Pro breed bashers.. wow.

Beejou

Shepherds and Dobermans. They're biters. Rottweilers are too." 

  Actually, they're right about GSD's and Rotties;   Top Ten (10) Most Dangerous Dog Breeds | Pets Do  

  Jessie is a German Shepherd mix. When we adopted her from the shelter, they recommended we take her to obedience training classes and socialize her, so she "would never bite", which is what we did. We were fortunate to have their excellent advice. She has never tried to bite anyone and we often get compliments on how well behaved she is. I know some wonderful Rotties, that are perfectly safe for children to pet, but these are dogs that have been carefully trained and socialized by their owners. Unfortunately, many people that get one of these breeds keep them isolated in a back yard. It's not the dog's fault that they become biters, but they're the ones that pay with their lives. And, the breed's reputation suffers too.

 I tend to be skeptical about this type of statistic due to the high probability of breed confusion and the biased sources used in many of them.  Much of the "information", reported by the media and often used by those wanting to create lists of the most dangerous breeds, is inaccurate.  Any dog breed or mix is capable of biting and seriously injuring a person.  Most dog bites occur in the home and are owned by the person bitten or a relative.  It is true of course that a large powerful dog can do much more damage but the statistics I tend to agree with emphasize that the actual number of serious dog bites, compared to the number of dog-human encounters, is amazingly small.

Beejou, I know how frustrating it is to deal with people like these women.   You could research and find some articles for them to read but you can't make people open their minds sometimes.  If the only information a person takes in agrees with their narrow view, it's hard to get them to consider that they could be wrong.   There's a good book called 'Dogs Bite but Balloons and Slippers are More Dangerous'.  It's what got me to thinking that what I'd been hearing and believing all my life might not be accurate.

Unfortunately I've encountered far too much breed-ism that tends to be a substitute for racial bias.  Because males of certain ethnic groups tend to favor dogs with "tough guy" images people who object to the people tend to see the dogs purely as representing the humans, not the dogs standing on their own merits.  You can "discriminate" and "bash" dog breeds where you can't publically discriminate and bash human ethinc groups.  It seems to me (at least down here where I live -- and my experience, right now, is limited to this area) that some very vocal people are assuming they can legislate against certain breeds to avoid the "wrong people" having them.

*sigh*  Sometimes I just despair of people.

jessies_mom

  

Beejou

Shepherds and Dobermans. They're biters. Rottweilers are too." 

  Actually, they're right about GSD's and Rotties;   Top Ten (10) Most Dangerous Dog Breeds | Pets Do  

Anyway, Beejou, I think you have the guts to be the voice of reason among that group.  EDUCATE EDUCATE EDUCATE!!!  If you really want to know who the "biters" are, ask some successful professional groomers who see dozens of clients a month.  They will tell you who the real consistent "biters" are. 

Agreed, take things with a grain of salt. I own a "vicious" "blood thirsty" JRT cuz I feed her a raw diet. *rolls eyes* If they're willing to listen, try and show them information opposite of what they've heard.

Let them talk to ME. The last dog that bit me (quite badly) was a terrier mix who weighed about fifteen pounds. I have been bitten by two GSDs,the terrier mix, a Doberman, a Border collie, a Lab mix and a Chihuahua. The terrier mix got me the worst. Do I hate any of these breeds? Of course not!  No one breed bites more than others. It is just that the media reports more on certain TYPES of dogs. Believe me, no papers were sold about the Chihuahua who bit me! LOLOL

My point of view on this is I'd RATHER they "not like her" and be afraid shes going to bite.  Than, treat her like she won't bite. 

And, as far as no one breed biting more than another.  I do think certain breeds are more likely to bite especially in certain situations. 

Now, that said, if you are going to work with animals than you should be able to work with any breed. I've had many techs who were obviously afraid of Willow.  And, I made sure they never worked with her again.  And, I've seen a vet or two that acted the same way and we won't be seeing them twice.

oranges81

Hey Jackie, how was that book? I'm thinking of reading it if I can find it at the library.

I thought it was a good read with good information. 

Working in a shelter, I hear all kinds of breed stereotypes everyday.  It really does sometimes make me angry and feel really bad for these dogs.  I need to learn to brush it off.  I have been telling myself (and people) if they aren't comfortable with a particular breed, then it isn't one they should own.  End of story.  I don't need to hear their messed up myths and ridiculous reasonings behind not liking one breed or another.  I just suggest a different dog and move on.  I may politely say, well we work with these dogs everyday and clearly we love them and have no biases against them, so I would rather not hear what you think about them.  Or I may try to educate them a little without pushing the issue too much, since I don't want them thinking that particular dog is right for them.

The shelter I work in is probably about 80% pitbulls or pit mixes.  We get a lot of pit haters who come in and want to talk with us about why there are so many pit bulls.  These are typically the people who are apalled that we will not adopt a dog out who is not spayed or neutered.  Well, there's your answer about why there are so many pits.  People who think they need to breed every dog "at least once". 

I am trying to learn to not let these people bother me too much because it's probably better for the breed if they feel unsafe around them because they should NEVER own one. 

