Very interesting thread this ,my friend has a rottie and from a pup he has always been picked on poor thing the silly thing is that dispite his size he is a gentle soul,and really wouldnt hurt a fly ,but i hadnt realised untill now that it was a known thing ,as i say very interesting .

My black Lab X is very much like Willow's... wants to say hello to everything, large or small doesnt matter, and he just assumes they want to say hello back.

Bless him, he sometimes get snapped at but doesnt understand why he gets snapped at by other dogs so I keep him away from them now, which is a shame because is ssoooooooooooooo friendly and soft, he's daft! He was attacked by a staffie who knows him very well and we dont know why she did it. He has a nice little scar on his cheek now

On the good new side, he has started to go grey underneath his chin and along his back so he will soon not be all black Anyone know why this is???

I have a black lab and although i have head of this problem i have never experienced it myself. We occasionally meet dogs who dont like other dogs but thats about it. Most other dogs love Murphy (he loves everyone ) and he is a jet black lab with dark brown eyes. Maybe we dont have the problem because his body language says 'i love you all, love me back everyone!' all the time lol

I too think there is some truth in this I have three borzois one gold and white one red and white and one black she has some white in her but not a lot. she has been attacked three times with dogs off leads and is confronted often when on our walks, but the other two are either played with or ignored buy other dogs. Someone on another forum asked why their puppy kept getting attacked and I asked what colour the puppy was and was told it was black, I posted that I had read somewhere that black dogs were prone to being attacked by other more than any other colour of dog. The reply from the poster was that she had never heard this but since she could find no other explanation this may have been the case. The post then became very interesting as their were many different views.

I never had a problem with black dogs and my dogs. Takoda doesn't like any dog while he is onlead. But off lead they great all dogs the same, big small and whatever colour they are. Where as most dogs seem spooked by my dogs who are not black with dark eyes. I find other dogs don't like my dogs eyes because they are not the usual dark colour.

This is something I too have an interest in and have put a bit of thought into it over the years

It is well known that black faced dogs do attract aggressive reactions from other dogs and I'm sure this is because it causes confusion and perception of a possible threat, as there are no markings to indicate facial expression.

On another recent thread, there were comments that some Malamutes also attract the same reaction from some dogs. This I believe is due to the colour and markings also, as well as posture.

The natural colour and pattern on the wolf is usually rather muted with subtle colour changes. Selective breeding in some breeds has accentuated these patterns and colour changes, which could have the effect of exaggerating the visual signals these dogs give. Not just in the face but the whole body, including the light markings on the underside of the tail. A wolf would carry his tail high as a gesture of dominance but in dog breeds where high tail carriage has been bred in, only the very submissive ones will keep the carriage low in company.



This also works the other way. My Hamish, who always adopts a very submissive posture at shows, never attracts the attention of other males. I think because of his markings, he is giving off exaggerated signals of submission. But other dogs of very similar colour pattern but more confident at shows, do attract these attacks.

Hamish

My Rottie x GSD below gets lots of nips and aggression towards her even from dogs that are not normally that way.
But she is black with dark eyes and as you can see hasn't got the tail to give happy signals with. So dogs can't read her at all. All they see is this giant beast heading for them and naturally get defensive.

i know of a whippet thats terrified of black dogs but thats cause she was attacked by one but she never forgot goes mad anytime she sees 1

I had a cross dearhound, he would always get on with other dogs unless it was black. Even to the extent of leaping a 5 foot wall to get at a black dog. I dont know why he didn't like them, as far as I know he had never been attacked by 1.

my understanding is that dogs find black dogs more difficult to read than some other colours, as there is no defination of features (eyes nose etc seem to blend in), and therefore no expression readable.

One of my youngsters is terrified of black dogs, yet has no real reason to be.


just my thoughts

thandi