Dogs that kill

[ClubMed]

I have read quite a bit about dogs (in the news) that seem to go nuts and attack anyone within their vicinity, often resulting in death. Men, woman and children have been victims. If they are lucky enough to survive, they are usualy mutilated, sometimes for life.

As a reaction to this extreme situation, may people, start to demand extreme methods to deal with this. Tougher laws on keeping certain types of dogs, treatment and dealing with them after they have attacked someone. In some parts of the world there is even talk of banning certain breeds.

Although I like animals very much, I am not prepared to ignore the fact (IMO) that certain types of (dangerous) dogs must be dealt with in order to prevent a repetition in the future.

I am all for banning the breeds which have claimed the most lives.

What about you?

[cadetstimp]

It's usually not the dogs...it's the owners.

I wouldn't mind mandatory licensing and registrations for certain breeds. Ownership of certain breeeds should be allowed but be made a matter of public record.

There are already laws in place regarding insurance and certain breeds:

Most irresponsibe people that do not license certain breeds do so because breeds such as pitbulls and rotweilers (sp) usually nullify homeowners insurance as far as damage and injury caused by...the reason insurance requires the disclosure is because of previous litigations involving certain breeds.

It's usually one of the first questions along with do you own a pool, ect. Just that fact alone is enough. Makes an easy case to prosecute...undeclared, unlicensed and uninsured = negligence.

There's a guy down the street that has two rotweilers (sp) that he always allows outside. He thinks he has them trained not to leave the front yard. I just walked over and started a conversation regarding the amount of kids in the neighborhood. Once he realized if one kid starting teasing the dog(s) he could loose everything financially ... he didn't mind keeping them controlled.

Basically .... where I live; If you own a certain breed and it kills someone, you will loose in court unless it can be proved a third party (such as a burgler) breaks down your fence or something lke that.

[krusty the klown]

If an owner will not control the animal and it attacks someone, then the owner should be held responsible for the animal's actions IMO.

There are responsibilities that you take on when you decide to get any pet and if you get a potentially dangerous dog, you take on more responsibility than simply feeding it.

If people cannot accept these responsibilities, they should never have had the animal in the first place.

[ClubMed]

Then the question would be, how do you regulate who get's to keep certain breeds ?.

How can we prevent people who are irresbonsible from being able to keep rotweilers (sp?) for example.

How do we test for irresponsibility, wait till someone gets killed and then act?.

I think that would be too hard to achieve. Thats why banning certain breeds is better IMO. It might not be the right way to deal with this issue, but it's the most practical.

[BBA]

Dogs are like people.
Some do not deserve to live. Breed makes no difference.

CM, arguing that one breed should be exterminated as it's more dangerous than another is like saying Arabs deserve to die because of terrorist. I hope your not so simple minded.

[ClubMed]

A valid point BBA. How do we get rid of those dogs that kill then?.

[desmocat]

We are thinking of getting Akitas in the near future, and they seem to be on the "killer dog" list of a lot of people that I talk to.

It is in their nature to be hunters, as they were bred to hunt bears in Japan. They can be very aggressive towards other dogs of the same sex, small animals that come into their yard, and ANYBODY/ANYTHING that messes with their food while they are eating, without proper training and discipline.

You must also socailize the dog by taking it out in public from a very young age to get it used to being around strangers and how it will be expected to react. Most breeds do NOT need to be trained to protect its family, because it sees it's family as it's "pack" and will readily defend against anyone intent on doing harm.

Training, and making the dog understand that you are the alpha male(or female) and that if they misbehave, there will be consequences if they do, is paramount in having a good natured dog that will be less likely to bite or attack someone.

Several of the breeders that I have spoken with and several others that I have went to their websites all say the same thing, that they will be more than happy to take back the animal if the situations arise that the owners can't/won't take care of the animal any longer. They also agree that there are sometimes animals that will not accept authority no matter how much training or working with the animal is done, and it is in the best interest of the owner and the breed to have the dog euthanized to avoid something bad happening.

I was going with a co-worker a while back to look at an old pickup to restore last summer, and we arrived at the address, and it was a "junkyard" with a house towards the center. He got out and was walking towards the house when the owners dog started barking at him. He stopped at the bottom of the porch, and called to the owner, he didn't answer and my friend turned around and started back towards my truck, and when he did, the dog ran up and bit him on the back of the leg.
You know what this "bad junkyard dog" was?

