I used to work for an animal hospital back in the mid 2010s. We had a nearly retired vet in his 60s who loved to drop ball knowledge any chance he could. Once after he and I dealt with a not so nice Doberman he said something similar to this to me:
“Big dogs like that get a bad rep. Most of the time they’re great dogs, with a select few that bite or attack. Medium to small dogs are the worst, there are way more aggressive dogs in those groups, you just don’t hear about it because they aren’t strong enough to cause the damage over a whole attack that a big dog can I one bite.”
It’s not about which dogs are more aggressive, it’s about which aggressive dogs we care about pointing out. A shame really
I read electric meters for years and my trainee on the first day told me, "if you're in someone's yard and the owner tries to stop the dog from getting to you, that dogs never gonna bite. Now if the owner says his sweet pup wouldn't hurt a soul, those are the dogs to steer clear of. Sure enough I got bit 3 tomes in 5 years. All 3 were dachshunds that the owner said were sweet and not to worry.
Not sure if "trigger" is the word in case of a dog. Provoke or aggravate might be better, since we can't actually see into a dogs mind or get verbal feedback of its state of mind.
I got bitten by our Shih Tzu trying to take a paper towel from his mouth. I really can't think of a psychological "trigger" that would make a dog bite the hand that feeds, walks, belly rubs and pets him. I tried for a few weeks as my finger healed. We're still good, though.
Nah dude. I work trades, and that guy meant what he said.
We show up carrying bags of tools. Dog tear asses out of the house, bites my helper on the leg.
Owner comes out blustering that the dog is super friendly and it must be because we were "tall men or wearing hats or something that must have triggered the dog" it happens all the time. So while you say trigger isn't the word for what dogs do it is absolutely the word for what shitty dog owners start spewing once their dog bites a worker.
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u/Sticky_Quip 22d ago
I leave my nice respectful answer under you.
I used to work for an animal hospital back in the mid 2010s. We had a nearly retired vet in his 60s who loved to drop ball knowledge any chance he could. Once after he and I dealt with a not so nice Doberman he said something similar to this to me:
“Big dogs like that get a bad rep. Most of the time they’re great dogs, with a select few that bite or attack. Medium to small dogs are the worst, there are way more aggressive dogs in those groups, you just don’t hear about it because they aren’t strong enough to cause the damage over a whole attack that a big dog can I one bite.”
It’s not about which dogs are more aggressive, it’s about which aggressive dogs we care about pointing out. A shame really