i was curious as to what other thought about certain breeds that have stigmas as being overly agressive and prone to attack/be violent...such breeds include rottweilers, pitbulls, possibly german shepards... I personally believe the dogs are taught this, or live in an agressive environment where their mistreated and neglected...i owned a rottweiler for around 11 years, my parents got him when i was 3 or 4, and in my opinion it is the best dog imaginable(my opinion), strong, protective, playful,loving, and gentle. Otto(my dogs name) would let me ride him(he was enourmous 120-130lbs) and pull on his coat (which i cant imagine felt great) when i was younger as if it were no bother to him, he was extremely protective but not to the point where he would attack people (he would just be present and close to a family in the company of strangers), on one occasion he chased the paper boy but he only did it because the paper boy hit my sister with the paper. my parents also felt secure leaving us alone knowing that Otto was with us. one downside is shedding...anyway Otto's legs went bad around age 11, common in the breed, id have to carry him outside a few times a day so he could relieve himself and eventually we decided to take away his pain...one of the most loyal companions ive ever had and as soon as i get my own place i plan on purchasing another rottweiler
I hate those prejudices, that are mainly the medias fault, because they never report on German Sheperd bites, but always make a big story of a Pitbull attack. I have a lovely Staff lady myself (see my photo whore thread ) and I love that dog so much! I agree to an extent with your opinion about the mistreating and neglecting environment that causes dogs to get aggressive, but I think another point is just wrong handling of the dog. By that I don't mean mistreating it, but each dog breed has their own special personality traits and needs to be treated according to that. If you treat a Staff or Pitbull like a lap dog, it will start thinking he's the boss and might one day not respect the owner, or other people as the pack leader. They are very stubborn dogs in general, so they need to know their place. I don't teach my dog that by hitting her, there are more effective methods than that, to show her who is the leader (e.g. she always gets her dinner after us, always leaves the flat last,....little acts that make her see that she is a lower rank in the pack). But this is extremely important with those breeds. It's surely not true that all dogs that show aggression at some stage have been mistreated. I think more commom is the mistake of letting the dog think he is the pack leader. Especially with children that's really dangerous, because they are obviously weaker than the dog. I wouldn't leave my child alone with any dog before a certain age though. Sorry for the rant, but this bothers me to no end. The other day I was asked by a woman, if my dog is a "Kampfhund" (lit. translated "fighting dog"), and I replied "My dog has never been in a fight, therefore she isn't a fighting dog". She just rolled her eyes and pissed off. lol Stupid cow!
i hate the prejudice that comes with theses dogs, i own a red nose pitbull and it is the best dog i ever owned. every one is always asking if he is mean or does he bite. it just rediculous the number one dog attack in the U.S one humans is a golden retriever, but you dont here about them on the news. i have a great shirt, on the front is a black guy mexican, chinese, white guy and a pitbull in a police line up and under the pic it says racial profiling is wrong!
I grew up with a Boxer... in his mind, I think we were part of the same litter. I was allowed to leave the yard, but only if I took the dog with me, and the dog saved me from harm more than once. My cousins had a german shepard/wolf mix (very common in rural saskatchewan). Once, King was left in the yard while my Uncle went to town. A salesman came to the house, and he gestured too fast for King liking. King was very, very protective of us kids... the "best babysitter in the world" type of thing. King attacked the man, without hurting him. We had to call my Grandma in town, who went to find my Uncle at the feed store. King growled, standing over the man's chest, with the man's arm in his mouth until my Uncle returned 45 minutes later. As soon as my Uncle showed up King released. So, i guess you could say I grew up around "violent breeds"... but it is all about how they are socialized. Neither dog ever bit anyone... the threat was always enough. That being said, I once saw a Pitbull bitch turn on her 2 yr old puppy-son. One minute they were laying on the carpet in the living room, the next minute there was blood everywhere. The owner tried to stop it, but she turned on him snarling when he tried to separate them. There was nothing we could do. I was standing on the back of a couch crying... i was terrified. An hour before, the owner's 3 yr old son had been laying on the carpet between the dogs. There was no previous history of violence from the bitch... she just snapped. When it was all over, the puppy-son lay dead. any ideas as to why she would have turned like that?
