Why are Taiwanese dogs so unfriendly?

Why are Taiwanese dogs so unfriendly? I’ve never had a problem relating to dogs, but it’s like I’ve become dog Kryptonite since arriving in Taiwan.

I’ve actually had dogs come up to me in a friendly manner, sniff me, and then bite me! I can understand a dog that bites when a person invades their space and tries to pet them, but I’ve never experienced a dog that willingly comes up to a person in a seemingly social manner and then bites them.

Are dogs properly socialized here? By that, I mean are they taught to relate to people other than their owners? And other dogs?

I used to really love associating with dogs but I’m starting to avoid them, which is sad as heck. There’s nothing better than sharing a random moment with a dog.

Thoughts? Advice?

  • R

Do you mean pet dogs or strays? Strays are routinely abused. Pets are carried around like toys or locked up in cages. Training or “relating to” animals is a foreign concept for a lot of people. Personally I’ve never had a problem with dogs here though. They seem to like me, for some reason, even though I’m not really a dog person. Are you sure you don’t just smell funny? :wink:

they are wary and mean to strangers because most people are mean to them.

ah, a contentious topic done to death. I love dogs. That’s a fact. Just at the pet shop today I was petting one.

Yesterday I was hiking, going fast, as I do, and some silly person had her dog off leash (which was folded up in her hand). She was over 10m away, sitting down at the top of a lot of stairs. Dog came racing up to me snarling, so I shouted at it which made it back off then quickly came back at me when I reached the top. So I gave it a mild kick in the chest, not too hard to hurt it, just a warning. Ha, it took off like a shot and the grumbling woman spent quite a while looking for it :laughing: . I pointed out that I have every right to defend my legs, and if a dog is within a foot of them with teeth bared (as it was), I will do so.

If you’re going to take your badly trained dog around people running and hiking, please put it on a leash-and as well, keep it held tightly on the right, not loosely on your left, so it can snap at passersby. Some dog owners need to get a clue.

I guess I could have stopped, held my bag in front of my leg (although it would have been too late), stood there and hoped it didn’t bite me, but why should I take the time or the risk? I was going about my business exercising hard and unobtrusively, and the woman was not exercising control over her pet, such that it was endangering the health of people. Namely, me.

In Hsinchu there’s a perfectly good dog park where dogs can go off leash without hurting anyone. Yet every brings their dogs to Shi-Ba-Jian-Shan or even department stores and insists on keeping them off leash and say crap like “my dog will never bite anyone”…

Being more than a bit of a dog myself, I feel quite opine on this matter.
Dogs in my current neck of the woods know me quite well, even the spooky ones.

It is all about tone of voice, and body language. Puntable mutts aside, who indeed deserve their own thread, most dogs I have encountered respond well to both.
The main thing is to maintain the initiative, and stand one’s ground if things get ugly. Even the most dastardly of curs will rarely resist a fine well delivered come hither call, and the promise of a stroke of the ear.

Mind you, if I had skin like many a stray does here, I would be one mangy mouthful, let me tell youse…

Most people react with fear to any dog, no matter the size. Fear can turn into aggression, so dogs are wary.

As said, dogs are mostly not properly socialized and underexercised. Look at how they treat children here and move that to 11 for pets. Mostly ignorance, not ill will, but same effect.

And I shouldn’t be talking. Bobby just missed a lady’s hand by the hairs of a bald frog. I hate it here when people pet the dogs without asking. No heads up, no introductions. They say it is because Bobby is waving his tail so he si friendly. they cannot read wagging as excitement, not happy.

Wicked line.
Should be a poem.


[quote]I hate it here when people pet the dogs without asking. No heads up, no introductions. [/quote]
 :ponder: 
Without asking whom?
This issue is always a lark. One would never ask of the so-called owner, but one should always ask the dog.

Wicked line.
Should be a poem.



[color=#BF0080]Direct translation from Spanish.[/color] :smiley: 

[quote]I hate it here when people pet the dogs without asking. No heads up, no introductions. [/quote]
 :ponder: 
Without asking whom?
This issue is always a lark. One would never ask of the so-called owner, but one should always ask the dog.[/quote]

[color=#BF0080]Hopefully, both.[/color]

Because I hiked on a mountain that was “translated beat the dog mountain.”

