What is going on with ridiculous dog breeds ?

That’s tough Dinahmo. Your post confirms, it isn’t all ‘bad owners’. Dogs like people, are all different. I’m sharing my life with a lovely lab who hasn’t read the lab manual about being chilled, calm and easy to train 🐕

Dinahmo

Unfortunately there are owners of such breeds who say their dog would never hurt anyone. These aggressive traits, bred in to them generations ago are inherent.

I have a French sheepdog, who, despite being blind, will set outside moving her head to work out where sounds, that I cannot hear, are coming from. I mentioned it to the vet once and he pointed out that it was bred into her ancestors who guarded sheep and stayed alert for the occasional marauding wolf. She also knows when thunderstorms are coming, sometimes an hour before they hit us.

I've had terriers who haven't had lone access to the countryside but who have found moles with great ease whilst out on walks. Bred into their ancestors.

True. We have had little Terrier X for years and none of them have been trained to work but we knew if a mouse or rat got into our garage because they would go nuts until they found it amongst all the clutter. It was just bred in them.
Border terriers walk to heel behind horses and our little Border X did it from a puppy all by himself. He used to follow my husband and daughter on their horses like he had been trained.

Exactly - dog breed characteristics will show. My lab was born knowing how to retrieve especially from water. My spaniel flushes birds and retrieves, brings me a gift every morning, pair of socks, soft toy etc

Many years ago Konrad Lorenz was saying that the Chow Chow was a particularly dangerous dog. He said they were very much one man dogs and needed careful management around other people. In those days they were a fairly rare and expensive dog or I expect they would have been picked up by the people breeding fighting dogs now.

We inherited a middle aged Border Collie from a friend. He was a lovely dog and very well trained but he wasn't keen on small children. If he was getting fed up with them there would be a slight curl of his lip and we knew it was time to remove him. Our own Border Collie was badly bitten by a Labrador (that nice family dog) when he was only a coupe of months old. For the rest of his 16 years he was frightened of strange dogs and a nightmare to take out.

While i# think it is true that dogs do have inherent characteristics I think owners bear a big responsibility in their socialising.
My pug was attacked by a cocker spaniel.Fortunately nodamage was done . My dog was on the lead and the cocker wasn't .I always thought spaniels were gentle dogs.However the owner seemed quite ineffectual.
I also agree with someone on another post who said children should be taught to ask if they can touch a dog.

Iam64

Exactly - dog breed characteristics will show. My lab was born knowing how to retrieve especially from water. My spaniel flushes birds and retrieves, brings me a gift every morning, pair of socks, soft toy etc

Our last dog (half cocker spaniel, we never knew who the dad was - owner of her mother suspected some ruffian on a nearby farm) had to bring a present of a shoe to any family member arriving home. Whenever she heard dh’s car she’d charge around looking for one. Just as well there were usually some lying around in the hall.

Re the dangerous dogs, people so often say ‘It’s the owner, not the breed.’ Trouble is, it’s usually the sort of owners who choose this type of dog who are at least 50% of the problem.

Most of these dogs are “mongrels” so how can you ban them as they are not a pure recognised breed. Sadly undesirable humans use them for dog fighting and drug dealers use them as status dogs. Any dog can bite I was badly bitten aged 4 by a chihuahua. Didnt put me off dogs though. These large out of control dogs are the result of bad breeding. Folk need training as well as dogs. Cockapoos for example may look innocent but many arent due to bad breeding with folk trying to sell them for a ridiculous amount of money for what is a crossbreed. There is an American Bulldog in the next street who lives with young children - the whole family are feral but luckily the dog is ok but he often escapes their garden. Humans are at fault here.

I agree, Hazel93. Why anyone wants these breeds is incomprehensible to me.

hazel93

As everyone knows not the dog the owners. Yet another death.
Why would anyone want a pet than can kill. amazes me.

And why do many dog owners think it is acceptable for their dog to jump up everyone they see? This happened to me recently and I swiftly back away.... the dog owner simply said "he only wants to say hello"! NO! NOT ACCEPTABLE! Keep your bloody dogs under control!

Of course the humans are at fault Oldbat- but what then?

I am very glad I live currently in a country that has very strict registration, local and national, of all dogs- with some breeds or crossbreeds, as per vet recommendations, which are banned, and where anyone with docked ears or tail, are forbidden, and where it is properly enforced.

Whenever our dog is out with us off lead, in the woods, and anyone is around (VERY VERY rare) we always ask if they are afraid of dogs and if they want me/us to put on lead. They always say 'no, we love dogs'- but just in case. People's dislikes or fears have to be respected.

I suggest that dog licences would be bought by most law-abiding people. Those who glory in ownership of a bully-type dog do so to show their strength (human, not canine) and that they are not to be messed with. They would not bother.

Bully dogs ought be eliminated from the UK. How this is done is a huge problem with litters being bread in quiet back streets etc., plus of course, the under-resourcing of police and animal welfare staff.

A possible alternative is that all dogs should be muzzled when in public spaces. This would work - but would bully dog owners comply? Probably not. This also, of course, would be a huge shame for the 99% of well behaved dogs.

I hope that a way can be found to act quickly and decisively and shudder to think who is next to be harmed, scarred or killed by one of these animals.