Honey the Great Dane

You know lots of people think that doggies of the same breed will always be OK together? Like we sometimes meet Dane owners who are snooty about mixing with other breeds and they say rude things about other types of doggies, especially small doggies – they say that Danes should only socialise with other Danes because they are the same size and will always be friends and that it’s always other breeds who cause problems…

…well, we never like it when people talk like that. We think it’s very wrong to be “breedist”. Hsin-Yi says it’s just like saying American humans should only be friends with other Americans and Chinese humans should only be friends with other Chinese humans…etc., etc.

Me with some of my best doggie friends (photo by Rachael Hale)

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I have LOTS of friends that are not Danes – in fact, most of my best friends are not Danes and many of them are small doggies! And Hsin-Yi says that she has found that just because someone else owns a Dane doesn’t mean she will immediately like them or be like them or want to be their friend. She likes the people best who have the same attitudes and values and standards as her – basically, people who think like us and care about the same things as us, never mind what size or shape or colour they are!

And it’s certainly not true that all Danes will be friendly to each other! We learnt this the hard way!

Me & my human, Hsin-Yi, had a horrible, scary experience early last week. We were walking in one of the local off-leash parks when we heard some people calling us from behind. We turned around and saw an old couple hurrying up to us, with 2 Great Danes: one was a big black boy Dane and the other was an old blue girl Dane. Of course, like most Dane owners, they were delighted to see another Dane and so they were rushing up to say hello and find out more about me. The old girl was 10yrs old and lovely, although a bit stiff and wobbly. The boy was 7yrs old – but he was quite stiff & wobbly too! The old couple was very surprised to hear that I am a senior Dane too ‘coz they said I looked so fit & healthy and moved around so easily.

Anyway, while all this chat was going on, us doggies were having our own greetings. Except that the Black Boy Dane wasn’t saying hello nicely at all! He just barged right up to me and then stood stiffly next to me, eyeballing me and lunging across my neck, like he was trying to climb onto me. I guess he was used to being bossy with other doggies and showing off what how he could throw his weight around (literally!). It’s called “dominance” – which is sort of a dirty word these days ‘coz people either pretend it doesn’t exist at all or jump on every small thing as a sign of dominance, even really innocent stuff like putting a paw up in play  – but my human says, when you see *real* dominance, you can’t mistake it!! That Black Boy Dane was really trying to intimidate me.

Well, I’m a well-brought up girl and my humans have taught me that I mustn’t get grumpy with other doggies, without good reason, so I tried my best to ignore him and pretend I didn’t notice him leaning all over me.

But he was really hard to ignore!

I could hear Hsin-Yi calling me to her – she always does this when I meet strange doggies, after we’ve been sniffing for a few minutes – she calls me away for a bit, before letting me “go back” to continue saying hello. This is a good way to stop things getting too “intense” and “diffusing the situation” – especially if the other doggie is feeling threatened by me (which happens a lot, even though I’m not doing anything other than standing next to them!   ) – having me move away a bit gives them some breathing space and then they feel better. Letting doggies sniff a bit and then “breaking them off”, before letting them go back, is a good way to manage first introductions between doggies. Most doggies – by the 3rd time they’ve come back to me – are feeling much happier and confident and wagging their tails and so we have a good encounter.

Well, except it didn’t work this time! I was trying to go back to Hsin-Yi but this Black Boy Dane just wouldn’t let me! He kept pushing into me and getting in front of me and trying to control where I could go…what did he think I was? A bloomin’ sheep??

Well, I can be a stubborn girl too. I turned my head away and ignored him but I stood my ground and wouldn’t let him bully me.

Well! He didn’t like that! The next thing I knew, he suddenly snarled and lunged for my face!! OH! He was snapping and snarling and yelling really rude things at me. Grrr…if he thought that was going to make me all scared and submissive, he had another think coming! HE PICKED THE WRONG GIRL!!!

I snarled and snapped back!

Oh yeah! I am a well-brought up girl, alright, but if you want a fight, I’ll give you one! Nobody messes with the Big Honey Dog!

We started whirling around in a big dog fight. We weren’t actually biting each other – it was mainly “posturing” just to show what we could do – but we were making so much noise that everybody in the park froze to watch. Hsin-Yi said any dog fight is horrible and scary to see but a giant-dog fight is like a nightmare out of Gladiators! She was screaming and calling me – and after a while, I heard her and tried again to go back to her – but that horrible Black Boy Dane still wouldn’t let me! He kept coming after me! I was waiting for his owners to call him away but they just stood there and didn’t do anything!!

