agressive dogs ?!?

Question

do you believe that dogs are aggresive cause thats how there owners have taught them ? or do you think that dogs are agressive anyway ?wether they have been disiplined or not ! in my opinon dogs attack for a reason ! what do you think ?

well apparently thats not true...i was watching a training dvd and they are saying that there are bad dogs !

to happy...my dogs not aggressive to anyone or animal hes protective when other dogs come near me!

thanx pittbull mommie ! i love pittbulls to my ex used to have one he was a good dog untill he killed his mums rabbit and cat ! and he was never trained to kill or fight ! so it makes me wonder why he did that ?

and you say that dogs dont attack and that theres always a warning ! well what about them 2 babies that where sleeping in there prams and the 2 rotts attacked and killed them! i know i said that dogs attack for a reason.but how do you explaine that ?

Answer 1

There's definitely both. Dogs can easily be turned aggressive by abuse from people, but dogs can also be born that way. That's why responsible breeders would never consider breeding a dog with a bad temperament - either overly aggressive or overly shy. Either dog is equally dangerous.

Answer 2

I believe it can be both: You should not breed a dog that is overly timid or has fear aggression, but I think that it is the way the dog is raised mostly (on a chain, no socialization, hitting, or kicking, starving, and any neglect are what cause aggression. There are some breeds that are more prone to bite, but not beacuse they are aggressive but because they were bred to guard and they will protect what they feel they should even if it requires biting. I do not like to recommend dog breeds to anyone without know them. I guess if I had to I would recommend an ADULT from a shelter, if the person was instant on a breed I might recommend a Standard Poodle, Beagle, or maybe even a Pug. I would choose a medium size dog that is intelligent and eager to please, that does not have major grooming issues. I would not recommend most large breeds, but I definitly would not recommend any Bully Breeds (including Boxers, Bulldogs, PittBulls, Staffshire Terriers, ect), or Shepards, Rottweilers, Shar Peis, Chows, Terriers, Huskies, Malamutes, or any Mastiffs. The reason being is I love most of these breeds, especially the Bully Breeds, and I have seen way to many who are abandoned, because people are not able to train them. The owners are not strong enough leaders and the owner is not able to control and train the dog. This causes the dogs to remain unsocialized and untrained which can lead to disastrous situation. It is what also causes alot of owners to hit, kick, beat, and tie the dog out on a chain until they grow tired of it and dump it for someone else to deal with. I would never recommend a puppy for a first time owner, because they are so difficult to raise. That is just my opionion. Sorry about mispellings, spell check not working.

Answer 3

ANY dog can be wonderful around everyone if they are properly trained and socialized, and ANY dog can attack if you abuse, neglect or don't train him. The breed does not matter whatsoever. I was attacked by a Chihuahua once, and my dog was charged at by a Poodle when we were just walking down the street. Both of those dog hadn't received any training. Also, a few years ago, a newborn baby was attacked in the face by a Pomeranian and killed. So, it's not just a certain type of dog that's "bad", it can be every dog if you don't raise it correctly.

Socialization is the ultimate key in having a well-behaved dog around a 1 year old baby girl or 100 year old man, as well as other pets and animals. If a dog is raised with a cat or rabbit and taught to get along with it, then he will. Dogs attack other animals because of their "prey drive" All dogs come from wolves and wolves had to hunt and kill for their food. Our domestic dogs still have a lot of wolf instincts and without proper training and socialization, the wildness will come out.

Answer 4

I am going to try and expalin this as I have been doing a lot of research on getting a new puppy and how not to make the same mistakes I did the first time.

One dogs are born with different personalities some are very dominant some are very submissive and fearful and there is a lot of variation in between. A good breeder would know not to place a very dominat dog with a first time owner (this happened to me) likewise a fearful submissive dog needs special nurturing to improve confidence neither dog should be placed with a first time owner or an owner who is not up for a challange and a lot of hard work. With the righ owners these dogs will not become agressive or fearful biters. In the wrong homes they will be hard to control even if you have the right intentions you also need the right tools to deal with these types of dogs.

