Dogs

[GrannyJen]

As everyone knows, I love doggies.

A long story short: I was out running, met my sister at the 4 mile mark, took off with Max, my boy dog, pacing me, out of the corner of my eye saw a lady struggling to control her dog, next thing I know a monstrous heavy build Rottweiler has my Max by his neck.

I threw myself in, grabbed the Rottie by his collar, heaved like hell to force him to let go of Max, at which point he turned on me. 70kg of demented Rottie going at me, my arm forced into his mouth before he twisted out and fell on Max again.

By this time his owner, plus a handful of people, were bringing this demented beast under control.

Max is ok. My arm and wrist punctured and bruised but ok.

What on earth possesses people to own these dogs?

 

[Romke]

What on earth possesses people to own these dogs?

Machoism?

 

[larrylamb]

Ridiculous, why does she need a beast like that. A very upsetting and shocking incident Jen, hope you and Max are ok today.

 

[B J G]

When I took my dog to Vets a few years ago I commented on how well she would behave and his reply was that it isn't the dog but the owner who decides on the dogs behaviour. A fact that I hadn't been aware of previously but have seen that it is true many times since.

If your case the woman with the Rottweiler had kids they'd probably be just as badly behaved.

 

[Iron Van]

What on earth possesses people to own these dogs?

Are you asking why people own Rottweilers?

 

[Romke]

Here in France they would put that dog down the same day.

 

[larrylamb]

Are you asking why people own Rottweilers?

I would say the question was asking why would someone would own a big powerful dog they couldn't control rather than why would someone have a a rottweiler.

 

[Iron Van]

Here in France they would put that dog down the same day.

In the U.K. they would investigate it before killing someone’s pet.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Frightening! Glad you and Max are broadly OK but you will go and get your arm looked at by s doc won’t you? Can’t be too careful.

 

[Wobble’s Mum]

Blimey! Not sure I’d throw myself into the path of such a big, demented dog. Hope you’re ok? Max too, of course?

When you say ‘these dogs’, do you mean mental ones or Rottweilers? Every Rottie I’ve known has been a wonderful, friendly companion to its owner, with a nice temperament, and it used to upset me when out with them, to see people deliberately cross the street to avoid them. On the flip side, I can see why they would though, on size alone!

Granted, Rottweilers can be a dominant breed (especially male ones) but it isn’t the dog’s fault. It’s the owner that it responsible for setting boundaries and training. She shouldn’t have it if she can’t control it. Stupid woman!

Hope you’re over the shock today GJ!

 

[gvick]

As everyone knows, I love doggies.

A long story short: I was out running, met my sister at the 4 mile mark, took off with Max, my boy dog, pacing me, out of the corner of my eye saw a lady struggling to control her dog, next thing I know a monstrous heavy build Rottweiler has my Max by his neck.

I threw myself in, grabbed the Rottie by his collar, heaved like hell to force him to let go of Max, at which point he turned on me. 70kg of demented Rottie going at me, my arm forced into his mouth before he twisted out and fell on Max again.

By this time his owner, plus a handful of people, were bringing this demented beast under control.

Max is ok. My arm and wrist punctured and bruised but ok.

What on earth possesses people to own these dogs?

Hi GJ
I’m glad you are ok and so is your dog.
We had a similar incident with a Labrador and I would echo @BJG said that it is the owner and not the dog that is the problem .
Just glad knowone was seriously hurt.

Greg

 

[GrannyJen]

Are you asking why people own Rottweilers?

No.

Why someone chooses to own a big and potentially aggressive dog that they cannot control.

 

[B J G]

I believe that its a 'status/ego' thing. She probably has a big 4x4 to match the accessory.


My father was a dog breeder and dealer who gave me an education into different breed origins and basic temperaments. Basically the ones to be wary of which has proven to be true in the media reported attack cases.

 

[GrannyJen]

Blimey! Not sure I’d throw myself into the path of such a big, demented dog. Hope you’re ok? Max too, of course?

When you say ‘these dogs’, do you mean mental ones or Rottweilers? Every Rottie I’ve known has been a wonderful, friendly companion to its owner, with a nice temperament, and it used to upset me when out with them, to see people deliberately cross the street to avoid them. On the flip side, I can see why they would though, on size alone!

Granted, Rottweilers can be a dominant breed (especially male ones) but it isn’t the dog’s fault. It’s the owner that it responsible for setting boundaries and training. She shouldn’t have it if she can’t control it. Stupid woman!

