aggressive breeds | Wags & Whiskers | Dog Walking and Pet Sitting

Happy Wednesday before Easter!

This week, my husband and I signed the rental papers on a gorgeous, spacious (well, at least after living in an apartment!) house. While we are excited to decorate (me) and get some extra space for ourselves (hubby)…I know the real winner is our dog. This house has a huge backyard, and from the first time we saw it, I could picture Buffy running, fetching, digging (don’t tell the landlord!) and basically doing everything that comes natural to a dog.

I discovered a simple, shocking truth in the process of finding a new home (we explored apartment and house options) – Landlords don’t like dogs….well, at least not dogs over 35 pounds…and only certain breeds. One management company sent us a document stating all that we would need to submit in regards to a pooch when applying for a house. These included “proof of weight when full grown” (what??), “breed documentation” (wait, what??), and “an additional pet deposit from $200-$1000” (A THOUSAND DOLLARS!?!) Then they gave us a long list of breeds that they would NEVER accept, which included Pit Bulls, Doberman Pinchers, Rottweilers, German Shepherds, blah, blah, blah. I was honestly offended by this. (We did not rent from these people!) We did still have to submit a ridiculous amount of paperwork for Buffy (more than for ourselves!) that included vaccination records (totally reasonable), pictures (can you tell if a dog is aggressive by looking at a pictures?), and a “letter of explanation” (explaining what the hell we had been thinking to get a dog over 35 pounds.)

If you can’t tell by my rant – I get so frustrated with some people’s view of dogs. I think it’s completely acceptable for a landlord to want to ensure that there isn’t a trouble-makin’, aggressive, up-to-no-good dog moving in, but to think that all or even most German Shepherds are bad news? IGNORANT! And trust me, I’ve seen my fair share of 35 pounders that can tear up a baseboard and make a whole lot of noise.

So these weeks Wags & Whiskers Wednesday is dedicated to all the “aggressive” breeds I’ve dealt with over the years. It seems to me they all go out of their way to be extra sweet to prove the stereotypes wrong!

Doberman Pincher, Doggee. Sweet heart, and snuggle buddy...yet grown men on the streets of Brooklyn would run from him.

Rottweiler, Cookie. One of my favorites at the dog daycare where I worked. When I had to do office work I would sneak her in and she would calmly sit under the computer.