Which breed of dog would you classify as dangerous?

adouglasmhor

These dogs are dangerous but not classed as a breed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nvfQw8UCDE

VitaK

Any dog can be dangerous. Sometimes even the best family dogs gets out of control.

We can minimize the risk but can't remove it completely.

dizziblonde

adouglasmhor wrote: »

If you are a small fluffy creature - a greyhound is probably pretty dangerous.

And if you are MY greyhound, the elderly, cantankerous, three-legged moggy is a force of supreme terror... she's now decided all the dog beds in the house belong to her!

~Chameleon~

Bromley86 wrote: »

This is clearly not the case. Bear in mind that I'd don't agree with effectively licensing breeds rather than actually licensing owners.

Let's say we banned all dog bread except yellow Labradors but allowed idiot (criminal?) owners to do what they want. Would there be a reduction in attacks? (In case it needs to be said, "Yes".)

Not necessarily, I've seen & dealt with plenty of aggressive labradors!! They just don't get reported as often as they don't fit with the stereotype headlines!

!!!!!!!!. Just because you (and I) like dogs, doesn't mean that some little girl (for example) should be expected to not behave insanely. Any aggressive dog should be immediately put down, if only because that frees up resources to deal with non-aggressive dogs.

If people trained their children how to behave around dogs there would be far fewer dog-child attacks, for sure. Not saying the child is always to blame, there could be any number of reasons why a dog will suddenly attack... sometimes due to provocation, sometimes not but children will often provoke a dog and treat it like a toy.

Raksha

So many children are taught that a wagging tail means a happy dog - simply not true! A dog wags for so many reasons, not all of them mean it's happy or should be approached.

sb88_2

My opinion, There are no dangerous dog breeds, only dangerous owners. The type of people who choose a specific breed of dog because it is large, or powerful, to misuse.

harrys_nan

http://www.best-behaviour.com/rage-syndrome.html

This is worth a read, I have a very gentle old lady dog who reacted like this when very young, it was as she was coming out of a deep sleep similar to a epileptic fit. The vet advised me to put her down but I wouldn't, she had never attacked a human only our other dog, only happened a couple of times.
She became the most gentle and faithful dog and I love her to bits, cant bare to think of losing her but at 14 I know I haven't that long left now

MentalMinnie

It's the owner, not the dog that has the potential to be dangerous.

I have a miniature x standard poodle (don't ask!!) She barks at dogs that come near her, instinct as she was attacked by a staffie a few years ago, whilst the stupid owner just watched (cheers, you pr!ck) However, if you introduce her gently to a dog, she's fine. With people, well, she's a big fat [EMAIL="sl@g"]sl@g[/EMAIL]! All over people like a rash, rubbing up and down them. So not all poodles are yappy little terrors.

I never intentionally avoid a dog based on what the dog looks like, but what the owner looks like. I adore dobermans, and will cross a road to say hello to one.

coinxoperated

IMO, all dogs are dangerous. Regardless of breed or size. The level of danger varies though and this is the problem in today's society.

A chihuahua could give a nasty bite but is fixable.

If a rottie bites and means it, you are likely to be pretty scarred for life.

Growing up with a house full of GSD's (14!!!!) we were taught to e respectful of dogs, regardless of size, and to never treat them as people where possible.

Of course we all loved them, but there was no hugging them or silly talking. And you know what? We never got bitten!

mel12

I'd say there's two separate issues to consider:

1) whether a dog will bite or not
this has very little to do with the breed, and more to do with:
owner behaviour,
training,
the dog's history (eg if they've been mistreated and are frightened of men etc)
occasionally health problems such as rage, epilepsy etc

2) how harmful a bite is likely to be
that has more to do with breed, the size of the dog, the shape of their teeth etc.


You might want to think about what you consider a dangerous dog to be? Is it only a dog who bites humans, or what about a dog that is aggressive towards other dogs? What about a dog which is aggressive towards smaller animals?

I think aggression towards smaller animals may have more to do with breed instincts than the other types of aggression as many dogs were originally bred for hunting or pest control. But a responsible owner can do a lot to manage this, for examplec keeping a greyhound with a tendency to chase cats on a lead when outside.