2 words - no love.

Wife sadly ran over a dog last week, I’m just surprised it hasn’t happened to one of us before. It ran out from a hedge straight in front of the car, and BAM!!!
She stopped, it was still alive. She took it to a vet, it died. She took the dead dog back to the owner, dreading the reaction.

“Well, dead is dead. At least you brought the collar back.”

No.
Love.

iv never owned a dog. Always wanted one since i was little. Never allowed one. Didnt want a cat either, but so far have been given 2 and found one lost . Cats are way cool. Dogs? donno. Was walking towards my car the other day in my new suit when the neighbors two dogs (off leash) was in the way but came up to me wagging tails, etc.

The big one, some sort of retreiver was super friendly as usual. But the little dachsund long haired one, who could not have weighed more then 2 pounds maybe, hit me with her teeth. Lucky didnt bite thru my new pants. Vicious little rascal. Unprovoked attack.

iv been bitten twice by dogs so far in my life. One time for holding onto (on a leash) a friends dog for a minute and he wanted to attack a german shepard (he is a spitz) and i held him back so he bit me instead.

The other a stray at a friends house, i just got up from my chair about ten feet away from him and he suddenly came over and bit me.

not sure, i want a dog anymore.

I always wonder how César Milan would react if he saw how dogs were treated here.

I’ve been surprised at how well-behaved the dogs are here. :loco:

[quote=“Nuit”]Wife sadly ran over a dog last week, I’m just surprised it hasn’t happened to one of us before. It ran out from a hedge straight in front of the car, and BAM!!!
She stopped, it was still alive. She took it to a vet, it died. She took the dead dog back to the owner, dreading the reaction.

“Well, dead is dead. At least you brought the collar back.”[/quote]

That’s pretty sad. Where was this? Was the dog a working dog of some sort (e.g., junkyard guard dog), or a family pet?

I haven’t seen my friendly neighborhood labrador in a couple of months now. I’m getting worried about him.

[quote=“IdeaRat”][quote=“Nuit”]Wife sadly ran over a dog last week, I’m just surprised it hasn’t happened to one of us before. It ran out from a hedge straight in front of the car, and BAM!!!
She stopped, it was still alive. She took it to a vet, it died. She took the dead dog back to the owner, dreading the reaction.

“Well, dead is dead. At least you brought the collar back.”[/quote]

That’s pretty sad. Where was this? Was the dog a working dog of some sort (e.g., junkyard guard dog), or a family pet?

I haven’t seen my friendly neighborhood labrador in a couple of months now. I’m getting worried about him.[/quote]

Down in Hualien County. Seems to have been a family guard dog based in the front yard. I’d hesitate to call it a pet.

We have a FNL too, it’s young and crazy. The owners, I don’t even know where they live, let it out late at night (presumably because there are less cars, so safer) and it careers madly around the dark lanes and park. Another accident waiting to happen.

I’m not sure if it’s really the case, but nighttime traffic seems to move a lot faster. Less warning, less time to react (for both parties). Part of it may be that there just isn’t room to drive fast during the day. I see a lot of red-light runners, too, even though there are video cameras on the pedestrian crossing I use from the MRT.

I’m not sure if it’s really the case, but nighttime traffic seems to move a lot faster. Less warning, less time to react (for both parties). Part of it may be that there just isn’t room to drive fast during the day. I see a lot of red-light runners, too, even though there are video cameras on the pedestrian crossing I use from the MRT.[/quote]

Ah, I was meaning ‘presumably the owners think that…’, I should’ve been clearer.
It fills me with the fear when I see this dog. Lovely animal, but it runs rings around the neighbourhood at full speed and hasn’t got a Scooby about traffic sense.

[quote=“Nuit”]
Ah, I was meaning ‘presumably the owners think that…’, I should’ve been clearer.[/quote]
I understood; I was just commiserating.

[quote=“thefool”]Why are Taiwanese dogs so unfriendly? I’ve never had a problem relating to dogs, but it’s like I’ve become dog Kryptonite since arriving in Taiwan.
Thoughts? Advice?

  • R[/quote]

Go to youtube and search “mordeth cries.”