People being surprised when wild animals act wild.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Sometimes kids will "just play" with a dog or cat by pulling on ears or tails; while a properly trained family dog that's been brought up with kids might suffer such behaviour for a while, other pets might not. And any animal has its breaking point; I'm sure that if someone was pulling on your ears or smacking your bum for ages, most of you would react in some way. XXD

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Male deer in their rut are almost as bad as drunken frat boys.

I had one attack my car, because I happened to come down a road where two males had their antlers joined in a fight, and apparently, that was rude, and as soon as I thought they were gone..........BAM! One ran right into the driver's side of my car.

One of the funniest (and scariest) videos I've ever seen was taken by my own father, shooting some vid of a beautiful stag up at Cade's Cove in Tennessee. His running monolog was something like this:

"Look at him, he's just magnificent. He doesn't see me. He looks like he's been fighting...you know, I think it's rutting season. Wow. Just gorgeous. Oh, I think he's spotted me. Yeah, he's looking right at me now. He's coming over to check me out. Uh...look at all them horns...."

And then the video turned into a chaos of snow and sky and ground and fur and the audio was replaced with swearing and clunking and violent mike noise.

Dad was okay. "look at all them horns" remains to this day my favorite line, ever.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Near where I live is a country house with huge grounds, where there's a few herds of red deer. Visitors are warned to stay away from the deer herds during mating seasons, but there's nearly always some cretin who thinks they know better.

A stag is not Bambi. We're talking about a huge beast with massive antlers who's going to be pissed off with you if you get between him and his girls. And he's going to show his annoyance physically.

[LewisLegion]

Another animal that can mess you up that people think is cute and safe and timid?

Rabbits.

Even domestic rabbits can frak you up if they want too. I had a pair of rabbits for a long time, mother and son. Mother was fixed (she was pregnant when I got her, surprised me with a litter two days after I brought her home, she was fixed toot sweet after the kits were weaned).

Son was six months old when he snapped. Mind, this is a bunny I had held literally every day since he was born. He loved people, was an absolute sweetheart, my total baby. And then bam. Literally over night he went from sweet and cuddly to snarling and chasing me around the room. Ripped holes in the ankles of my jeans and tore one sock to shreds before I could get out of the room.

The problem with him? Nothing. He was a typical male intact rabbit who had reached maturity and was defending 'his' girl from my invasion into their living space. Quick trip to the vet and a neuter, and more or less immediately he was back to my sweet, cuddly baby again. Sadly he only lived to be three...which was a year longer than the vet thought he would (he was born with a liver defect).

And lemme tell you, I have been bitten by dogs, cats, hedgehogs, birds, snakes and hamsters. And I would rather be bitten by any one of those again before getting bit by a rabbit.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

My sister had an intact male Dutch rabbit that would try to hump your leg.

And he didn't understand that no meant no, either. He would chase you around the room, grunting and emitting musk. Spraying him with water didnt' even faze him.

A friend of mine made the mistake of lying down on the floor on the living room rug once. Hazel ran in, humped his head, ejaculated, and ran off. All this within seconds. It was like if the Flash decided to become a furry.

M sat up feeling his hair, which had been pretty well Something About Mary'ed, and going "WTF? Is that....spit? Please?"

Yeah, we weren't much help for reasons I'm sure you can imagine.

[insertNameHere]

Love the "Tiger went tiger line" as it is true, I don't understand why people think it is a good idea to keep an animal that is perfectly capable of killing you due to size and or strength around. Sure some breeds of dogs are dangerous but for the most part like mentioned by others have been domesticated for centuries. Outside of a zoo not many people should take animals out of the wild

[Lachrymose]

Another animal that can mess you up that people think is cute and safe and timid?

Rabbits.

[AdminAssistant]

Heh, a friend of mine has a rabbit. I was over at her house and asked what his name was. She said, "Well, his name is (Greek word for rabbit), but when he's being bad we call him something else." "What?" "Hasenpfeffer. He gets the point."

[Lace Neil Singer]

I used to have a male Dutch who wasn't neutered cuz my dad thought it too expensive. His name was Roger, but it really ought to have been Woundwort.

