Dog Behavior Problems and Training

Dealing With Dogs That Hate Either Men Or Women

Hating men or women is the most peculiar form of instability in dogs. They seem to be sweet and happy with one sex and nervous or vicious with the other. What form of neurosis causes this we don't know. What can an owner do to make a dog with this nature livable?

First, examine the owner's mind. Has he or she ever had a grudge against the opposite sex? Did an overpowering schoolteacher make the young boy's or girl's life a misery? Does he or she boast that they only get along with men or women? Alsatians are peculiar in this way and will hate men or women instinctively if thought transference comes from an owner with a similar dislike. Many women like big guard dogs, and the big guard dog thrives in this state of affairs and easily develops a dislike of the sex the owner wishes to dominate.

Corgis do the same. This has been particularly noted in these two breeds, partly because they are highly intelligent breeds and telepathy is very marked and partly because the shepherding instinct is uppermost and they have a natural suspicion of strangers. Correct them firmly when young and one gets no further trouble. Accept their suspicious natures, and you will have dogs that hate men or women, usually women.

Now how do we live with such dogs? The world being what it is, we can't mix with only one sex. Even husbands or wives are a necessity, and it is often against the one or the other that the particular hate is centered. I think the solution is either to send the dog to be boarded or trained by a person of the sex it hates, or else get friends of that sex to feed it or take it for walks. If it shows any signs of being vicious, muzzle it and send it out for a long walk with the person it dislikes. Greet joyously that person when he or she returns and praise the dog. Make the person pat the dog and praise it before saying goodbye and, if possible, give it its food.

Of course there aren't many good friends who will do this, but I think that if an advertisement was put in the local newspaper, some dog lover would respond. It might even help to employ a "dog sitter" of the hated sex when you go out so that when you are out, the only comfort the dog would get would be from the sex it dislikes.

Only by being made to tolerate people will it respond. Obviously, if a female owner has been jilted and hates all men, her dog will naturally pick up this feeling when the owner is talking to a man. In many cases, all these faults in dogs can be traced to some minor mental disturbance of the owner, although the owner may be unaware of it.

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