Finally – he sort of backed off and let me pass and I quickly ran over to Hsin-Yi. I don’t know who was shaking more – her or me! Hsin-Yi checked me over but I didn’t have any bites or scratches anywhere, thank goodness, and neither did the Black Boy Dane – it really was just ‘posturing’…but still a horrible experience!

Now, the old couple came up saying it’s all fine, it’s nothing, he does this all the time and it doesn’t mean anything…

Huh??

Hsin-Yi was grumpy that they did not call him away when he was attacking me and also horrified that they knew he behaved like this around other doggies – and yet they just let him roam around freely in a dog park? Especially a doggie as big & powerful as him? I mean, OK, all doggies should have the same rules and it’s not fair that small doggies get away with being aggressive and stuff – but Hsin-Yi does think that owners of big doggies do have more responsibility to make sure their doggies are under control ‘coz they can do so much more damage!

I guess the thing is, normally most doggies he meets would just quickly submit – and so there wouldn’t be a fight.I think he got a nasty shock when he met me! I don’t start fights but I don’t let other doggies push me around either!!

Anyway, it was fine after a moment – it all blew over – and we’d sorted things out. He came past me again and I just gave him A Look – and he quickly dipped his head slightly and hurried past. The third time he came up to me, he approached me really slowly & respectfully from behind, wagging his tail low and slowly, and politely sniffed my bum. I stood there and let him – I didn’t mind that. But after that, we said goodbye to them quickly and left the park!

Note from Hsin-Yi: Nowadays in society, people expect dogs to act like Disney characters and aggressive behaviour of any kind is so abhorred that as a pet owner, you’re absolutely paranoid if your dog so much as growls – even if it was totally justified! So I have always been mortified if Honey ever got “stroppy” – even if she has only acted in self-defence or was severely provoked. But I have to admit this time – I actually felt proud of her for standing up for herself! I’ve always known that she is a very confident girl but Wow – it’s something to see her in action. She really put that black Dane in his place! I am not condoning fighting, of course – I would still prefer that she “turns the other cheek” – but in situations such as this one where she was left with no choice…well, for the first time, I felt glad that I had a girl who is no pushover and able to look after herself!

Anyway, I don’t think we’re going to go back to that park again. Every time we’ve been there, we’ve had a bad experience. The first time, a man with 5 doggies came up behind us and the doggies were all circling me and making nasty faces at me – and then the man started shouting at one of them and stopped it just before it attacked me. We hurried away! Again, Hsin-Yi couldn’t understand how you would let your dogs roam around in a pack when you know they target and harass other doggies??

And then the 2nd time, I was with Paul and a lady with an old black Lab passed us – and the Lab came over to sniff me – then got grumpy at me! At least that time the old lady apologised to Paul and said that the Lab had a bad leg so he got grumpy sometimes with other doggies…well, who told him to come over to me then?? I was just minding my own business – HE was the one who came over to me!! Grrr!

And this was the 3rd time. So no more Bicentennial Park for us!! It’s a shame ‘coz it’s such a pretty park, right down by the waterfront, and half of it is off-leash all the time. But it does get too crowded at busy times and – I don’t know – maybe the types of people & doggies who go there are just ‘trouble’. Maybe in winter when it gets cooler, Hsin-Yi can take me there in the middle of the day, when hopefully there might be nobody else about!

It’s funny because the other park we go to a lot – Victoria Park – is also a very busy park, with LOTS of people and often doggies too (it’s off-leash after 6pm) – and yet every time we go there, we have a nice time. We meet other doggies (such as that cute Bulldog, Briscoe! And Emma the Border Collie who was playing with me!) – and they are always very well-mannered and I make lots of new friends and the owners are nice too. So that is one of our favourite parks.

And just to prove what I was saying in the beginning about how size & breed doesn’t matter – look who I met in Victoria Park a few days after this horrible experience? A cute little Jack Russell Terrier doggie called Tigger!

See, everybody often says rude things about Jack Russell doggies being “terrorists” and aggressive and stuff…but I’ve known lots of nice JRT’s in my life!

Back in Auckland, there was a lovely JRT called Rosie in my Canine Good Citizen class – and she was one of the best behaved doggies in class.

