New Study on Aggressive Dogs from the UK

Bonita- lately i've heard a lot of stuff about RRs and aggression. Do they have a bad rep elsewhere, that you know of?

Bonita of Bwana

My Oldest granddaughter in California owns several Dachschunds although I had never heard them called Sausage Dogs before

I grew up thinking that was their actual name.... Come on they DO have a slight sausage quality!

It's not very surprising that the owners of small breeds are outraged by it, but then again they are only now suffering what owners of larger breeds have been suffering for a long time so I can't say I feel much pity.  The guy who said Chis have "never put anyone in hospital" kind of lost credibility in my eyes by following this up with "They can be a bit stroppy". 

That is exactly what the study was looking t wasn't t?  The NATURE and temperament of each breed - not whether they had put anyone in hospital.  Of course a chi is going to have a harder time causing real damage - but in my eyes that does NOT make it OK to "bite the hand that feeds".  Human aggression is Just Not OK.  That guy was basically saying, in not so many words, that breeding for good temperament and proper training and socialisation is not as important with little dogs.  Can you IMAGINE if someone sad about Rottweilers; "Oh they can be a little bit stroppy?" ?!  That chap didn't do small-dog people any favours by being quoted saying that, IMO

As an owner of a 'sausage dog' who has bitten a stranger, it would be wrong to say I'm offended  .  But yeah, that is part of their nature.  They were bred to take on ferocious animals larger than themselves.  With chi's, I think it has more to do with bad breeding than anything else.  I'd love to see the whole list though.

It is definitely not acceptable for small dogs to bite, but there is a greater challenge in this department than with larger breeds. Small dogs have a faster metabolism and therefore will be more high strung and quicker to react.  Additionally, they are more fearful due to the fact that the world is a lot bigger to them.  Imagine seeing the world from the height of  personls ankles!  Most small breeds were bred to kill other animals, or created from such breeds.  You can't do that job without using your teeth!

My son was biten by a sausage dog at the park when he was about 10 years old. He was running and got to close to where it's family was having a picnic and it bit him in the calf.

I'm not surprised at all. The number of jack russels that have bitten me or attacked my dogs (every barn around here seems to keep a bunch of the aggressive little things and lets them run loose) has climbed into triple digits. A coworker of mine had several plastic surgeries to disguise the damage a chihuahua did to her face as a child. And when working at the animal shelter about half of the dogs under 30 pounds would try to bite people and none of the larger dogs ever did.

LOL hmm...I could think of some folks at this forum that should read this, hehe. Interesting article, Bonita.

I feel the need to defend the doxies!  I had a mini dachshund named Hans when I was a child and he had the most awesome temperament.  That dog would put up with anything.  My mom has pics of me dressing him up in various clothes, pushing him in a doll stroller, etc.  Heck, *I* would have bitten me!

I will say though that my aunt and uncle had a couple of dachshunds that were biters.  The first one was a standard that would nip me regularly when I was little.  It hurt so bad but I would try to hide it so Gretchen didn't get in trouble.   They gave away their second dachshund, Coco, after it bit my cousin--but he was right in the dog's face teasing it with candy, so I think that was more stupid parents and stupid kid than anything else.

In all seriousness though, no, IMHO, human aggression is never, ever acceptable in any size dog. 

Ridgebacks are still a fairly new breed and have been a lessor known and thereby lessor talked about breed .  And I admit we have really enjoyed that. But they have been found by celebrities in the past decade or so, and like anything else a celebrity owns they are becoming a dog that people are now learning about and seeking.  You now find them and more advertizements and commercials.  The Sheraton Hotel Commercial pops to mind right off where the big Rhodie jumps up on his Dad when he walks into the room,  after that ad appeared on TV it was only a couple of weeks before I began getting calls about pups. . When I was approached years ago by a company making a commercial for tourism for the state of Alabama  they wanted a big old hound to put in the commercial. I agreed to let them use Bo, BUT they could not show  or highlight the Ridge.  he was featured twice in that commercial, once running joyfully down the white sand beach with a gorgeous male model and then he is laying "asleep" on the porch of a beautiful home and two little girls in bathing suits ran in banging the screen door and jumped over him !   His paycheck went to the local shelter which was really struggling at the time for funding.

