Macho Dogs and First Impressions

The Significant Other and I own a rottweiler (her choice - I prefer northern dogs) and he Count Yousef Lucky has been an absolute sweetheart, so long as other people aren't around. This makes him a bit of a challenge, as we do like having people over and his natural tendency to be very protective of his home and his humans. We don't really want to discourage this, but we do nee him to learn when such behaviour is appropriate; taking him for walks is easier now that he knows they are public access, and anyone can use them without being an affront to his manliness.

Meeting other dogs is a bit tricky, too; it's better when they don't have humans with them, as the dogs will work out who's what on their own without having to worry about protecting anything o picking up on their owner's nerves at meeting a rottie.

Some folks are quite good about it, though, and you can tell who has been around dogs and who simply owns one. Today, Lucky and I met a fellow named Tiger on the trail, and the owner and I decided to lt the two meet off-leash (they gotta be equals when they say hi, or don't bother). She was a little nervous, as Lucky is an alpha male even though neutered. I kept close enough to grab Lucky as much to comfort her as to reassure him that these two weren't a threat and we were perfectly happy to let them use the path (etc etc).

He approached an anxious Tiger with hackles up and head low, and Tiger held stll to let him sniff first. Lucky padded closer, tense but unagressive; he leaned in, and... Promptly started licking Tiger's penis.

Not the response anyone present expected, including an extremely nervous Tiger who had no idea where to turn at this point. The two humans were no use as we were both laughing too hard to call our dogs.

I'm not sure what this is going to do to the reputations of rottweilers as a breed, but for some reason the episode mde me think of an old Eddie Murphy routine...