A Bassett hound!

[BBA]

Basset hounds can get pretty mean.

I think it's more the person who got bit than the dog.
I have a German Shephard mix. She's the sweetest dog in the world...to people she loves. She is very alert, and only barks when there is a reason. She is very controllable. I don't even have her on a leash when I walk her, she stays next to me the entire time, even passing yards with barking animals in it. She knows what to ignore.

All that did not change the fact that a distraught ex-girlfriend of one of my friends almost got ate up by my dog. It was the circumstances, not the dog responsible. This woman came over to confront her ex in the middle of our card game at my house. She had went out and got drugged up and pissed so she thought that the thing to do. She only got two steps in the door before I had to physically restrain my dog...a normally docile animal. I have no doubt she would have attacked that woman, and viciously, had I not restrained her.

I had a simliar experience when some tree cutters had been cutting down pine trees near my house. Some of the workers were chatting with me and all was fine, then this one person came over...he was a very shady looking character, and my dog had the vicious response to that person, I had to restrain the dog.

So, when you go to analyze dog's behavior...you must realize they posess many senses that you and I do not. They can sense and respond to a persons intentions as well as to their socialization skills and protective instincts. That is why they make such good burglary deterrants, criminals are not accepted pleasantly by dogs.

As for the social skills of a dog, that has to be taught. Responsibility lies with the dog's owner.

[Knothead]

Heh, Bassett hounds....

Here's a point to illustrate how sometimes it's not the dog's fault:

Years ago, I had a beautiful German Shepard, a smart, affectionate, and very protective dog. People would come to the door, Penny would bark like she was going to kill...yet, I'd tell her to "sit!" and open the door. All she needed to do was sniff their hand, and after that, this person had a friend for life! She would recognize them, and never bark at that person again.

Same went for the neighbors. She just loved everybody, and was loved in return!

One morning, I was doing yardwork, and Penny (no leash,) was "helping" me. I didn't see this kid coming down the street, but when he passed my house, he saw Penny and FREAKED and tried to run away...FWAM! went Penny, who caught him by the arm. I ran over and saw the kid trying to wrestle his arm away, which only made Penny grip harder. I told him to quit struggling, to freeze, but I could see he was too frightened to hear me.

I got her off him easily enough, and before he ran away, observed there was no blood, she hadn't broken skin.

Well, later on, Animal Control came and took her away for a 2-week quarantine. It was awful. I really had to fight to get her back. Plus, the boy's mother wanted to sue...in the negotiations, I observed that she was "phobic" about dogs, and had passed this on to her boy; which is why he reacted as he had.

It was his reaction that had provoked Penny's action. Plus, he didn't understand that when a dog "latches" onto you, you need to freeze, and the dog will not escalate, (in most cases; a dog's instinct is to detain you only.)

I'm well aware that the whole incident was entirely my fault, and you can bet that whenever she and I were outdoors, she had a leash after that. But the point is, humans can provoke violent reactions from dogs, and most people will never understand why, or how to prevent this.

[caddmannq]

...they posess many senses that you and I do not. They can sense and respond to a persons intentions as well as to their socialization skills and protective instincts...

And that's not all.

We have two large Labs (raised from puppies), who are very protective. Though they are not trained as attack dogs, I'm sure they'd rip up anyone that threatened me or my wife. We keep them under control at all times. They are fenced, kenneled, leashed, or locked behind a steel security door. They are never allowed to "go out" without a choke collar and a leash. No stranger would dare go in my back yard. They will bark at any other animal that happens by, though not at our own cats.

A dog's perception of a threat is not the same as ours. For instance, our neighbors are a black family, and my dogs will bark viciously at any one of them without provocation. My neighbors have in fact claimed that we've trained these dogs to attack black people, and that we are racists. This is total nonsense.

But what they ignore is that they own two dogs also; one is a large, seemingly vicious rottweiler. Their dogs and mine share a common board fence, and are at a constant standoff over their "territory."

I'm pretty certain that my dogs smell these people as they do the rottweiler, that is, as doggie competition! I don't know that dogs can smell "black" but they can sure smell "rott!"

BTW, their dogs bark at us furiously too, and I always keep that fence in good repair!