playing video games. You probably didn't hear of all the dog bites because everone wasn't as sue crazy as they are these days.

 

I don't really trust people's memories as a child because of brain development and children don't have the responsibility of adults and weren't party to a lot of the tough decisions our parents made.

We lived in acreage though it was part of the country that was being turned from farms into large suburban parcels owned by doctors, lawyers, etc. It was also next to several hundred acres of park land. People were constantly dumping unwanted dogs and cats in our property. My whole family were animal lovers and me and my siblings always tried to adopt all the dumped animals, but at some point my parents just had to stop us. To this day, I don't know what tough decisions they had to make.

We also had a small mix adopted by my older sister that got torn to pieces by a neighbor's German Shepherds. Nobody had fenced yards. As kids we knew there were houses in the neighborhood to avoid because they had nasty dogs.

One thing that was different though is that people's expectations of dogs were different. At one point or another, me and my siblings and all the kids in the neighborhood experienced a bite from a dog. No big deal. Dogs bite if you do something stupid. Kids do stupid things. Nobody sued.

My parents didn't march up to the neighbor with the GSDs to complain about their dogs. Dogs could attack and hurt other dogs because they entered their territory. People understood that. Dogs were well socialized because people had no fences and didn't walk their dogs on a leash. Puppies growing up encountered the older dogs in the neighborhood and all the kids just by being out in their yard.

Lots of dogs and cats got run over. A dog that did not learn to become car sure became a Darwinian casualty. People did not spend that much on vets and lots of dogs died young. People remember all the dogs that lived old but tend to forget the ones that didn't.

 

Well I grew up a bit later than the 1960s but…..

First dog I remember as a child was a big white Samoyed. We use to climb all over her and she was the calmest most patient dog. You can’t do that now-a-days or people scream what an awful parent and irresponsible dog owner you are but it was common back then. Dogs were expected back then to be good around small children.

I remember feeding dogs Purina or some other cheap grocery store dog food (Gaines Burgers, Gravy Train, Kibbles n Bits, Ol’Roy, Alpo etc.) before we moved on to the high-quality stuff, IAMs. We gave milk bones as treats and to help clean teeth. We also regularly fed table scraps. It was not common to bring our dogs to the vet for annual check-ups or annual vaccines. You just vaccinated when they were young and made vet appointments when there was something wrong. There was no such thing as heartworm preventatives. We used flea/tick “collars” not frontline. We never owned a crate. The dogs played with tennis balls and sticks. Our dogs did live in the house. The dog park was our back yard. We had a lot of land when I was young and we kids did spend many hours outside with our dogs. My mom’s poodle (Mitzy) was a “retired” circus dog she adopted from the Humane Society (so yes there were animal shelters back then and unwanted pets being dumped). Mitzy did have a lot of formal training and knew a lot of fun tricks that my mom liked to entertain her guests with when she’d have a social party. My dad’s GSD (Satin) was also very well trained. I believe my father trained her but I’m not sure if he took her to any formal training classes. My dad was an old horse trainer and I think he just knew how to train. Of course today people would place his methods of training in the dreaded “compulsion” training classification.

Mom and Dad always had at least 2 dogs when I was growing up. Mom always picked up her dogs from the Humane Society and I remember going with her to pick out a dog. I remember one poodle she adopted that had terrible seizures and was PTS shortly after mom brought her home. Today, they probably wouldn't do that. There's medicine for seizures now. Dad’s dog Satin lived to be almost 16 (maybe over 16) so he always had her while I was growing up.

I don’t know if I think owners are any better/worse than back then. Times have changed we have learned more about our canine companions. Like we have learned we can’t feed our dogs as if they are livestock. Some things are improvements some are not. Some things are more geared towards someone else making money at the dog’s expense. Those things are not better IMO.

 

I was born in 1976 so am too young to have personal experience in this, but I have read opinions on this exact topic. What the author (and forgive me, I don't recall the name or the book so you will just have to trust my recollection) said was that back in the day, the dog was let out in the morning to roam. He got his exercise, his social interaction with other dogs and people, he sniffed stuff, he marked wherever, he pooped where he wanted to, he ate whatever appealed to that he came across. In other words he had a very full and enriching day that satisfied his physical and mental needs.

Fast forward to today where we have a lot more laws restricting the natural behavior of dogs (roaming, foraging, eliminating bodily wastes). Now normal dog behaviors are "problems". We restrict them more and more and wonder why they find other outlets, which are also problems, this time with more negative consequences (in house destruction, barking, obsessive behaviors, short tempers).

