Location Transport - Do you suffer from breed stereotypes?

Do you suffer from breed stereotypes?

I have an American Staffordshire Terrier. Because we had two tiny kids when we decided to get a puppy we went through an AKC registered show breeder, champion parents that also have CGC and ATT. Anyway, I've taken my dog out with me to pretty much any location that does not say "No Pets" on the front door, including our local movie store. Walking through the door the employees didn't even realize I HAD a dog with me until we got to the counter and they saw him - in the meantime a Poodle mix (labrador/poodle, I can't justify calling it a labradoodle) was standing on the end of his owners leash barking. My dog just stood there and looked at him. Somehow everyone was shocked at how well behaved my dog is? I understand that there are stereotypes for every breed (Chis are yappy and timid, JRTs are super hyper, Pit Bulls are dangerous, etc) but it still catches me by surprise when I am confronted with the stereotypes while my dog is going against it. What kind of comments/situations have you found yourself receiving when you take your dog out? This is regardless of size or breed. Thanks! I read a story once that a woman got screamed at for bringing her pit bull in public, it was dangerous, etc. The dog in question was sitting quietly beside her. It was a retired Greyhound that happened to have a brindle coat. Haha. My Amstaff is tripping over himself to meet anyone who comes in our yard and will do a sit stay/down stay without being asked in an attempt to be petted. Our Golden will be growling at the same people. They veer away from the Amstaff puppy and try to pet the Golden!

Public Comments

It gets annoying for me the fear that people have on their face. It frustrates me that ppl that don't know dogs think my girls are Pitts and get scared. No they don't look anything like pitbulls. It happens all the time. I'm not annoyed that they think they're Pitts, I'm annoyed at how they react because they think they're Pitts. I have 2 Bullmastiffs and one is dark brindle so I guess they look "scary". They're 2 silly goofballs. PS I have a hard time saying Labradoodle too, or Bugg or Goldendoodle.
Every time Me and my dog go to the beach, i bring along my little shih-zu mix and my cocker spaniel mix. But every time i go, people stare her down like shes about to attack. Especially the old ladies.
I have a big black German Shepard collie mix. He looks very threating and a lot of people will veer away from us when we are walking. He is the biggest baby on the face of the earth though. I also have a pit bull shar Pei mix. A lot of people are afraid of her when they visit. They will ask us to lock her up and tense up when she is around. This dog is anything from mean. She was raised by an old lady who died. She was sent to the shelter and this is where we found her. She craves attention and will lick you if you don't pet her. I don't really have much trouble with my beagle/basset or golden retriever - collie - lab.
So far, i havent had any negative reactions from people on my walks with my pit. He is so unbelievably obedient, people can tell from a distance that im in control of him, which makes them more comfortable. If i do run into snappy, ignorant pitbull haters, I'll snap right back.
i think people naturally worry, i am worried about any dog that is not my own no matter what the breed. at the end of the day it is an animal and there-fore unpredictable so depending on the built and size people are allowed to be scared or wairy of your dog because only u know the nature of your dog.... ......stop caring what other ppl think
When I was growing up, we had a large German Rottweiler. People were also nervous around her when we took her out. But when she was older, my mother had just had my younger sister and the dog had arthritis and could hardly move around, but she would let that baby crawl all over her and not a sign of aggression. She was the sweetest gentlest dog I have ever had, no matter how intimidating she looked.
It used to make me laugh when people would cross the street to avoid walking by me and my two doberman. They were the sweetest dogs and loved meeting new people. Then there would be the kids who didn't have a fear and would walk right up and ask if they could pet my dogs, occasionally their parent would grab the kid and clutch them against their body. I met my first doberman as a young kid and loved their temperament. I did not get them because of their tough image. A friend of mine said it was a powerful sight seeing a small female walking two dobies and in complete control. Anyone who did ask to pet them often commented how calm and well behaved they were. I now have whippets, and it's hard to go anywhere and not have someone ask about what kind of dog it is. People also want to pet them and often do so without asking (the opposite of with doberman). Thankfully one loves attention and I can normally send her out as a block for my guy who is a bit more reserved.
