Barking dogs face council death sentence

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, I would argue that nobody has any business keeping their child locked up in a kennel until its cheese starts slipping off its cracker, either.

As for dangerous dogs, what people don't understand is that "dangerous" does not always mean "vicious." The sweetest dog in the world can still be to some extent dangerous when it is of a breed that has been bred to have a particularly damage-inflicting bite.

A Rotties and Pits are such breeds. Most of the pits I know are actually very sweet tempered, easygoing dogs. And I still don't want my child around them because they have a dangerous bite. All dogs, from teacup size ones to Wolfhounds will bite. ALL of them. No exceptions. However, some dogs, when they do bite, have devastating bite patterns. It's just not worth the risk to me.

People who say "oh, I don't have to have my dog in a fence or on a leash because he would NEVER bite anyone" are dangerously naive. Yes, he might. He's a dog, not a person. Do not do the dog a disservice by trying to anthromorphize his thought processes. Couple that with a dog that has the sort of bite pattern that can take someone's face off, and there's a problem.

And then, of course, you have the problem of people deliberately getting "dangerous" dogs because they have this stupid macho thing going on and encouraging the dog to be vicious (which is probably more accurately described as "constantly frightened"). So now we have a dangerous dog that is ALSO a vicious dog.

[AdminAssistant]

One of our neighbors back home was nearly killed by his big dopey bloodhound. (It got agitated for no damn reason and tried to rip out our neighbor's jugular.) We had a pair of Australian Cattle Dogs (aka blue heelers) and they were both...protective. Not aggressive, mind you. But they wouldn't hesitate to charge, bark at, and bite a stranger on the property. Good dogs to have when you live in the middle of nowhere. Sadly, one was put down because he bit Dad one too many times. The other was poisoned by a couple of douchebags who wanted to steal our generator. Now we're left with a hound/lab mix who I have never seen show any aggressive or protective tendencies (except barking his fool head off). But, it's still possible, especially as he gets older and crankier.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

And therein is the problem trying to figure out how dogs think. The bloodhound didnt bite for "no reason." He had a reason, all right, we humans just have no idea what that reason was.

And even if we did know, it might not seem like a reason to us. But it clearly did to a dog's mind.

[AdminAssistant]

Exactly, RK. That was actually that dog's second strike. It had bit the owner before with a bite that necessitated an ER trip, and in my home state, once a dog has two bites on its record it gets put to sleep.

[Andara Bledin]

And therein is the problem trying to figure out how dogs think. The bloodhound didnt bite for "no reason." He had a reason, all right, we humans just have no idea what that reason was.

He had a reason, and if he'd had a better understanding of why dogs behave like they do, he probably could have avoided it.

I was reading an article recently while researching something for a story about what is referred to as "little dog syndrome," about how little dogs are usually so annoying because their people try to treat them like people and not dogs, and all of those "cute" little things they do are dominance displays. Big dogs don't have it as bad because big dogs are usually given more training purely based on their size.

^-.-^

[blas87]

That makes a lot of sense.

Generally, I can't stand small dogs. I've always preferred larger dogs, mostly the "family" type dogs, labs and retrievers.

As much as I love dogs, I'd never subject a large dog to an apartment or small house, and I'd never have a dog if I couldn't be around to care for it. My friend and her husband have one of those Husky type wolf dogs, and that thing spends nearly all day every day in its kennel. Instead of taking time to train it and give it enough toys and time to learn to not chew on non-toys, they just kennel it whenever they aren't home. And she is gone all day, her husband can be gone for days on end. That dog is out of the kennel maybe for 8 hours a day, if that. I don't think it even sleeps outside the kennel.

It has to stay in the kennel if anyone comes over, because "she can't behave".....she has to stay in the kennel when no one is home, she sleeps in the kennel...

WHY DO YOU HAVE A FUCKING DOG then?!?!

[wolfie]

As for dangerous dogs, what people don't understand is that "dangerous" does not always mean "vicious." The sweetest dog in the world can still be to some extent dangerous when it is of a breed that has been bred to have a particularly damage-inflicting bite.

QFT. Even if it doesn't bite, a dog can still be dangerous without being vicious. Imagine the following scenario:

In one corner, a very friendly St. Bernard, thinking "I love kids - another face to lick, another butt to sniff. Let me at him!" In the other corner, a toddler.

The dog isn't vicious - quite the opposite. However, with the size mismatch, his enthusiasm makes him dangerous.

[Lace Neil Singer]

That just doesn't make sense. Children crying and screaming in a neighbour's garden make just as annoying a racket as barking dogs, yet no-one's suggesting taking the kids away and killing them. O_o

If the dogs are a nuisance and creating a disturbance thru constant barking, then fine the owner. If there is cruelty involved, then take the dogs away by all means, but rehome rather than kill.

My brother, on the other hand, was attacked and almost killed when he was five by a cocker spaniel who was small enough to be kicked across the yard like a football (which is exactly what my dad did to get the dog off of him).

When I was about thirteen, I had a paper round. One day, I was walking past a house when a minature Yorkie ran out the door and sank its teeth into my ankle. Luckily for me, I was wearing thick jeans so the dog's teeth didn't reach my skin. Unluckily for the Yorkie, my reaction was to kick it off my ankle so that it flew into the air and hit the pavement with a smack. It then ran inside, yelping. Had there been a toddler in my place, that could have been an extremely nasty incident. O_o