do you notice a change in your rottweiler when??

[rompinrottie]

[color=royalblue] my rottweilers are so friendly like I had mentioned in my posts before that I actually have to lock my truck and car up so no one will steal them, I know it sounds funny but its true, they are so friendly that I call them little wimps but I socialized them because I didnt get rottweilers for the negitive reasons of course for the vicious menacing attack dog, I got my children because of there grace, beauty style and brains, and for the love I have for the breed.
they are absolutly fond of any human child especially fond of the elderly, anyone can walk in my house and I would be lucky if they get up to see who it is, but im not complaining I love my FRIENDLY rottweilers so very much. :) and I love that they are very well mannered kids, :) my question is do you all find it that your rottweilers sense if and when you are in danger? or if you are so scared of someone? like for instance when I went to go out of state I took my girls with me and we stopped at a gas station and these couple of men game up to the car and it was no big deal and they asked for directions, so fine no problem they petted my girls everything was cool I wasnt afraid, so I paid for gas, and I got ready to leave I pulled out to the end of the gas station parking lot and bam bam I heard this loud thumping on the glass and I was scared to death it was the guys saying let me in bitch, and I was freaking out, and my girls must of sensed that because they went nuts!!! I mean crazy nuts I have never seen them like that and I dont know what scared me more at that point my girls going nuts or those guys!!! so do your rottweilers sense when theres danger?? sorry I dragged on
but I would really like to get some input on this please


rompinrottie

[Birdie'sMom]

Thankfully I have never been put in a situation like that, but I think that when it comes down to it, dogs can sense that stuff. My Birdie is exactly like how you described your dogs. SO friendly that I sometimes think she would help a burglar steal stuff! She even cries if we pass someone on a walk that doesn't stop to pet her! But, as friendly as she is, a few times she has growled at people around us that she doesn't know. It has only happened 3 times, and it's just a really low growl, never really viscious and she never snaps or lunges. All 3 times it was a man, and all 3 times, I was a little afraid of the men that she growled at. It makes me think that she knew something that I didn't. I'm probably totally worng - it was probably because she sensed my fear of them, but I like to think that she is really smart and can sense bad people!

[Rottlva]

Yes, I have noticed it in a few subtle ways. My boys are very independent, but always look to mom ( or dad) for direction. One evening I was out walking with a friend and her dog when a group of drunken men began to walk towards us. Max, my rottie was being walked by my friend. As we passed them, Max hung back behind my friend until he was walking at my side and a minute after we had passed them he returned to her side. Time number two was just recently. I was out with Max and a client (sheltie) dog walking down a deserted road. A man began to slow down as he passed us. He said " would your dogs like a snack?" and flashed two cookies at me.... I said no thanks and he persisted even further... "are you sure???" and this is when I started to get a little worked up.... he said " if you place the rottweiler over there I will give you the cookies, but I don't trust dogs like that.....I'm sure if I touched you he'd bite me".....hmmmm at this point I'm sure every bit of anxiety was transferring through the leads as both the sheltie and my rottie took a step in front of me and just stood there. They didn't growl, didn't do anything but stand and watch him.....

I assure you that your dog is very sensitive to your emotions. I have a petsitting/walking business and see several dogs/day. Some are overly sensitive to your emotions, others not so sensitive, But they know when I'm having a bad day, and may take advantage of that and they know when I'm nervous, happy, upset ect. Your body language, vocal tone, even certain chemicals your body releases when it's nervous can be noticed by a dog. I can't say your dog will protect you as many won't, but they have a pretty good idea as to the nature of the situation... and will do what they feel comfortable doing.

[poohbearsmom]

I had a creep at a service station on I-10 approach my car with a back seat full of rotties on a pit stop one day.... he kept commenting how "nice" my dogs were, and how "sweet" they were - asked if he could pet them, he was creeping me out, I said no. He tried to mosey right in between my open door and the car - I assured him that they were "well trained", and slammed my door shut, and locked it immediately. Creepy creepy. I flew outta that parking lot like a bat out of haites.