mom has a companion animal, it is a rott/mix, looks like a really tall rottie, the first thing out of peoples mouths is does it bite, is it a biter, wheres its muzzle, some folk even pull small children away, irritates her to pieces, since us kids use her dog as a pillow, or a blanket, a step ladder, or a seat,
Oh, wow.. I have too many stories to count! My husband and I absolutely LOVE all of the "pit bull" breeds (APBTs, AmStaffs, Staffies, etc.), but especially American Pit Bull Terriers. Before my husband and I got our first dog together we decided to do our research and find out what breed was the best for us. After tons of research we were sure that the APBT was our breed! We learned that they aren't at all what so many people say they are (well, we really already knew that because my husband had owned pits before, and I grew up around them. The majority of our friends and family own "pit bulls"). They were bred to fight animals, so they have to be socialized with other animals starting at a young age to help prevent animal-aggression. But, at the same time, they were also bred specifically to be human friendly! They were once known as nanny dogs for their love and dependability with children! Also, in temperament testing (http://www.atts.org/statistics.html), they test better than Golden Retrievers! "Pit bulls", when properly bred, raised, trained, socialized, handled and cared for, as all dogs, regardless of breed, should be, can make the most wonderful family companions! They are amazingly intelligent, obedient, loyal, gentle, loving.. and the list goes on and on! Just amazing dogs all around! And, after owning 2 APBTs, 1 male (Brooklyn.. the one in my picture) and 1 female, and a female APBT/AmStaff mix, we could never own another breed again! Anyway, all that being said, I have a few stories I can tell you. First, there are the little every day things like people walking to the other side of the street when they see us walking our dogs, people any place we ever take our dogs, that will try and teach us something about our dogs! I have had people actually yell at me, like they are mad at me for something, and tell me that I am crazy for owning "pit bulls"! That my dogs will definitely turn on me one day, that my dogs are too dangerous to ever have children around (even though all 3 of our pits LOVE my little 9 year old sister-in-law, my 10 year old brother-in-law, my neighbors 4 year old daughter and 3 year old son, my best friends 5 year old daughter, etc, etc, etc!), just any "pit bull" myth they can think of. And, of course, there are the few people that will actually give our dogs a chance, and then when they see how great they are, they always tell us how shocked they are that "pit bulls" can be so friendly! lol! I think they craziest thing that happened to us was when we first got Destiny (the APBT/AmStaff mix). To try to make a really long story as short as possible, we just had to take her home from this horrible BYB that had her. We took her by the pet store first and that's when this lady started acting crazy. I'm going to tell you about that in a second. But just so you can picture this, Desy was so sick that after we took her to the pet store to get stuff for her, we took her to an emergency vet. They told us she was only 5 weeks old (we were told she was 8 weeks, but at that point we didn't care, we knew we had to take her), she obviously hadn't been getting food, water, or anything! I mean, you could see basically every bone in her tiny little 2 pound body and she was severely dehydrated! She had pretty much every worm in the book, and really bad fleas and tick, her blood count was dangerously low, so she had to get a blood transfusion right away. We ended up paying over $1,000 and we had to leave her there for several days. Even with all of that though, the vet told us that he didn't know if she's make it or not. It was a very scary time for my husband and I. Thank God though, she made it and within a couple days we finally got to bring our miracle baby home! Anyway... To get back to my story, now that you know how tiny and sick Desy was at the time... I go into the pet store holding Desy wrapped up in a little baby blanket. Like I said, she was really sick (obviously we didn't know how sick at the time), and she only weighed like 2 pounds! While my husband is looking around this lady comes up to me and says.. "Awww! It's sooooo cute! What kind of dog is it?"... I considered lying because I knew from already owning Brooklyn that people were insanely ignorant when it came to "pit bulls". But, I am extremely proud of my breed of choice, and I consider myself a "pit bull" advocate, so I decide to tell her the truth. Before I even get the words out of my mouth, this lady had already yanked her hand back (like Desy was about to bite it off) and jumped.. yes jumped.. back several feet! Then she starts yelling at me, asking me if I'm crazy, telling me her daughter was chased by a "vicious pit bull", etc. It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever witnessed in my whole life! I couldn't help it, I had to just laugh! It was definitely crazy!
