Oppinions on an agressive dog

[pharmvet]

Plenty of bad experiences come from dogs that you never expected it from. In my opinion this is a no brainer. If you have any doubts, get rid of the dog. There is not a dog in the world worth keeping around if there is any question what so ever about a childs safety.

 

[milkman]

Are you suggesting a dose of lead poison ?

Period!! I thought I was clear..

 

[Tom_H]

Do a google search for Cesar Millan: The Dog Whisperer. National Geographic Channel has been doing a series on him for a number of years now. I swear, I have never seen anything like it. He takes all kinds of dogs with agressive behavior and other wierd behaviors and turns them into gentle normal dogs. You should watch his show. You can order some of the TV series on DVD. We used his techniques to train our dog and it really work.

I have seen many episodes where he takes "red zone" dogs (very agressive dogs that people have given up on and are about to put down) and rehabilitates the dogs. A very big part of it though is training the owners how to get the dog to be and stay that way.

I just can't say enough about Cesar. Check it out.

Welcome to Cesar Millan's Official Web Site

Dog Whisperer | National Geographic Channel

 

[DIRTROAD]

You would never be able to forgive yourself if anything did happen!!

 

[jdbower]

A very big part of it though is training the owners how to get the dog to be and stay that way.

Frequently an even bigger part is creative editing...

 

[N80]

I do not tolerate threatening or aggressive pets. And when I'm in public or a guest on private property I consider an aggressive or threatening animal to be the same as a threatening or aggressive owner/host. People who can't control their pets are people who can't control themselves. When I hear "oh, he won't bite" or "he's just being protective" yada yada yada, I walk away. In my opinion, if my pet makes my guests uncomfortable I'm a bad (rude) host.

And yes, I love dogs. My current dog is precious to me and we went to great lengths to make him as people friendly as possible. First, he's a Lab. No better place to start in my opinion. Second, he's neutered. Third, from day one we made it clear that he was not the alpha dog. It takes time and discipline. He will walk away from his food if another animal or person tries to take it. Children can pull his ears, tug his tail, take his toys away from him, sit on him, whatever. He is not permitted to bark at people. Period. I did not get him for protection. And in my opinion, any indoor pet dog is useless as home protection. A dog is easier to dispatch and get around than an unlocked door.

So as you can guess, I'm all for finding a place for the dog where either his aggression is useful, controlled or permitted.

Finally, a quick story. I was sewing up a really nasty dog bite on this woman's leg. Her one year old Chow (what a terrible breed for a pet) had bitten her. I got her sewed up (she would have a permanent scare on her calf) and started explaining the rabies precautions about watching the dog for 10 days and keeping it contained and all that when she interrupted me and told none of that would be necessary. I asked why not and she replied, "Because he's dead. I shot his ***. I don't keep no dog that bites." End of story.

 

[texasjohn]

OP, you now have the answer from a very large TBN community of dog lovers... the logic, spoken and unspoken, goes like this.

1. a dog has a certain position in the family pack
2. a kid, particularly a baby/youngster is going to rank BELOW the dog in the dog's eyes unless he is persuaded otherwise by his pack leader.
3. every dog enforces his position in the pack by attacking those members below him to keep them in their place. The attacks vary from posturing to actual physical attacks.
4. Unless you, as the pack leader, have sufficient training ALREADY to put the dog in his place at the bottom rung of the pack....and, you would not be asking this question if you had this skill...and most do not have this skill, then you MUST get rid of the dog. Note that some posters with this training skill realize that sometimes their particular dog will not accept the bottom position and thus must be removed from the pack (family).
5. So, you either remove the dog from the pack NOW or the consequences to your youngster are HIGHLY LIKELY to require this at an unknown point in the future.
6. Your TBN advisory family has spoken, and "that's the way it is," with a tip of the hat to Walter Cronkite!

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

1. Unless you, as the pack leader, have sufficient training ALREADY to put the dog in his place at the bottom rung of the pack....and, you would not be asking this question if you had this skill...and most do not have this skill, then you MUST get rid of the dog.

John, I think you nailed it. I was one of the first to say the dog has to go.

If the OP had the skill to handle the dog - or apparently his wife who wants to keep the dog - he wouldn't be on the Internet asking what to do - that's the bottom line.

OP Get rid of the dog before something you regret happens.

 

[Tom_H]

Frequently an even bigger part is creative editing...

I hope you are not implying that this show is "edited" in some kind of way to give the illusion of a result that is not real. That just ain't the case my friend. It is not a wise thing to make judgements about things you really don't know anything about.

Cesar is a master of dog behavior. What he does is far more serious than the sometimes silly stuff you see in "doggie obedience schools". When other dog trainers in southern CA get that rare dog they can't handle, Cesar is the guy they call. He teaches people how to become that "top dog" that others have spoken of, and to put the dog at the very bottom of the family pack. It isn't just changing a red zone dog into a wuss; it's even moreso teaching humans how to behave in a manner that causes the dog to absolutely know that the human is the dominant pack leader and that the dog simply is going to be submissive. Any dog in the world, even the meanest one there is, also has it in his genes to submit to an even more dominant dog if it comes along. The human mind is capable of learning how dogs think and feel and to assume a persona that causes the dog, any dog, to submit. With enough committment, most humans can learn these skills. But it does take committment and the self-discipline to follow pack leader logic. A human can learn to understand and dominate dogs. A dog can assume a leadership position in a human pack where the humans don't understand dogs, BUT no dog can ever be smart enough to dominate a human who has learned the techniques to dominate the dog. Contrasted with the human, the dog's brain is just too little to understand how to win.

I agree with the previous 2 posters. In that the OP does not already have these skills, the dog needs to go someplace else. Not necessarily to the afterlife, but to somewhere that it is not a threat to the baby. If the OP learned Cesar's techniques, and the dog was rehabilitated, maybe the dog could come back later. All of Cesar's shows are real life episodes of him going to people's homes, rehabilitating the dog, and training the humans to be the dominant "top dog". Occasionally he will have to take serious case red zone dogs to his kennel in L.A. for 2 to 3 weeks, where the dog has to learn to be a calm submissive member of Cesar's pack of 20-25 dogs-all kinds in the pack: pit bulls, rottweilers, dobies-all previous red zone dogs who are now calmly behaving and getting along. Cesar trains the new dog to become a happy calm submissive pack member of the pack in which he is the leader. Then he takes the dog back to the owner and remakes the pack with the owner being pack leader and the dog at the complete bottom of the totem pole. Heck, maybe the OP could call Cesar and wind up on national TV!!

 

[CurlyDave]

N80:

I agree with you on almost everything except barking at people and the value of an indoor dog for home protection.

IMHO the real value a dog adds to home protection is his ability to wake me when something unusual happens at night. I want my labs to bark at strange people and strange noises.

They don't make the friend/foe decision and they don't take any action, but their barking lets me know that it is time for me to make that decision and take action.

Sure, an intruder can dispatch a dog, but not before the dog has alerted me that someone is sneaking around outside the house.