I used to work at a humane society. I've been charged, pinned, snapped at by all sizes and breeds of dogs.
Because of that, my favorite dog breeds are among those considered to be dangerous under the BSL crap.
I have a mutt. He has been identified to be a mix of 7 dog breeds including Dalmatian, Akita and Border Collie.
He is a dog I would consider potentially dangerous if he'd gone to someone who didn't understand and realize most of his behavior problems. And OHLAWDY did he have problems. When I got Barbosa, he was a snarling, raging mess of matted fur, bad manners and no outlet.
I think, because i understood his breeds (as any dog owner really ought to know) and his own unique personality, i was able to re-educate him into a reasonably less exasperating member of canine society.
it was a metric ton of work over a 5 year period though, including some serious discipline. When i got him, he would charge everyone who wasn't myself or my mother with srsbsns intent to kill maim or otherwise dispatch. it turned out through observations, that he hated, absolutely HATED older men, which led me to believe he had been badly abused by a man somewhere.
So i watched how he reacted to a lot of things. i found out he has a thing for sniffing and nipping at butts, which is a border collie thing. herding is a major thing for him and was something i had to work with. He also tried his best to bite a threatening (to him anyway) mail carrier in the first month I had him.
So i took him to a local dog trainer and found that he is a herding guard dog who needs to work. he HAD to have a job to do.
I think what I'm getting at is, when a dog is aggressive, whether it is a family dog, neighbor's dog, that one dumb stray that always stalks people on 6th street, can you tell why? does it freak out if you look at it? get too close? touch it in a certain way? is it dog aggressive? at what point does it become aggressive?
i've seen a golden retriever go from playful to "full attack mode" in aheart beat at the dog park. and you know what? he wasn't bred to fight. he wasn't trained to attack. no! he was simply once upon a time a boisterous little puppy who never learned not to playbite, to be gentle with other dogs. and unfortunately for that dog, his mind got so caught up in OMGPLAY that it didn't register as aggression to him. he thought his actions were normal.
Another instance that i find fascinating from a psychological standpoint was with two "bully breed" dogs.
One was buster, a poor put upon pit bull who tried really hard to be a manly boy but always got sat on by his boxer buddy. the other was a huge american bulldog/cane corso cross. Absolutely massive.
the unfortunate situation was that he was a nervous dog. extremely nervous. which wasn't helped by the fact that his owner was this skinny, tall, weak looking nerd of a man who kept his dog on a long lead held tightly. the overall impression that i and several other regulars got from this duo was "that right there is like watching two little kids huddle together as they venture down into a scary basement".
so here we have frightened man and terrified GIANT dog confronted with about 45 other dogs going about their daily business of sniffing grass and peeing on trees. After a while there's only a few dogs left in the park including my dog, buster, a big dozy black lab, the giant bully breed and a few others.
now, buster new something was off about this dog. the owner was relaxing, but the dog was getting more and more freaked out and the lab's mom and i just watched, knowing buster knew that this dog was about to get super dangerous.
so buster did the only thing he could think of to do, and that was drive this unstable dog away from the others. he casually walked up to this dog who had a good 120 pounds on him and got kinda close as if to say "hey man, what ever your problem is, you gotta take it out of our park." the poor bully had no clue what to make of this and quickly went very still. in response, so did buster, who was always keeping himself between the bully dog and his owner and the rest of the park dogs.
Most of us dog owners know that when two dogs facing each other go still, something will happen. it's a known fact. a face off WILL happen.
another dog, an excitable spaniel, came rushing up to greet the two squaring off dogs, having just entered the park and not realizing it wasn't safe. Buster sensed this would scare the crud out of the other dog and so made the first move, lunging at the bully, both to scare the spaniel away (which he did) and to drive off the bully.
At this point, i would like to mention that the bully dog is super friendly to people. he was a very sweet dog but he was very very nervous and coudln't understand dog signals very well.
so the two dogs fought, sort of. there was a lot of snarling and biting of necks but it was not a "killing fight" and neither dog was actually out for blood. it was scary, even as i rationalize it, it was scary...like lightning striking outside the window and hitting the grill scary. but through all of this, once we humans realized what was going on (and buster's awesome owner) ran forward, we could see how buster was backing off, checking to see where other dogs and people were only to dive back in, trying to get the bully to leave.
surprisingly, buster backed off the second his owner called him. and i mean RIGHT when he was called off. but not before the bully owner maced buster. the fact that the man had mace ON HIM at the park, was a big red flag to the rest of us. clearly the man was not in control of a dog who by its very nature needs and craves guidance from its humans.
so bully and owner left, only to have the man come back later, alone, trying to argue with buster's owner, as well as the lab's owner (who is a very outspoken and feisty woman).
i'm sure as you're reading this you're thinking "how the heck would she know what any of those dogs are thinking? how do you know it wasn't an actual fight?"
because instead of immediately assuming that the dogs are trying to kill each other, i watched what was going on, body language, sounds, movements.
neither dog drew blood on the other. both were pretty slobbery and mussed but neither dog was wounded. well, except for buster getting maced, which was dealt with with cool water from the park fountain.
my own dog circled the two, watching what they were doing, but never getting involved. if buster had not challenged the bully, i'm sure, given time, my own dog would have.
most people would have classified both dogs as aggressive. and i'm sure they were, but it was like watching a cop try to calm down a man much larger than himself who was frightened and reacting to his adrenaline.
so it is always good to observe and be aware of dog behaviors and know how to react in whatever situations that can arise based on what the DOGS do. every dog is different, but purebreeds are created to do certain things.
beagles sniff, poodles retrieve, yorkies and terriers (including staffordshire and bull terriers) were ratters and farm dogs. in the large bully breeds, there is still the need to work. see all those muscles on a cane corso? they can haul as much as a donkey can.
when ya watch the AKC or UKC or world dog shows, the herding and working dog groups include "dangerous" dog breeds because they were not created to fight. they were meant to WORK, to pull, to herd, to guard flocks of sheep or to guard the farmers AND pull.
on the flip side, working dogs CRAVE guidance, discipline and affection from their owners.
it's all well and good to love love love on a dog, but if they have no boundaries, no discipline, to guidance...well the golden retriever i told you about was only one story that i have personally witnessed.
its like never telling a child no and letting it get away with everything.
ok, thank you for reading my...uberlong rant...wow. and i told myself i wasn't going to write all that much! ok, i need a snack, this made me hungry...
