It's not that it offended me. There are no need for any apologies. I would just much rather people ask the fact finding questions so everyone can see what is going on and then once the facts are gathered then make recomendations. I just think that is a better way to learn. I don't want people to think that evey time there dogs nose touches them that its a challenge or if a Keeter howls its a attempt to take over. There is a lot more to it than that. Sometimes noses touch sometimes a Keeter just wants to howl. What I wanted to bring out is the body posture during the howl. How was the dogs ears lying, What was the tail doing, was it between the legs, straight out, or upright? What position was the dog in when he was doing this behavior, Was he laying down, rolled over on his back, face to face with you? The right position combined with the other behaviors could tell you so much more about what the dog is doing. If Josey came up and got in my face staring me down pushing on me with his chest he would get introduced to the floor head first. But if Josey comes up to me with ears back, tail wagging, and puts his head down in my lap I'm going to pet the knuckle head. I want people to enjoy there dog as much as I enjoy mine, but I do want people to enjoy them in a responsible way. I want people to learn but I want them to learn the whole book not just a couple sentences. I know what Josey is and what I have become working with my boy and what kind of parent I am. If I wasn't confident in my abilities or Josey's you would not hear stories of my son near the dog.
I will bet money that I have more reason to be cautious about dogs and there behavior than anyone on this board. I have a daughter that was living with my ex that was attacked by a malamute. She was 3 and had to get her nose put back on her face.
I have also had a rotty that sunk a canine into my leg. The malamute I did not have any control over, though I did play a big part in getting it put down. My rotty I did have control of and I failed to train or to establish any kind of pack structure. So when you talk about being challenged trust me I know from experience what wrong looks like. You could pull bad behaviors out of the air all day and not cover all the troubles I was going through and didn't even know it. I have since learned what right looks like. Thanks for your reply and I hope to swap thoughts and experiences in the times to come.
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