Comments on: The Curse of Having a “Good” Dog

By: dogdaz

dogdaz — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 12:20:53 +0000

Louise is a fearful dog. People always comment on how good both my dogs are because they are trained to sit and be quiet when people or other dogs are passing by. But don’t get to close to Louise. She does not like that and she can lunge. So, if my dogs are sitting, and I do not invite you to come close. Don’t. I do not seem to be able to get that point across to people. Please ask if you can approach my dogs. You are exactly right, it is less to do with breed and more to do with training. A good training human can help a dog be calmer and be, a you call it ‘good.’ But, I can not change who she is, I can just help her to cope politely in this very over whelming world. – DogDaz

By: shanendoah@life by pets

shanendoah@life by pets — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 17:29:23 +0000

When someone comments about one of our dogs being a “good” dog (or not being a good dog- perhaps that happens more frequently), I often comment back that they are very good at being dogs, but that does not always translate into what humans think of as “good”.
We work on behaviors that will make them safer (like recall, leave it and loose leash walking), but don’t focus so much on what I consider convenience behaviors. Junebug is always going to jump in a stranger’s lap at the dog park. Could I train her out of it? probably, but I’m not going to. Most people love having a Beagle in their lap, and for those that don’t, she responds perfectly well to being pushed away.
But in my mind, it doesn’t matter what a breed standard says (though I do use June’s Beagleness as a mild excuse) the truth is, every bad behavior my dogs have is my fault. I could train them out of it, but often times, I choose not to. And that is on me, not the dog.
Perhaps the comment shouldn’t be about how “good” a dog is, but about how “good” a human the owner/pet parent is?

By: Kolchak & Jodi

Kolchak & Jodi — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 21:16:09 +0000

What a beautiful thought about your pets short comings being part of what made them so endearing. Kolchak’s over exuberance and tendency to leap into my lap unexpectedly does make him “bad” to some, but that’s why I love him best. Felix’s intense separation was really hard to work through, but it’s bonded him and I closer than I ever would have imagined. Lu’s leash pulling is OBNOXIOUS, but it makes me laugh to see how distracted he gets by every new and exciting thing.

By: Amy@GoPetFriendly

Amy@GoPetFriendly — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 08:27:20 +0000

This is so funny, because people tell us all the time how good our dogs are, especially when we’re posing them for photos and asking them to stay put for the shot. Little do they know how much time we’ve spent working with the boys to get to these moments. If only those people were still around when Buster sees another dog walk by and starts barking like a nut – or when Ty decides that standing on the dinette table give him a better view out the window! And, though they have their issues, they’re still good dogs and I adore them.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 00:47:29 +0000

I love your distinctn between a good dog and an easy dog.

No stranger will ever call Bella a good dog. But despite all her issues, she is smart, sweet, easily trained, she doesn’t counter surf, she doesn’t get in the garbage or jump on people… Like your Agatha, Christie and Shadow, most people will never see that side of her and also like you, it will remain our treasured little secret.

By: Two Ways of Thinking About Good Dogs | Adventures in Dog Land

Two Ways of Thinking About Good Dogs | Adventures in Dog Land — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 00:43:03 +0000

[…] Are good dogs born that way? Or… well, take a look. […]

By: Saved by dogs

Saved by dogs — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 00:24:18 +0000

Gracie the Bull Terrier has learned so much in four years – but ‘outsiders’ don’t appreciate it because she still loves to sometimes bounce up to get a better look in their face. Jennie the Collie is 7, a senior – she gets told she’s a good girl by strangers who don’t know she pretends to be deaf whenever she doesn’t care to hear what is being said 🙂 A lot of people don’t realize what goes into a well behaved dog…or what counts as well behaved for some dogs 😉

By: houndstooth

houndstooth — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 15:23:51 +0000

I’m still snickering over the double face palm! 😛

I am always surprised by people when they compliment our dogs on their good behavior, too. Not because I’m surprised they can be good in public, but because I don’t think it’s a mystery how they got that way. It’s called basic obedience and work. All of our dogs have been through at least basic obedience class, except Lilac (because we foolishly thought she was too old when we first got her and she wouldn’t live long enough to need it) and we reinforce it in regular daily living. And no, they aren’t nearly as good at home as they are in public! lol

By: Clowie

Clowie — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 09:46:25 +0000

My bipeds are often told how “lucky” they are to have such a well behaved dog, when they are out with me. They are usually very patient about trying to explain that it has nothing to do with luck, but generally have the feeling that the words are wasted.
They are also frequently told that very large dogs are always good. The evidence for this? The person saying it has never seen a very large dog misbehaving when out and about. At this point my male biped sometimes tells the person to go and visit their local rescue centre and see just how many adolescent dogs of large breeds are there because they haven’t been trained.

By: melF

melF — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 07:04:08 +0000

Loved the Palm to Face link. Made me laugh when I saw Captain Picard put his head in his hands. That’s exactly how I felt when I read about the woman at the park. Ugh!

I wish people realized that having a dog that can be well-behaved around people is part the dog and part the owner and a lot about the time they put into that “well-behaved” behavior. I am like you, I think some of the behaviors people compliment are human behaviors, not dog behaviors. I work on things with my dogs, but I don’t expect them not to be dogs.

Great post Pamela.