# Is it possible for my dog to not like certain breeds of dogs?



## H15A5H1 (Dec 14, 2009)

So, is it possible for dogs to not like certain breeds of dogs?

I am asking this question because I have noticed that recently my dog has been very irritable and sensitive when around certain breeds of dogs. Specifically dogs with a broad forehead and floppy ears. ie; pitbulls & labs . . .

We used to goto dog parks a lot, but stopped going because he constantly got attacked/bullied by unruly pitbulls.

Most recently, we let our dog meet our new friend's anatolian shepherd puppy (8months). Upon greeting the pup, my dog's hocks went up and the puppy was very tense. Long story short, my dog did NOT like this dog very much. We were able to have them walk together, and down next to each other peacefully, but they were unable to greet each other without a scuffle. Since anatolian shepherds physically resemble the dogs he dislikes (with the wide skull, floppy ears) . . . I was wondering if my dog was being overly defensive from his previous biases.

Just for good measure, we took our dog to a local petstore and let him greet a bunch of different dogs. He did fine with all the others, but I did notice him tense up when he met a female lab. So again, is it possible for dogs to not like certain dogs based solely on their appearance?

My dog is a 21month male White GSD, fixed.


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

My dog has yet to befriend a Boxer. He will tolerate them but quickly tries to ignore them and hasn't really clicked with any of them that we have met. I don't think it has anything to do with the apperance, but more so the unplaced energy, jumping all over him non-stop behaviour that they display.


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## sagelfn (Aug 13, 2009)

elisabeth_00117 said:


> My dog has yet to befriend a Boxer. He will tolerate them but quickly tries to ignore them and hasn't really clicked with any of them that we have met. I don't think it has anything to do with the apperance, but more so the unplaced energy, jumping all over him non-stop behaviour that they display.


 Sage's BFF is a boxer. Sage says Stark doesn't know what he's missin:tongue:

Sage does not respond well to extremely hyper dogs, so far that has been lab, husky, mini aussie that I remember. He is fine with ones that are normal..haven't met many of those


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

Hahaha.. The ones here in the building that we have met are a little... okay, a lot spazzy. The second you get near them they are jumping in circles doing backflips (literally!) and Stark tends to ignore these dogs.


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## H15A5H1 (Dec 14, 2009)

I can understand the indifference towards hyperness and mismatched energy levels. However, when my dog met my friends anatolian pup, the pup was pretty calm but tense..

weird thing though, my dog does get along with Boxers! *shrug


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

It's possible. I know dogs who don't like certain breeds due to a bad experience or being attacked by a dog of those breeds.
I've had dogs who were the opposite-- they loved certain breeds/types of dogs. My Rat Terrier mix was indifferent to most dogs but he just LOVED small fluffy white dogs for some reason. We thought maybe he used to live with one or something (he was a stray so who knows.) My Golden loved other Goldens. If there was a group of dogs, she would invariably go to greet any other Goldens first.
After my Golden was attacked by a Border Collie, I made sure to work with her around a few friendly Borders to make sure she didn't develop a dislike or fear of them (which would have been bad since she was an agility dog!)


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## Larien (Sep 26, 2010)

Can I ask you a question, and answer honestly - do you dislike or feel anxious around pit bulls at all yourself? Because if you do, even a little bit, the dog will know, and pick up on it. So first address if that's potentially the problem, and if it's not (and I'm not saying it is, just that I've experienced it in dogs and horses) then work from there.

Remi doesn't like beagles. At all. If he sees one, he lunges and barks. I personally dislike beagles very much. No particular reason, I just really do not like them. I suspect that Remi senses this when one is near (thankfully, not often at all) and the whole thing is my doing.

Now - different scenario. A lot of dogs common as pets have broad heads and floppy ears like pits and labs. A LOT. So, it's my feeling with this that the issue isn't so much the dogs' appearances, but the attitudes of those particular dogs he didn't like. You mentioned he was "constantly attacked" by pitbull types at a dog park - so those dogs, and dogs with similar energy levels/attitudes combined with similar appearance make your dog nervous.

