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sniffing is a "highly aggressive" move!??

This is a place to gain some understanding of dog behavior and to assist people in training their dogs and dealing with common behavior problems, regardless of the method(s) used. This can cover the spectrum from non-aversive to traditional methods of dog training. There are many ways to train a dog. Please avoid aggressive responses, and counter ideas and opinions with which you don't agree with friendly and helpful advice. Please refrain from submitting posts that promote off-topic discussions. Keep in mind that you may be receiving advice from other dog owners and lovers... not professionals. If you have a major problem, always seek the advice of a trainer or behaviorist!

  
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Sophie

Miss Bossy Fluff		 
 
Barked: Sun Jul 3, '11 10:39pm PST 
Ha, this reminds me of a dog behavior class I went to a looong time ago. The speaker claimed pretty much any behavior that we would think of as "affectionate" or "friendly" as being "sexual". A dog that licks is sexual. A dog that jumps up is sexual. A dog that wants to cuddle is a sexual dog. Etc.
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Augusta,- CGC, RN

Such a Good Dog!
 
 
Barked: Sun Jul 3, '11 11:04pm PST 
with humans, he starts at the feet, then progresses to the crotch (often to an embarrassing degree), then the bellybutton, the armpits, the neck, and then finishes at the ears.

with dogs, it's butt, girl/boy bits, and then ears.

Sanka, I read it as meaning the dog is doing a full body sniff on the humans! eek

If so, OP, it's completely rude to allow your dog to greet humans at the park like that and then make a joke about "infections"--I don't think many strangers would appreciate that as funny.

While the other person may be utterly inane in their assessment of dog behavior, it was probably a defensive reaction to your strange commentary. Not only is it kind of personal to let your dog invade someone's crotch, it's really personal to joke about "infections" there! eek

But correct me if I entirely misread what you were saying . . .shrug
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Scruffy

He's a- Scruffador!		 
 
Barked: Mon Jul 4, '11 11:15am PST 
I assumed the OP meant infections on the other dogs?

I totally spaced on the full body pat down of people (and dogs), I was too shocked by reading that sniffing means a dog is planning to murder you! Haha. I agree, that is a bit much and its rude to let dog do a full pat down of people.
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Bella and- Daisy CGC

I'm a Meanie		 
 
Barked: Mon Jul 4, '11 11:27am PST 
OK, no matter if it is a human or a dog-

the full body sniff can be seen as very rude (to both humans and dogs on the receiving end).

Can you call your dog off a human? If not, you need to work on it. A casual sniff can actually be done a couple feet away although most dog people don't mind a dog getting a bit closer for a QUICK sniff.

Also, can your dog read another dogs cues that it does not want to be sniffed in this manner? i wonder of the muzzled dog was giving signals it wasn't comfortable with your dogs behavior and your dog ignored it-therefore setting it off.

I've had to stop taking Bella to the dog park. Not because she is aggressive, but because so many people bring their "friendly" dogs who are actually kinda unsocial and want to do things like you described to Bella. Even though she tries to tell them to stop, they won't, then she has to hackle and snarl (although she has never bitten) and then she is accused of being the aggressive dog, when in fact the other person's "friendly" dog started it.

I would venture a guess that this won't be the last time this behavior from your dog brings on an unwelcome response from another dog.

As you never know if a dog is muzzled due to dog or human issues, you and your dog should have steered clear. I'm not sure why you allowed your dog to go up to them in the first place.
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Titus

Cave canis- vigilo omnis		 
 
Barked: Mon Jul 4, '11 11:49am PST 
Not aggressive, but definitely intrusive.

Most people (and many dogs) aren't going to appreciate such a thorough going over - I would tell my dog to "leave it" if he were sniffing so intrusively. Not sure about the suggestion that either the dog or the human has an infection, but that probably wouldn't be a welcome comment.

And I would certainly recommend getting permission before approaching a muzzled dog - there's probably a good reason for it.
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Missy

Miss- Pig!
 
