Prejudice Against Dog Breeds

Seeing as my blog is called ‘The Content Wolf’, I suppose I can occasionally write dog related blog posts. Something happened yesterday that has inspired me to write this post, and not in a good way. For those of you who may not know, I have studied dog grooming and have completed a level three course in canine behaviour. I know a thing or two about our canine companions, and that’s why I write for a pet blog on a regular basis. So anyways, back to my story….

I am currently looking for a local dog sitter to look after my beloved pooch, Orla. We have moved somewhere new, and need to find someone reliable to look after her when we are away. So I have been contacting local dog sitting businesses. My boyfriend and I bumped into a man walking lots of dogs in the woods, who said he does dog sitting. So I attempted to call him. He said he was away and I should call his home number and speak to his wife. So I did.

I spoke to her for a few minutes before she asked me what breed of dog Orla is. I said she is a Husky Collie cross. There was an awkward silence, and then she said something along the lines of ‘oh, to be honest I don’t like either of those breeds’ and explained a few reasons as to why she wouldn’t want to look after a Collie or a Husky.

I have never had anyone say anything like this to me before. For a few moments I didn’t know what to say, I had to let what she said to me sink in. It felt so insulting and rude. I then said that actually I didn’t want to use her services as I don’t want to leave my dog with someone that dislikes her, and explained how I found what she said offensive and narrow minded. I was raging for quite a while after the phone call, and put up a Facebook status explaining what happened. People seemed to really find what this woman said shocking and were full of support. Here are some of their comments:

‘They aren’t dog people! Hate people who pretend they love dogs but won’t help certain breeds so old school! it’s all about the owners!! Saying it’s the breed is so closed minded she shouldn’t even be running a daycare she should give it to someone like me  where’s the link to her website?’

‘It’s even made me angry! how do these people have qualifications to look after our dogs.. Was she an older women? So glad younger generation are more open minded in the dog business! Otherwise we would all be frightened of breeds!’

‘I would of gone crazy at her! Sounds like a terrible dog daycare, who picks and chooses breeds?!’X

‘How does she even have a service with an attitude towards dogs like that?? You have to love all dogs and welcome all of them. That’s so annoyed me!!!!’

‘Very narrow minded. X’

I know that some dog breeds have a very bad and often undeserved reputation. It’s not often that I hear people complaining about Collies and Huskies. Regardless of reputation, a person working with dogs should accept all breeds of dog. I wish the person in question had a website, because I would be able to tell others of my experience. I think they are just looking after dogs for fun rather than to make money. I have come across quite a few people recently who call themselves dog lovers when they are clearly not, which frustrates me.

I have previously written articles for the pet company I write for about dog breeds that have an undeserved reputation. For example, Staffies, German Shepherds and Rottweilers. With the right training and responsible owners, these dogs can make wonderful pets. My girl Orla is a nice mix of the two breeds and doesn’t have extreme traits from either.

I contacted the woman’s husband, as I had met him in the woods and he also met Orla. What’s ironic is that he has a German Shepherd. Anyway, I explained to him about the conversation I had with his wife and this is what he said:

‘Sorry to hear that Somewhat premature to make that judgement without meeting your dog. Probably down to a bad experience we had many years ago with a husky who killed 5 pups. If it’s any comfort, I did like your dog when we met.’

It did make me feel better reading his text, at least he realises his wife is wrong. Hopefully he will have a word. Anyway, it sparked a strong debate on Facebook so I thought I would do a blog post about it. What are your thoughts? Do you think dog sitters should pick and choose which breeds of dog they look after? Perhaps if this woman had explained things in a different way and been more polite I wouldn’t have reacted so badly.

Here is a picture of my lovely girl.