While it's important to me that my dogs are good ambassadors for the breed, I do not allow people to pet them indiscriminately - especially when I'm travelling without my husband. Specifically, because things happen like what happened to you. I really don't mind if perfect strangers at a gas station or a rest stop give us breathing room, in fact, I kind of like it. Although Poohbear is not a protector by any means, she is rather territorial of Her vehicle and Her house. Deiter would welcome a skirmish with a menacing stranger...lol.. I feel VERY safe when I travel with him...

Thank your lucky stars that your grrrls went nuts, and give them a big hug, and possibly a T-bone. ;)

Again, I'm glad you're safe and alive.

Cheers - Elisabeth

[moondog]

I think Luna could be stolen very easily (will let anyone in the house, not territorial in the car, friendly to strangers, etc.), but I don't think she would allow anyone to steal ME!

She behaves similar to Rottlva's dog, if she senses things are not quite right, she either becomes a hip hugger and presses close to my leg or if I'm being approached, she'll very subtly move into a position where she is in between them and me. She has never growled at anyone. I have one neighbor who has schizophrenia and her hackles used to go up when he passed by. He's a member of our neighborhood so I have taught her to tolerate him, but I won't let him near her, I just say "Hi, David" and move another direction. I honestly don't know what she would do if he became loud and boisterous with her and I'm well aware her tolerance is at my request.

I also don't let just anyone interact with her on the street, either. If I sense a red flag from someone, I keep her attention on me so she won't let on how friendly she is, LOL. If they ask if she's friendly, I tell them with a smile, "If you're nice to me, she's nice to you", and I walk on. I've never had anyone who I've said this to try to approach her. I don't feel a duty to display her good nature to people who are making me nervous, that's for me to know and them to wonder.......... :p

I'm glad those creeps weren't able to get in your car. I'd be concerned about the mental stability of anyone who would try to force their way into a car full of Rottweilers they didn't know!

[poohbearsmom]

Just because your dog's hackles go up, does not mean the dog would actually protect you if the occasion should arise that you need it to....

Poohbear is VERY territorial at home, and on her own turf, but when TT time came around, she went into avoidance with the aggressive stranger, just as she did when I had her tested for SchH at a local training field....sometimes our dogs feel comfortable enough to act as though they're ferocious, but when truth time comes, they'd rather run than fight.

That's OK with me, because in the long run, I figure it's my job to protect my dogs from harm, not the other way around. ;)

Not as many dogs as you think have the courage to stand up to a human being - I have one that would, and one that won't.

Food for thought....

Elisabeth

[DailyDouble]

Raised hackles is a classic indication of fear. You can feel pretty safe in assuming if a dog is barking at you with his/er hair raised; you could easily send the dog scampering away.

[rompinrottie]

because in all the years I had rotties my oldest baby girl (shes 8 years old ) she never even so much even let out a growl at another living sole let alone go crazy and nuts like she did, thats what was so shocking, she had baring teeth and all, but she must of knew somthing was up with these men because my girls were just beside themselfs, I could see there teeth, and I could hear there teeth banging on the glass, and the only reason I was stopped at the end of the parking lot was I was waiting for traffic so I could leave, but when this happened I just floored my trucked and pulled right into traffic and after my girls and I were safe into traffic we drove down the road a few miles and stopped at a mall and I got out and checked on them to make sure they were ok and they were all settled down and back to normal, they licked my face and they were fine like nothing happened...
it was a experience tho thats for sure.

rompinrottie

[moondog]

I see I should have left my parting comment in my other post instead of removing it :D My mistake.

Her hackles go up around this man because he does frighten her, and if he went on a rant while I was allowing him to pet her, which he would like to do, she might misread it. This is the only person she has responded to in this way in 7-1/2 years. Nothing will ever come of it because I'll never allow her to be close enough to him for him to touch her.

