Dogs?

[Tom]

 

[Tom]

Brain size? Nope. Crows, is all I’ll say. Crows.

Very new study discovered that small brains can compensate by denser construction. Many more connections, storage per square inch so-to-speak.

 

[Judge]

If it were just my fear, then they wouldn’t attack me when I wasn’t afraid. The one who chased me on my bike, I wasn’t afraid of at all. Up until then their body language had been fine and I was literally just cycling past.

Think of how a dog as a predator thinks. Where they are likely to use their senses collectively and not individually.

In that scenario it's not so much how you may behave that motivates a dog's instincts, but the simple visual of you moving away from them at a very fast pace. Something for which many predators will instinctively chase you, much like a bear will do.

In this instance it isn't about your lack of fear, but how a dog may interpret such fear in an instant on a very simple level based on you moving away from them. After all, it's a dog- not a rationalizing human.

And on a sidenote- Do bigger brains equal smarter dogs? New study offers answers:

Do bigger brains equal smarter dogs? New study offers answers

 

[ForestGumpett]

We live with three dogs, rather large dogs at that. One is trained for protection and to guard. We didn’t have this done but rescued this dog from some bad training.

Here’s what I’ve noticed, stop making eye contact with the dog they see this as a challenge and it’s not a good thing. We were walking ours and told a neighbor not to do this, stupid neighbor did it and the dog did what it was trained to do. Nobody got bit, but we did learn how ignorant our neighbor was.

As far a dog size, they all can bite. I can be scarier than the dog so there is that.

 

[Suzette]

One of my immpediments to overcoming my fear of dogs is my history as a door mat. Historically, I don't deal well with direct challenges. I just get hurt and meltdown. I am not scarier than most dogs!

 

[DK’s_Ghost]

Think of how a dog as a predator thinks. Where they are likely to use their senses collectively and not individually.

In that scenario it's not so much how you may behave that motivates a dog's instincts, but the simple visual of you moving away from them at a very fast pace. Something for which many predators will instinctively chase you, much like a bear will do.

In this instance it isn't about your lack of fear, but how a dog may interpret such fear in an instant on a very simple level based on you moving away from them. After all, it's a dog- not a rationalizing human.

And on a sidenote- Do bigger brains equal smarter dogs? New study offers answers:

Do bigger brains equal smarter dogs? New study offers answers

At the point the dog started being aggressive, I was cycling towards them.

I had, as I said, already stopped to let the dog past me with no problem. The dogs body language seemed fine to me and I wasn’t nervous at all when the aggression started.

A lot of my time over this year has been spent watching dog training videos which included all of what you said - and I have put it into practice. The frustrating thing is that it hasn’t worked. Dogs still get aggressive towards me - even when I’m not looking at them, not afraid and not moving away.

 

[Tom]

At the point the dog started being aggressive, I was cycling towards them.

I had, as I said, already stopped to let the dog past me with no problem. The dogs body language seemed fine to me and I wasn’t nervous at all when the aggression started.

A lot of my time over this year has been spent watching dog training videos which included all of what you said - and I have put it into practice. The frustrating thing is that it hasn’t worked. Dogs still get aggressive towards me - even when I’m not looking at them, not afraid and not moving away.

Well if you tried all those things I can only come to one conclusion. Dogs are more sensitive then humans with many senses. So you must be a vampire or something like that.

 

[Tom]

Just on a general note

Thankfully there are dog lovers everywhere. One of my favorite quotes is: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

Headed For The Butcher, Chinese Dogs Are Rescued
In China, animal rescuers paid around $8000 to buy all the dogs who were already in a truck on it's way to the slaughterhouse. This is a picture taken after they brought all the dogs to their animal rescue center.

 

[Maudit]

At the point the dog started being aggressive, I was cycling towards them.

I had, as I said, already stopped to let the dog past me with no problem. The dogs body language seemed fine to me and I wasn’t nervous at all when the aggression started.

A lot of my time over this year has been spent watching dog training videos which included all of what you said - and I have put it into practice. The frustrating thing is that it hasn’t worked. Dogs still get aggressive towards me - even when I’m not looking at them, not afraid and not moving away.

Dogs can be hypersensitive to a point that us humans can't really match. Even if your actions and body language seem fine, if you're still nervous or mentally agitated around them, they will notice and perhaps react to it. However it's also possible that those dogs were just in a poor mental state themselves and the handler didn't know how to get them back to a relaxed state. I'd say in most scenarios the owner has more to do with the barking/lunging than the person who is being barked/lunged at.

