Not everyone is ignorant. Some people on this board resort to calling other people stupid, ignorant etc..
Just because they don't know what a Newf is or maybe guess a different breed or make comments we have heard 1000 times and weren't funny the first time doesn't make them dumb or beneath us..
Most are just trying to be nice or social, cut them a break. Look at it from their side, bite your tongue and be nice.
Hagrid, my post is not directed solely at you and if it was just your post I would have blown it off, but it seems this last month there have been so many posts where people are calling other people on the street names or saying how stupid they are or their dog is. Those people are just as good as us and love their dogs just as much as we do.
Maybe because I live in a small town, but people are nice to each other here and if someone makes a comment that would normally just make me roll my eyes, I have manners, am polite and stop while they pet my Newfs and learn about them.
I would never be a smartalec, mean, or act like I am better than them or call their little dog (if they have one, lots of posts lately have been solely to complain about people and their little dog) names. It makes the people doing the name calling look bad and shows no class...Why be so mean when you don't know them, what they are going through in life or what kind of person they are?
Just smile and be nice, what's the big deal about that??
Kelly, since I've been the author of at least one of the posts you referenced, I'm going to reply to your statement.
I don't think ANY of us has ever been mean, or called anyone's dog a name, during the interactions we have with these people. That would be churlish. Even when someone's small, out-of-control dog attacks my dog, (which happens, I'm sorry to say, rather frequently), I'm polite. I have even said things like, "Please make sure your leash is tight, my guy here can intimidate smaller dogs just because he's so big, and they might feel they need to protect you from him," in an attempt to prevent Pook from getting yet another bloody nose. I take it on Pooka instead of pointing out that their dog is not within their control because, as you say, we never know what a person has gone through, or is going through.
It is a HUGE pet peeve of mine that so many small dog owners do not bother to take their small dogs to classes, or socialize them, because they are small enough to be manhandled. I think all dogs should learn how to control THEMSELVES. Obviously this isn't the case for all small dogs, and all small dog owners, but the overwhelming majority of ill-behaved, poorly-socialized, out-of-control dogs that I have interacted with since we first brought Nanook home four years ago have been small. I think I have every right to be upset when my dog, who was lying very politely in a down/stay at the vets', minding his own business, suddenly has a bleeding nose, AGAIN, because a small dog owner wandered past paying no attention to their pet, ignored my request to tighten up their lead; and I wasn't able to get up off the bench, over my dog who was lying on my feet, and in between him and the small dog before the small dog lunged and bit. And if, after two dozen or so of these encounters, I should have formed a prejudice against the sort of owners who treat their pets as ornaments, and don't bother to train them - well I'll own up to it. I don't like those people at all. But I am STILL polite to them.
I have never once refused to let someone pet my dog - I go out of my way to make people feel comfortable with them - Nanook even has his own business cards with answers to the most common questions people ask us printed on the back! And I smile and laugh every time someone repeats one of the phrases we've all now heard ad nauseum. Because yes, that's the polite thing to do, and I'm sure we all know how to behave like adults in public.
Both of my guys are therapy dogs, and we visit frequently with all sorts of people. If I couldn't be a good ambassador for the breed, that work wouldn't be possible.
With all that said, I consider it a relief to come onto this forum and vent, and commiserate, over the frustrating giant-dog experiences that we are ALL, quite obviously, sharing.
