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Do Dogs Really Hate Hats?

deanzat

One of the Regulars
Messages
125
Location
Ojai, CA
Conventional wisdom around here says that dogs dislike men in hats. I've developed a habit of doffing my hat as I approach properties with excitable dogs on my daily walk.

Anyone know if there's real research on the topic?
 

fmw

One Too Many
Messages
1,017
Location
USA
I don't know about hats but I can attest to their passionate interest in men on bicycles.
 

azshawn

Familiar Face
Messages
94
Location
Chandler, AZ
I'm a residential appraiser and I can tell you that some homeowners dogs do really dislike men in hats. I've encountered a few dogs where this reaction is almost like a liht switch, with my Stetson on they want to kill me, with my Stetson off them come to me wagging their tails. It's pretty amazing how much some dogs hate a man in a hat.
 

HeyMoe

Practically Family
Messages
698
Location
Central Vermont
My dog loves them

img1657sm.jpg
 
Messages
10,524
Location
DnD Ranch, Cherokee County, GA
I have had horses that get jumpy when they see a brim. When I have to give shots, I always wear a ball cap since every other time I mess with them I wear a brim. I think it is conditioning = something negative happened with a person wearing a hat or in a dog's case, it is something unusual on top of a person that disturbs them...
 

zetwal

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,343
Location
Texas
Many books on dog training and behavior address the fact that some dogs do react strongly to people in hats, etc.

Do a search for "canine reactivity to men in hats" and see what you find. ;)
 
Messages
10,524
Location
DnD Ranch, Cherokee County, GA
You'd figure that after almost 10,000 years they'd get used to us...
Because it was found deep inside a pile of human excrement and was the characteristic orange-brown color that bone turns when it has passed through the digestive tract, the fragment provides the earliest direct evidence that dogs — besides being used for company, security and hunting — were eaten by humans and may even have been bred as a food source, he said.
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
24,736
Location
London, UK
Many years ago, a relative of mine had a dog that went nuts and tried to attack any young boy of about twelve years old it encountered who had red hair and glasses. Turned out the dog had once, as a puppy, been very badly beaten by a child fitting just that description. I can't comment on dogs and hats more generally - never really around them, and I am distinctly a cat person by preference. My cats are broadly indifferent to hats - aside, that is, from ensuring that they deposit a sufficiently large quantity of a contrasting fur colour thereon.
 

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,154
Location
Da Bronx, NY, USA
I've encountered some dogs who seem afraid of the hats. When I take it off and show it to them, they sniff it very warily and look up at me with nervous distrust. Usually they figure out that the hat is just a hat, and not some sort of dangerous antlers.
 

HeyMoe

Practically Family
Messages
698
Location
Central Vermont
I wonder if how a dog is raised has anything to do with it? My pooch thinks everyone loves him and has no isses with someone in a hat - of course that may be because folks have been wearing hats around him since he was a pup.
 

dwebber18

One of the Regulars
Messages
216
Location
Hoboken
My dog doesn't mind me in a hat, however if I'm not careful while we are in the car I will notice a subtle push on my head with my hat brim in her mouth, haha. She likes to use her mouth the see things
 

scooter

Practically Family
Messages
905
Location
Arizona
My smallest dog loves hats! She tells me they taste like chicken, and trust me, she has had a broad sampling.
 

Mr_D.

A-List Customer
Messages
320
Location
North Ga.
It's amazing what animals will remember growing up, and even pass to their off spring.

Anyone remember the Shamu incident where the trainer was mistreating the whale so during a performance the trainer was on the back of one whale, and the other whale was jumping over them and fell right on the trainer crushing him between the 2 whales. They (the whales) knew what they were doing.
 

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