Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The Nice One

Usually when people approach us to meet the pooches, they are immediately greeted by Ms. M's eager smiling face and wiggling body. She is always so excited to meet new people that they don't even have time to ask if she is friendly before she licks the back of their hand and begins leaning on them to get petted.
On the other hand, Mr. B is more aloof. And lately people have been asking if he is unfriendly because he usually just stands over to the side.
We were kind of surprised that people would interpret this as unfriendly, especially because Mr. B usually has a big wide smile, and Miss M is prone to giving her mean-mugging face to people:

I wonder if people really do pay more attention to dogs' body language than looking at their face?
P.S. We posted on our Facebook page last night, but Bella (one of the pooches saved in Shy's honor) was officially put on petfinder and it ready for adoption!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

My boy is shy & timid when he meets folks. Kind of gives them the "stank eye". :) That is only because we are still working on his self-esteem. Poor lil guy was not socialized much prior to us rescuing him.

I believe ppl generally will take the "look" on their face over any other body actions. More ppl need to be educated on approaching dogs and their body language, imo.

~Brenda
ascrribblerstale.com
diaryofapit.blogspot.com

Two Grad Students and a Pittie said...

Havi's whole body wiggles when she meets a person. Were kinda lucky that way, because a black pit-type dog is usually interpreted as scary, so with a wagging tail and body shes more inviting!

www.twogradstudentsandapittie.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

I'm sure it's a combination . . . Mr B has more of that "traditional" block-headed pit bull look which scares a lot of people, and because he is more standoffish, they don't have much outward personality to go on. Ms M is like Chick in this way. His whole boddy wiggles (also like Havi) and he gets so excited to greet people that he sometimes starts to whimper excitedly and paw the air as though he were trying to trap a bouncing ball.

Froggy said...

Maize has a really intense look on her face most of the time when we are outside and people usually think she's unfriendly because of that. She also wears a gentler leader so I get a lot of "ooohh she bites" which she doesn't and I explain that it's not a muzzle. She is the shy one out of the two, Pug is all up in your face within seconds.

Kate said...

With Ms. M's eagerness I think any dog would look "unfriendly" in comparison, haha. When we're out with our dogs they're always friendly, but for the most part they just want to get on with their walk. If we stop to talk to people who want to pet them, they get restless with staying in one place after awhile. They like getting pet, but they like walking more!

Corbin said...

That's how it is when I'm with Emmett... everyone thinks he's the nice dog and I'm the mean dog because I don't care to lick strangers faces unless they're in my home...
-Corbin

Unknown said...

Little Molly is so pitiful at the dog park because she is so wiggly and excited to meet other dogs so people immediately want to pet her, but then she shys away and looks scared. We are working on it though and she is getting there, one day I hope to have a super exuberant dog to help balance out Molly's nerves.

Trissi_V said...

My Laci girl is cautious when meeting people and likes to sniff them first...problem is people just lean down and try to pet her before she is ready which makes her scared and she comes back to me a little perturbed.

Apollo is the exact opposite. He leans in and just loves being loved by anybody, friend, stranger...doesn't matter.

So, Apollo has the rep of being so friendly and Laci is "shy" or "unfriendly". I think some people don't know how to approach dogs.

Two French Bulldogs said...

We really believe people look at our body language. They always think we are friendly cause we smile and wiggle. But they don't know my secret that I nipped my neighbors hand cause he put his hand by me to fast
Benny (& Lily)

Susan Campisi said...

Miss M's mug is hilarious! There's no way that Mr. B looks unfriendly. Tommy's too friendly. He jumps on people in his excitement. I wish I could teach him not to do that.

brooke said...

Aww Miss M's mean face is still cute!
Darwin's a mix of both. She loves attention from people, but only when she wants it. If a stranger approaches her to pet her she'll usually be like Mr B and more aloof and walk away.

Kari in Alaska said...

yes ive noticed that if one of my dogs is faster to approach people the others are deemed unfriendly

Kari
http://dogisgodinreverse.com

houndstooth said...

I think often a dog that doesn't make eye contact is perceived differently. I love the shy ones, but I know a lot of people don't know what to make of them. I love Mr. B's smile!

ForPetsSake said...

Good for Bella!!
Sadly, there's no doubt in my crew as to who is the "nice" one, and who is not. Arwen loves greeting people and does it happily. Nyxie not so much.

jet said...

A guy read Bender's over enthusiastic body language as a threat last night on our walk.... he said 'those are nice dogs'... Bender heard 'dogs' and tried to run up to him, yanking my arm and then started crying when he reached the end of the leash. The guy took a wide berth then! Silly Bender. Missed out on attention for his exuberance. I should have kept them in a sit stay but I honestly didn't think Bender would be so silly!

Amy said...

There is no question that Buster is the "nice one" here. Ty is afraid of strangers and doesn't want to be touched by anyone that hasn't been properly inspected, from a distance, for a good long time.

Mary said...

I can get Levi to wag his tail to meet a woman or kids by saying, "This is LEVI" in my most sing-song voice. Then the person usually says hi to him and uses his name, which he likes. It's kind of embarrassing when he stands there looking bored when someone is fawning over him. I want people to see him as friendly and not some weird dog that they think is going to snap.

He's not as welcoming of men, but if the person knows what to do around dogs and uses a silly voice, he is much more comfortable. Neptune loves everyone, but people seem to be more drawn to Levi, unfortunately.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...