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Quick story. I've had 3 dogs, and one was dog aggressive. He was so lovable, hard to imagine. He wouldn't go after other dogs, but if a dog approached him, that's when he would unleash his fury. Yet my other dogs, my friends 4 dogs, and my 8 lb cat could boss him around to their heart's content and he'd be the epitome of submissive. But he wasn't picked on. He was a member of the pack and enjoyed life.
I ended up getting him a basket muzzle because I couldn't trust other owners. I wanted to be able to go to parks (not dog parks) but it never failed that people will have off leash dogs and some of those will be out of control and run up to us. So I got him a basket muzzle that he could still pant and drink/eat with, just couldn't bite. A few people would act scared of him if they saw him, even though he showed no aggressive behaviors unless another dog ran up.
He ended up having a liver tumor that caused a condition called DIC. Despite blood transfusions and other interventions, the vet finally told me there was no more hope and he was only living because I was asking him to. He was a beautiful dog.
Don't be afraid of dogs with muzzles or aggressive dogs as long as owners take responsibility to control them. Many so called aggressive dogs live very happy lives and show love!
I personally don't think there is a such thing as a natural aggressive dog. You have young street punks who have an inferiority complex who choose to make their dogs aggressive.
I know of a man that has a kennel with over 200 pure bred pit bulls. These dogs have been carefully bred for their aggressive personalities, and there's not one of them that would ever make a pleasure dog.
People fly in from all over the world to purchase his dogs--with prices starting at $10,000. They're buying them to fight--plain and simple.
This man is in very bad health, and he's going to have to answer for his sins soon enough. When he's gone, what ever remaining dogs he has are going to have to be euphemized.
Yes, some dogs are bad to the bone and their behavior is not always learned. It's bred in them.
People get aggressive dogs for all kinds of reasons besides being aggressive people.
A few:
- They are actually timid or fearful people who think a mean dog will “protect” them. Yup—the same way some dogs will “protect” their food from being touched by the owner: “This is MINE and I CONTROL it.”
- They just don’t understand what they are getting into.
- They think the dog will train itself.
- Someone told them the breed makes a wonderful pet and it has just been persecuted! Just look at all the pitbull rescue groups’ shining praise for their wanna-rehomes. Some tell, in carefully-downplayed phrasing, aggressive tendencies of a particular candidate. Read between the lines. Some will make good pets with the right owner. The others are disasters being shuffled around from one place to another, sometimes to avoid euthanasia in their area of origin.
An untrained, unmanaged aggressive dog is like a loose cannon. It has a mind of its own, and that mind may be unhinged, too.
Yes she was doing her job, she was a wonderful dog and I didn’t mind her making others uneasy. My husband worked late back then, I was happy to have a dog that would make intruders think twice before trying to enter our home.
My point was she was aggressive because she’s an aggressive breed, not because she was chosen by aggressive people. Our black lab is the exact opposite of our Shepherd, if someone shakes a plastic bag he will run and hide. So the theory that aggressive people select or raise aggressive dogs is not always accurate.
I’m not in anyway against pit bull ownership. But just like with a GSD- you have to know how to handle your breed. I had to learn to “parent” my black lab very differently from my GSD. Not only was the GSD naturally more aggressive, she also needed tasks or work. My lab just needs to cuddle and be loved.
Oddly I have owned rottweilers but the only two dogs
I have been bitten by was a black lab and a schnauzer. Not fond of
either breed.
People who are against pitbull ownership aren't strong enough to handle them, so it's best they're left to people who understand the breed. Guard dogs are doing their job by going after a supposed threat; it's in their nature to protect their humans. I stand by what I say: Pits have a bad rep because of irresponsible ownership, period. Thorough research is required before one makes a decision to own a pitbull. You have to show them who's in charge because they will try to dominate, same with rottweilers. I pay no mind to the ignorant fools who rely on supposed statistics (which can be manipulated) that say "pitbulls lead the list of frequent and violent attacks" because for every fatal attack involving a pitbull, there's also proof that with proper training and socialization, pits are great dogs.
Your dog would've been doing it's job. Dogs have excellent discernment with people. If a dog feels good around someone, it's because that person has a pleasant vibe. If a dog snarls around strangers, it's because the dog feels threatened in some way and is warning the stranger not to get too close to their human.