it's so unfair any dog can be dangerous, if not properly socialized... i think the fear stems from the damage a rottie or a pit can inflict as opposed to a yorkie....it's not the breed....it's the human i recently (few months ago) read an article that spoke about "rage syndrome" in terriers (more specifically Bull Terriers) sorta like in Cocker Spaniels, where they would attack w/o warning specially when being woken from deep sleep; the belief was that these attacks came on like an epileptic seizure, the author has been keeping records of various incidents (in the last 20 years!) hoping that someone will research it...but of course it always gets chalked up to the breed.... i'm sure it could never be hereditary or neurological damage caused by years and years of breed manipulation it's a shame
Rottys are one of the best family dogs I have ever had. Mine were not viscious, they were scared of strangers unless they got too close to my son when he was very young. And even then, they would only nudge you away, not even growl. That said, I wouldn't own a purebred dog anymore. AKC and CKC mean NOTHING, There are so many congenital defects in purebreds that their life expectancy is reduced and their quality of life as adults is even less. Hip dysplasia, moist eczema, macular degeneration, toe rot, congenital deafness, subcranial/spinal constrictions... It's disgusting. Support your local rescue, not your local breeder/puppy mill/petstore. Better yet, PROTEST your local breeder/puppy mill/petstore.
I own a pit bull rescued from a fighting ring. We got Diva as a puppy and have never treated her like anything but a human child over the past 5 years. She is a huge dog, big for her breed...lets just call her fat. All I ever hear is how "I can't belive how good she is" Thats because she was raised in a loving,disciplined home. She loves her kittys and even trieds to be a surrogate mom when our cat had kittens last year. She got to pick her own kitty out of the litter and she has her very own cat. But she is what she is. A large, powerful animal. I never ever as a responsible pet owner put her into a situation with other dogs or people that isn't supervised or controlled. I would hate for any thing to happen to her beacuse I wasn't doing every thing with in my power to make sure nothing negative transpired. That means though she is voice trained and listens so good that she is always on a leash in a social settings. I wish everyone felt that way I hate when I am walking Diva and another dog runs up to her and not always in a nice way. I hate to be like hey might want to get your dog so mine doesn't acidentally kill yours. If she were to feel threatend and bite it would not be much of a fight for the other dog and I would hate for any of us to experience that. The over all view of certain kinds of dogs is wrong like racial profiling. It's certain types of people who use animals as a false sense of self power who ruin the breed name for the rest of them. I feel confident owning the dog I do since I will never allow her to be in a situation that would prove negative for her.
You can't judge a dog by its breed. We had a great big pit bull come to live with us for a while, he was great friends with our goat and great with people. My inlaws had a rott that was the best family dog ever. The kids would ride him and he would pull them around on a sled, my son used to sleep with him. I always have mixed breeds anyway, they make better dogs I think. Less inbreeding. But I always try to keep my dog on a leash and the only time I've ever had problems was when other dogs weren't on leashes.
there is some truth to the stories ..when you buy a dog you buy a certain species because of certain characteristics .....enough said .......a pit bull as the name implies was specifically that ..a dog bred to fight in the pits .......we had a local breeder here that brought out the reporters to his place to show how kind and gentle his dogs were .2 weeks after ,the neighbor's kid crossed the yard to go play with the breeder's kids .something he did every day ....the kid is now scared for life ..the dog tore half his face off ..not the scars the worse but the nerve damage that the dog inflicted..may look macho or cool to own a dog like that but i think i'll stick with border collie mix
My dog is an alapaha bulldog which is very similar to a pit bull. If you look at her fast, she actually looks just like a pit bull. That causes some problems. She's a very sweet but skittish dog and she HATES strangers or just about anyone outside of the family. She hates men most of all, probably because we got her from my uncle in Las Vegas and she had to fly over here to Atlanta, and the stupid airline people told my mom she could keep her in the cabin but they changed their mind once she got to the airport. So my poor little puppy got prodded by stupid security guards and has hated men ever since. I'm afraid something might happen one day though because she's very protective of our yard. We never let her outside alone (we live in a subdivision and don't have a yard that you can fence in) but when she occasionally does dash out the door, she sits at the end of the driveway and barks viciously at anything that comes on "her" street.