Hope you’re over the shock today GJ!

I have nothing against Rottweilers as a breed. There are not many dogs that I do not get on with. However number one to having a loving relationship with a dog is to be able to control it. Even if this dog had not slipped his lead he was still out of control, pulling her instead of the other way round. My comment is why someone chooses to own a dog that they cannot control, on or off the lead. A trophy dog.

 

[Amarillo]

Why someone chooses to own a big and potentially aggressive dog that they cannot control.

Our border collie has aggression issues. She is worse on the lead than free, but she will not tolerate most dogs sniffing her bum for more than a few moments. If they do, she'll first give a warning snarl, and if the interest doesn't stop, a snap which can, occasionally, turn into a fight. We have tried everything we can think of to stop this, and in many ways Meg is very well trained - she will walk to heel through a field of sheep with them grazing just 10 feet away - but every now and then she gets into fights. We are seriously considering a muzzle.

 

[Bellcrew]

I believe that its a 'status/ego' thing. She probably has a big 4x4 to match the accessory.


My father was a dog breeder and dealer who gave me an education into different breed origins and basic temperaments. Basically the ones to be wary of which has proven to be true in the media reported attack cases.

My last neighbour had a working cocker spaniel, totally out of control, nipping anyone who came within range sort of OK when he was a puppy but never got better, clueless owner. The fact that people can buy dogs that could easily kill a child is still surprising.

 

[GrannyJen]

Frightening! Glad you and Max are broadly OK but you will go and get your arm looked at by s doc won’t you? Can’t be too careful.

I'm going this morning, but only because I can't stand the smell of any more TCP being poured over it by Jo

No chance of taking Max to his favourite beach cafe today. We both stink to high heaven!

 

[Iron Van]

I believe that its a 'status/ego' thing. She probably has a big 4x4 to match the accessory.

That’s an interesting belief and quite a generalisation. Though I do have a big 4x4 Cali.

 

[GrannyJen]

Our border collie has aggression issues. She is worse on the lead than free, but she will not tolerate most dogs sniffing her bum for more than a few moments. If they do, she'll first give a warning snarl, and if the interest doesn't stop, a snap which can, occasionally, turn into a fight. We have tried everything we can think of to stop this, and in many ways Meg is very well trained - she will walk to heel through a field of sheep with them grazing just 10 feet away - but every now and then she gets into fights. We are seriously considering a muzzle.

One of my Collie's was the same.

Totally under control most of the time but other dogs moving into her space would cause her to lose it. Then we got rocky, a year old JRT, small in stature, huge in personality and we were his third home having been really cruelly treated at his last two. His confidence was shattered and Sherry, our Collie, knew it. She became utterly devoted to him, forgetting all her previous issues with other dogs.

 

[ArunAlec]

Too many people choose their dogs based on image/fashion without any idea of the breeds traits and needs.

 

[Velma's Dad]

Sorry to hear that GJ. I've never been seriously dog-bitten except in 'controlled circumstances' (military dog training) but I can report that even through padding it was like having my arm in a toothed vice. A big GSD or Dutch Herder etc can break your arm without much trouble. I think anyone wanting to own a large breed should understand the damage it can do. Most people seem to have no idea.

Any breed of dog can become aggressive or bite instinctively if frightened, although some breeds have specific issues. For example:
- As Tom and GJ report, border collies can have issues (often described as 'collie jealousy', a kind of 'nervous dominance' trait - we had a rescue collie-cross like that, lovely with people but aggressive to some other dogs).
- Some cocker spaniels are prone to 'spaniel rage syndrome' although I believe it's almost entirely with the 'show' strain rather than working cockers.
- Bull terriers were bred to kill vermin and fight other dogs, so aggression is inherent to the breed and needs careful management. Sorry, yes, even Staffies: our friends have had several Staffies and despite managing them well, one of them killed one of their other dogs.

Size matters. Obviously, aggression in a big dog and/or powerful is potentially a big problem. Only a few labs/retrievers have unusual levels of aggression, but if you do get bitten by one you'll still know all about it.

The process of socialisation in first 12 weeks is crucial but poorly understood, and not something you can influence with a rescue. But I think if you have an 'aggressive' adult dog there's only so much you can do through training, then it has to be in large part risk minimisation, eg watch your dog like a hawk and keep it one a lead when out.

