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Whats wrong with schnauzers?

meljoy

Well-known member
When ever we meet other dogs Leo always greats them with the same wagging tail and sniffing all the right bits.......unless the other dog is a schnauzer.
For some reason when ever we meet this breed of dog Leo becomes quite agitated and growls and barks!
It happened again last week when we were out for a walk. The schnauzer we met immediately started to growl and bark back but in fairness to him Leo started it!
I dont know why he's like this with this breed of dog. We've never had issues with schnauzers, never been attacked by one or had any bad experiences...it doesnt make sense.
I have friends and even my hairdresser who come to the house with their dogs (not schnauzers) and Leo is always so pleased to meet and greet them.

Anyone got any ideas?
 
No ideas on this at all but you could have written the exact same thing about Sydney and yellow labs! I don't understand it either.
 
Daisy has a special hatred for golden retrievers, followed by border collies. She plays happily with a chocolate lab, a scotty, and a german short-haired pointer in our neighborhood. But if one of the hated golden retrievers walks politely by on a leash -- watch out!
 
It might be the body language that the other dog is giving off that sets him off or a combination of the signals both dogs are giving off. I read a book about animal communication that specifically mentioned that Cavaliers are so far removed from their ancestors (wolves) that they have lost almost all of the traditional dominance and submissive signals that they show towards each other and tend to get into trouble because they give off inappropriate signals and/or don't pick up on other dogs signals. If I recall correctly this study concluded that Cavaliers have only 2 of the 10 dominance/submissive signals and they are both dominance. The study also suggested that dogs that look more closely like wolves are most likely to have the least problems dealing socially with other dogs.

I'm not sure I totally believe it but it did make for some interesting reading and I try to be aware if my guys are staring (we train with border collies so I know that is a precursor of trouble) and just generally be aware of everybody's body language.
 
Thanks for the replies...It's nice to know Leo isnt the only one with "issues".
Mindysmom that did make interesting reading thank you. The minute Leo sees a schnauzer his whole body stance changes, Ive tried calmly talking to him, ignoring him, calmly walking on....but nothing works.
Im still not sure why it's only Schnauzers that Leo has an aversion to. We were over the forest today where we met several dogs and everyone got on lovely....but there were no schnauzers8)
 
Thanks for the replies...It's nice to know Leo isnt the only one with "issues".
Mindysmom that did make interesting reading thank you. The minute Leo sees a schnauzer his whole body stance changes, Ive tried calmly talking to him, ignoring him, calmly walking on....but nothing works.
Im still not sure why it's only Schnauzers that Leo has an aversion to. We were over the forest today where we met several dogs and everyone got on lovely....but there were no schnauzers8)

We used to have a Schnauzer in our class and my Cavaliers didn't mind her but a lot of the other dogs had issues with the Schnauzer, and she was a lovely dog. It was suggested that it is the thick eyebrows other dogs don't like the look off.
 
We used to have a Schnauzer in our class and my Cavaliers didn't mind her but a lot of the other dogs had issues with the Schnauzer, and she was a lovely dog. It was suggested that it is the thick eyebrows other dogs don't like the look off.

:lol: :lol: That made me laugh.
They DO have that monobrow going on there.
 
We used to have a Schnauzer in our class and my Cavaliers didn't mind her but a lot of the other dogs had issues with the Schnauzer, and she was a lovely dog. It was suggested that it is the thick eyebrows other dogs don't like the look off.

The poor schnauzer, she couldn't help the way she looked, perhaps eyebrow tweezing would have helped? lol, poor thing.
 
Mel, you might try teaching Leo to 'watch' to get him past any schnauzers. This is where the pigginess of Cavaliers works for us! Start at home teaching Leo to watch your hand, which hides a tasty treat. If he watches, he gets it. Progress to out of doors, extending the distance he has to watch your hand before he gets the treat. Oliver dislikes staffies, especially black or black and white ones (he's been attacked from behind several times), but I can get him past them if I see them in time by telling him to 'watch me' - and the tasty little piece of sausage in my hand - and he will walk past them with his head turned away looking at me. It's a very useful command to get dogs past anything you don't want them to notice (like muddy ponds, cats in front gardens, etc). Aled does it as well and when they're on their coupler we have a sort of synchronised heelwork, with both of them walking close at the left gazing up at me (or rather the sausage)! If I'm really on the look-out, they'll do it off-lead as well, although Oliver is fine with staffies off-lead in the park, because he knows if there's trouble he can run.

Kate, Oliver and Aled
 
Holly's weakness was chinese cresteds!
We used to do ringcraft classes when she was a puppy, and one night someone brought a hairless Chinese Crested.
We spent most of the class outside the hall in the freezing cold,cooling Miss Hollyfox's heels in the grass !
It was better that way so noone could see my big embarrassed red face.
It's astonishing really,because no matter what kind of dogs visits our house,it's automatically her new best friend.
Sins
 
Mel, you might try teaching Leo to 'watch' to get him past any schnauzers. This is where the pigginess of Cavaliers works for us! Start at home teaching Leo to watch your hand, which hides a tasty treat. If he watches, he gets it. Progress to out of doors, extending the distance he has to watch your hand before he gets the treat. Oliver dislikes staffies, especially black or black and white ones (he's been attacked from behind several times), but I can get him past them if I see them in time by telling him to 'watch me' - and the tasty little piece of sausage in my hand - and he will walk past them with his head turned away looking at me. It's a very useful command to get dogs past anything you don't want them to notice (like muddy ponds, cats in front gardens, etc). Aled does it as well and when they're on their coupler we have a sort of synchronised heelwork, with both of them walking close at the left gazing up at me (or rather the sausage)! If I'm really on the look-out, they'll do it off-lead as well, although Oliver is fine with staffies off-lead in the park, because he knows if there's trouble he can run.

Kate, Oliver and Aled

Great advice. This is what I do with mine and is the very first thing I teach from when they are puppies, the watch me command. At Obedience or even agility if they lose concentration I just say watch me and their concentration focuses on me again.
 
Kate,

Thanks for that, that is GREAT advice. I used to do a "watch" command with him when we were at puppy training classes. Looks like its back to basics for us again icon_whistling
 
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