He was a maniac. Sweet to humans, but if anything else came into the garden, he'd try to murder it. He ripped up the neighbours' cats and even once attacked their puppy when it got into our garden. He refused to live in his hutch and instead slept out in the garden. Eventually, he tore a hole in the hedge and escaped off to live the wild life.

Anyone who is still of the impression that rabbits are cutesy and sweet ought to read/watch Watership Down. See below for an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPBck3xcUJc

[guywithashovel]

Similar to all this is the person who owns a vicious animal for a pet and can't seem to comprehend why other people don't like that pet. Consider, for example, someone who owns a violent, aggressive breed of dog and insists that their precious Bowser is the sweetest little dog in the world, despite the fact that he charges at, growls at, and jumps on anyone he comes in contact with.

One time, when I was a kid, someone who lived about a mile behind us owned two enormous Rottweilers. One day, their son left the gate open and they got out. They roamed onto our property and were there to greet us when we got home from visiting family. They were running around, growling, charging at us. My dad got a 9mm and started firing warning shots. One of them ran off into the woods. The other one kept charging at us and trying to attack us until Dad finally took aim and delivered a lethal shot to the dog's body. When these people found out about this, they were upset and insisted, "Oh, but they were just playing!" Sorry, but growling and attacking is not "playing."

Another example is this woman who is friends with two of my aunts. She has this Chihuahua that is every bit as pleasant as having a tooth pulled without Novocaine. My two aunts sometimes dogsit for her, and if I come in the house while that dog is there, the dog goes nuts, charges at me, and tries to attack me. Of course, after I've been there for a while, he'll calm down---as long as I'm sitting still. If I get up, the whole thing starts over again. He does the same thing to my my cousin. But of course, he's still a sweet little dog.

[Hyena Dandy]

Similar to all this is the person who owns a viscous animal for a pet

I know you meant vicious, but that mental image made me laugh so hard.

[Ginger Tea]

I know you meant vicious, but that mental image made me laugh so hard.

choochoo bear from something possitive springs to mind muurrr

[Blue Ginger]

Similar to all this is the person who owns a vicious animal for a pet and can't seem to comprehend why other people don't like that pet.

I am terrified of dogs, completely, utterly terrified. Being chased by a couple of attack dogs does that to a kid.

I wish I had a dollar for every time some one said 'but my dog wouldn't hurt a fly.' I don't care if that's what you think. If it jumps on me, I will push it away. If it starts growling at me or making threatening moves, I will not be happy and will be either leaving or insisting the dog be in a different part of the house.

I react the same if you insist on having your pet bird out of it's cage while I am in the house. Except that usually involves more screaming on my part.

[guywithashovel]

I know you meant vicious, but that mental image made me laugh so hard.

It's a simple mistake, and anyone could make it.

I wish I had a dollar for every time some one said 'but my dog wouldn't hurt a fly.' I don't care if that's what you think. If it jumps on me, I will push it away. If it starts growling at me or making threatening moves, I will not be happy and will be either leaving or insisting the dog be in a different part of the house.

I react the same if you insist on having your pet bird out of it's cage while I am in the house. Except that usually involves more screaming on my part.

I swear, I can't tell you how many times I have fantasized about turning that Chihuahua into a splatter of guts and bones on the wall. I feel bad for feeling that way, but that dog is just rotten to the core. Now, I would never actually do something like that. However, when you have this little dog that wants to growl, bark, charge at you, and try to bite you every time you move, it's hard not to think that way. Of course, his owner thinks he's the most precious thing on the planet and gives him all kinds of pampering.

This is probably going to make some people not like me, but these types of pet owners get under my skin. First of all, there is no sense in having an animal like that. And if you do, don't be surprised when people don't like the pet and don't believe you when you say he's the "sweetest little dog in the world."

Also, take those people I mentioned in my previous post, the ones who let their Rottweilers roam onto our property. I think they had a lot of nerve getting upset with us.

[Boozy]

Chihuahuas and other small dogs always seem to be the nastiest, because their owners put up with it. If they owned mastiffs that growled and snapped at everyone, they wouldn't consider it "cute".

My mom has spent the last five years rehabilitating a three-pound chihuahua who would have been put down if it hadn't been for her size. She's fine now with people, but we still have to keep her away from my dogs when they visit. This thing attaches herself by the teeth to their hind legs. They don't even fight back. They just stand there, confused.