definitely! i have a pit bull, and every time someone finds out they're immediately terrified. my family is no excuse. we found my dog on the side of the road, and we didn't notice she was a pit bull until we got home. it freaked us out. we learned to love her though, and the more we learned about pit bulls the more we realized they're NOT dangerous dogs, and they're incredibly friendly! my pit bull is the most loving, loyal, dopey, sweet, and protective dog out there. people come to my house and immediately fall in love with her, but the second they find out she's a pit bull they're completely turned off. she doesn't have cropped ears, so most don't even notice her breed. its the same with any breed of animal though, it applies to horses too. TB's are nervous, QH's are lazy, Appaloosa's are stubborn, etc. Edit: and along the lines of your additional details- i had a lab that was rude as can be. labs are supposed to be "loving, family dogs". he would growl at you if you hugged him, snap at people, run from guests, etc...while our pit bull's jumping over people, wagging her tail, etc. she's so patient with kids too
The one that bothers me most is they assume my collie is a female because of "Lassie" but Lassie was always played by a male collie because they have the prettier coat. And my male I walked one day with a wolf/collie hybrid puppy who was around 11 weeks or so maybe older and everyone said "Ohhh look she's so cute with her puppy" I was a bit angry...true my dog was the father but not the mother. It only gets worse if I walk in with my American Bulldog/Lab cross they assume she is dangerous and they ignore her or pull people awy and they go straight for my seventeen week old collie puppy because she doesn't give off the "horror" vibe. My amlab dog lets my nefew who is all of six months crawl all over her and tug on her ears and snuggle with her she loves him I trust her more than I do anyones dog. They hear me call her by her name and they assume she's a boy as well. If you saw a twenty year old walking a collie and it had on a badanna with skulls and she called him "Ben" would you still call him a her? they also assume that all my collies are the most loyal dogs and call them Lassie it used to bother me because Lassie is a fairy tail and yes Collies are amazing dogs but my dog was not a movie star. I dunno people are just stupid.
All the time and funnily enough, mostly at AKC dog shows. I have had owners of other breeds approach me at shows and say that our dogs are too vicious to be allowed. One time we were at an outdoor show and our girl was napping next to us while we watched the other breeds in the ring. A PWD was at the end of it's leash barking at her with the handler doing NOTHING. After about 15 minutes, our girl stood up and barked at him. Was not straining at the leash, pulling, growling or anything, just barked one time. Several people gasped and were upset that our dog would bark once at this other dog that had been yapping for a quarter of an hour. It's so irritating.
I get looks, but so far no one has said anything negative to me yet. And if someone does, you will see me on the news. More people seem put off by my boxer. She is a little more reserved then my APBT. My PB always has happy tail. I always have to tell people that my dogs get along well with little dogs. I can see the fear in the little dog owners' eyes as we start anywhere in their direction. After that, they relax and will allow my dogs to greet theirs.
I fostered a staffy mix not to long ago. he was the sweetest, most obedient, big baby EVER!. When I took him out to petsmart or the local park i got mostly good responses. However people generally were a little more cautious around him than say a golden retriever. It did annoy me a bit, but on the other hand, i can understand where some of these people are coming from, The area I live in is Pit central. Its not the safest neighborhood, and horribly bred pit types run rampant around here, usually being owned by less than Intelligent/capable individuals and gangster types. I can understand the caution as most of the people around here that have pits are BYBred and are not well trained/or socialized. I will not go up to anyone's dog and just assume its friendly especially becuase most of the people around here have NO clue how to control a dog(especially a powerful dog). However I think the "AHHH GET THAT VICIOUS DOG OUT OF HERE!"" screams are a bit rediculous, (as my dog licks some childs face).
Hell yes. I have a APBT and bull terrier. "Aggressive" dogs. Not to mention all the myths about them such as there brain grows to big for there head making them go crazy or they are not good with kids. Both complete lies!
Yes. My pit bull is my service dog and I have had people yell at me for bring a dangerous dog into the public. I have even had some try to attack him. Good thing in my state it is a huge fine to hurt a service dog. There are people who can not believe they would train the breed for that job and think he is the only one. Makes me so mad.