Our dog, Shadow (link is photo), just turned one and is incredibly energetic - with absolutely no self-control when there's another person around. He is Kelpie/Labrador and currently weighs just over 30kgs.
We've always been really careful with him around people, especially kids because he has so much energy (and was such a crazy, bitey, land-shark when he was teething). So we've never been SURE if he would be ok around other poeple and other dogs. To be fair, he's been AMAZING with everyone he's come in contact with so far, including kids - but I've heard of too many stories of dogs being good... until they're not.
My husband and I have to travel interstate pretty frequently, and so we often drop him off at a local kennel (that is absolutely amazing! Shadow gets SO excited when we drive into the kennel driveway!) All the workers there know his name and say how much they love him.
During this last visit, the kennel owner mentioned that Shadow has a helicopter tail, which in his opinion is the only way to tell for sure that a dog is not aggressive. Aggressive dogs will still wag their tails, pant, and act excited - but the spinning 'helicopter tail' is the only sure way to know or not. He's only had four other true helicopter dogs in the past 20+ years of running the kennel.
Is this something other people have heard of before? How confident can we be with our darling ADHD Shadow?
tl;dr Our Kennel owner mentioned that "Helicopter Tails" are the only way FOR SURE to know that a dog is not aggressive. Is this something that is well-known?
We've always been really careful with him around people, especially kids because he has so much energy (and was such a crazy, bitey, land-shark when he was teething). So we've never been SURE if he would be ok around other poeple and other dogs. To be fair, he's been AMAZING with everyone he's come in contact with so far, including kids - but I've heard of too many stories of dogs being good... until they're not.
My husband and I have to travel interstate pretty frequently, and so we often drop him off at a local kennel (that is absolutely amazing! Shadow gets SO excited when we drive into the kennel driveway!) All the workers there know his name and say how much they love him.
During this last visit, the kennel owner mentioned that Shadow has a helicopter tail, which in his opinion is the only way to tell for sure that a dog is not aggressive. Aggressive dogs will still wag their tails, pant, and act excited - but the spinning 'helicopter tail' is the only sure way to know or not. He's only had four other true helicopter dogs in the past 20+ years of running the kennel.
Is this something other people have heard of before? How confident can we be with our darling ADHD Shadow?
tl;dr Our Kennel owner mentioned that "Helicopter Tails" are the only way FOR SURE to know that a dog is not aggressive. Is this something that is well-known?