why do people find a nicely mannered dog so amazing?

Some people have preconceived ideas about how a particular breed will behave, and if is well mannered, taking an interest in what is going on around it unless working under command or playing and paying attention to its owner and not rolling its eyes, barking, lunging and growling because it is undisciplined and not taught to behave appropriately, are taken aback somewhat.

I had my black/rust Doberman b*tch walking calmly by my side on a slack lead on a fairly crowded path ignoring adults and children alike and dogs, and someone commented on how nicely behaved she was, with a smile directed towards me as she talked to her friend.

Perhaps the person may reconsider what they thought they knew about the breed because she was a good ambassador, as may be the case for your breed when the people saw how a dog could behave with training, guidance and leadership qualities that a dog needs to see in an owner.

I had a similar experience in a pet store with my two.

I was trying out different crates, and deciding which one would be best and easiest to transport for shows.

Since Cobain is bigger, I instructed him to go in and "test" a few out that I had set up. Another customer came to me and asked a question about the crates. I told Cobain to stay in the one he was currently in and turned to help this woman.

Nothing special, just a go to crate, and stay.

I had employees of the store come up to me afterward exclaiming how well behaved my dogs were.

It's really quite sad how proper manners are something of a lost concept with dogs these days.

Quite honestly, I will never understand how people live with such seemingly ill behaved dogs in their home. I would tolerate nothing less than what my current dogs give me.

Because there are many Dogs who won`t do what their owner expects them to do. There are many Dogs who`d run around uncontrollable and pull on the leash and bark and make a scene. I get people commenting on how my Pomeranians just sit there when I`m infront of a store, I had a guy say to me ``You must be the Dog master.`` when I managed to walk all three of my Pomeranians with out tripping on them, but really, I know of plenty Dogs who are more well behaved then my own, but I know plenty more that are more worst behaved then my own.

In my area I see more ill mannered dogs than behaved dogs, which is concerning considering my area is quite dog orientated.A majority [not all] don't thoroughly think through what owning a dog means and don't put any thought into obedience training at all.

I remember talking to an old friend who was shocked to know of training classes for dogs in around my area. She hadn't a clue that obedience training was even offered near our home suburb.

Because most people seem to view dogs as a right rather than a privilege. Every family thinks they need a dog and many dogs are bought on impulse. People don't research the needs of their respective breed before buying one and then get frustrated when the dog isn't magically trained. It's ridiculous. Even I ooh and ah over a well behaved dog because mine are typically the only ones and it's nice to come across another dog I'm not afraid to have my dog near for fear of the out of control dog getting away from its handler.

Because there are so many dogs without nice manners? Especially small dogs.

I think it is because we all have different points of reference, dog owners like you and I probably have higher expectations of a dog's minimum obedience level - to others it's enough that they are housebroken and friendly.

Also, in my experience many people give up too soon. The people who are bowled over by my dog's recall for example, usually believe that it is all breed related. And yes, a solid recall is easier to achieve with a Groenendael, but what they fail to realise is that what they are seeing is the result of literally thousands of small training sessions in varying distraction levels, starting when my dog was 8 weeks old and which I keep up daily. So when people say that they took their dog to puppy classes for 4 weeks and that the dog didn't manage to learn a reliable recall during those all-in-all 4-6 hours and so they gave up, well, then it's not really surprising.

I must agree. Sadly it reflects upon the way most dogs have been allowed to behave in recent years, especially small dogs which most people just let run wild. I have two lab/border collies, which are lovely but very excitable naturally, however they are trained properly. if i tell them to stay, sit lie down, come back ect they do it, they don't run at people jump up or scare anyone, unless we tell them to.

We need more people like you for dogs !

The main reason is that there are so many untrained dogs, especially when it comes to Toy Breeds such as Poms. This is a reflection on the OWNERS not on the dogs.

Because most people are use to seeing ill behaved, out of control dogs with owners who don't know how to control them-that goes with any size of dog. Most small dogs are yappy, snappy, anxious little things because they have never been trained, socialized or exercised and that's what a majority of people are use to seeing.

If this happened, it's a sad reflection on the state of dog ownership these days!! I'd be more likely to react if I saw dogs who were out of control!!