Dogs now vs in the past.

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Fielder63

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I have a question. Are there more difficult, re active, nervy dogs now compared to, say, a generation ago?
Or is it that with the Internet we hear more about it?
IF there are more dog problems / problem dogs now, why is it?
Is it nature or nurture? Or a mix?
Are they bred with less care?
Do people bring them up differently, with a different approach than previously? Are they trained and handled less well?
IF there is a difference, could diet be a factor? Are living conditions different?
I'm aware that was several questions in the end. I'm just wondering.
 
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Attitudes of owners have certainly changed things. There are so many more dogs these days, and so many dogs that are under exercised and under stimulated. Clueless, rude owners with frustrated dogs is a recipe for disaster, and I think is why a lot of dogs end up reactive. I know a few dogs that were fine before being frightened by a badly behaved and aggressive dog, but are now reactive.
 
IMHO it's the same as the horse world.
Lots of owners who think they are knowledgeable because they have looked in depth at specific conditions bit have no idea about basic husbandry.
Can't toilet train your dog? Shut it in a crate. Don't bother to put the effort in to take the dog outside every hour and praise it when it toilets.
Get a big, athletic dog and it's tearing the house apart? Lock it in a crate because you can't be bothered to walk it for long enough.
People looking for fast fixes instead of looking at thier management choices.

People buying from backyard breeders and buying poor examples of the breed because they won't spend time looking at what the dog should be like and don't want to pay for good examples of the breed.

People not bothering to think a out what ty0e of dog will fit with thier lifestyles.
E actly the same with horses.
 
Back in the day, for good or ill, dogs with bad temperaments were at best, absolutely not bred from or at worst, put to sleep.
Environment and experience are elements of the overall picture, but lack of nerve strength/resilience (how the dog reacts to/recovers from stress) is genetic and is the biggest factor.

Lots of dogs are now bred for looks and nothing eise (and 'cute like a teddy bear' is a look) and that's where physical and mental issues creep in.

Not getting into the debate on crate training, done properly it's very worthwhile, especially if you have a dog that travels or has to spend any time at the vets, I consider that a bit of a red herring.
 
My current dog is reactive, we put the deposit down and then Covid happened (picked her up April 2020, possibly broke the law doing it)

She missed the socialisation window and it’s ruined her life. Our old terrier saw the world as a puppy and was a lovely chap, she got barked at once by next door’s dog and is now reactive.

I wouldn’t say I’m a particularly bad owner, just a victim of circumstance.
 
My COVID puppy was a bit of a mess, but others from her litter that went into busy family homes are fine. I've also seen dogs that have spent their early life in a kennel compound, be sold abroad and become operational police dogs in a short space of time/be very nice steady dogs despite very little exposure to anything.
 
In the 80s in our housing estate, people just let their dogs out to free roam so I'd imagine dogs got more exercise, socialising instead of being indoors all day. As kids we knew the ones to avoid. I def remember as a kid thinking dogs were split into two categories of 'friendly' and 'not friendly. as in you would visit someones house and their dog was locked away in a different room as 'it didn't like visitors'. this was very common so I assume there was a good amount of nervy dogs.
 
Dogs were often "free range" in our village fifty years ago. I confess that we too were guilty of letting our dog wander at will. I wouldn't dream of it nowadays!
 
I think one of the biggest issues these days is people seeing dogs as "furbabies" and putting human emotions onto them. There's loads of dogs that are never left alone not even for an hour and dogs that are never allowed to settle, the owners are always mithering them. I have never heard of so many reactive dogs either, so many people won't spend time training either they want perfect dogs and a quick fix, so if one doesn't work out they rehome it and get another and the cycle continues.
 
In the 60s and 70s growing up there were neighbourhood dogs, mainly mongrels but also a gorgeous golden retriever, who wandered around locally. Everyone knew them and who owned them. They would turn up if something cooking smelled good. I lived in a small quietish town. There was traffic but not much. I dont remember any road accidents and the dogs went home in the evening or when they were ready. School holidays we could borrow the dogs for our games but the dogs usually wandered off....

