Ten year old Billy is walking with his mom on the sidewalk. Billy sees a dog that is coming his way. When Billy gets close enough to reach the dog, he reaches out to pet it. He was about to pet it, but his mom yelled his name and said, 'Billy! Get away from that dog! He's a mean dog!' A lot of people give a bad reputation to dogs. A dog is a mammal that can be a wild animal or a pet. Their ancestors are wolves, foxes, dingoes, and coyotes. The wolves, foxes, dingoes, coyotes, and the dog are in the Canidae family.

Sometimes people give bad reputations to dogs that bark a lot. They shouldn't judge the dogs by what they do. Sometimes a dog barks if it is excited to see somebody, if it wants to get someone's attention, or if it wants someone to come over and pet it. If a Pit Bull is barking at somebody, then it probably wants to bite them. A Pit Bull is a dog breed that gets the name 'pit' because they were bred to fight in a pit against other dogs.

Also, people give bad reputations to dogs that drool a lot. They're wrong about those dogs. Dogs such as St. Bernards, Bloodhounds, and Mastiffs drool a lot too, and they're friendly dogs, too. Sometimes people mistake a dog with rabies with a dog drooling. A way to tell a rabid dog from a drooling dog is that a rabid dog has foam, not drool, around its whole mouth, but a drooling dog has drool, not foam, in just a couple spots around its mouth.

Some dogs are mean such as Pit Bulls. Some are lazy such as a Basset Hound. Some are playful such as a Great Dane. Some are wild such as a Chihuahua. Just because one dog is mean doesn't mean every single dog is mean. Some dogs are mean if their owner abused them in some way and also if the dog doesn't get outside a lot to socialize then when they do get outside they don't know how to socialize. It's understanding if someone had a bad experience with a dog once, but that doesn't mean they should be scared of every dog that they see. They shouldn't judge a dog until they know what kind of breed it is, what its personality is, and until they get to know the dog.