She is not trained for battle and I don't live in a war zone. But, through my experience with her, not my imagination :) , if someone started to manhandle me she would not let it slide by, she would get right in the middle of it. If someone kicked her hard or hit her with a bat and hurt her, I'm sure she'd back off, but I'm not so sure she wouldn't come right back at them if she could. I know her from our life and experience together and I don't believe I have any illusions.

That said, my job is to make sure we never find ourselves in that position, because I completely agree with you that it is OUR job to protect our dogs and not the other way around! ;)

[babydungeon]

wow, that freaks me out! i'm glad you're okay. did you report those guys to the police? i agree with elisabeth (poohbearsmom), we are supposed to protect our dogs. dungeon can rest assured I would fight to the death to protect him but i would NOT rely on him to do the same for me. i have met deiter and he is a sweet boy, very well trained and mannered. this said i don't think for a second he would allow anyone to harm his mommy. even though she knows this, it's good that she knows that she must protect HIM! i'm not suggesting this to everyone but if that situation happened to me those idiots would have been sucking on my .40 cal glock. i don't travel without it.
just a few months ago when i went home to tennessee, one guy almost got his chance. some idiot pulled up to me at a gas station and tried to get me to give him money. of course i said no and he persisted to give me 1000 reasons why i should. i was a little scared. had he gotten out of his car i would have let him look at it. dungeon...my windows are tinted so dark i can barely see out of them at night so i know he didn't see dungeon. my wife said he was very alert the whole time but he didn't growl or bark.
last night we went to sonic for some ice cream and the drive through intercom must have scared dungeon because he wents nuts. growling, barking, pacing, etc. the cashier was a little scared. she asked if he bites and i said no. <when we pulled up to the window he stopped> her and another guy started to reach out to pet him and the manager said not to. i was a little upset but didn't say anything. good for dungeon (socialization and experience)...bad for breed(he barked, they freaked, now it's another bad rottie to them). i'm going to take him up there regularly now until i can prove by his actions that he won't hurt anyone and rotties aren't bad. in a few weeks they WILL love rottweilers!:D
sorry for babbling so long, yes i have heard that your body chemistry tells your dog what type of mood you're in, whether you are happy or sad, sick or even "scared".
one more situation, sorry.
the day i tried to help save that female rottweiler from heat stroke i had to run back and forth to my house to get things...ice, phone, phonebook, vet manual, blanket, etc... everytime i went inside dungeon sat still and just gave me a look. he knew i was distressed. normally, he would be going nuts for me to take him with me. he just had a look to him like he wanted to tell me to calm down. i'm not sure if he smelled ME being distressed or maybe the scent of the hurt dog on me that made him act that way. i leaned over once and told him it would be okay and he gave me a slow lick on the hand as if to say, okay.:( -kevin

[LORHEL]

I definitely think Makita is able to distinguish threatening behavior or people from friendly strangers.

The pizza man is a regular visitor, and although sometimes, he beats me to the door, and knocks or rings the doorbell, once I tell her "pizza-food" she knows it is okay and she will stand right at the door while I step outside, and not be worried about it...

Same as for people. My first thought was to cross over while walking her, whenever we encountered someone coming towards us (mostly just to be polite, and not to scare anyone)...however, I no longer do that, I put her in a sit, until the person passes by... she does not show much interest in them, as long as I don't, and obviously if I did I would cross over.... she has done quite well with some kind of different looking types. :)

[rompinrottie]

I live in a small town where the crime rate is 0% if you all look on your maps I dont even think you could find me, lol but I would physical do anyone harm if they ever did any harm to my children, and we (my girls and I ) are not use to that kind of ruckus like what happened at the gas station, so thats why it totally took us by surprise. like I had mentioned my girls are non-agressive, what so ever, and when all this happened it shook us all up. but they are back to normal now, I thought they would be stressed out and they were not. but I am happy that there ok,


tessa 8 year old rottie female
brittany 6 year old rottie female
jewel 5 year old rottie female
flower 3 year old bassett/beagle rescue girl