There was a GSD who was kept behind a large garden gate that everyone "knew" not to put their hand through. He was rumoured to have killed a child😂. I suspect now that adults put that out there to keep us away from him. It did work😂.

2 years ago on Isabella Island in the Galapagos I saw a few dogs wandering in the restaurant areas. I thought they were strays but on the walk back to our hotel along a sandy track we followed the pack. They peeled off to various houses along the way where they obviously lived. No aggression or nervyness even around food at the restaurants.

I think we mollycoddle and protect our dogs far more now and most dont have a job except companion.
 
I think the idea that crate training is responsible for modern day dog issues is very odd.
Anyway, rather than vanish too far down that rabbit hole, people look at SM and see a cute/fluffy/ fierce/celebrity owned dog and toddle off and get one from the first gumtree they find. We think we can have it all as soon as we want it nowadays.
And there’s just too many dogs, no one cares now if their lifestyle is suitable, just get one anyway.
 
I am maybe too young too remember what everyone was doing 30 years ago tbh but certainly in my extended family you were handed a dog from a relative or completely random person you heard about via word of mouth. My mum got one rough collie on purpose that she heard about through I think an ad in the newsagents??? but I dont know how many people who didn't already have like, breed specific interests were researching good breeders or doing anything much different from what they're doing now. Its just cockerpoos instead of Jack Russel mixes and they're paying £3000 instead of £30.

My family have never been Good At Dogs tbh, I see very little difference between 1990 and today 😂 my nannys last two dogs haven't bitten anyone outside the family which couldn't be said about the previous two! Everyone else I know with a dog is a millennial with anxiety and their dogs have anxiety as well 😂
 
We never let our dogs roam, no one in our village wanted to see a Big Alsayshun on the loose. Plus it was annoying finding dog poo in the garden.

Great point above about street dogs, some of them do indeed have owners and a lot of them don't need to be rescued and dragged halfway across the world (which obviously, can make them quite nervy and reactive....)
 
I was saying to a Goldie owner today how much their breed had changed in my work life.. 20yrs ago when I graduated they were super stable, do-anything-to-them-and-they-wagged-their-tails type of dogs. Nowadays we are having to do a million fear free visits to get them in the door.. 😬
 
100%, there are many more reactive, out of control and badly trained dogs about nowadays than say 20 years ago.

Also noisy dogs; we live in a mollycoddled middle class area, yet there are plenty of locals that seem to think their dog yelling it's head off in the back garden at 11pm, or at the lounge window all day is somehow ok.

Also boils my piss: folks 'walking' their dog, flexi lead at full stretch, head buried in their phone doom-scrolling. No attempt to interact with or fulfill the dogs needs. Then wonder why dog is off it's nut all of the time.

My absolute pet hate is the ones who own a working line spaniel or lab that's never allowed off lead "because it runs off and chases stuff"
 
I think some of it is that there are simply more dogs; the first vaguely legit study I can recall cites dog population growth of 76% since 1970, and that was in 2020 (i.e pre Covid boom). I suspect problems were always there, they're just more visible now.

I also agree that in some cases it's people getting a dog because that's just what you do, in some social circles, rather than considering what it is they can offer to a dog or if their lifestyle is right for one.
 
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KEK said:
I was saying to a Goldie owner today how much their breed had changed in my work life.. 20yrs ago when I graduated they were super stable, do-anything-to-them-and-they-wagged-their-tails type of dogs. Nowadays we are having to do a million fear free visits to get them in the door.. 😬
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I know of a working GR that doesn't...like... people.
 
Dogs got fewer chances to step out of line. In a field with stock = shot, in the village I grew up in, dog nipped the paper boy = a one way visit to the vet.

