Animal personalities?

Having been on the PT site for a while I have never seen this topic discussed in depth.

I do beleive that all animals, as hoomans, all have different personalities...

I bring this up becuase of the Vick case and the sometime stereotyping of certain breeds.

This isn't a condemnation of any breed or behavior. It's not a slam on the owners of any breed or type.

I'd like this to stay as a discussion of who subscribes to the idea of animal personalities!


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I will come clean and say that big dogs do scare me! My brother owned a Shepherd/Chow mix that was a total sneaky dog.

She hated kids, snapped and broke the skin of one of my nieces-I always knew this dog had a 'scary' personality.

I could tell by her eyes- you would never see the whites of her eyes unless you walked up beside her.....she had this way of looking at you that said, "Don't even think about getting close!" She'd walk away from me when I got close but I never, ever trusted that dog.


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I do beleive that just as humans are messed up, there are dogs that have anti social personalities.

I have seen Pits who were maniacs, but more often than not, they are really good dogs. The problem with the press surrounding PBs is the way they are portrayed.

It always gives me pause when I see some 15 year old kid being dragged down the street by a PB in a spiked collar, raising hell with every dog on that block!
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My last thought is about the poodles and poms that go crazy and attack people.

Good dogs gone bad?
Or bad dogs that were always there? :eek:

I have to agree with you...I've met some messed up dogs, both big and small. The problem with things I think is that when a big dog attacks, people remember because usually the injuries are bigger. Bigger dog, bigger bite, right? I've seen some pretty small critters do massive damage though (been the victim of krazed kat klaws lately?) but those casses are the minority. When a pomeranian or a similar sized dog goes crazy, usually (sadly) a good swift kick is all that is needed to subdue it. Not so much the case for a bigger dog. So you've got the "Big Biter" syndrome on top of feeling more defenseless because the dog is big, talk about a recipie for mob hysteria.

It stinks people have to judge a book by its cover but they do.

I think Every animal has its own unique personailty, including merits and flaws just like us hoomans. Living with four cats, I can definaitely see each one differently, and treat them as individuals. I think part of the problem people have with companion animals is they tend to generalize too much. Treating all cats and/or all dogs as "just pets" I think is detrimental to a companion animal, just because the animal isn't getting the type of attention it needs. I'll admit this may lead to overindulgence but isn't that a failing humans have with each other as well? An enabler is an enabler, be it enabling bad behavior in a person or in a pet.

Maybe I'm nuts...:p

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Originally Posted by RICHARD

I do beleive that just as humans are messed up, there are dogs that have anti social personalities.

Good dogs gone bad?
Or bad dogs that were always there? :eek:

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I can't talk about dogs since I've always been a cat person but I can swear there are cats born with anti-social personalities....I live with one!

My Weezie is as sweet as she can be to my husband and to me if he's not around but to anyone else - beware! - She will bite and claw and hiss. She HATES people.

We've raised her from a kitten; Weezie was never hurt or abused. The only time she has ever been away from us for an extended period of time was during our honeymoon. It was for a week and she loved her catsitter. When we picked her up, she was crawling all over his shoulders and nuzzling him.

Weezie ADORES my husband, Mike. When we were first dating, she was so jealous of me! If I came near him, she'd attack me. Over the first few years of being married, she came to accept that I wasn't going anywhere and now she loves me too but not like she does Mike. If there is a choice between the two of us, she will chose him every time.

And beware the visitor! - Anytime someone comes over I tell them "don't pet the orange one" because she will bite.

And it's only Weezie. Eepie and Neko we raised from kittens as well and they are both as sweet as a kitty can be. Grey Girl we adopted as an adult cat but she doesn't have a mean bone in her body. Eepie and Neko never bite and Grey Girl will only if she is overstimulated from too much petting or brushing.

So can dogs be anti-social? Probably! I sure know cats can!

I do think certain aspects of an animals personality are there from birth, and some factors can exacerbate certain traits in an animals upbringing. I am thinking of a dog owned by people I know - the pup was "skittish" when they got him, never was comfortable with someone reaching over his head, and didn't know he was a dog - didn't know how to play with other dogs. A lot of that could have been corrected with early intervention, but instead, he was never socialized around other pups, and lived with an owner who tended to "bark too much" in human terms, so it fed into the pup's inborn anxieties. He became a sweet dog around people as long as they knew him, but also a barker, and never did learn to interact with canines.

Anyone who has ever spent time with more than one baby discovers that each infant has distinct personality traits, so it is natural that other creatures would be the same way!

I do think, for example, that it is probably easier to "ruin" a good dog or cat than "fix" one with problems, but isn't that almost a truism?

Breeding animals is not only about how they should look but also about the character.
Shepherd dogs have a different character than hunting dogs- obviously.
This is why it is so difficult to have these "working dogs" now in small city apartments. Actually they would need a job on a farm to be much happier.

With cats it's the same- everyone who had an Aby sit on the shoulder or on top of the door or on the cupboard knows they have a character different from let's say a Ragdoll that has been bred to be much more quiet.

As in humans there are of course always individuals who do not fit- lazy GSDs and active Persians ;)

I'm with you, Richard. Growing up, at one point next door neighbors had a GSD. Something about her eyes . . . she was never a good pet for them. They had several other dogs (I'm talking over 25 years time), most were GSD or mix. But this one female, oh dear.

I believe that in the past 30 years, breeders and maybe even AKC have focused on making dogs good pets, focusing on personality traits for some to make them more family friendly. For some reason, the (formerly called) Spitz comes to mind.

By the way, with bichons, there are bumper stickers, magnets etc. with this saying on them: Death from the Ankles Down. :D Fortunately ,none of mine have that tendency!

Here's another thought about animal personalities....

Have you ever met an owner who will defend an oddball pet-one who bites, chases or ?- by saying, "oh, that's just the way they are..."

Then you look at the owner and see where that behavior comes from? :eek: