Mean Lady

There is a woman who always has had dogs and she recently got a Havanese. She eventually wants to get the dog certified to be a therapy dog. Zeke, my Rott, has been in the neighborhood for four years. She has seen him a gazillion times. And if I can brag, he is the neighborhood favorite. He is very laid back, never jumps, .....anyway he is very popular! He gets all sorts of visitors. Every morning I take him across the street to play with his best friend, Ollie, a beagle, and Schmutz, a shih-tzu. I go to work and he plays with them and whoever else stops by the neighbor's house. Well, my neighbor invited the Havanese, who has met my dog. Mean lady declined because "I don't like Rottweilers". So that made me sad. Then yesterday my friend and I were walking and she came down the sidewalk and we started chatting. Well, she eventually stopped talking because we were walking towards her and totally turned and went the other way. Now I am sad and mad!! How can someone love dogs and still be afraid of an entire breed? I feel so bad for Zeke. He almost looked sad that he couldn't say hi to the dog. I know there have been posting about this before but I just needed to vent. Thanks all!!

 

Sometimes people like her just need to be educated! The next time you see her out be armed with as much interesting positive info you can dig up on your dogs breed. And kill her with kindness! Show her how great your dog really is.

 

UGH! Some people are just too caught up in the media to stop and smell the roses.

Its definatley sad that the media and a few bad seeds have really ruined the reputation of the Rott, aswell as other great breeds. I hear it all the time about Harley. She is a pretty good advocate though, and all of our friends and family LOVE her and now find themselves sticking up for the breed when others bad mouth them.

If only we could convince everyone how wonderful our fur babies are!

 

argghhh, makes me very angry. I have a little amstaff puppy (4 months old) and i walk her about 4 times a day around my apt complex. well, Saturday I was walking her and i walked by this guy with his kids and he says loudly "get away from that pitbull, it can snap at any time". So that obviously fired me up and i say very loudly "yes, dont come near her she actually may lick you to death."
About 30 seconds later, 3 other little kids run over and start playing with her and petting her. So I again say loudly "look how viscious she is, uh oh." He just gave me a dirty look and walked into his apt.
Some nice lady came up to me and said that the guy was talking on Sunday and saying he is going to complain about my 'pitbull' to the apt manager and also to authorities. i said, let him do it. God, i hate some people. Avary, my pup, is great with all other dogs and people.

 

Zekesmom- I am so sorry! I actually have been a huge advocate for rotts here because I have had friends who will not have any other kind of dog and I know what wonderful, loving pets they are. This is something that I would do if I were you (and I mean that I would do it!) Print out some literature on the Rott breed and drop it by her house with a note that says something along the lines of how you totally understand her hesitancy of your dog based on how the breed has been portrayed, etc., but that you were hoping to get a chance to get to know her dog and educate yourself about the breed and you felt like if mayble you gave her some solid research she would feel more comfortable. Also reference this website for her and let her check us out. (I dare her to be mean about Zeke on this site!) I feel for you totally, and I love Rotts and will always correct the incorrect presumptions about them whenever I hear them. I've met Dacshunds more vicious then Rotts! (well, at least the Dachs believed they were!!!!) :lol:

 

Thanks, everybody for the good advice and kind words!! I take this stuff so personally and I swear Zeke feels bad as well. He just doesn't understand that some people are afraid of him.

 

:wink: The fact that you take it personally shows your love for Zeke. Good for you! Your love will make up for the lack he gets from the ignorant and undeserving.

 

My motherin law has a HUGE german rott. He's about 180 lbs.... BIG BOY. But he couldn't kill a flea if it bit him! He can really intimidate you if you don't know him. I mean his head alone is big enough to stick my whole head in his mouth!!! And that bark...its more like a booming roar! He gets realy excited and willl bark at you to play, and sometimes he'll VERy gently take your wrist in his mouth and try to lead you to where ever his toys are..... His name is Goose, why I dunno, but it really does fit him.
His best friend is a Toy chi. So whats that tell ya. Taco, the chiuahuha beats himup! I mean Goose will go flying across the yard and screaming when Taco gets mad and attacks him! What a woosy!!!!

I've only seen that dog get agressive one time. And thats when a bunch of Drunk teens came to her road and got into a fight. Momma ran out there to stop it and one of the kids hit her and she fell. Goose ran out and started snarling and barking. Needless to say, the kids have Never came back.

Honestly I've only seen one mean rottie in my life. And the dog was very badly abused and old. He was in a good deal of pain. The vet said its a miracle the dog would even let you touch him. poor fellow.

Just remember, Fight ignorance with intelligence!!!

 

its pathetic enough when people judge a person before they get to know them, but judging a dog is just as low as low gets LOL
maybe try talking to the lady when you dont have zeke with you, and befriend her. compliment her dog, and begin to talk about yours and compare them etc. then next time your out with zeke and you see her, say a friendly hi and then say something like "and this is zeke that i was telling you about the other day" and try to approach her then.
if you can get the women to befriend you, youll be gaining her trust and her friendship, and give it time, she may just get used to zeke.
Gee i should of been an agony aunt

 

Im sorry to hear about this, this kind of stuff just makes me completely angry and I would do what Sarge'smom suggested and drop some reading material by her house.

 

I totally understand where you are coming from and you have my sympathy! If I came across Zeke you can be sure he'd get a tonne of admiration from me! I hope it all goes well with the mean lady... I have a mean lady of my own. I dont even want to educate her, for a start I dont think she speaks English and she makes me really angry because she waters her garden just after it's rained, and hoses down her driveway (I've seen her do this when it was raining) and we are on water restrictions. :0010: So for all I care she can keep crossing the road when I'm coming!
I get crap from people just about every day, and I really do take it personally also, it's hard not to. It makes it even more annoying when these people are dog owners, so they really are discriminating, aswell as believing the media. I was thinking of writing to my local paper to try and dispell some of the myths and fears that people have about dogs but wouldn't know where to start and what to say... and if it would make much of an impact anyway. The town that I live in here has alot of different nationalities and many of those people come from countries where dogs are considered dirty & vermin, so they have learnt to be scared of them, and I don't think a simple newspaper article is going to undo a lifetime of conditioning. Anyway good luck!