Dangerous Breeds?

[Cob-Web]

Probably best I don't contribute to this thread - I made my opinion quite clear in the discussion linked by Mike.

Suffice to say, if you saw this type of thread about spaniels and spaniel owners on another forum, how would you feel?   Generalisations can very damaging to all breeds of dogs - as experienced cocker owners know  ::

[Jan/Billy]

Well I am sorry but I have just took Billy out on the park for a quick walk whilst it is quiet and guess what, he was attacked for the second time in his young life and yet again it was a staffy   .

I am absolutley furious.  Billy has enough to deal with in his life at the moment without being attacked for no reason. I feel we have made fabulous progress with Billy and his behavioural programme , i am over the moon with him and it has not been easy for any of us. It has been heartbreaking to have to ignore him when he begs and pleads for attention but we have done it and we are making headway. I have lost count of the amount of times he has been by my feet crying and crying for attention and i have had to ignore him. What if this sets him back??? brings out the agression in him again???.

Billy has took himself off to bed now , something he never does and he is very very quiet.

I am absolutley furious, livid. The attack was very slight, nothing in comparrison to last time and Billy is absolutley fine , no cuts or anything. This dog followed us. It wanted confrontation, it was not happy with just saying hello to Billy it had to jump on him. I know where it lives and i noticed the owner had left their garden gate open. I am far far too angry to go round and confront the owners now, i will leave that until i calm down, but i am now even further away from liking this breed than i was an hour ago.

Billy is very well socialised and must meet at least 5 different dogs a day and never ever has a problem with any dog. Both attacks have something in common and that was that both attacking dogs followed us ie they wanted a fight.

Sorry - I know my post isn't gonna be liked but i have just about had enough, yes i understand there are bull breeds out there that are well behaved, it could just be that we are very unlucky  but i for one am gonna take some convincing that the majority are not just looking for a fight.

[Petra]

Oh, Jan, I am sorry you feel that way, and it is understandable given your current situation.   However, could it be just a bad coincidence?  OH and I have known various staffies owned by friends etc and they have all been wonderful - very dopey in fact!!!   One of my best friends has a rescue staffy - 2 year old Woody - and he is amazing - really loving, soppy, playful, gentle and also very daft!!   Apparently he was handed into the RSPCA as he was no good as a guard dog!!
I think it is unfortunate that the owners take on these dogs for the hard-man image, don't train them and then we end up with the problem that you experience!!  It is the owners, not the dogs that are the problem!!

Edited to say: not all staffy owners are the problem, many are great, unfortunately a small minority is tarring all stafs and staf owners with the same brush....

[Jan/Billy]

Yes it could be coincidence but IMHO its unlikely but suppose I will never really know. Billy has just come into the lounge and appears his usual self    trying to wooo me with his big brown eyes   .

Any owner that just lets its dog roam is not fit to look after the dog in the first place. I am gonna go round there tomorrow and tell them next time i see it off the lead unattended i am gonna report them and if they can't be bothered to walk the dog in the first place then perhaps it is best that they hand the dog over to someone who can.

[CarolineandWill]

[quote
Any owner that just lets its dog roam is not fit to look after the dog in the first place. I am gonna go round there tomorrow and tell them next time i see it off the lead unattended i am gonna report them and if they can't be bothered to walk the dog in the first place then perhaps it is best that they hand the dog over to someone who can.

[/quote]

Sounds reasonable  

[Colin]

Sorry to hear about Billy, Jan - hope he's OK.

I think people's opinions may be partly shaped by where they live - it's probably no coincidence that Claire, Mike and myself have similar views and all live in densely populated (by dogs and people) areas of London where certain breeds are often purchased as hard-dog fashion accessories or as protection. Walking a dog in an inner London park is a very different experience to walking one in rural countryside. I'd rather risk being called breedist by being extra wary of some breeds than risk physical injury to my dogs. I've learnt my lesson on that one.

At least we don't have sheep to contend with here though - Jimmy would never be off lead if we did.

[Bucks fizz]

As a new member to this site, I can't beleive the direction in which this thread is heading    .

Many people are wary of bulldog breeds, fair enough, they have had their fair share of bad press.  I agree that probably as high as 75% of owners want a bulldog breed because they think it makes them look tough.

IW lass has it sopt on about generalisations, these can be so damaging.

We had a staff for 12 years before we recently got our cocker and she was her name sake - Beautiful.

I think the original poster should take heed from what has been discussed.  There are some good dogs and then, unfortunatly some bad ones   I hope you have many good experiences with these wonderful dogs  

It is the owners repsonsibility to keep their dog on a lead if they do not trust it

[CarolineandWill]

As a new member to this site, I can't beleive the direction in which this thread is heading    .

