Which breed of dog would you classify as dangerous?

sparrer

I had a lab x for 4 years who was a poppet, until one day she just attacked my 2 y/o DD who at the time was no-where near her (she was sitting on her Granny's lap). I had a rescue GSD who had been desperately badly treated, she was so sweet especially with the youngest who would curl up and go to sleep between the dogs legs.

Yesterday DD and I swapped German Spitz while three of her 3 beetches are in season. My boy is neutered so we swap approx twice a year. Next door has an American Staff dog and a Staff beetch, neither they nor my lad ever take any notice of each other through the chicken wire fence. Yesterday DD's boy went in my garden, the Staffs saw him and flew at the fence, teeth bared, growling loudly, nearly broke the fence down til their owner came and pulled them off. That was the first time in my 60+ years I've been scared of a dog, still very apprehensive and would obviously be no match for either of them if they did break the fence down. They're well trained, walked two/three times a day, the boy wears a muzzle when they go out, the owner takes no nonsense from them but his reaction yesterday was to thrash the boy, which I've never seen him do before.

What makes a dog dangerous? Of course it can be, and more often than not is, the owner but those three incidents came from a) a dog of 'gentle' reputation, b) a dog renowned for its police work and c) a breed which I once considered unstable but had learned to trust at least two of them.

I really don't think there is a black and white answer to the OP's question.

DalePie

faerie~spangles wrote: »

1: Miniature poodles.

2: Jack Russell terriers

3: West Highland terriers.

Agree with this totally!

Small yappy dogs just seem to aggressive. Almost like they have to prove they are tough despite their small size.

Often found large dogs to be nothing but big cuddly bears and often full of fun! Small dogs however I try to keep away from at all times!

Fosterdog

vax2002 wrote: »

example of a thick owner getting a lesson in the behavioural instinct switch of a "staffie".
Its never done that before, why does it disobey me ?
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=45c_1341173404

How can you say that about this video? The video doesn't show what started the fight, it came in half way through. How do you know that it wasn't the little dog that attacked the pit bull first and the pit bull just retaliated? You make out that the owner wasn't in control but for all we know that fight only lasted the few seconds we saw I've seen dog fights where they can't be pulled apart for fifteen minutes so he had some level of control.

I didn't hear on the video the owner saying "It's never done that before, why does it disobey me?" I saw the owner move his dog to a safe distance and keeping a watch over what was happening with the other dog and actually looking very concerned.

I also didn't see any blood, it looked nasty but was the dog equivalent of a fist fight where they had a scrap and both came out of it ok.

I'm not saying it's ok for dogs to behave like that in public but without being there you or I have no way of knowing what lead to it happening.

Oh and it doesn't matter how many times you call all generic small bull breeds "staffies" it doesn't make it true. A staffie is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and nothing else. I could say you were a unicorn and tell everyone that it's well known that you are a unicorn. It doesn't make it true the same as you calling them all staffies doesn't make it true. What was in the video was not a staffie, possibly not even a pit bull but some cross breed.

MrsAtobe

Hopefully I can put into words my feelings about ‘dangerous’ dogs.


All dogs have the potential to be dangerous. After all, they all have teeth and claws. Humans took the more ‘people friendly’ dogs millennia ago and put them to work for us. Out of these dogs, and the selective breeding, the dog breeds as we know them today came into being. Over more recent years, a lot of these dogs are now pets that we choose to share our homes with, rather than being working dogs, although some do still work.


In some cases this ‘work’ is seen, by a certain set of people, to be aggressive and intimidating to other dogs and humans. I deplore this failure of the trust that our dogs put in us, it makes me want to cry in frustration. Any dog has the capability to attack, but very few who haven’t been trained to attack usually do so, I believe, only because of an undiagnosed illness, or injury, or simply because they are being tormented.



As I said at the start, all dogs have the potential to be dangerous. It is humans that unlock that potential, in all but a very small amount of unfortunate incidents.

dizziblonde

Tina20 wrote: »

I should say, I'm a great believer in blaming the owner, not the dog. however in my experience I have come across more aggressive JRT's than any other breed, which is why I would say that breed stands out to me.

I think the problem with JRTs is the type of owner they tend to attract. Round here it tends to be dotty old ladies who think they're their babies and because they're so small, the need to train them isn't as strong (in their mind) as if they had a whacking great big dog. The JRT is never going to pull them down the road if not trained to walk on a lead properly, or at the very least things like anti-pull harnesses/headcollars used, and if it starts acting up and going at other dogs - it's pickupable... so you end up with this tiny tornado of terrier bowling along (invariably on the end of an unlocked flexi-lead or off-lead totally), with the terrier big dog in small package attitude - and you end up with a canine pain in the rear who thinks it's Rambo.

I know a couple of beautifully trained JRTs whose owners really do channel their intelligence and abilities to good use - but the number of tornado JRTs with an attitude I know is nuts.

