Who's at fault - dog or owner?
Any dog, even a cross-breed, can be dangerous. Yet this often has little to do with character but the owner's refusal to recognise that the animal needs love, attention and exercise
MY TINY POODLE’S recent encounter with Mee, my next-door neighbour’s part-chow, has taken us into several columns on aggressive dogs.
As I said last week, Mee isn’t vicious, just huge and uncontrollable, and, yes, aggressive, but only because she weighs as much as a full-grown man.
My thanks to readers who have sent me a website listing aggressive dog breeds:http://www.clamorly.com/15-most-dangerous-dog-breeds/?utm_source=taboola
Some of the breeds in the list are obvious, like the cane corso, a type of mastiff bred for fighting, and the dogo argentino, which has been bred for fighting boar and puma. Other breeds in the list, I’ve never heard of, and still others are not really aggressive, just big, like the St Bernard.
So why did the website list the St Bernard? Because of its size, it needs to be socialised and trained as early as possible. Who wants an untrained dog that can reach 120 kilos jumping uncontrollably all over you, even if he’s not aggressive?
In addition, the people who made the list neglected to mention important points. The photo of the dogo argentino is of a totally white dog, although more common colours are shades of brown.
The white fur is a big problem. Because of genetics, dogo argentinos in this colour might be born deaf, at least 20 per cent, I believe. Think of a powerful dog requiring special training who can’t hear anything.
In fact, any breed can be turned into an aggressive animal. Friends of mine once acquired a smooth-coated fox terrier, a very pretty puppy of black and white. I don’t know why they wanted this breed, maybe because the puppies are so cute, and the dog as an adult isn’t very big.
I don’t even know why they wanted a dog. Their house had a huge garden, but they themselves didn’t have much time for anything except work. Instead of giving the dog companionship and training, they tied him to a tree and left him alone. The only company he had was the maid, who fed him. He had no exercise at all.
Within three months, this puppy of such an intelligent, loving, active breed had turned vicious. Only the maid was brave enough to approach him, and she didn’t stay very long.
The couple insisted that their fox terrier had “bad blood”. Otherwise, why would he be so vicious? The extremely unhappy dog was finally returned to the breeder. I don’t like to think what happened to him next.
The most aggressive, vicious dog I ever met was a mixed-breed Thai dog. He belonged to a neighbour who thought it was funny when the dog attacked people, mainly me. I know because when I complained once, the owner started laughing.
“My dog is old, almost blind and deaf. He can’t hurt you,” he chuckled.
I showed the owner the bite wounds on my leg, and he started laughing again. “Well, the old dog still has some life left,” he said.
The life that dog was living must have been extremely fearful, though. The cataracts on his eyes would not have let him see anything except shadows. Assuming that the shadows were dangerous, he would have attacked out of that fear.
He was nevertheless accurate. I still have the scars.
Some breeds require specialist training and are unsuitable for first–time owners. Some owners, first–time or not, are really unsuitable as dog–owners.
You do your homework, train your dog and ensure he gets the right exercise and companionship. Dogs are a human creation, dependent on us for their lives.
