Originally Posted by TWS:
“But as your last sentence states it's owner issues, some of the nastiest dogs I have met have been collies personally. You also need to look at numbers as a whole there's a lot more Staffies out there than other breeds so it stands to reason that there will be more examples of issues especially depending on where you live. Here it's ill mannered labradors and retrievers”
The most popular breed in the UK by far is the Labrador so if your going by the notion that the bigger the number the more attacks, it ought to be labs in the frame. Now while I'm fully aware a lab can bite, I have never seen one report of a dog attack on the news that states 'it was the family pet Labrador' .
Originally Posted by molliepops:
“What on earth are you talking about training to ignore and keep walking is best way to avoid any reaction surely ? I haven't seen too many trainers do much better with Chis as they are a snappy breed.
It's people not able to keep their dogs under control cause my problems, keep your dogs to yourself and leave us alone is all I ask, a dog walking by ignoring yours is not reacting badly.”
That is indeed the right way, ignoring and carrying on walking puts across the message to the dog that there is nothing to be bothered or worried about
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Originally Posted by lyndeeloo:
“My dog would not go over to you. But if a dog came over to mine, he has been trained to deal with it. Unlike yours.
Dogs are sociable and love to play. so many owners now act like a bad reaction to another dog is the norm. No its not, its due to bad handling in a situation and then letting that bad habit carry on.”
SOME dogs love playing with other dogs. My dog has nothing at all to say to another dog and is only interested in her ball. She won't attack them or anything, she simply takes no notice of them and after a nasty tempered terrier, whose owner allowed it to come charging at us, leapt on her back growling and snapping, shes not too fond of them around her now either.
Originally Posted by GibsonGirl:
“Those of you with good memories will remember that I have posted in defence of both APBTs and SBTs in the past. I can no longer do so because one of my dogs has now been attacked by three different attacks. None of them were provoked and the last attack happened when I had my dogs out one evening for their nighttime walk and an off lead SBT appeared on the other side of the road. My two had been sniffing the grass and hadn't been paying it any attention. The SBT took one look at my dogs and in an instant it flew across the road and launched itself at my dog's head and neck. There was no reason for the attack as neither of my dogs had done a single thing to provoke it. The fact that my dog did as much wriggling about was what saved him from having the other dog get a hold of him. The guy with the dog managed to get it away, but it started snarling and was desperate to get back to my dogs. The guy didn't even apologise either. So I have now seen firsthand how vicious they can be and how they will attack with zero provocation.
To be honest I think I was in denial before. I couldn't admit to the fact that they are responsible for the majority of serious attacks. The two human dog attack fatalities this year have both been by pit bulls. Another man was put in hospital with life threatening injuries earlier in the year by a pit bull. Also this year, a number of other adults have been hospitalized with serious injuries (including a woman with a severed hand) because of pit bulls! It was a SBT that went berserk in a play park and attacked almost a dozen kids! And these are dogs that are referred to as 'nanny dogs'! The whole 'nanny dog' thing really annoys the hell out of me. NO breed should be referred to as such and Bad Rap (which is one of the biggest pit bull advocacy groups in the US) is on record as saying as such. It is dangerous to children as telling people they are 'nanny dogs' could easily lead to kids being mauled!
These are breeds that were bred for the sole purpose of taking part in blood sport. They were created to satisfy man's lust for blood and violence. Nothing more. The propensity to fight and attack is in them in the same way that the predisposition to herd is in the herding breeds and guarding in the guardian breeds.
Yes other breeds can and do attack, but not with the same regularity as pits and staffords. And there are some breeds (like the Greyhound and Whippet) that have not been documented as killing a single person. The media does not have an agenda against them and this is something that defenders of the breeds like to say. Attacks by other breeds do get reported.