 
Barked: Mon Jul 4, '11 1:15pm PST 
Most people (and many dogs) aren't going to appreciate such a thorough going over - I would tell my dog to "leave it" if he were sniffing so intrusively.

I was going to say the same thing Titus!

The type of sniffing behavior you describe Dandelion is quite intrusive. Tyler does a similar kind of intrusive sniff to people, when they bend down he'll sniff right in their face and i've had more than a few people back away gently because not only don't they know Ty, it is quite personal and i call him away when he starts doing it. While i appreciate you were at a dog park, that kind of behaviour would have had Dandelions nose off if he tried the same with Missy. Not all dogs like their personal space invaded. It's our job to know when enough is enough and weigh each dog up individually.
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Bianca CGC- TT HIC Thd- ♥

What big ears- you have...
 
 
Barked: Mon Jul 4, '11 8:22pm PST 
I've also been told that in "dog language" so to speak it is rude/intrusive for dogs to sniff other dogs' in the face/head area or to be intrusive (such as sniffing another dog for a long duration or intensely.) I know many dogs do not like this and will "tell off" another dog if they do this.
Bianca is one, she generally does not mind other dogs sniffing her backside or body but she does not like them sniffing her face and especially if they go right up to sniff her face when they are first meeting her or keep sniffing for a long time.

Edited by author Mon Jul 4, '11 8:24pm PST

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Bhaira

Belly Rub! Belly- Rub!		 
 
Barked: Fri Jul 8, '11 3:07pm PST 
laugh out loud Can you imagine a wolf stalking down its prey, then stopping to sniff the neck before biting it? How silly! And the idea that a dog would somehow manifest a desire to bite you by smelling the places it would like to bite (instead of just biting) is absurd.

Politeness aside, what a load of bullpoop.
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Dandelion

helloooo....! - i\'m TALKING to- you!!!!!		 
 
Barked: Sat Dec 8, '12 2:15pm PST 
lol - yeah, oops - actually, there was one occasion where i did ask the person if they, perhaps, had a medical problem. dandy was REALLY REALLY getting his nose in her crotch - normally i can call him off but i really couldn't and when i tried to forcibly drag him back, he resisted and then gave me a quick, sideway flick of the eyes that he does when he's anxious or worried. i asked her if she perhaps had a medical problem and explained he's never reacted like this before and it really was out of character. she said she was diabetic and when she checked her sugar, turned out she needed insulin right away.

otherwise, no, it's dogs - he has detected all kinds of things such as yeast infections, ear infections, and hot spots.

if someone (either i or the subject) resists, he'll back off the sniffing but then he stands about 3ft back, stretches his nose as far as he can, and almost "piggy-wiggles" his nose trying to get his whiff on.

i didn't go over to the pyrenees - we were at our picnic site (it was a normal park, not a dog park) and the pyrenees dragged his owners over to us. i knew them - they live down the street - but i've never seen their dog before bec they keep him around back of the house.

and yeah - dandy is quite intrusive with the socializing. put it this way: you ever meet one of those kids, about 4 or 5 years old, that, as soon as he sees you, runs the full length of the room at full speed and slams into you with a full-contact body hug yelling "HI HI HI!!!!! PICK ME UP!!!! HI!!!!"?

yeah. like that.

i can correct him but then he always looks so confused and worried that the person will usually go "aaaaw, that's okay, he didn't mean anything by it" and, well... so much for that. he's well-known and popular around town - ppl say he's got a lovely personality, not a mean bone in his body, he just gets a little hyper. he's well-enough behaved that he's allowed in all the businesses that don't sell food items.

Edited by moderator Mon Dec 17, '12 2:27pm PST

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 Edited by forums moderator
"Selli"

The Muddy- Princess		 
 
Barked: Sat Dec 8, '12 4:52pm PST 
I have to say, it would annoy me to have a dog that I was not friends with sniff me that much, and the licking, gross! And my dogs would not appreciate it either, they would correct him.

As everyone else has said, it is not aggressive, but rude and may have negative repercussions for Dandy!
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