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public ignorance is a far greater threat to public safety than any single breed of dog.
Jo, you are the owner of a highly idiosyncratic breed, the Shiba Inu, so I can certainly see how you would see things this way. They’re snappy dogs (as you once told me), but they’re also very cute and cuddly-looking dogs, and I’m afraid cuteness is always going to overrule common sense and warning signs when it comes to human beings.
When people see a dog like this, their instinct tells them to cuddle it, no matter how much you try to warn them off.
This is how dogs, cats, and other animals got domesticated in the first place. Wild animals that had mutations for certain characteristics (curly tails, floppy ears, big eyes) were selected by humans for breeding precisely because those are the characteristics humans find attractive in animals.
So what happens when breeders decide to develop a dog with those characteristics (like the Shiba) but fail to breed for gentleness at the same time?
Problems, obviously.
I’m truly sorry that you’re in this dilemma with your Shiba, but I can’t think of any way out of it, short of keeping the dog out of sight or muzzling it, neither of which seems particularly humane.
But please don’t blame people for being powerfully attracted to your dog. It’s not their fault, any more than it’s the fault of the dog for snapping at them.
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