I will also say that some of the most aggressive and downright unpleasant individuals I have encountered online have been pit and stafford advocates. I know that I did have arguments with people when I used to defend them (and there is one member on this thread I would like to apologise to - you know who you are), but I never came out with vile insults. Piers Morgan recently said that pit bulls were dangerous and shouldn't be around children. There were defenders that pounced upon like a pack of rabid dogs and said he should slit his own throat and called him things like a c**t. Those are fairly typical responses from defenders who simply cannot deny facts so resort to behaving in such a repugnant manner.
To Lyndeeloo. Please quit with that 'nanny dog' nonsense and go and read the breed descriptions of other breeds. There are lots that are recommended for children and families in general. You are also being reckless by advocating that dogs should be walked by children. Imagine this. A child is out walking a dog and a dog aggressive dog charges over to the dog the child is walking and tries to attack or does attack it. Child tries to separate dogs or the attacking dog redirects and the child gets attacked. Is that what you want to happen? Do you want a child to be dragged out onto a busy road by a dog that they aren't strong enough to control? And you are being quite unreasonable by saying that Riversmum shouldn't have taken on her rescue dogs. Why should she and her dogs have to suffer because of the selfish and inconsiderate natures of others. At least she is being responsible by keeping her dogs on lead while around other dogs and other people should NOT allow their off lead dogs to approach dogs who are on lead and wearing a muzzle! You can say all you like about training, but there are people who work hard to train their dogs not to be reactive around other dogs, but all their hard work is undone when cretins allow their dog aggressive/overly boisterous dogs off lead and allow them to attack/harass their dogs! Then the people who had been training their dogs not to be reactive are back at square one! And in some cases there are behaviours that are so deeply ingrained that they cannot be 'trained out'.
You also say that your 'dog won't hurt'. I take that to mean that he won't hurt a person or another dog. If that is the case then you are again being reckless. Nobody can say that about their dog! An otherwise mellow and good tempered dog could turn aggressive because of a medical condition or a traumatic experience and since dogs are animals they cannot be trusted 100%! No animal (and that includes us) can be trusted completely.”
Excellent post GibsonGirl, and quite a rare one. You don't see many telling it like it is as the staff and pitbull groups tend to get even more vicious than their dogs if you dare say something negative about them
Originally Posted by molliepops:
“I used to have jrs no argument from me that is part of the problem many of us have breeds or have had breeds we consider snappy or down right nasty at times but staffie owners generally seem unable to admit how dangerous their dogs can be we see time and again the nanny dog argument, well I wouldn't want that dog that hot us anywhere near kids it was out of control and determined to hurt.”
I hope you and your dog are ok Molliepops
. Having had a staff go for me and dog when she was a pup, I know how frightening it can be, their a powerful dog and you know from news reports what they are capable of. I would never walk my dog near one, if I go to the park and there's one there I turn around and go straight back out again. Yes it might be ok and friendly but I'm not risking my girl becoming the next statistic to find out.
It's true about staff owners, they generally do seem unable to admit their breed can have faults, serious ones. It's strange, because even breeders or enthusiasts can and will admit that their chosen breed isn't perfect and have faults, a downside and negative traits. Foxhound breeders for instance would say straight away they can be quite terrible as pets because they howl a lot and are not designed for life in a house - that's just how they are and it's something quite important to let potential owners know. I can't understand the idea of not wanting to acknowledge your breed's less desirable traits
. My own breed is the collie, their my real speciality breed and I am as enthusiastic as it gets about them as I adore them, but I'm fully aware that they can have very negative downsides, that they can be one of the worst breeds to have as a family pet especially in a house with children, and that they can be a real challenge and be too demanding for many people to cope with. If one of my customers asked me about getting one I would explain their good and bad points, there's no point in only giving one side of the coin.
Yet staff owners don't seem to be aware or want to acknowledge their breed's bad points and would rather just jump on the offensive , blame everyone but their dog and get their own hackles up defending it. Burying your head in the sand about your breed's bad points and pretending they don't exist is foolish and potentially dangerous, these are the ones people do need to be aware of, after all the good points aren't going to be what cause potential problems.