When I take my dogs out, sometimes they don't react to anything, sometimes they'll get fixated on something or someone random (so I treat to react accordingly and redirect their attention onto something else). Similarly, sometimes other dogs don't seem to notice us, sometimes they'll bark or try to chase us for no apparent reason. Unless the dogs are really well-trained those things are bound to happen.

 

[DK’s_Ghost]

Just on a general note

Thankfully there are dog lovers everywhere. One of my favorite quotes is: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

View attachment 69392

Headed For The Butcher, Chinese Dogs Are Rescued
In China, animal rescuers paid around $8000 to buy all the dogs who were already in a truck on it's way to the slaughterhouse. This is a picture taken after they brought all the dogs to their animal rescue center.

Sure. I’m all for dogs not being eaten - even if they’re annoying as all hell.

But none of our countries have the moral high ground when it comes to the treatment of animals! You can look across the world and see ‘man’s best friend’ being rescued from certain death - and forget, or ignore, the 60-80 billion land animals who are slaughtered, in abysmal conditions, every year to put meat, eggs and dairy on our tables.

We don’t eat dogs because it’s a cultural taboo. But we do eat chickens, pigs, cows, sheep, fish and myriad other creatures who feel just as much (or more) than dogs do.

That does not make us ‘great’. It just makes us ‘differently squeamish’ at best - or hypocritical.

Just FYI.

 

[ForestGumpett]

@DK’s_Ghost ; said: “We don’t eat dogs because it’s a cultural taboo. But we do eat chickens, pigs, cows, sheep, fish and myriad other creatures who feel just as much (or more) than dogs do.”

I agree with this, always have. Always bothered me so I stopped back in ‘79. I’ve read where pigs are actually smarter than dogs.

To me, in my mind and don’t know if this is aspie or not, but flesh is flesh! I find it really odd for us to eat flesh being we are made of flesh. I do eat eggs and rarely a few fish but that’s it.

This is NOT something I IMPOSE on others!!

I don’t bother others about what they eat and appreciate it if they don’t give me crap about what I won’t eat.

 

[Au Naturel]

I grew up with multiple dogs and never lived without one until I hit my 20s. Slept with them and they were my best friends. Wife is a dogie person too. We have had dogs in the house for the last 35 years and they helped raise the kids. They are junior family members.

Canines are every bit as social as any primate. They are pack animals and survive through cooperation and intelligence. "Family" is more important to them than anything else. "Domestication" is only a couple of genetic steps away from timber wolves.

Dogs smell pheromones and sweat and pick up on subtle indicators that people, including NTs, are blind to. They know you are afraid before you do.

Unfortunately most people do not put in the effort to properly socialize their dogs. They spend their lives in a tiny house in a tiny yard and rarely get out to meet others. You really need to socialize them as puppies. When they become adults it is exponentially more difficult. So they get a dog that is all snappy and yappy in public and around strangers. Running into unleashed dogs on the trail is a real PITA.

 

[ForestGumpett]

...below, this is the sweet boy I get — all 115 pounds and growing, loves his Momma!

.... below, this is what someone that wishes to look at his Momma wrong gets lol. My protector, one of them
We had to make a meme with this pic, he looked so serious!

Gonna get real, no way would I cross this dog he’s strong as an ox! A friend gifted him to us, what a beauty and minds very well - we did need a guard dog in Houston, crime here is where we had too.
Edited to add: No, we did NOT get his ears cropped it was like that when we got him, tail too , we find this act barbaric

 

[Tom]

Sure. I’m all for dogs not being eaten - even if they’re annoying as all hell.

But none of our countries have the moral high ground when it comes to the treatment of animals! You can look across the world and see ‘man’s best friend’ being rescued from certain death - and forget, or ignore, the 60-80 billion land animals who are slaughtered, in abysmal conditions, every year to put meat, eggs and dairy on our tables.

We don’t eat dogs because it’s a cultural taboo. But we do eat chickens, pigs, cows, sheep, fish and myriad other creatures who feel just as much (or more) than dogs do.

That does not make us ‘great’. It just makes us ‘differently squeamish’ at best - or hypocritical.

Just FYI.

Not all people eat animals. FYI

I don't think you understood Gandhi, or me for that matter. We are not all able to do big things, but that does not mean little things don't matter. Big things can sometimes turn on little ones.

I think I understand why you have problems with dogs now.

 

[Suzette]

@ForestGumpett
Your dogs expression reminds me of a patient, but firm, teacher.
"If I see one more spitball you will be required to trim my toenails. I do not like having my toenails trimmed. Is that clear Ms. Gumpett?