Next all dogs need socialization and lots of it and if they don't get it they may be very protective and territorial. Every dog owner needs to do this and the earlier the better and isolated dog will be very likely to be wary of strangers and other animals. Also giving affection during any kind of agressive behavior will only encourage it and that includes affection to try to calm the dog down they feel it is a reward and not knowing this many (myself included) owners unintentianally foster that behavior.

Then you need to start training your dog very early with simple exersizes that are more of a conditioning to basic obedience so formal training isn't a suprise to them.

I do believe that all dogs start out as highly trainable for the right person and that it is key to train them when they are young. The dogs usually can be managed if they reach the point where they become agressive with lots of patience, and work and some more work as I have found out. Some who have been trained to fight probably can't be trusted again but the others can be reconditioned to behave better but it is constant work and there is never a time when you can trust them off leash with strangers or strange animals.

Answer 5

Well, In my opine is that it is a number of things. First thing first if you are mean to a dog and beet that dog,then more then likely the dog will learn that it is OK, and will intern to be aggressive. Now I also be leave that some dogs have a higher chance of being mean, because of there gens. But it will take some one to play a part in this to bring it out! This is what is wrong with most pit bulls, the owner teaching them to be mean and just to fight.

Also you have to look at the place around the dog. if he is stuck on a chin and get no attention from people then more then likely he will become scared and will intern be aggressive. so you have so many different reason why some dogs are aggressive, it bulls down to this. Yes some dogs have a higher chance of being aggressive, why because people have breed them though the years and they have stronger gens to be aggressive, also dogs are aggressive is do to how they are treated by humans!
I hope this answers your question.

Answer 6

Very good question. When it comes to dogs, just like humans, genetics play a huge role in the outcome of a personality. We are all nothing but products of our genetics and environment. The environment shapes our genetic potential but it is our DNA, our genetics that dictate most or our potential. Contrary to the popular belief here, on YA that there are only bad owners and no bad dogs, the reality of the situation is that if a dog is geneticaly pre-disposed to certain agggressive traits that he inherited from his parents, he will also exhibit them. We breed dogs for that purpose. We look for dogs that have the aggression required to do police, military or sport work. Aggression is not something you can put into a dog no matter how hard you try. You can put defense into one, but, defense is based on fear and it's not true aggression. A dog is born with whatever drives he will have for the rest of his life, and while it is true that you can shape those drives, you cannot instill them any more then you can take them completely out. The dog will either be aggressive or he will not. The dog will either have hunt drive or he will not. People who talk about dogs and say that you can put this or that into a dog that was not originaly there are talking about sub-standard dogs.
Aggression is a quality that many of us in the working dog field look for and find desirable in a dog. There are entire breeding programs around the world that are based, among many other things, on breeding dogs with enough aggression to do serious work. As a closing statement, please understand that I am reffering to true aggression, not neurotic fear biters that hide under beds and are afraid of thunder. I am talking about dogs with stable nerves and no social issues. Those dogs are a pleasure to own and work with.
I hope this helped.

ADD: Shelley, let's make this really simple. Have you ever seen a dog in the wild, in it's natural environment give his prey a warning before it actually engages it? Yeah, me neither. People have humanized dogs and are not educated enough on them to understand TRUE dog behavior. People keep repeating the same mantra about all behavior being the owners fault and the dog having nothing to do with it. They do not account for nature or pre-dispotition to certain behaviors. Sad.......

Answer 7

Aggression is a character trait inborn to a particular dog. How the dog is socialized and trained will affect how the dog acts. He may be aggressive, but learn through good socialization and training not to bite people.
Or not.
If you watch a litter of pups, you can see a range of behaviors, and usually can see one or two that is more aggressive than the others. I cared for a SUPER aggressive puppy who was only 4-5weeks old, and was the most aggressive dog I've ever seen--growling and attacking me if I went near the food I had just given him.

Answer 8

I agree, a dog will be good and obedient if the effort to train is provided to them - whether the owner trains or is brought to an obedience school or is trained by a qualified instructor.

But, again, I also believe that any dog or animal or human can turn - it just needs the right element for it to turn. This is certainly not what we want as a society - a dog to turn, but I am sure this happens.

