Pro breed bashers.. wow.

rwbeagles

There is breeding FOR human aggression or DRIVE to be WILLING to bite (seen plenty in Malinois and GSD's) and there is LACK of breeding to PRESERVE proper temperament.

Just to clarify, that would be high "social aggression".  At least among working GSDs and Mals, there isn't really a term "human aggression".  Generally a dog that has a high defense drive and a very low threshold would probably be described as being "civil" (a word we use completely differently than what it normally means) or "social aggression".  The problem is that different people have a different idea of what the proper temperament *is*.  There are some situations where a working dog does not need to be "safe" (like some police dogs, border patrol, etc) because the dog is always on a lead and being controlled by the handler and is otherwise kenneled.  Often it's cheaper to get a "sharp" dog, a dog that has high defense, high suspicion, low threshold because the dog will react without a lot of training.  Personally, I feel the ideal working GSD has medium to high defense, high prey, BUT a medium to high threshold.  That type of dog is not going to snap at someone just for reaching out to pet (OK even if that is rude) or hackle when a family friend comes to the door.  And all of this is assuming that we're not really talking about weak tempered dogs that are basically reactive and fear aggressive.  That....well, it is what it is.  Usually when we're talking about a dog that literally snaps at humans, we're talking about reactions based in fear and a dog with a low threshold and in some cases the dog is just so out of balance it really is a fight or flight response.  In those cases, the actual drives of the dog (prey, civil, defense, fight, etc) are a moot point, the dog might as well be a drive-less couch warmer and can still go after humans unprovoked.

JackieG

Considering the fact that there are over 70 million dogs in the United States, the number of serious dog bites is extremely low.  The media has created the myth of the dangerous pit bull and politicians get in on the witch hunt because their uninformed constituents believe what the media tells them. 

  

This.

These vet tech students the OP speaks of should come deal with large animals, particularly horses for a while.  Horses can bit rather viciously.  I had a horse bite my boob a couple of years ago.  Not only did it leave a huge bruise the size of my hand, but I had a large wound from him literally pulling my flesh apart with him teeth.  I have been bitten, kicked, stepped on, run over, struck at, thrown, flipped over on, crushed into a wall, etc.  Vets and vet techs tend to be particularly popular targets because horses are generally not happy to see them, and often recognize who they are.  We had one mare at the barn who would literally try to maim our male vet that came to the barn at every possible chance.

Ir seems a very bad idea for anyone in the animal field to assume such and such breed is aggressive and another isn't.  Seems like it could lead to some very nasty bites.  Labs can have *very* poor temperaments and do some serious damage biting (and I say this as a big fan of the breed).  My trainer (who is very experienced with aggression) will tell you that hands down the most aggressive dog she's ever dealt with was a golden. 

Seems that these people should be less focused on breed bias and more focused on actually learning to read dogs and their behavior if they are looking to prevent being bitten....

sillysally

Seems that these people should be less focused on breed bias and more focused on actually learning to read dogs and their behavior if they are looking to prevent being bitten....