skycat 6,173 Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 It was once said that violence is the symptom of a frustrated mind: this was said about human beings. If you translate, loosely, this premise into dogs, it should come as no surprise that some breeds, some dogs, turn to attacking their owners, other people etc. Not being understood, being frustrated (not being allowed, or able to fulfil their natural drive in the way they were bred to originally), it's no wonder this happens more and more often in these days where most dog owners have no clue at all about what drives their dogs. Look at how many people turn to aggression when they feel misunderstood, frustrated, have no meaningful life. So much worse for a dog living with people who are dumber than they are. What about dogs ( or people for that matter ) who are not misunderstood,not frustrated,who do have a meaningful life......................but are violent anyway ? My common sense logic tells me they probably possess the trait for a physical tussle.....whether the dog attacks a person or another dog is not important the violent trait is there. I'm not sure if you meant a physical tussle as in the case of taking more difficult prey, or a tussle as in being violent towards other dogs? I've had several dogs that took fox very well, but who wouldn't have ever dreamed of taking a bite at another dog. The action of taking biting prey is accessing a completely different part of the dog's mind. It has nothing to do with violence as such, and having used that word in my previous post, I should take it back, for dogs aren't 'violent' as we term it. OK, you could argue that a dog is being violent when it kills something, but that isn't, or shouldn't be 'fighting' as such. A dog that fights such quarry isn't really what you want . Goes back to the instinct to take out quarry that could potentially harm the dog before that happens: kill instinct as opposed to wanton aggression. I guess that you could also argue that a hunting dog that kills knows very well how to look after itself if another dog attacks it, but my point is that a dog doesn't need to be aggressive per se to be a good killer in the field. I did have one bitch that was a potential time bomb with other dogs, though her attitude wasn't based on pure aggression, rather a defensive mechanism and a red mist if another dog aggressed her first. She would never have attacked a human or any dog that didn't make the first move. Still a liability though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dare 1,103 Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Not naive in thinking they arent out there but i havent ever felt nervous being around a bulldog. Have seen one dog that was dangerous though. Would scream and go mental at anything that moved. If you was in reach she would snap. Funnily enough 2 dogs behind it I believe was discribed as man biters. Wonder if they was the same? She was good as gold at all other times but deffo not something to be in unexperienced hands. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bird 9,861 Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Gnasher you and I both know that a dog bred to overcome huge resistance in the form of a dog , man or hog or whatever it is needs to carry that huge potential within itself, the potential is there whether we put it to use or not , On sites like this there is a general understanding of this and how drive effects a dog , drive is an emotional force to make contact be it a rabbit , fox , hog the list goes on , it was there originally in the first dogs and has been greatly amplified since then , The dog is the most highly social , highly sexed and highly aggressive animal living with us and all these traits are encapsulated in any dog living in our home but some traits were chosen over others in certain breeds, The major problem is that the dog is so engrained as a social animal in our psyche that we overlook the other elements , why are we then so taken back when certain dog show breed traits in an area that they were bred for in the first place , I don't know how society can fix this but I do know that part of the problem is that "Mans Best Friend " can be a wolf in sheep's clothing and until gob shites like this with his dog understand the potential for damage these dogs can do it definitely won't be the last, Personally i would keep things simple and say that some dogs are simply not suited to the family pet home......and a breed that was never bred to be a pet dog is always going to struggle to adapt to that type of scenario. Never had all these attacks in the news when it was just dogmen keeping bulldogs securely on their yards 100% agree with you, some dogs just shouldn't be in pet homes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BGD 6,436 Posted March 24, 2015 Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Not naive in thinking they arent out there but i havent ever felt nervous being around a bulldog. Have seen one dog that was dangerous though. Would scream and go mental at anything that moved. If you was in reach she would snap. Funnily enough 2 dogs behind it I believe was discribed as man biters. Wonder if they was the same? She was good as gold at all other times but deffo not something to be in unexperienced hands. The bitch I've got in the house at the moment is like that, she see's anything moving when I've got her out and she's screaming the place down and looking to sink her teeth into the nearest thing. Takes ages to calm down once she's switched on too, can be a handfull sometimes and I'm sure she'd be a liability in the wrong hands but I have to say she's one of my favourite dogs to work with, really keeps me on my toes Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Casso 1,261 Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 Knew a little bitch