Many people are wary of bulldog breeds, fair enough, they have had their fair share of bad press.  I agree that probably as high as 75% of owners want a bulldog breed because they think it makes them look tough.

IW lass has it sopt on about generalisations, these can be so damaging.

We had a staff for 12 years before we recently got our cocker and she was her name sake - Beautiful.

I think the original poster should take heed from what has been discussed.  There are some good dogs and then, unfortunatly some bad ones  I hope you have many good experiences with these wonderful dogs 

It is the owners repsonsibility to keep their dog on a lead if they do not trust it

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Thanks very much,

Maybe I should try to be more open minded about bulldog breeds
Although after Jan/Billy's experiences, maybe I shouldn't  

[PennyB]

I think also this really says more about bad owners than the dogs themselves. Mine have been attacked by collies, dalmations, greyhounds, Welsh terriers, jrts, gsds, and staffs.

[Jan/Billy]

As a new member to this site, I can't beleive the direction in which this thread is heading    .

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Sorry, but people are only posting what they feel is the truth. I do not believe it was coincidence that Billy has been attacked twice both by staffys. I have not made these attacks up.


When I walk Billy, off lead, he runs into bushes and flushes out birds. He also chases birds from the ground until they fly away. This is something he has done of his own accord. I have never taught him to do this but it is what the breed was originally bred for.

Bull breds where bread for fighting so is it not obvious that there is a higher chance therefore of a bull breed wanting to fight?

Having been the witness of two attacks i can tell you that both of these dogs were absolutley adamant that they were gonna attack.

Sorry like i said, I  don't expect everyone to agree and i do understand that there is a chance that every breed of dog can attack ,i do strongly believe there is more of a chance of a bull breed attacking than say a cocker spaniel for example. I for one will go out of my way to avoid this breed from now on. I am not dismissing the fact that in the majority  bad owners are to blame I still feel that a dogs instinct will always be there and is not something that can be ignored.  If  someone talked about setters having a reputation of running after a rabbit would everyone disagree??? and say "oh you can't say that".

I have had my say and will shut up now and apologise if I have offended anyone  

[Sue H]

I agree that certain types of people are attracted to certain breeds of dog because they think it will 'complement' their image - despite how good these dogs can be given the right upbringing, when they are homed with such people, they pick up on all the aggressive or bullish tendencies which these owners wish them to display or simply do not discourage ...  some poor souls come from fighting stock and have been bred and sold indiscriminately and this is where the nature v nurture question arises sometimes ....

In another thread, I have been telling about how I recently changed insurer - I will have to check up again to get the whole list, but some specific breeds which were mentioned I think as part of the exclusions were Pit Bulls and Wolf or Wolf Crosses - has anyone come across one of those?  Would we even realise if it was crossed with a GSD or a Husky??

[jools]

My experience of staffies is that they are often really friendly with people, but tend to be very vicious with other dogs. Obviously, there are exceptions....just like there are cockers like Bramble who don't have the flush out instinct of normal cockers  

I keep my girls close when there are bull types about - I worry about their bite...don't their jaws lock into the things they bite?

[Bucks fizz]

You certainly haven't offended me at all.

Your experiences are awful, and it is these which give the breed a bad name.  However, it is the owner who let it roam free, therefore they should be blamed, not the breed.  It is a question of responsibility  

I hope your dog is ok  

[Cob-Web]

What if this sets him back??? brings out the agression in him again???.

You will be pleased to know Jan that I have never been able to find any evidence that dog-on-dog agression relates to a higher risk of dog-on-human aggression (neither has the gutter-press) - so there is no reason to suppose that Billy's unpredictability towards you will be affected by an encounter with an agressive dog.

Current staffie lines have been selected since 1835 for show traits - just like the show cocker has been. You may be lucky and have a show cocker that flushes game, Molo certainly doesn't - I doubt there are any more staffies that have a genetic urge to fight than there are cockers that flush naturally  

BTW Colin - I may be a country bumpkin now, but spent a long time as a dog owner in Leicester City Centre - I am no stranger to the "status symbol dog" phenomenon  

[Jan/Billy]

You certainly haven't offended me at all.

Your experiences are awful, and it is these which give the breed a bad name.  However, it is the owner who let it roam free, therefore they should be blamed, not the breed.  It is a question of responsibility 

I hope your dog is ok 

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Yes I totally agree that these have bad owners and so therefore don't really stand much of a chance to begin with but on the other hand  i know that if Billy escaped from my garden then he would not go out looking for the first dog that comes along so he can have a fight with them.