You, without realizing it, may be contributing by subconsciously getting anxious at the sight of pits or broad headed floppy eared dogs because you anticipate that there will be a problem when your dog sees them. So it's important to try and remain calm and cool and normal when approaching all dogs, to let yours know it's okay.


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## TitonsDad (Nov 9, 2009)

Titon hates Huskies. No idea why. Must be the jealousy of blue eyes even though his papa (me) has blue eyes. 

I've also noticed that he doesn't like our neighbor's dog back in Colorado. I think he's some kind of American Bulldog or something but that's because the **** dog always ****s on our front lawn and Titon knows how pissed off I get at that dog barking all the time and annoying me.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

if the pup saw your dogs "hocks" go up i can understand why he was nervous and you should have been nervous also seeing your dogs "hocks" go up.

i've wondered if dogs can like or dislike according to their breed.



H15A5H1 said:


> Most recently, we let our dog meet our new friend's anatolian shepherd puppy (8months). Upon greeting the pup, my dog's hocks went up and the puppy was very tense.


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## H15A5H1 (Dec 14, 2009)

Larien said:


> Can I ask you a question, and answer honestly - do you dislike or feel anxious around pit bulls at all yourself? Because if you do, even a little bit, the dog will know, and pick up on it. So first address if that's potentially the problem, and if it's not (and I'm not saying it is, just that I've experienced it in dogs and horses) then work from there.
> 
> Remi doesn't like beagles. At all. If he sees one, he lunges and barks. I personally dislike beagles very much. No particular reason, I just really do not like them. I suspect that Remi senses this when one is near (thankfully, not often at all) and the whole thing is my doing.
> 
> ...


Thanks for your detailed insight. I totally understand where you are coming from regarding negative energy coming from me. I'm not really fidgety and anxious whenever a pit bull walks near him. I've seen many well behaved pit bulls and some really bad ones. After seeing him get attacked for no reason by pit bulls, my respect for the breed has dropped immensely, but I think if anything his bad experiences with pit bulls probably overweigh my biases. 

i think the last time he got attacked by a pit bull really messed with his mind. there was a fight at the dogpark between two unfixed males. my dog was just standing in the middle of the park looking from afar. then out of nowhere a pitbull charges at him and does a full mouth bite on my dog's neck, full aggression. scared the **** out of my dog because he didn't even see him coming. then 2 other pitbulls at the park get all riled up and start attacking my dog too! luckily, i have a gsd because he was actually able to fend for himself until all the irresponsible spoiled hipster pitbull owners got hold of their dogs.




doggiedad said:


> if the pup saw your dogs "hocks" go up i can understand why he was nervous and you should have been nervous also seeing your dogs "hocks" go up.


yeah, it was really unusual to see my dog's hocks go up. i should have caught it and redirected him away. he's met hundreds of dogs, and not once have i seen his hocks go up upon meet & greet. when my dog first went over and sniffed he was fine, but when the pup tensed up thats when my dog's hocks started raising.

i would like to add a bit more detail to this though. the pup was my friend's first dog. they just got him from the shelter not even a month ago, and hes never been around any other dogs. they seemed a bit nervous when they released their dog to meet mine. i was wondering if this made their pup super tense & sent some weird signals to my dog ?


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

Our boy Riley is aggressive with Saint Bernards. When he was about 2 years old he was constantly attacked by a Saint at the dog park we went to. The dog knew my car and would make a beeline for Riley almost the instant we were in the park. She would literally target him. She was aggressive with a couple other dogs but Riley she tried to kill. No idea why as he never did anything to her. So if we're out anywhere and he see's a saint bernard the hackles go up, he's growling and lunging and get downright nasty with that i'm going to get you before you get me attitude. There is a saint bernard that lives two houses down from us so we literally have to go out the back door through the back gate for walks sometimes because they have their saint out front with them. So yeah its possible


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

they're hackles. hocks are on the leg. :crazy:



H15A5H1 said:


> yeah, it was really unusual to see my dog's hocks go up. i should have caught it and redirected him away. he's met hundreds of dogs, and not once have i seen his hocks go up upon meet & greet. when my dog first went over and sniffed he was fine, but when the pup tensed up thats when my dog's hocks started raising.


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## H15A5H1 (Dec 14, 2009)

doggiedad said:


> they're hackles. hocks are on the leg. :crazy:


:blush: - thanks for the correction!