like that years ago, looking to get at anything , pulling like a dragon on the lead when out, up front and in your face but never felt it was anything other than a breed trait, , up and at them or laid back and relaxed , Bottom line, all animals of a certain breed look roughly the same but vary wildly in temperament Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gnasher16 30,025 Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 (edited) I'm not sure if you meant a physical tussle as in the case of taking more difficult prey, or a tussle as in being violent towards other dogs? I've had several dogs that took fox very well, but who wouldn't have ever dreamed of taking a bite at another dog. The action of taking biting prey is accessing a completely different part of the dog's mind. It has nothing to do with violence as such, and having used that word in my previous post, I should take it back, for dogs aren't 'violent' as we term it. OK, you could argue that a dog is being violent when it kills something, but that isn't, or shouldn't be 'fighting' as such. A dog that fights such quarry isn't really what you want . Goes back to the instinct to take out quarry that could potentially harm the dog before that happens: kill instinct as opposed to wanton aggression. No i did mean violence.......ive known dogs ( and people for that matter ) who fulfil every drive they possess yet still have a desire for physical contact/violence..... im of the opinion that any dog can " go " at any time some just have no desire to....likewise with people.......some can be pushed to the limit and not " go ".....others will only require a gentle nudge and they,re off........the work/sport/drive a dog has is just not enough for some dogs to satisfy their desire. Not naive in thinking they arent out there but i havent ever felt nervous being around a bulldog. Have seen one dog that was dangerous though. Would scream and go mental at anything that moved. If you was in reach she would snap. Funnily enough 2 dogs behind it I believe was discribed as man biters. Wonder if they was the same? She was good as gold at all other times but deffo not something to be in unexperienced hands. The bitch I've got in the house at the moment is like that, she see's anything moving when I've got her out and she's screaming the place down and looking to sink her teeth into the nearest thing. Takes ages to calm down once she's switched on too, can be a handfull sometimes and I'm sure she'd be a liability in the wrong hands but I have to say she's one of my favourite dogs to work with, really keeps me on my toes Years ago i had offspring off of a very well known sporting dog of the day who was a known man biter.....young and naive as we all were once we thought we knew best and treated them like any other dog.....turned out to be a mistake when an incident on a well known dogmans yard left 3 of us in hospital and 1 never kept dogs again. Ive realised over time dogs dont rationalise like people do if the trait is there to do it theres a chance it will come out.....you simply have to give that trait as little chance as possible to show itself in my opinion. Edited March 25, 2015 by gnasher16 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dare 1,103 Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 Lol go on gnash tell us more about that sounds a story . Was looking after a dog for someone while they moved n settle kennels up. Mate says get the flirt pole out. Say to him nah dont wanna get it hyped up. "if it goes for ya ill grab it, dont be a pussy". Grab the flirt pole and all going great then i put it down and it jumps up at me n i hear a snap lol. This same mate run out the garden but even reached over the garden gate and locked the door lol. Luckily turnt out the dog wanted my hat, didnt dare try take it back off him lol. If the said dog was mine i would have put it down to be honest as i have a younger sister in the house. She was so easy to keep in decent shape though would chase anything all day long. Really the dog was brought as it was a onner and the owner was going on a holiday. Thats the only reason she was brought. Her sire had bitten someone, his sire was known to be a man biter and that dogs dam was. I just wonder having never meet em was they the same as her. She wasnt all out aggressive shed curl up on the sofa with you. Shed just appear fustrated at being held back. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
beast 1,884 Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 Slightly off topic but it does tie in. I did a lot of work a few years ago with various protection and guard dog trainers, including Lancashire police. Basically I would get paid to run up and down in a bite suit for a few hours. But watching these dogs, a few definite types became apparent. There were those which would bite just because they had been trained to, didn't mean an,ything to them and they would be just as happy to have a cuddle with you two minutes later. There were so me which got turned on by man work, and very excitable and hard to control, but you could see with them that it wasn't personal, it was just an outlet and these were the type which I'm sure in the wrong hands would have been problematic. And there were a couple of shepherd males which were actually frightening, they were cold dogs, didn't even like their trainers particularly, and they simply liked to bite, and even better to hurt. They would have loved to kill somebody I'm sure, they simply watched everybody all the time and weighed them up, and once they were put on you they were almost unstoppable but not in a frenzied way or overexcited, just relentless. Both of them ended up with the military, they just weren't right for work with the public 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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