I think if you have a bigger dog (and a braincell) you become so concious of the need NOT to upset people that you DO put in the time and effort to train them so much better and manage their behaviour - there just isn't the leeway to pick them up and carry them away if you've got a fair few kilos of something German Shepherd (NOT picked for any breed example - just it being the size and part of the cross one of my dogs is) or Greyhound sized.

While I personally don't like Staffies - they're just not my kind of dog, nothing more than that - the only bother I've ever had with one was a one where the couple would let it off-lead in the woods, they'd proceed to lie down for an incredibly steamy snogging session and let it do what it liked - which invariably involved gatecrashing MY walk and tripping me up!

Our biggest local pain in the rear dog is some non-descript terrier-type, named Trevor. He is so out of control, that the second you hear the first "Trevorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ger'ere or I'm gonna kill ya!" yelled across the park, you just get to see about 80% of the dogs being walked in the area called back to their owners, leads clipped on and they all leave the park immediately rather than endure Trevor and his owner's screeching (think Bianca from Eastenders screeching "Rickkkkyyyy" and it's about that level) and completely ridiculous threads.

MrsAtobe

Dizziblonde has put into words far better than I could exactly why I have a problem with small dogs. Twice in six months has something gone for my springer, both were small dogs and both were on lead at the time, as was she. The one owner didn't even apologise. It got to the stage where I would cross the road if I saw a small dog out for a walk.

dontone

dizziblonde wrote: »

Our biggest local pain in the rear dog is some non-descript terrier-type, named Trevor. He is so out of control, that the second you hear the first "Trevorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ger'ere or I'm gonna kill ya!" yelled across the park, you just get to see about 80% of the dogs being walked in the area called back to their owners, leads clipped on and they all leave the park immediately rather than endure Trevor and his owner's screeching (think Bianca from Eastenders screeching "Rickkkkyyyy" and it's about that level) and completely ridiculous threads.

Our resident pain in the bum is the owner of a Boxer called "billy" It's as daft as a brush, and very intimadating as he lets it roam about and it always makes a beeline for my dog, who, on that particular walk is always on his lead (Mines a Basset, so gets on the trail, goes deaf in an instant)
As Billy is all legs and big jaw, he's a sod for trying to mount mine, but he has a awful growl that is quite scary, so I'm trying to drag mine away while Billy is jumping all over. the owner is a complete moron who has had a few rollockings about letting the thing jump on others, but all you get is "billy, Billy" :mad: and "he only wants to play" Thing is, it does it to all the dogs on that walk. Big dogs like that can do some damage if not properly trained. Bloke with big dog have no brain.
On the other hand, my dog's best pal is a JRT who loves my dog just as much. And this JRT has a habit of running and jumping into my arms for a cuddle. We also had a mongrel who was JRT and Collie, the JRT bit never came out until he got older (the last couple of years), when he became very snappy and yappy.
TBH the worst dog I have come across was a Chihuahua. It came up for a fuss, and nearly took my fingers off.
so in regards to "which breed" I think it's unfair to say that one breed is more dangerous than another. Dogs can turn in an instant, no matter what size. I reckon the owners are more dangerous.

Person_one

MrsAtobe wrote: »

Dizziblonde has put into words far better than I could exactly why I have a problem with small dogs. Twice in six months has something gone for my springer, both were small dogs and both were on lead at the time, as was she. The one owner didn't even apologise. It got to the stage where I would cross the road if I saw a small dog out for a walk.

It really bothers me that small dogs get such a bad press just because they happen to be small.

They're just dogs, size doesn't mean anything. If I said these kinds of things about all big dogs I would (rightly) be jumped on for it and told exactly why my generalising was wrong and prejudiced.

Someone told me the other day that they hated 'snappy little rat dogs' as I was stood there with my two under 10kg behaving perfectly.

If it was medium sized dogs that went for your springer I'd bet good money you wouldn't start crossing the road to avoid all medium sized dogs.

MrsAtobe

Person_one wrote: »

It really bothers me that small dogs get such a bad press just because they happen to be small.

They're just dogs, size doesn't mean anything. If I said these kinds of things about all big dogs I would (rightly) be jumped on for it and told exactly why my generalising was wrong and prejudiced.

Someone told me the other day that they hated 'snappy little rat dogs' as I was stood there with my two under 10kg behaving perfectly.

If it was medium sized dogs that went for your springer I'd bet good money you wouldn't start crossing the road to avoid all medium sized dogs.

Nope, I'd be having a few choice words with their owner, trust me on this! It's the owners of small dogs don't train them that should be getting the bad press, though, I agree.

Oliver14

sparrer wrote: »

I had a lab x for 4 years who was a poppet, until one day she just attacked my 2 y/o DD who at the time was no-where near her (she was sitting on her Granny's lap).

I'm not saying you are lying but there would have been some trigger even if it was not obvious. Dogs do not attack for no reason there is always a reason even if it's not obvious.