Hi Magpie,

I have the most wonderful Akita who is great with people, children (good job as they all think she is a teddy bear and their parents think that it is okay to let their kids run up to her) and dogs. She has never had a go at any other dog and has in fact been attacked herself without any retaliation (that is one lucky collie )

She is very rarely on a lead (road walking only) and as far as she is concerned other dogs are just not worth the bother. They can eat out of her food bowl (even when she is eating), drink out of her water bowl and sleep in her bed, if she wants them out she just gets in on top of them, they soon move

Unfortunately we are nearly 100 miles away and as she is in her twilight years (she's nearly 14) it is much too far to expect her to travel otherwise I would bring her to see you just to show you what a well bred, socialised and trained Akita can be like.

I am not particularly wary of whole breeds, but more usually individual dogs, especially when they have a certain type of owner!

Correct temperament? how is a gsd that does not particularly want anything to do with anyone but its owner an 'incorrect' temperament. it doesnt mean that they are aggressive just prefer the company of their owner.

Well all the gsds i have met whether german or english lines have not been happy with being taken away from their owner-an example being that when agility training most people with other breeds can swap dogs to run but all the gsd owners are unable to as they refuse to run for anyone else but their owners.
I struggle to see how that means they are not of correct temperamnet.

Sad isn't it. I see so many muzzled Springers and some that are terrified of their own shadow. The only 'normal' ones we used to meet were the ones we saw when we used to go to gundog training classes.

My brother in law has a springer from a working kennel and it is scared of everything. It has no idea how to interact with other dogs and cowers and wees whenever it goes somewhere new.

Sounds a lot like a Springer that lives down the road from us. It really makes me sad to see what should be such a bouncy, confident, energetic breed of dog reduced to a nervous wreck that just cowers behind his owner when out off lead. They have had this dog since it was a puppy too.

i had a lovely cocker when i was younger that was great with everybody. She only ever growled at one bloke and that was when i was 14 and walking in the woods at the back of our house. I gave him a wide bearth and went right home!

I think the problem with spaniels is they have been over bred by BYB and the like for the pet market.

As said before i am not really wary of any particular breed, i tend to size the owner up first before the dog ! I have noticed that little dogs are worse than bigger dogs - i call it little dog syndrome. On the top 10 of aggressive dogs they were all small - daschund, chihuahua and JRT were the top 3.

I have a greyhound and some people are very funny about them - i have had someone cross the road to avoid us before or people with little dogs pick them up coz they think they might get mauled

I think its how they are brought up personally - a bit like children

Welcome to my world

I haven't met many rotties but my SIL had two and she reckons they're as soft as s**t (excuse my french) its a pity for some some breeds as they get bad press and thats why people are wary i think. I try to judge on the individual animal.