Originally posted by stacwase
You know, I'm actually taking advantage of the reputation of Rottweilers and German Shepherds.

I didn't only pick Max out because of his awesome personality. I travel 3 days a week, on average, and when I'm away from home I'm alone at night. So I wanted a big, scary-looking dog! The only reason Max is "scary-looking" is because people have heard bad things about Shepherds and Rotts.

Max is awesome - and he'd never hurt anybody. But nobody else knows that! I've got him walking at my hip on a loose lead already, and when people see him behaving so well they think "Wow - I wonder what else he's trained to do?" So without actually being vicious, he can keep me safe because of his reputation.

So - there is one positive aspect of dogs having a bad rep!
That's one of the reasons we got Buford! There have been some dogs stolen in our neighborhood and I was worried about my pittys. I didn't want them to end up as bait dogs for fighters. Buford is a big, scary looking bullmastiff mix that won't let anyone in the yard. I can leave him in the truck and not lock the doors, but I'd never do that with my pittys. They'd leterally leap into another car and ride off with someone! Isn't it ironic? I had to get another dog to guard my *vicious* pit bulls. Hehe.