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## Lin (Jul 3, 2007)

I was going to say I'd like to see the hocks go up lol. The hock is the joint on the back leg that corresponds to our ankles.

BTW, are you sure the dogs were pit bulls? Or are you assuming by looks? Pit bull is a group of breeds, like saying shepherds. The american pit bull terrier is a type of pit bull, the way the GSD is a type of shepherd.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

Masi does is not fond of golden retrievers and 'some' black dogs. The golden I associate with her having some negative experiences with one at a dog class, and that girl doesn't forget


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## Jax's Mom (Apr 2, 2010)

elisabeth_00117 said:


> My dog has yet to befriend a Boxer.


After having owned boxers and other breeds, I think a lot of the problem lies with the boxer's lack of ears and tail. My one boxer had the most submissive personality ever but used to get beat up a lot for no reason (the other boxers had it coming, I understand lol).
After those experiences, I kind of object to modifying a dog's body... Not for cruelty reasons but I think it really messes with their behavior... I do enjoy the look of the cropped/docked dogs but wouldn't do it to my own dogs anymore.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Kacie and Onyx are reactive with the aussie/sheltie types. We have one next door that barks constantly and runs around 'herding' his people. They want at him in the worst way, so when they see a similar breed they zone in.

I use to work at a rescue and at adoption events every saturday there were about 100 dogs(crated) in the building.
Whenever the husky's were brought thru, the dogs in crates went nuts because of the body language and eyes of the husky.


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## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

Yukon, who was taller than most dogs, HATED Great Danes ... I always felt it was because of their height more than anything else. 

On the reverse end of the spectrum, Tex LOVED Belgian Sheepdogs ... whenever he saw one his heart went pitter-pat. He didn't respond to other black breeds, it was definitely a Belgian Sheepdog love.


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## London's Mom (Aug 19, 2009)

All of my Shepherds have always disliked Huskies. Go figure. Whenever they spot one they turn into these aggressive maniacs. Even when I was in Obed. Class (which London LOVES), a new Huskie walks in and London begins to growl and then causes ALL the other dogs to growl. I felt so bad for that beautiful Huskie and her human mom. I apologized profusely, but she ended up attending a class at a different time.


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## spiritsmom (Mar 1, 2003)

Kaiser has always had a major dislike for Boxers. Doesn't matter how they behave or whether they are male or female - he doesn't like them.


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

doggiedad said:


> if the pup saw your dogs "hocks" go up i can understand why he was nervous and you should have been nervous also seeing your dogs "hocks" go up.
> 
> i've wondered if dogs can like or dislike according to their breed.


If his hocks went up then he was walking on 2 legs, I think the OP means hackles.


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

TitonsDad said:


> Titon hates Huskies. No idea why. Must be the jealousy of blue eyes even though his papa (me) has blue eyes.





London's Mom said:


> All of my Shepherds have always disliked Huskies. Go figure.


That's funny, Bianca's best friend is a Husky mix! He was also the first dog she ever befriended while on leash. At the time she was quite leash reactive, but my friend's puppy just kept play-bowing and trying and trying to entice her to play and so finally she gave in and ever since then they were best friends!


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

It can go both ways - they can be drawn to certain breeds just like they can dislike certain breeds. It could be an experience with one particular dog that sours them on other dogs that look the same, or it could be as some have pointed out with huskies, something about the body language that rubs them the wrong way, or even the play style, like with boxers or herding breeds. Sneaker's friend Rocco eventually taught her to box, but at first when he tried to play with her with his paws she couldn't figure out what the heck he was doing.

Cassidy was fascinated by Great Danes, she'd always go greet them at the park. And we've seen dogs at the park that adore GSDs or big dogs in general. One day there was the cutest all black French Bulldog that was just delighted to run around chasing my dogs while they were chasing their ball. He wasn't much bigger than their heads, but he didn't seem to notice that he wasn't one of the big dogs, lol! We were talking to the owners and they said he just loved German shepherds. My GSDs have certainly always been drawn to other GSDs.


