The old saying goes, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

You can’t always tell about something just from its appearance.

This may be one of the most difficult lessons for all of us to learn. After all, it is basic human nature to assume certain things about the visual message being sent to our brains.

After only a few episodes of realizing things aren’t always as cut and dry or as obvious as we thought, we should try to be skeptical of our own thought processes.

As time goes by, we learn to question our very own preconceived notions. This is especially true with regards to pets and their appearances.

My first thought of a situation not to judge a pet by its fur involves Doberman Pinchers.

Think about it: Most Dobermans in the past have had sharp pointed ears. That cosmetic feature has caused most people to perceive them as aggressive or mean dogs when the majority of Dobermans have sweet and gentle.

Doberman pinchers are not born with pointed ears that stand upright whenever they are alert. The pointed ears are the result of a cosmetic surgery.

I assume the surgery was initially performed to specifically make the breed look fiercer, especially when they were being used as guard dogs.

Dobermans that have never had their ears “cropped” look similar to hound breeds and don’t appear aggressive.

Another example of a dog breed being judged on its appearance is the Rottweiler. Because of their unique size and robust physique, many people assume they are mean dogs.

Most Rottweilers are friendly gentle giants. The problem is an aggressive Rottweiler poses great danger because they have the ability to cause severe injury with a bite.

The most controversial and most well-known debate of judging pets by their appearance deals with pit bulls.

The despicable practice of fighting dogs for such a long time has caused this breed to become judged more than any other.

Don’t get me wrong; Pit bulls have been mistreated in this manner for so long many of them instinctively have aggressive behaviors, especially toward other dogs.

It is not unusual for a pit bull to be a great patient in our clinic and completely relaxed toward people, yet become aggressive at the first sight of another dog.

There are always exceptions to the rule. We have numerous pit bull patients that never show any aggression even with regards to other dogs.

I think you should respect a pit bull’s potential aggressive ability, but don’t assume every dog of this breed is a bad dog.

I don’t think it is a good idea to let your guard down and put this breed of dog in a potentially bad situation such as allowing them to interact with any strange dogs unsupervised. The pit bull breed has the ability to inflict serious injury and possibly death to any other breed or size of dog.

The primary situation involving cats and wrongly judging them would be the typical cute little fluffy cat that has an aggressive personality. Basically, all cats are cute and cuddly in appearance, yet there are plenty of cats full of terror with aggressive attitudes.

In fairness to all pets, most aggressive dogs and cats in a veterinary clinic setting are simply scared and act out in strictly an instinctively defensive manner.

Once again, there are exceptions to every rule. Some dogs and cats are just plain mean and don’t stand a chance at being rehabilitated.

As always, if your pet shows any signs of illness, contact your veterinarian as soon as possible to ensure your pet lives a long, healthy and happy life.

Dr. Jeff Castle is a veterinarian at Clark County Veterinary Clinic.