The fault lies, I believe, with trying to turn dogs into small humans in hair suits. It is completely selfish of us to try to stuff these animals into little boxes that conveniently fit into our lifestyles, which are increasingly busy with work or screen time or raising children.

 

The fault lies, I believe, with trying to turn dogs into small humans in hair suits. It is completely selfish of us to try to stuff these animals into little boxes that conveniently fit into our lifestyles, which are increasingly busy with work or screen time or raising children.

Ain't that the truth!?! I remember being at a family reunion (hey, I was a child and I remember this!!!) and my dad's cousin and his wife brought a small dog with them. They had it wrapped in a baby blanket. Us 'kids' weren't allowed to play with it. We all thought that was utterly INSANE!!! We still call him the Crazy Cousin.

Now you can buy blankets specifically for dogs. And dog purses to carry them in...etc...etc...

 

I grew up in the 60's and have good and bad dog memories. As a toddler climbing over the fence to pet my grandparents **** dogs - I remember my uncle pulling me off the fence once, saying, Boy, those dogs will eat you up. But they didn't, they were so happy for some attention. It was all wagging tails and happy faces. They were in a pen out in the yard with nothing but half buried 55 gallon barrels and a little straw inside for them to sleep on. I'm sure if I had been a raccoon it would have been another story.
Another time I was in grade school and found a stray dog after school. While I waited for my mom to pick me up, we became best pals, or so I thought, until I tried to hug the dog. He struggled and bit me in the lip, I still have the scar. When I explained my bloody lip to my mom when she arrived, there was a worried conversation with the school teacher. Animal control was called and the dog was picked up and tested for rabies (negative). I still feel guilty about that. When I was 15 I remember having to carry our 16 year old blind and incontinent terrier in my arms to the vet to be put down because no one else in the family could handle it. In the 70's I remember our purebred poodle almost losing his leg from a dog attack over a female dog in heat because we did not have a fence and he was not fixed. He regained almost total use of his leg and lived to be 17, after a lifetime of chocolate treats and cheap supermarket dog food.

 

My experience was almost identical to Stevenzachsmom.

I grew up in Pasadena Calif., so the experiences were not just east coast.

The dogs that survived Distemper, Parvo, and automobiles were vastly more stable than the pampered brats ( dogs or kids) you see today.

I am aware that anyone under thirty will think we only remember the good stuff and forget the not so good. Not so. You'll know that if you live long enough.
When my kids were in their twenties they thought I didn't know anything. When they hit their thirties they started telling me, thanks dad, I just didn't understand until now.

 

My experiences mirror both of yours, right down to the German couple that lived next door to us. They were first generation Germans that came to this country after WWI. They didn't have a dog though.

I do remember being 24 and thinking I knew everything then.

 

By no means have am I anywhere near having lived in the 60s. But, I can only say that dogs are man's best friend, for many decades, centuries, eras, lifetimes. We have done just fine with them as they were, and the recent events are just another product of the times (rotten times, if you ask me) whether you look at the good or the bad. Dogs are always around, and will always be man's best friend, no matter how we treat them or train them or feed them.
I just think this is a wonderful topic, and would like to say, that the only thing I know of dogs of history are in books. To name a few...

Zhuhcka in Dostoevesky's "Brothers Karamazov", a boy's rescued, extremely trained, and best friend of a dog. No different than many stories I hear of nowadays.

Historical non-fiction, namely, Stephanitz' The GSD in Word and Picture. Many things remain unchanged from what he spells out.

And of Mark Twain's "A Dog's Tale" just a great story about the wonders of a dog.

"..but its proven and tested theory that humans have a much easier time remembering good memories over bad ones" Some would argue this is called repressing your memories. But that's not what we're discussing.

 

I am from that era. Dogs pretty much roamed free in my village (read: Merle's Door from Ted Kerasote), had their own social life and weren't locked up in apartments all day. Problem dogs were shot, weak puppies didn't survive. And we didn't call them "our babies" or had to wear clothes. Most of them were intact, lived outside and didn't have many privileges.

 

A proven and tested theory like hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women or that cholesterol causes heart attacks.

My opinion which is not at all scientific is that we tend to remember major events or experiences whether good or negative.


Quote Jae"..but its proven and tested theory that humans have a much easier time remembering good memories over bad ones" Some would argue this is called repressing your memories. But that's not what we're discussing.[/quote]

 

I don't think you even have to go back that far......I was born in the late 70's and it was different even then growing up with dogs.
Dogs were allowed to be dogs and kids were allowed to be kids....and they still are here at our house.

