Do most dogs treat people based on their physical apparence?

There is this little dog always standing in front of someone's house, and he would only look at me from a distance when I pass by ever since the first time "we" met lol. I don't know the owner, so the dog never met me before either. Once the dog was closer to the road when I passed by, he turned and ran back home when I got close. I was absolutely not in a threatening manner.

The other day, I was walking near that place again, and saw a little lady passed by that house like I used to, and the dog immediately barked at her.

What do you think? Why did the same dog treat us differently while we were both strangers to him?
Because I am taller and bigger than the little lady?

I definitely believe that dogs can pick up on mannerisms of people, and I think it's a great question to bring up whether dogs judge by appearence of a person. I do think that dogs do a very quick analisys based on appearence and relate traits of individuals to behaviors. If you're a big person and the dog has had a previous negative experience where the dog was threatened by a person who was also big then the dog will relate that and feel threatened by you. And this goes for much more detailed features too, like hair and eye color, clothing, actions and gestures, any of these can set off a reaction from the dog based on its previous experience with people who have those features.

(03-09-2012 05:11 PM)lhins Wrote:  I definitely believe that dogs can pick up on mannerisms of people, and I think it's a great question to bring up whether dogs judge by appearence of a person. I do think that dogs do a very quick analisys based on appearence and relate traits of individuals to behaviors. If you're a big person and the dog has had a previous negative experience where the dog was threatened by a person who was also big then the dog will relate that and feel threatened by you. And this goes for much more detailed features too, like hair and eye color, clothing, actions and gestures, any of these can set off a reaction from the dog based on its previous experience with people who have those features.

In other word, dogs might bully the weak and fear the strong! Just like some people. And they will remember it if something had happened to them before.

Do most dogs treat people based on their physical appearance?
Not always. Most dogs I think, if well socialized, think all people should fall in love with their grand self. However if a dog has been abused anyone that reminds them of that person will be on their "suspect" list. Some one not to be trusted. If someone has just scared the crap out of them anyone reminding them of that person is to be feared. It could be a persons size & shape. It could be a beard or mustache. It could be someone using a cane. On the other side of that coin if a dog is reminded of someone they love they will want to get to that person.

Well, I always thought dogs can differentiate individual people rather well. They can tell who is who completely from the smell. He should have known I wasn't the one whoever gave him a bad experience.

You are right in that they know peoples smell. However if you remind him of someone that he had a bad experience with, that would be enough. In his doggy mind if you are anything like the offender you probably are not to be trusted. People are not much different. Ever meet someone you took an immediate dislike to? Even though they did nothing to cause you to dislike them? Subconsciously you picked up on something that caused you to dislike them. Sometimes it could be they remind you, in some way, of someone you dislike.

lol it's funny that I just read it somewhere, some people swear that the dogs treat men and women differently.