I do believe that dogs have extremely good instinct to tell when there's an imminent threat, but, I don't think that a dog reacting negatively to someone is always a guaranteed indicator that the person has ill intent. Sometimes there's simply something about the person that may frighten the dog or put them on edge. For instance, my dog was terrified of one of my neighbours for a very long time and would not go near her (despite her being an animal lover and very gentle in nature). I suspect it had to do with her voice, which was a very gravelly, 'smoker's-type' of voice. Despite her attempting to get on Izzy's good side, attempting to give him treats whenever we crossed paths, or even simply ignoring him (at my request) when I'd stop to talk to her, Iz was terrified. Had she reached out and attempted to pat him, he would have bitten her. Guaranteed.
On the topic of drug dealers and other shady characters picking dogs that will be aggressive/threatening, it's absolutely true around here. I see a LOT of young guys who hang out and have bad reps, and whenever they do have a dog, it's almost always a pit bull or some other type that would be formidable if it attacked. There was one guy here last year who would post videos on FB of his dog, showing how he punished it whenever he was angry because the dog didn't do something he wanted. This was a sweet little pit bull, and the guy would feed it alcohol until it was stumbling and getting sick everywhere, or would wrap elastics around it's snout until the dog was crying out in pain. I have no idea how long this went on, but I do know that the police were investigating him on drug-related charges, and people had reported him constantly about the cruelty toward his dog, but the latter was more or less an after-fact with the police. Unfortunately this type of personality is very common in my area.
I remember one evening many years ago when I was walking my dog, a beagle mix, down a street. At the end of the street a young guy was standing there with a very well-muscled, large-jowled 'pittish' looking dog, and as I got within a few yards of him he suddenly said in a calm, but extremely chilling voice, "If you want your dog to live, go the other way".
Normally I'd be incensed by such stupidity and would ignore it, but in this case I knew better. We turned and went down another street. My heart cries for all of the dogs who wind up with these punks.
I remember one evening many years ago when I was walking my dog, a beagle mix, down a street. At the end of the street a young guy was standing there with a very well-muscled, large-jowled 'pittish' looking dog, and as I got within a few yards of him he suddenly said in a calm, but extremely chilling voice, "If you want your dog to live, go the other way".
Normally I'd be incensed by such stupidity and would ignore it, but in this case I knew better. We turned and went down another street. My heart cries for all of the dogs who wind up with these punks.
Hmm. He would have been even more of a punk if he hadn't warned you up front, let his dog attack yours, and then blame you for it.
Last edited by Parnassia; 05-26-2020 at 02:19 PM..
On the topic of drug dealers and other shady characters picking dogs that will be aggressive/threatening, it's absolutely true around here. I see a LOT of young guys who hang out and have bad reps, and whenever they do have a dog, it's almost always a pit bull or some other type that would be formidable if it attacked. There was one guy here last year who would post videos on FB of his dog, showing how he punished it whenever he was angry because the dog didn't do something he wanted. This was a sweet little pit bull, and the guy would feed it alcohol until it was stumbling and getting sick everywhere, or would wrap elastics around it's snout until the dog was crying out in pain. I have no idea how long this went on, but I do know that the police were investigating him on drug-related charges, and people had reported him constantly about the cruelty toward his dog, but the latter was more or less an after-fact with the police. Unfortunately this type of personality is very common in my area.
I remember one evening many years ago when I was walking my dog, a beagle mix, down a street. At the end of the street a young guy was standing there with a very well-muscled, large-jowled 'pittish' looking dog, and as I got within a few yards of him he suddenly said in a calm, but extremely chilling voice, "If you want your dog to live, go the other way".
Normally I'd be incensed by such stupidity and would ignore it, but in this case I knew better. We turned and went down another street. My heart cries for all of the dogs who wind up with these punks.
Idiots like him give responsible pit owners a bad rep. I know what you mean because in the hood, pits and rotts are the dogs of choice for gangsters, but what that fool doesn't understand is if you were strapped, and his dog approached with ill intent, you could've shot the dog and pressed charges on the owner for endangerment.
A kid that worked for me was borderline thug. Nicest kid in the world, hard worker but he was out to impress. Not one pit bull but rather two! Both uncut. They would get out, the county would get them and he would reclaim them. County would discount the collection fees if he would agree to have the dogs fixed. He refused, he wanted to breed them.
He ended up with a short sentence, dogs were given up. He got "La Familia" tattooed on the front of his neck in 5 inch letters. Sadly he is not borderline anymore.
I think dogs also tend to become like their owners.
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