I can understand personal preferences not to own or handle certain breeds of dog. That is a personal feeling based on personal experience (or lack thereof) I am not about to try and lead that horse to water and drown it. To each their own. I however do NOT like to hear misinformation or superstition passed along as fact nor personal experience expounded to become "how things are". That's not how the world works folks. Get over yourselves. You are one person in this world with one set of experiences. That doesn't make it law, common, or even reasonable.

I don't get into breed things with people because I find they're typically pretty close minded about MANY things and we probably wouldn't get along well in general, so why make that effort? Life is too short to get too ticked off for too long in your day about stupid people. There are flat out too many of them. If you stop and think too hard about the numbers you will run out there and get knocked up over and over just to try and put some SMART children out there to balance it out (lol I'm kidding you know).

In your situation since they are wanting to be in the animal field...when they say stupid stuff like that I would just answer with "My patients need me, no matter what breed or species they are, and I will do my best for them. Just like I would if I was helping people. I would even help the dumb, predjudiced ones, because that is what my field is about." and leave it at that.

I would think that people in animal care fields would have reduced fear by learning about various dog breeds, what traits they have, and the best ways to make dogs of that breed comfortable?  There is a lot of stuff that floats around the web, I let some of it get to me when we got our puppy last summer, I knew very little about dogs so I started reading on the web.  She was obviously a herding mix of some kind and I kept reading how she would never be happy without a lot of land to run on and she would be bored and destroy the house and such to the point where I let it worry me.  The reality is that by changing my exercise to running with her every morning we are both keeping fit and she is well behaved in the house and seems quite happy.  I still feel I always need to explain to people though that our dog is well exercised despite the fact that we live in a (rather large) townhouse.  She's supposed to be this crazy dog that she isn't.

As far as temperament goes, given the choice, I would rather put my hand around the mouth of my friend’s large male GSD any day of the week than my Mom’s tiny Papillion.  The big dog has been, and is being, trained and socialized and the little dog has had neither.  The GSD puts out a lot of slobber and the Papillion has bitten many times.

miranadobe

jessies_mom

  

Beejou

Shepherds and Dobermans. They're biters. Rottweilers are too." 

  Actually, they're right about GSD's and Rotties;   Top Ten (10) Most Dangerous Dog Breeds | Pets Do  

Not for nothing, I found that link to be a pile of horse crap.... to quote: "A pit bull is a fearless dog that will take on any opponent.  They will lock their jaws onto the prey until it's dead." 

I also disagree that Rotties are known to be very aggressive dogs. Plus, I bet if I did a search, I could find over ten different lists each claiming to list the top ten most dangerous dog breeds and each list would contain different dogs. I've volunteered/worked at Shelters before and the only dog I've ever been bit by? My Grandma's Yorkshire Terrier. Granted, that small bit of information is really no more useful than said lists.

Beejou, just because I enjoy arguing with stupid people - I'd give the "educate, educate, educate" method a try and see how that goes. I wouldn't expect much....but it's worth a try!

I'll go out on a limb and say, yes, German Shepherds are aggressive dogs.  The dog was designed to possess strong active aggression and fight drive.  Fear reactivity, snapping, attacking unprovoked - those are not instances of strong active aggression but indicate a dog with poor genetics, weak nerves, an unsound temperament.  Breeding has destroyed our breed because people breed for hip scores or looks or side gait or just for "pets" and have no knowledge of a correct German shepherd if one flew out of the sky and licked them on the face.  When you breed for specific things and have no regard for how to maintain a proper temperament and the traits that make this dog a suitable working dog you get a majority of dogs that are nervy, reactive, and unstable.  People these days have no idea what "aggression" really means.  Any negative behavior a dog does towards a person or other dog gets labeled "aggression".  If people don't want aggressive dogs, they shouldn't get German shepherds.  Again I'm talking about the courage and the drive and the fight that is in the dog genetically, not a dog that snaps at the vet or growls at little kids.

Like Gina, I don't have time for people who think they can make broad statements that are utterly false.  I also do not have time to try to educate people.  I let my dogs' behavior speak for itself.  My dogs are trained to bark, pursue, bite, fight, and protect yet I calmly walk them into the vet waiting room on flat collar where they lie at my feet, accepting pets and treats from strangers and sniffs from other dogs. We don't wrangle or muzzle dogs in the exam rooms.  If they have to go to the back room to have a wound shaved and wrapped, I hand the leash to the vet and they go.  If you physically threaten or verbally harass my dog or myself, my dog will put you in your place before you can blink, but neutral strangers, vets, random passersby...these have no effect on the dog whatsoever.  People approach me and ask about my dogs because of how they actually behave and carry themselves, not based on unsolicited advice or supposed "statistics" about this or that.

Anything vets or vet techs say to me about breed, training, or behavior bounces right off (unless it directly pertains to a medical condition).  Last time I was at the vet she said she was surprised my GSDs do Schutzhund because that is for Rottweilers.  Um, no, actually it was created FOR the German Shepherd dog and is used as a breed test.  But whatever, her job is to check my dogs' wound, prescribe the proper meds, and show me how to keep him bandaged not give me behavior advice. 

Interestingly, I get more "off" comments from people who supposedly "love" or "know all about" the breed than those that have an obvious bias against it.