 

How about this blast from the past:

"When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad"

Things were different then, alright. Nowadays if a dog bites, it's called a dangerous dog. Back then if a dog bit you, the first thing that would be asked is what you did to deserve it, lol.

 

Haha....so true. I can remember my uncle had a dog who really disliked young children.....we were told "don't touch the dog....if you do he will bite you and it will be your fault for touching him" Never got bitten by him but he wasn't locked away from everyone.

 

You are wrong Martemchik. This is not another one of those, "I had the perfect dog" threads and Mom and Dad took care of the pet. My mother doesn't know a thing about dogs. My father brought my puppy home to me in his coat pocket. I was 4 years old. It was 1962. He was a beagle. He was the runt of the litter and a neurotic mess. He was MY dog. I was responsible for him. Dad worked all day. Mom didn't like dogs. Hard to believe someone would give a 4 year old a puppy, but that's the way it was. I did everything for him. I had him a lifetime, if you consider I was 21 when he died.

It would be wonderful if we could only remember the good things. As Andy said, that just isn't true. I'm not sure everyone remembers things the way I do. I don't remember every event, or every date. I remember in pictures and I remember exact conversations. They are not necessarily very important, or good or bad, but I remember. My husband wishes I couldn't do this, because we have been together since we were teens. LOL! I cannot remember anything before the age of 4. After 4, my memories are very vivid. There are many things I wish I could forget, but that isn't going to happen.

I am not just talking about vicious attacks. If you read my first post, I am talking about dogs having more issues in general - food guarding, resource guarding, separation anxiety, DA, HA. etc.

 

Back then, it was just you and the dog. None of the bells and whistles that there are today. No hoopla over socialization or food ingredients. Most of what is most damaging to dogs today was absent back then.
Today, I had a woman call me at work crying because she had to fill out a bite report. She had surrendered her dog to us after it tore her hand open while she was trying to leash it. She cried and bawled about how she bought the dog the best food ever and the best toys ever. The dog had her own bed, a section in the closet for clothing, and a kids' toy castle to play in. If she went out to eat, she would order the dog her own meal. She just could not understand how she could do all these things for the dog and the dog repay her with a laceration that went from wrist to knuckle.

The dog had everything but structure. Humanization over the years, I think is the most damaging thing to our dogs. They were better behaved because we weren't inflicting all our neuroses on them or throwing unnecessary luxuries at them in exchange for pure and simple time with us and love.

 

One of the top ten best posts ever.

 

I grew up in Brooklyn ny and things were very different as far as dogs go. We never paid for a dog. Always acquired them from someone or just brought home a stray. And there were a lot of strays. Dogs got walked several times a day. Or they escaped and ran around the neighborhood. As a kid I had the sense not to go right up to a strange dog. If I got bit it was assumed I did something to the dog. Alpo and left overs were food. No vet visits unless the dog was really sick. No training classes. Most dogs learned the basics. Yes there were vicious dogs but it was our responsibility to stay away from them. Definitely didn't see any purse puppies.

 

i am a 70's child but in an area 20 years behind so i think i can still post on this. firstly not a single house ever had a fence around it, in fact nobody ever took the keys out of their car or locked the doors of their house or shut the windows. evryone had multiple dogs, nobody formally trained them, there were no such thing as dog breeders and nobody ever paid money for a dog, there were no training venues other than police, millitary and seeing-eye dogs but these were all invisible to the public. vets looked after cows and some expensive race horses and that was it. german shepherds were illegal in many areas as farmers thought they would mate with the wild dogs and breed wolf-like mass sheep killers. the only ones of us that got bit by dogs was when we provoked and teased them as a fun thing to do and when our parents foinund out we would get a slap in the head for teasing the dog, having said that tho unprovoked dogs that attacked other working dogs or people were simply shot and if it was deemed genetic in a line the line was culled. dogs ate table scraps or nothing. most dogs were crosses of EBT, ACD, kelpie and sight hound crosses for hunting. it was not unusual to drive around and see dogs you knew miles from home, they always found there way back to their own yard, dogs were never allowed in the house. looking back objectively there were some great working dogs and generally a lot of healthy happy pets. now i think the difference is a lucrative industry has emerged re solving pet problems and selling formal training systems, it appears they have magically created their own demand for themselves. i see a parrallel in modern psychology, people just dealt with stuff and got over it, now there is a new kind of ailment and "cure" every day, in fact it is unlikely you would find anyone in the developed world that doesn't fit some psychological diagnosis for some kind of mental afflicition. personally , i won't be and really do not want to be around in what i think the state of the world will be like in the medium/long term future.

