Quote:
Originally Posted by paulapoo  Otis is 5 years old. He is very well socialized. He has never, ever snapped at anyone else his whole life.
This man is very gentle, and has a soft voice. I do pick Otis up when he comes to the fence, but I pick Otis up when anyone comes around because he's a bolt and runner.
All that matters is that Otis is doing better with him. Certainly didn't mean to offend anyone. |
Glad that Otis is doing better with the disabled man. One does not know for certain why a dog would react in this manner to someone. Perhaps ,as I mentioned before, it may have been from a highly sensitive reaction to your dogs senses> A smell, voice tone , or anything, regarding the senses. Rather then a person with a disability. Or that the man was simply a new person to Otis.
However, If a dog has not ever been exposed to people who have disabilites , the animal is not going to know how to respond well. IMHO, the dog has NOT had these social experiences , which is why the dog became snappy, or it may have more do to with a fear aggression response. I am just throwing some logical ideas out on here.
It's never wise to autoamaticlly assume the dog is responding to a human negatively because the person has a disability
If the dog was propperly trained and had many social encounters with all types of people, the dog would not respond in such a manner.
BTW, if the dog had bitten this person, the owner would be held accountable. Anther very important reason to expose dogs to all people. It is too easy to say my dog has Never...... then for the dog to react and bite a individual. By then , it is too late !