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## AgileGSD (Jan 17, 2006)

Jagger hates Boxers, even girl ones. It is due to having repeated bad experiences with them when he was a puppy. IME Boxers are a common breed for none Boxers to dislike due to their very physical play style - most dogs dislike being forcefully and repeatedly jumped on, jumped over and smacked in the face. And Boxers are often very poor at heeding signals that the dog they are "playing with" isn't enjoying the game. APBTs and Labs can have similar effects on other dogs because they also have very physical play styles. What they see as a good time, other dogs see as extremely rude behavior.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

AgileGSD said:


> IME Boxers are a common breed for none Boxers to dislike due to their very physical play style - most dogs dislike being forcefully and repeatedly jumped on, jumped over and smacked in the face. And Boxers are often very poor at heeding signals that the dog they are "playing with" isn't enjoying the game.


^ This.


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## goatdude (Mar 3, 2009)

Likes: Loves male GSDs and one GSD mix. Likes French Bulldogs. Ok with Labs. Pretty good with most "pointy eared" dogs, herding breeds, working breeds.

Dislikes: Anything Terrier, Miniature Poodles, Boxers.


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## Davey Benson (Nov 10, 2010)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> It can go both ways - they can be drawn to certain breeds just like they can dislike certain breeds. It could be an experience with one particular dog that sours them on other dogs that look the same, or it could be as some have pointed out with huskies, something about the body language that rubs them the wrong way, or even the play style, like with boxers or herding breeds. ....


Ya, I don't see why not. Dogs can pick out favorite people, favorite toys, I'm sure they have the mind to be able to pick out favorite dogs as well. So I would assume if they have the ability to pick out what they like, they can probably pick out something they don't like as well. That's just my guess.


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## heysharon (Apr 20, 2010)

Huskies naturally carry their tail over their backs--an assertive, dominate posture to most dogs, so easily misinterpreted. I agree with PP that other dogs react to the different eyes as well. My very alpha golden Ranger (RIP) hated every husky he ever met. My GSD, Soldier, hates small, fluffy dogs because he was attacked by small, fluffy, agressive dogs in several separate instances when he was a pup, and I mishandled it by hanging him so he couldn't defend himself (rather than taking control myself and chasing the attacking small dog away).


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## huskins122 (Aug 18, 2013)

well my dog for some reason hates white dogs idky


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## ksotto333 (Aug 3, 2011)

Tess has a thing about Golden Retrievers. We passed two loose standard Poodles the other day, then encountered 2 full size white ducks walking on the sidewalk. She watched all of them, the ducks really intrigued her. The Golden on a leash half a block away was a different story, hackles up, and barking. I crossed the street, and had her sit and quiet until they passed. She's never had a personal encounter with one, but there is one down the street that she sees pulling and out of control on lead frequently. That's the only reason I can think of.


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## gmcwife1 (Apr 5, 2012)

Nita seems to dislike labs. We think it's that most of the ones she's met invade her bubble.


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## brebrehj (Jan 18, 2013)

My Thor hates huskies. Boxer who is an 8month old gsd is scared of large dogs. Boxer thinks he's a teeny tiny thing....couldn't be further from the truth 

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## gsdsar (May 21, 2002)

My last dog hated Pitbulls. He was a fairly dominant male, and I chalked it up to the way most pits approached him, head up ears forward, tail high. He saw them as a challenge. 

He was fine with all other dogs. Unless approached in this manner


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## atourya (Mar 23, 2013)

Larien said:


> Can I ask you a question, and answer honestly - do you dislike or feel anxious around pit bulls at all yourself? Because if you do, even a little bit, the dog will know, and pick up on it. So first address if that's potentially the problem, and if it's not (and I'm not saying it is, just that I've experienced it in dogs and horses) then work from there.
> 
> Remi doesn't like beagles. At all. If he sees one, he lunges and barks. I personally dislike beagles very much. No particular reason, I just really do not like them. I suspect that Remi senses this when one is near (thankfully, not often at all) and the whole thing is my doing.
> 
> ...


I think there's a lot of wisdom to this statement... if you are a pack leader, then your pack will emulate you...

that being said, I am fine with pitbulls, but my belgian shepherd wants them all dead. he is a rescue though, so he has about a year of history that I wasn't there to see.


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