Of course, there some JRT’s who have a bit of “Small Dog Syndrome” and some have a bit of  – ahem – an Anger Management Problem…but we think it’s usually the fault of their humans for not teaching them the right way to behave or change their attitudes.

Tigger was a lovely doggie – he was confident and sociable and playful and friendly – without being rude or annoying. And it didn’t matter to him at all that I was a lot bigger or he was a lot smaller!

My humans were laughing because he kept following me everywhere, like a little shadow!

And Hsin-Yi even got a little video of us…

* You’ll notice in the video that Tigger is barking at me a lot. People who don’t understand will think that he is being grumpy at me – or scared of me or something – but no, actually he is inviting me to play and trying to get me to chase him! (I was very hot so not feeling very playful – plus now that I’m a senior doggie, I have to be in the “right mood” to feel like playing. I wasn’t being snooty to Tigger! )

See, this is why it’s important to learn to read our doggie body language overall and not just follow ‘generalisations’ about what a “wagging tail” or “barking” means. You have to look at the rest of our body language, like:

• Is our mouth relaxed & open (often in a “smile”) or tight & clenched?
• Are our bodies stiff with hackles up and our eyes staring?
• Are our ears hard forward or soft & back?
• Are we walking with our heads thrust forward, in an intense, predatory way? Or skulking nervously around? (the best is a relaxed amble, of course!)
• Do we look at ease & comfortable (often even “unbothered” or disinterested) – or nervous, twitchy, wary & uncomfortable?

Of course, there are the really obvious signs like cowering & tail between the legs or lifted muzzle showing teeth – but often, doggies who are feeling stressy or hostile won’t necessarily give such clear signals, so it’s more important to look at the overall body language and see if the doggie is licking his lips nervously a lot or looking fearfully from the corners of his eyes (rolling, seeing the whites) or most of all, going very stiff and still (bad sign!). If a doggie is acting like that, best to back off immediately (whether you’re a human or a doggie) and give him some breathing space, to get his mojo back!

And to help you, here is a great poster by the wonderful Lili Chin, featuring her Boston Terrier, Boogie:

Lili has a fantastic website: www.doggiedrawings.net where she will do cute, quirky portrait drawings of your doggie for you – and she also so generously does lots of wonderful drawings & poster to help educate people about doggie behaviour and training: Dog Behaviour Illustrations – which can all be downloaded for free! Check out her brilliant website!

So yeah – back to my movie – so you’ll see that although Tigger keeps barking at me, his mouth is open & relaxed, his ears are soft & back, his tail is up and wagging slowly (not a fast, stiff wag) and he is generally relaxed & bouncing around and trying to get me to play with him.

Even the tone of his bark tells you that – we doggies have lots of different barks. When I hear strangers outside our house, I give a really deep, booming bark – warning them and also letting my humans know that there are strangers on our territory. But when I see the Vacuum Monster, I give quite high-pitched, almost squeaky barks – coz I’m scared of it! Since I’m not a vocal doggie, I don’t really bark at any other times – but there can also be the happy, playful bark (like Tigger in the movie or when you want your human to throw your ball) – or the yappy, attention-seeking bark (by spoilt doggies who are used to demanding things, instead of earning them through good behaviour) – or the “can’t-contain-myself”, excited bark (like the doggies at Flyball) – or the bored, stressy bark when doggies are left alone too long (sometimes turning into a howl) – or the really snarly, “exploding” kind of bark when doggies are facing a threat.

We’ve seen idiot humans standing at a fence, facing a doggie that’s barking at them and they think the doggie is “talking” to them and “saying hello” – when in fact, if they knew doggies better, they would realise that the doggie is giving very hostile, warning barks that he might attack if they come any closer…!

Hsin-Yi says the best way to learn doggie bodie language is to watch & observe lots of doggies!! Every time your humans go out to the park or anywhere there is doggies – just watch them, see what their bodies are doing and how they act – and what happens with other doggies or people or things. See how the different personalities react in the same situation. (And remember, it’s personality that matters – not size or breed or colour!) And it’s very important NOT to “humanise” what the doggies are doing (like giving them human emotions such as being jealous or sulky or getting revenge or being snooty) – otherwise that will interefere with how you understand them. We are animals – and proud to be animals – and it’s insulting to treat us like little (or big!) humans in furry coats!!