There are some lines of RR that seem to have more aggression issues than others.  As a general rule of thumb we have a Prey Driven Hound.  They are not people aggressive as in  " Hey you, whoever you are , You're a Dead Man!!!!"  But they are totally a " What are you doing on MY property  or near MY Mom" kind of dog.    More Territorial aggression than a simple overt aggression.  The European RR from all accounts  was feared when first brought into the various countries , the reputation that came with it insured this.  Telling people this is a breed of dog created by taking European hunting dogs and guard stock and blending it with an nearly wild Native dog so you would have a fearless canine to hunt LION with made that little Ratter or hearding dog look pretty tame.   Then for a brief period they tried to use the RR in the Diamond mines. Brutal environments and even more brutal guard staff. They had to replace the RR with  Dobermans, GSDs and Rotts, because the Ridgeback would not simply attack on command. It never made sense to them.  Bite some one because they want rocks???  Nahhhhh not their style. But the die was set and the general perception was an animal second only to the Hyena in jaw stregnth PSI.   The RR crushes bone and as the reputation grew the fact that unlike the  public statements back then about the locking bite of a pit bull ( myth I know) the RR slashes.  Had it not been such a vaulable hunting and family dog they would have ended up in Fighting rings.  Today , living in the South I am approached every year by people wanting to improve their Hog dogs or beef up the Black Mouth Cur for hunting. That isn't going to happen on my watch or with my dogs!

I know there are one or two countries , for some reason this am Sweden or the Netherlands is in my head, that require all dogs of specific size that were used in any form of Guarding to be muzzled in public.  So that lumps our breed in with Rotts and the rest again.

In our country RRs are very low on actual Bite lists.  And that almost always goes to Owner Error. Mishandling or not training a large powerful breed is a mistake ! When I had Mtzee take the ATTS last year I was beyond proud. In this test dogs must show correct levels of aggression in specific circumstances.  And they must be controled.  When the Scary Stranger comes ranting at you they are expected to insert themselves between you and the perceived danger, warn the stranger and back them off.  Mtzee Rocked !! This year I am trying 3 of my dogs, a 9 year old and the 2 Raptors who will turn 2 at the Rodeo.  Fingers crossed they preform as well as their Momma!

And Chuffy I grew up calling them Wiener dogs, Same concept just a different tag   You should see the local Wiener Dog Races what a HOOT !   I so agree with you about the Breeding of small dogs, It seemed for a couple of years every Chi Breeder I met was only concerned about getting the Applehead rather than breeding a perfect lap puppy.  Chinese Cresteds have also gotten nastier in temperment, going for the hairless qualities and size they have dogs with Crappy teeth and attitude.  and I really liked the first examples of the breed that I had met  Then you hear from the Designer Breeders ( I'm sorry but deliberatly messing up what may have been a solid line in any breed so you can slap a stupid name on the pup is offensive to me.)  One daughter has a Mini Old English Pocket Beagle..... yep that is a Beagle blended with Manchster Terriers or Chis to down size them , but the dumb girl paid a fortune to get one.   Arrrrgh  There have been folks crossing toy poodles with everything under the sun for as long as I can remember but you do not see the AKC rushing out to recognize these high priced mutts.  Cocka-poos, Yorki-poos, Shitza-poo , Malta-poo, Llasa-poo, Chi-poo there are ads for all of them in the Mobile Press Register every Sunday.   And IMHO all they got right was the POO part.. I have owned a Toy Poodle and a Papillon and both were amazing sweet dogs with brains and heart.  ( But we never told them they were toy dogs!!)

Bonita of Bwana

 The only dog that ever bit me was a chi when I was a kid. 

I had a friend with 2 jack russels that went after everyone

We just went to the beach with a friend who has 3 wiener/sausage dogs - one is very sweet - two are barky and nippy.  The older female is downright aggressive.

I knew someone in England that had two RR's - they were very nice, typically aloof, and did attack someone that broke into their home - they were nearly put down for that but were spared

Thanks Bonita! I've had a few RRs, and they have all been very social and friendly. I had one female that was sort of aloof with men though. I was asking because RRs were in the headline of that article, and lately i've had people say thinigs about RRs and aggression, and that they were part of a breed ban somewhere in the US!

I hope RRs wont be the next "badass" breed.

yup. got bit by our neighbours dachshund myself. damn thing wasnt even vaccinated, so i had to do the whole series of rabies shots!

the same dog bit at least 2 other people that i am aware of...

I just skimmed the actual journal article about the study and it has some cool stuff - info on stranger directed, dog-dog, and owner directed aggression levels *and* differences in show vs. working stock for several breeds.  A very cool study!  I tried to copy some of the abstract for you guys but it wouldn't let me. 

stardog-- do you have the link to the study? I didn't see it

 Wow, the doxies I have known have been a little timid, but really sweet dogs.  Maggie has a really good friend who is a doxie.  I met a few at petsmart that were loud and not well trained, but overall I have had a good experience with them.

 
RRs have always fascinated me.  Every time I see them at shows I am amazed at how big they are. That makes them a bit intimidating though.  I would have them on my list of dogs I want, but I don't think they would match my lifestyle.