 

personally , i won't be and really do not want to be around in what i think the state of the world will be like in the medium/long term future.

Ha you got that right!

 

I'm older than God's dog and my memory is ..... What was the question?

 

Dogs back then were not spoiled like thy are now. They had more room to roam and had little privileges. And if they acted up they got knocked across the head.


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Love this topic!!

I am a child if 70's, but clearly remember the difference.

I grew up with springer spaniels. Maggie and Holly. Wonderful dogs. Let out the front door in the morning and let back in at some point in the day. Holly was put down after getting into Rat poison. I was 5. Maggie was my childhood best friend. But I can't count how many times I ran to my mom with " MOOOOOM!!!! Maggie bit me!!!" Her response was ALWAYS, " what did you do to her?" Never had to go to the doctor or anything. But it taught me respect for the dog.

As kids we used to go to neighbors and ask to play with their dogs. I remember Norman, the Basset Hound. And the Afgan Hounds that jumped their 8 foot fence to say hi to me. I remember the miniature schnauzer that showed up at my elementary school during recess. I recognized the dog as my neighbors, and my teacher let me leave school to walk the dog home.

My grandparents neighbor had a German Shepherd. I would go over and ask to walk the dog when I was 8. She let me. He got away from 3x before she suggested she come with me. Never a big deal. No animals mauled by the dog, no kids frightened. He just went home. Was always there when I showed up crying.

Got knocked down and "attacked" by another neighbors GSD when I was playing with it. Told my dad. He looked me over, said " your fine" and life went on.

We fed our dogs Gaines Burgers and peanut butter and they had fleas. It was what it was.

My mom still believes the same things. Aside from Holly, all if her dogs have lived well into their teens. Minimal vaccines, occasional baths, no socialization( unless I did it) no preventatives, mediocre food.

But like someone said earlier, the world back then was a lot less sue happy than now. You got bit by a dog, you moved on.

I miss those days. I am hyper aware of my dogs. My mom tells me all the time to " calm down, the dogs are fine"

When I had my last puppy, Ike (RIP) she would watch him during the day while I was at work. I got to her house one day to find he had a puncture wound on his cheek. She told me Boo, her ChowX got annoyed with him and bit him. I FREAKED OUT!!! Rushed him the vet. Spent countless dollars to hear he was fine. Her comment was " told ya so ". He was back there the next day. And learned his lesson.

I remember the days if respecting when someone said "the dog will bite" you stayed away from said dog.


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I grew up in the 60's, our yards were fenced, not too many loose dogs, but some. We played outside most of time so the dogs got more attn. that way,but most were not allowed in house. No special food or many vet trips. The vets were different then too, maybe just ours, more on the animals don't feel pain like us. I remember one of our dogs had an ear problem, he just took hold of the hair in his ears and pulled it out. Gave my mom something to put in his ears, we went home. My grandparents lived on a farm, I only remember one dog there, he wasn't there for years. They didn't like dogs around really, didn't like them around cattle, chickens, etc. they did have a few cats, few, they were useful, help with mice, rats, in the barn, never allowed in the house.i think most people know how too many kittens/pups would be taken care of in other times. I have many happy childhood memories, it was a simpler time, we didn't have much money, but had good "natural" foods, home grown a lot of it, homemade clothes, blankets. It was a lot of good times. Like going to the fabric store to pick out patterns and material for you Easter dress weeks before to prepare for the holiday. Not really done today. Yes, dogs, pets were not held in great regard as they are today, but it was a different time, and excepted by most as just how it is. I don't say this is good, my dogs are spoiled, live inside, and I look at it as my responsibility to make sure they are safe as well as neighbors.

 

i can relate to most of your story. i didn't grow up poor.
a lot of the dogs in my neighborhood were loose and free to
roam. when the mailman walked the streets he had 10 or
more dogs following him. some of the dogs went porch to porch
with him. some of the dogs followed him in the street. my neighbors
that lived across the street had a GSD. he bit me several times.
my parents told me to leave the dog alone, "dad, i was sitting on
the porch and he broke through the screen door". my dad "don't sit on their
porch and bother the dog". lol.

my neighbor up the street had a Doberman (Tonka) that was out
all of the time. when the kids started fighting Tonka would grab
a kid by the pant leg or shirt tail and pull them apart.

then there was Mr. T the French poddle with the fancy
cut. he was snobby. he would sit on his porch for hours
and just watch life pass by.

my next door neighbors had a Collie that spent more time
on our porch than his.

food, i remember Alpo and Gravy Train.