 

[DK’s_Ghost]

Not all people eat animals. FYI

I don't think you understood Gandhi, or me for that matter. We are not all able to do big things, but that does not mean little things don't matter. Big things can sometimes turn on little ones.

I think I understand why you have problems with dogs now.

No, not all people do.

But most people do - and most people I’ve ever seen pointing out the horrors of Chinese dog trade do, too.

Perhaps you could explain what I’m not understanding? Without an explanation your ‘oh, now I know why’ statements seem more like criticisms than actual help.

 

[DK’s_Ghost]

@DK’s_Ghost ; said: “We don’t eat dogs because it’s a cultural taboo. But we do eat chickens, pigs, cows, sheep, fish and myriad other creatures who feel just as much (or more) than dogs do.”

I agree with this, always have. Always bothered me so I stopped back in ‘79. I’ve read where pigs are actually smarter than dogs.

To me, in my mind and don’t know if this is aspie or not, but flesh is flesh! I find it really odd for us to eat flesh being we are made of flesh. I do eat eggs and rarely a few fish but that’s it.

This is NOT something I IMPOSE on others!!

I don’t bother others about what they eat and appreciate it if they don’t give me crap about what I won’t eat.

Unfortunately, it’s likely that fish feel MUCH more than dogs or pigs do, because of their ultra-fine physical senses.

Eating animals and what comes out of their bodies is something we impose on them.

The lie our society tells us is that there’s something more unacceptable about telling people that than there is about actually killing an animal and eating it.

It’s not a moral virtue to ‘not impose’ such things on other people. In most circumstances, we literally can’t impose a specific rule about food on strangers. But some people prefer to focus on their own injured pride and berate the person who mentions this stuff for ‘telling them what to do’. There are a quite a few big leaps of illogic in that behaviour… and the only reason that that’s not commonly known is that they outnumber us. They close ranks and repeat myths to themselves to make the feels go away.

It frustrates me.

 

[Tom]

Your going in different direction about societies and who eats what and who feels superior, etc, etc. Maybe that belongs in politics. I honestly don't care.

That's not the point. As individuals there is little we can do about that.

We are talking about the bond, often profound that can exist between people and their pets. Dogs specifically, but the same is true with other pets like cats, birds pigss too, and the list goes on. Much depends on the animals nature to begin with.

You maybe originally were seeking if other people on the spectrum have the same issue as you. Some may or did, but that is likely not a trend with us. It may actually lean in the other direction. There is something different in the autistic - pet dynamic. Probably not all, but many seem to connect easier with animals in ways not possible between us and other people. I think that bond can be stronger then what we have with people. If I could save some people or my dogs from a burning house, but not both... sorry folks.

And I think the generally trend of responses has been trying to explain that and try to show you how you can have that too. And your not interested which is fine. It's your choice.

Dogs have been long been known to have good therapudic qualities within the general population, say as companions for the elderly for example, and owning one extends your life 2 years on average. Which is why I have 4. I will get 8 extra years by my math. And they have been increasingly being used to help autistic people specifically as both service and therapy dogs.

The subject is way understudied so far, only 4-5 exist. But this is a recent study that looked at them all as a group.

Can Therapy Dogs Help Kids With Autism?

I won't bother you with posting a video of how some dog, often a rescue helped an autistic person. If you are interested there are many.

Goodluck to you

 

[Au Naturel]

...below, this is the sweet boy I get — all 115 pounds and growing, loves his Momma!

View attachment 69425


.... below, this is what someone that wishes to look at his Momma wrong gets lol. My protector, one of them
We had to make a meme with this pic, he looked so serious!

Gonna get real, no way would I cross this dog he’s strong as an ox! A friend gifted him to us, what a beauty and minds very well - we did need a guard dog in Houston, crime here is where we had too.
Edited to add: No, we did NOT get his ears cropped it was like that when we got him, tail too , we find this act barbaric

View attachment 69426

That reminds me of a 100 lb rottweiler mix my mother in law used to own at the age of 90. That dog looked nightmarishly frightening but was really a lovey dog that had zero aggression and even was a friend to stray cats.

 

[watersprite]

Hope it’s okay to change this back to dogs instead of fear of dogs etc. I’m literally recovering from being around a dog and cat hater.

I’m still on my search for the dog, or dogs, to adopt. A very knowledgeable vet tech suggested a shelty, for their sturdiness and good temperament. I am leaning toward getting a smaller dog first, like the shelty, & then after seeing how it goes, another so that they can play in the yard together. Guess I’ll need to buy them doggy boots for those super cold snowy days in winter.