Dog Behavior Question

[XMcShiftersonX]

@ Badger - Yes, the problems of people's misconceptions of a large dog or specific breed is a very real problem. I can't count the number of times people have screamed, ran, or said mean things about him because they just assumed a dog that big was mean. He's really quite the opposite as I've said... a big happy-go-lucky goof.

@GLC - If I'm ever in the area or you're ever up here we will definitely have to arrange something. I'm sure Megatron would be happy to meet everyone! We will continue to work on the mouthing issue. He's been attempting to mouth us since we first got him. Each time we tell him no firmly and either stop playing with him and walk away, or give him a toy to chew on rather than our hands, etc. This is what we were told in our obedience classes, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to work because it's 15 months since we got him and he's still doing it! Does anyone have any other suggestions?

@Pam - We used to use a gentle leader when we were teaching Megatron not to pull and we had the same situations on a regular basis! I couldn't believe that people thought it was a muzzle. I think it actually heightened the fear people had about him being a mean dog because of his size. I was constantly explaining he's a really nice dog, he doesn't bite, it's so that he doesn't pull me.

@Colby - I LOVE that cat sign!!

@Tulip - I'm curious as to why you think that. I wanted to get an idea of how other people feel about this and what others' expectations are. I am listening to everything people have to say, but I'm also finding a balance between what I believe and what others believe. I don't think living in fear or making decisions over the small chance you may get sued is any way to live. It's something to keep in mind, and I am going to work with my dog on improving his behavior to uphold my responsibility (by working on his mouthing humans and trying to redirect him when there's children running around), but I still hold that there's another side (the children and their parents) that need to behave appropriately as well.