2531 Yes, your dog will bite
All dogs will bite if they sense a threat or if provoked. Your problem as a pet owner is you aren't a dog and don't see or smell or sense what they do. You do not perceive a small child's behavior and movement the way a dog does--as prey. Most dog bite situations have several things in common: 1) owner is likely to be a male adult or teen, 2) who owns a young, intact, male dog, 3) who bites a young male child, and the dog is most likely a member or a mix of one of these breeds, pit bull, Akita, Rottweiler, Doberman, Chow, German Shepherd, Huskie/Malamute type and Doberman.
Today's WSJ has an article about pet owners putting up a fight about breed specific insurance restrictions and local codes. This isn't new. I remember many articles in the breed magazines (veterinary library) even 15 years ago about this. What is new, I think, is that more people believe pets are "part of the family" with the same rights to freedom and choice that people have. Their dogs are definitely of greater value than your child. Restricting any behavior--even pooping in the neighbor's yard--is now considered "discrimination" by many self-centered, obnoxious, dangerous dog owners. What? Read a book or take a class in dog control and behavior modification? You've got to be kidding--I've got my rights, yadda, yadda.
Love your dog; but give it dog love, and save the people love for people. Keep a leash in your house and when visitors come and the dog goes insane with barking (realizes a stranger is in his territory and a threat to the peace), leash the dog out of sight in another room. Neither your guests nor your pet should be subjected to such upset. And you won't look stupid shouting NO NO BAD DOG at an animal who obviously doesn't understand English.
I've talked about this before.
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3 comments:
While all dogs probably have some instinct to defend whatever it is that they regard as their territory, some breeds are undoubtedly more aggressive about that. You don't hear a lot about French poodle attacks.
Attack stats are also biased because of the popularity of certain breeds. Sex of the owner and sex of the dog is a huge factor, and I'm just pushing a wild guess here, but a lot of young men probably don't select a male poodle to strut their machismo.
I personally would step out of the path of a standard bred poodle.
I've already shared my story about my sister-in-law's dog. Last weekend my "big girl" (9)had a play-date with a girl who's mom raises Labs. These dogs were a whole different story, but I didn't really want my "little girl" (2 1/2) hanging out with them in spite of them being very well-trained.
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