There were a lot of mongrels, called mongrels, and they did roam during the day while the family were out. However if they overstepped the mark then family were told and things corrected. Quite a few dogs appeared in pounds a long way from home and never returned. Now with microchips that cannot happen the same.
 
I say this a lot but after a mile or so out I rarely see another dog. This can be close to the city, or out in the villages. We never ever do the same walk twice in a fortnight and I try and only do them once a month. I go out and find new places to go all the time. The dogs are off lead running most of the time, but we also do lead walks around the market or going to a coffee shop etc. Sometimes we go to a park to remember about how awful most peoples dogs are and to practice ignoring them. If they dont go out they do brain games and enrichment boxes. The younger little firecracker works, races and swims. I have no issues with them, not because I am a good trainer, I just have tired dogs whose needs are met from day 1. And they are of course an easier breed, but the younger one would be insane walked for 30mins on lead round the same park.

Mine have both been attacked by other dogs and remained friendly and easy going with other dogs. They arent really interested in them, but they wont kick off if a dog comes up to them, and the younger one in particular is fantastic about keeping rude, bolshy dogs away from his brother who has permanent injury from the worst dog attack. He looks after us but doesnt want to fight, so he diffuses situations and if that doesnt work he runs them off. He did similar with a bunch of young cows who were chasing some walkers when we met them coming over a hill. I let the dogs off to run to safety, and he very calmly but firmly, herded the cows up to the top corner of the field, held them there and then once we were all out, I called him and he pelted to me and out of the gate. I was absolutely amazed and very very grateful, as the idiot walkers running had wound the cows up and it was a really hairy situation. I didnt teach him that, I have no idea how he knows how to herd cows, but he knew exactly how to do it, and then held them without razzing them up while we all got out. I can walk him loose and off lead through cows and sheep and he doesnt even look at them, I dont do that obviously, but a couple of times weve come upon livestock you couldnt see and he has zero interest so its not that he wanted to chase them or anything. If I hadnt been so busy trying to get everyone out Id have recorded it, because it was impressive. I didnt teach him any of that or even any of the skills he needed to do it, his mum does live on a farm, so maybe its some sort of epi genetics. Some part of him instintively knew we were in danger by how the cows were behaving and how to herd and hold cows.

We know that if we expose mice to a specific smell while applying an electric shock their off spring which are raised totally separately cower in fear when smeilling the specific smell. So we know memories are passed down in some form.

Theres more than one thing going on, dogs are under stimulated, they tend to have negative reactions with other understimulated dogs, but its more than that. If we breed from these anxious dogs, whether it was caused by a singular event or not we must be passing that on. Combine that with COVID, owners being busy and not really understanding dogs, and we have the perfect storm.
 
It's entitled selfish people ( same reason for most issues in the world), they want what they want and they want it now, don't care how it effects anyone around them ( including in this case the dog itself), have no interest in making adjustments to their lives, don't want to learn about training, breed traits, wait for a litter from a reputable breeder and give themselves the best shot of good genetics, nope just spoilt, selfish, arrogant people who don't see why they shouldn't have what they want simply coz they want it! Rant over ( it seems I'm in a grumpy mood today, blame the feckless parent who didn't see the issue with letting her child run over to the dogs I was walking and acted offended when I'm walking in the other direction telling her to retrieve her child, these dogs are not good with strangers!)
 
Bojangles896 said:
I think one of the biggest issues these days is people seeing dogs as "furbabies" and putting human emotions onto them. There's loads of dogs that are never left alone not even for an hour and dogs that are never allowed to settle, the owners are always mithering them. I have never heard of so many reactive dogs either, so many people won't spend time training either they want perfect dogs and a quick fix, so if one doesn't work out they rehome it and get another and the cycle continues.
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so much this. Mine are foreign street dogs, no one mithered them, life was harsh and they have been the easiest dogs I have ever had (even the one that came as very nervous). They knew without any doubt they were dogs not fur babies.

sadly I think some of these points are also happening with both over indulged horses and children.
 
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