So keep giving your dog lots of love and train it all the time and hopefully your dog will not turn for no reason.

Answer 9

Dogs, like people have personalities. They do have a natural instinct to hunt, but also have the ablility to understand basic human commands making them "a good dog" if they so choose to follow those commands- and when there's a treat waiting on the other end, why not? But like a child who is taught or witnessed to nothing but violence and murder...would you be surprised if they would grow up with developing problems of violence...due to the fact of not understanding any other way of behavior?
But back to the personalities- when I was 3 I got up in my dogs face with my face sadly-teasing her in away....and honestly, I'm pretty sure I was agrivating her by what I was doing so she snaped at me and bit my face. I went to the hospital and I lied about antagonizing her (..I was 3 a fearful of a butt whoopin) and because I lied they had to put her down...talk about a hard but well learned lesson. I cried when I realized what happened.

So naturally- there has to be a cause and effect of why a dog would attack someone- wild dogs go on instict to do it when they are hungry, dogs for dog fighting for example do it because they are tourchered in order to learn survival, if a great adopted dog was mistreated by a previous owner and all he wore was a poofy sweater and smelled like a certain something, I wouldn't blame the dog for confusing it with a 8 yr old and her poofy sweater ect.

Another thing is the whole Alpha male thing. It's mostly only when there are two males who are wanting to be dominant (I've seen this in boxers a father and son dog and my step mom has had several hospital visits as well as loosing her finger-all for the love of her dogs) even when seperated, they tend to be quite a bit rough with no matter who until they feel they're not threatend or violated anymore.

Answer 10

Some breeds are more agressive than others, but if you properly raise, train and socialize your dog and you make sure your dog is always under control, there should be no reason you would have a problem. For example, my husband and I own two American Pit Bull Terriers. We have a 1 year 1 month old male named Brooklyn and a 5 month old female named Destiny. American Pit Bull Terriers have been bred for hundreds of years to fight dogs and to be wonderful, stable, trustworthy, smart, obedient, people-friendly family companions. They are one of the most reliable breeds with children and strangers, but they arent very good with animals unless they are raised around them. Click on this link http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/children.htm read what the numbers mean and scroll down to American Pit Bull Terriers. Do the same with this link http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/strangers.htm and with these two links http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/petreliability.htm and http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/combativeness.htm You can see that American Pit Bull Terriers got the best score possible with children and strangers, they got a good score with pets other than dogs and they got the lowest score when it comes to other dogs. Now, with a properly raised, trained and socialized American Pit Bull Terrier they can be very good with other dogs (my two dogs are wonderful with each other and other dogs), but they are bred to be dog agressive so, even if they have always been good with dogs it is still very important to be careful when your dog is around other dogs. So, my point is, no matter what the breed was bred for, if the dog has been properly raised, trained and socialized and if the dog has been well taken care of and loved it should be a great dog. It is also very important to keep your dog under full control at all times, no matter what breed or how good of a dog the dog is. No matter what breed the dog is, if the dog has been properly raised, trained, and socialized, has been well taken care of and loved and is always under control there is no reason at all that there should be any problems at all! : )

As far as dogs attacking for no reason, thats not true at all. Dog aggression is nearly always preceded by some kind of warning, and there is always a reason behind the attack. However, many inexperienced owners do not recognize the dog's behavior as aggression, or refuse to acknowledge it as a warning sign. The only exception I can think of is Springer Rage, a rare and controversial neurological condition that manifests itself as a spontaneous attack, followed by confusion, and then a return to normal behavior. ("Pit bulls" are NOT prone to this condition! I had to add that in there because alot of people seem to think that "pit bulls" attack for no reason or "just turn" on people, and that is sooooo far from the truth! lol!) There are individual dogs of any breed that may be more aggressive to others.

Oh, I wanted to add that you are very right, there are bad dogs, but they arent born inherently mean or bad. They can become mean through lack of training, abuse, neglect and irresponsible ownership and breeding. I wouldnt really say they are "bad" dogs though. They can be mean because of how they have or have not been raised and trained to be and because of how they have been treated and taken care of or not taken care of. I also wanted to say that this is a very good question! : )