Some dogs have loud barks, some dogs have little barks, and some dogs don’t bark at all, but do not be fooled by a dog’s bark because some of those little ones may surprise you. Do not ever underestimate the little ones.
Let me tell you a true story that happened to me. My boyfriend and I were eating our acai bowls outside with our dog Ziggy, which is a bulldog, minding our own business. A lady walks out of the store with her dogs, and Ziggy starts barking because she is excited to see these other dogs. I’m not going to lie. I admit Ziggy has the tendency to bark with “excitement” when she’s tied so her bark could sound intimidating to the onlooker. She starts barking and the lady starts screaming at the top of her lungs like my dog is murdering her. I need to point out this lady is a good 15 feet away which means Ziggy is no where near her or her dogs. She creates a huge scene and goes back in the store she came out of, decides to carry her large greyhounds like they’re chihuahuas to her car and continuing to scream while she’s doing this. I really couldn’t believe my eyes what was going on in front of me. We even tried to tell her out loud,”Ziggy just barks, but she’s totally dog friendly.” We felt bad and wanted to save this woman from looking like an overly concerned pet mom, that extreme dog owners are sometimes labeled like “Crazy Dog Lady”
I understand my Ziggy’s bark sounds intimidating, but what’s worse is to create a scene that is embarrassing to her, us, and completely disrespectful to everyone around. No dog was in danger here. To scream all the way to your car as if Ziggy was right at your heels is absurd. Its unstable. Get it together!
Everyone has different reactions when people have different breeds of dogs. Some people give dirty looks, some people make rude comments, or some people are nice and want to pet your dog. Everyone is different in their own ways but be mindful that some peoples dogs are like their kids. So if you offend them you offend the owners as well.
Don’t judge a dog by its bark or by how it looks. A great example, is Pit bulls. Pit bulls are the most misunderstood dogs. This breed has an intimidating look and bad rap of fighting gene but truth be told they’re the sweetest dogs ever. I believe every dog has a kind heart, it just depends on how the owner raises them and treats them.
