The Saturday Morning Post: Good Dogs

There is a tiny little dog that lives with a young woman down the hall. The dog backs up against the wall, snarls and barks when he/she passes another person in the hallway.  The owner does nothing, but grimace and say sorry.  She makes no effort to comfort or control the dog. 

The dog does not seem aggressive,  the dog seems terrified.  I have no doubt if threatened the dog would bite, but it seems to be trying to scare away anything that might be a threat.  It makes me wonder what the dog finds threatening, why the dog is terrified.  

It could be a history of abuse.  It could be that the dog is tiny and feels threatened by anything larger, and anything bigger than a rat would be larger.  It could be that the dog has never been socialized to people.  

People who are fearful, often act aggressive. People who are not use to other people, or people who are different, often perceive the unknown as a threat. People who are terrified, act in strange ways.  

The owner has not trained the dog, and the dog has not trained the owner.  Some of us are not able to be good dog owners.  

There is a trainer on TV who says there are no bad dogs, only bad owners.  Fix the owner, fix the dog.