[tilerspop]

The old saying that dogs can smell fear is very true. The human body has glands in several areas called sebacious (sp) glands. There are a couple of types. They are located in or near the groin, arm pits, inner elbow and behind the knee. Notice these glands are located where skin rubs on skin? The most common purpose is to secrete a lubricant, however, during times of stress or fear these glands go to work. The greater the stress or fear, the more they secrete. Ever notice when you're working hard or severely stressed that these areas feel oily? Dogs can smell these secretions. The flight or fight reaction of our body triggers similar responses from our pets. What smells to us as simply an unpleasant odor is like a neon sign to a dog.

Does anyone remember a number of years ago (20 or more) there was a mens cologne on the market that caused some dogs to attack the wearer? One of the muskie ingedients was dog sweat taken from agitated dogs. Wear it and you smelled like an angry dog, at least to other dogs.:)

Tiler is becoming protective of his turf. He barks at strangers in the yard or near the truck when he's inside. Today the neighbor was putting up a new fence in his yard, (to keep his dogs away from the dogs on the other side of him). Tiler barked up a storm, until the guy walked over to my fence, called him over and started to pet him. Then he shut up and put on his "don't stop" face:D. If he gets left in the truck, the truck is locked, (windows open of course) and he doesn't get left outside by himself. Ever since a cocker spanniel kicked his butt, I don't think he would defend me, or himself for that matter:D But then again, I didn't get a rottie to defend me, I've got a .45 ACP Colt for that.

[rottix2]

A couple of years ago, KD who was about a year or so old and very friendly was hiking with me. We went to the peak and on the way down I stopped to rest for a minute. KD was rustling around in the trees behind me, but was out of sight. I heard this loud angry male voice coming up the trail towards us, arguing and swearing. Then this really creepy looking guy came around the corner - still arguing, but apparently with himself. He started towards me mumbling about devils and demons with a real crazy look in his eyes. Scared the hell out of me as I didn't think I could get around him to head down the trail and I sure didn't want to head back up with him behind me. Well, all of a sudden KD came flying out of the woods, making this really low rumbling noise in her chest. I grabbed her collar as she headed past me. She looked absolutely ferocious. She wasn't barking, just lunging towards him making this rumbly sound in her chest. Boy did this guy back off fast. He went past us heading up, yelling about devil dogs, and we headed down really, really fast. I reported him to the local game warden, but they didn't even go up the trail looking for him because "he didn't really do anything"! Really useful. I have no doubt that had KD not reacted as she did, I could have been in real trouble. She had never ever done anything like that before and never did it again for the rest of her life. I think she knew this guy was trouble and that I was being threatened. Even if she was threatening and never intended to bite, this guy didn't know it and so backed off.

[rottix2]

A couple of years ago, KD who was about a year or so old and very friendly was hiking with me. We went to the peak and on the way down I stopped to rest for a minute. KD was rustling around in the trees behind me, but was out of sight. I heard this loud angry male voice coming up the trail towards us, arguing and swearing. Then this really creepy looking guy came around the corner - still arguing, but apparently with himself. He started towards me mumbling about devils and demons with a real crazy look in his eyes. Scared the hell out of me as I didn't think I could get around him to head down the trail and I sure didn't want to head back up with him behind me. Well, all of a sudden KD came flying out of the woods, making this really low rumbling noise in her chest. I grabbed her collar as she headed past me. She looked absolutely ferocious. She wasn't barking, just lunging towards him making this rumbly sound in her chest. Boy did this guy back off fast. He went past us heading up, yelling about devil dogs, and we headed down really, really fast. I reported him to the local game warden, but they didn't even go up the trail looking for him because "he didn't really do anything"! Really useful. I have no doubt that had KD not reacted as she did, I could have been in real trouble. She had never ever done anything like that before and never did it again for the rest of her life. I think she knew this guy was trouble and that I was being threatened. Even if she was threatening and never intended to bite, this guy didn't know it and so backed off.