Unfortunately a minority of dog owners are, frankly, cretins. When I hear people say tings like "he'd never hurt a fly" I roll my eyes. Our spaniel is one of the sweetest tempered dogs I've ever known, but even with her I'd never let her close to a small child without very close supervision. She's a dog.

 

[MattBW]

No.

Why someone chooses to own a big and potentially aggressive dog that they cannot control.

Sounds pretty scary, glad you are ok and your four legged friend is too.

I am sure they didnt intend to not be able to control it. Like people, sometimes animals are just jerks. I know plenty of folks who own Rotties that are soft as muck but yeah if you get a big strong dog you need to be able to control it. A lot of dog owners actually know nothing about dogs and think its easy. If youve been lucky to have a soft and obedient dog it can also give you a sense that all dogs are like that.

They could be a bad owner but it could also just be a jerk dog.

Day to day I have seen far more aggressive small dogs than large ones, but because they are small they are rarely deemed a problem. If I had a big dog I couldn't control I would seriously consider giving it to someone who could.

In fact Honey as you may know is reactive due to early trauma and we have to keep her away from dogs. Other owners with large dogs will often ignore the coat saying no dogs because they think a cute dog can't be a jerk. All dogs have that potential. Bad owners just make it more likely

 

[MattBW]

One of my Collie's was the same.

Totally under control most of the time but other dogs moving into her space would cause her to lose it. Then we got rocky, a year old JRT, small in stature, huge in personality and we were his third home having been really cruelly treated at his last two. His confidence was shattered and Sherry, our Collie, knew it. She became utterly devoted to him, forgetting all her previous issues with other dogs.

Honey is exactly the same, we have to give her lots of space, she is terrified but wont turn her back. We manage it pretty well but many owners just let their dogs wander up which can cause issues. She wears a coat with no dogs on it, but some still ignore it, rare though. When we first got her, the old owners didn't tell us and we got caught out once or twice. Not nice at all. Having a dog like her is exhausting but we wouldn't get rid.

We have got to the point where we can introduce her to other dogs, but it takes a lot of time. Last weekend we camped on a site with 2 other dogs, they all roamed free. It was a lengthy process but worth it.

 

[GrannyJen]

What shook me most was that this was not a "close proximity" dog contact.

We were on a coastal greensward, in places as wide as a football pitch. We were going in one direction on the coastal side and they were coming towards us on the opposite side, probably about 100 yards away. I could see the dog getting aggressive even before we were opposite each other, I could see her being pulled by the dog and in slow motion I could see the dog slip his lead and charge across the green, which was when I threw myself between the dog and Max.

I do know a lot of dogs get excited when they see runners, especially runners with dogs. This dog just seemed to blow a fuse.

The woman, when she finally caught up, was blaming the dogs loss of weight for his harness not fitting properly I must say when I had my hands on that dogs collar and neck I did not think he had a loss of weight problem

 

[Borris]

When my eldest son was a teenager he used to spend a lot of time at his mates' house just up the village. These lads had a Doberman called Spike which they'd trained to play this game:

They had a pond in the garden with a small island in it, located within pouncing distance of the mainland. Spike would position himself on the island meanwhile the boys would be up a nearby tree. Spike loved this game and entered into the spirit of it with full doggy vim and vigor.

THE GAME
The boy's objective was to jump down from the tree, do two full circuits of the pond and return to their branch unscathed.
On the other hand Spike's objective was entirely different!!!

He'd been trained to stay during that first circiut and knew that it was purely to allow him to size up his quarry and get his eye in. Once his prey had completed circuit one the game was on. From that point onwards it was a pure adrenalin rush for all concerned.

Spike was encouraged by the prospect of biting the nether regions of the fast moving squealing young human ahead of him and the boy concerned was similarly encouraged to run like hell for the security of the tree. You might say that it was "British Bulldog" but with a bite.

Being teenagers they seemed to find this game highly amusing and the greater the damage that Spike managed to inflict, the greater the kudos for the boy concerned.

Unfortunately, our eldest daughter unwittingly became party to this unusual game when she was sent up, against her will, to get some more milk one day. (At that time the boy's father had a herd of Guernsey cows and we used to get our milk, mostly cream, direct from Daisy and delivered to our door in stainless steel cans). As she approached the back door of their house Spike saw her as fair game, did a circuit of the pond and bit her on the bum.

Whilst she wasn't impressed it certainly went down well with her brother and his mates.

Warning - Training dogs in this manner is not advisable and should be avoided.