 Barked: Thu Mar 29, '12 10:41am PST |
 | |  | | There must be something, either about these specific dogs (and/or their owners), small dogs in general, or terriers in general.
Figuring it out kinda depends on your dog's individual socialization. Not uncommon for large dogs to view all small dogs as prey, especially if they haven't really been around small dogs. Usually there's a size cut off, so a dog may be ok with any dog over 30lb, and hunt any dog under 30lb. It can be behaviorally based too, though. When I was socializing Ember, she had not been with small dogs at all. Once we had slowly introduced her dogs 30lb, then 25lb, then 20lb, etc down to a Chihuahua, she quickly generalized and understood that some dogs are small - EXCEPT for when they didn't act "like dogs." If they were appropriate, sniffed her, offered play, all was well. If they yapped in her face, ran away, rolled around, ignored her, she had a difficult time figuring out what to do with them.
It's also possible they just don't like terriers. They have an energy and a drive to them that some dogs find unsettling (interestingly, it's quite common for terriers to not like eachother for this reason). We did live with a Smooth Fox for a few years, and while my dogs were ok with her and vice versa, if a strange dog came by the house she would get so jacked up she would attack her smaller housemates to the point of hospitalization. Some dogs pick up on that drive and just don't trust a dog that has that in them.
And it could be these particular dogs or their owners that have done something your crew has found offensive. I have known dogs who distrust an entire family over the odd or violent actions of one member of that family, dog and human alike. |  |  | |  |
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