Oppinions on an agressive dog

[Tom_H]

...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

Same with us on all counts: love dogs, have neutered Lab, made loving and submissive. And it does take work.

....Chow....he's dead. I shot his ***. I don't keep no dog that bites." End of story.

LOL, great story!

 

[Sigarms]

Oz was kept in about a 5x8 ft pen for most of his first year.

That could explain the agressive traits. Dogs do need to be socialized at a young age. They also need to be crate trained, problem is, too many people use the crate (or pen or chain) as a punishment instead of a reward.

Oz is alot more leary of men than women.

Something tells me that Oz probably didn't have good experiences with men while he was in his pen.

Hard part in dealing with animals whose past are not completely known is what stimulous can trigger their agressive behavior (something as simple as a man wearing a baseball cap, because it was a man wearing a baseball cap that use to beat the dog). The other problem is some people who want to get rid of their pet may not be telling the truth as to how they tried to "train" the dog.

Brutus my "trustworthy" dog is neutered and Oz the one in question is not.

If the dog is to stay, he should be neutered.

It sounds like nothing that anyone says will convince your wife that the dog has to go so you must figure out how to keep the dog away from the baby, neuter it, and read some dog training books

+ 1 on the training books.

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.

+ 1

Young dogs that show agressive behavior can be trained, but it can take hard work and most likely will not happen overnight.

If you don't have the time nor propper training, you need to remove the dog from your home. I'd suggest a boxer rescue organization, but chances are they are filled to capacity. Don't just dump the dog on someone else who may not have the time as well. If the dog must be put down, make it as humane as possible, and if you truely care for the dog, take it to a vet to be put down so you can at least spend some time with him in his last moments.

Another sad reality I have learned in life is that dogs are a lot like children (don't jump on me LMTC). They can have heartbreaking stories and you can try to help them all, but the reality is that they all can't be saved from their past.

Then again, sometimes you just have plain mean people, just like dogs.

 

[jimmyj]

Good comments from the group. I'd certainly be worried about keeping the dog.

If you need to get your wife past the "emotional" aspect perhaps consult an expert dog trainer in your area.

There are lots and lots of dogs out there that do not have this worry.

Let us know what you do.

 

[N80]

N80:

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

I figured some would disagree on this. The point is, people don't like to be barked at. The larger the dog the less they like it. And chances are, the dog is going to be barking more at guests than strangers and the vast majority of strangers he barks at are still going to be people who are supposed to be there (Fed Ex guy, meter reader, plumber, etc). And on the rare occasion that a real intruder is there, there is a reasonable chance the dog is going to miss him anyway. I've seen my sister-in-law's German shepherd (which was obtained in part for home protection) snoozing soundly as I drove up and got out of my truck.

The whole point being, you get lots of noise, lots of uncomfortable guests, lots of false alarms and statistically very low odds of really alerting to a real intruder. For an animal alert system, guinea fowl or geese are probably much more effective and less threatening......well, some geese are pretty nasty.

But, this is a small issue. With most of us a good dog that barks some probably doesn't bother people all that much. Just my preference to have one that doesn't.

 

[BungeeII]

I have a 4-1/2 month old baby girl...Say she goes to him while he is eating and tries to take his food...

What about when she's 18 months old and tries to give him a big ole hug or grabs a big chunk of hair and pulls? What if he views that as some type of threat? Not good for baby.

Dogs are simple yet complicated. It's ~possible~ to have a dog prone to fighting that's also willing to let a kid tape it up from head to paw. Even with that said, I can't think of any good reason to keep the 2nd dog. Just running through it in my mind, I get exhausted just thinking of having a dog that would take my time and attention away from the baby.

 

[Sigarms]

The whole point being, you get lots of noise, lots of uncomfortable guests

Dogs will bark, it's their form of communication. However, once the dog is "socialized" with guests, the barking should stop.

When people come over my house, I ask them if they are comfortable around dogs.

If they are not comfortable around dogs, the dogs go into a large fenced in area outside before the guests arrive and stay there.

If they don't mind dogs, the "meeting place" between guests and dogs is done outside of the house (for speciffic reasons) when the guests first arrive. Yes, the first five mintues of socializing the dogs with the guests can be somewhat loud with the dogs barking, but once the "introductions" are made, the barking should stop.

Dogs being social animals, socialization plays a vital role in a dogs training IMO.

 

[jdbower]

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.

I'm sure he's pretty successful and a large amount of the show is based on truth, but are you convinced there have never been any slip-ups that have been edited out? That every single dog he's ever tried to rehabilitate has been aired? TV, even reality TV, is not about showing the whole truth because then you'd have each episode a week long with large amounts of time focusing on people sleeping. TV is about telling a story and marketing an idea that sells ad revenue and gets another season, and it only takes ONE slip up between a large dog and a small child to leave permanent. Believing that any person can wave a magic wand and turn a mean dog into one that would gingerly carry your infant to you in its jaws isn't a good idea.

 

[LMTC]

I'm with Curly Dave on the barking dog. We have a Border Collie, and if there is a more people-positive dog, I haven't met it; and we have had Labs...they are close to this BC, but she is so much more intelligent than any dog I've ever had that it's almost scarey. But she does bark when anyone or anything approaches the house (and I mean 50' away...she either has super-sensitive hearing, or senses I don't understand). However, even when we know who is coming and holler for them to come in, the instant the door opens she is in "give me attention, give me attention" mode with them, even if she's never met them.

I would guess I have had about 15 or so dogs that I raised from weaning on. Two had to go...one spaniel mix who was always mildly aggressive with strangers, and after a year we chose not to continue to keep him....he went to a local farmer with hundreds of acres where the dog would virtually never come into contact with anyone else. The other, a bloodhound mix, was the most stupid dog I've ever seen. He would walk in front of moving cars in the driveway and lay down. He went to a family with several kids who absolutely loved him, but kept him in a fenced yard.

I still would never leave our BC (or ANY dog) unattended with an infant, toddler, or small child. And I guess based on the out-of-the-blue completely unwarranted reference to me earlier in the thread, I shouldn't leave her alone with another dog either, since "dogs are a lot like children". A LOT like children? Still scratching my head on that one................

 

[Dargo]

One of my employees' son is an ER surgeon. He can't begin to tell you how many times he's worked to save a child while listening to the parent(s) explain how they can't believe that their dog mauled their child. He believes that any parent that keeps any medium to larger sized dog with a small child ought to be shot along with the dog after their child is mauled. He says to never leave any size dog alone with a child no matter what. After what all he has seen, and the excuses he's heard, he has some very strong opinions on this matter.

 

[milkman]

I'm sure he's pretty successful and a large amount of the show is based on truth, but are you convinced there have never been any slip-ups that have been edited out? That every single dog he's ever tried to rehabilitate has been aired? TV, even reality TV, is not about showing the whole truth because then you'd have each episode a week long with large amounts of time focusing on people sleeping. TV is about telling a story and marketing an idea that sells ad revenue and gets another season, and it only takes ONE slip up between a large dog and a small child to leave permanent. Believing that any person can wave a magic wand and turn a mean dog into one that would gingerly carry your infant to you in its jaws isn't a good idea.

True, but some people will believe everything they see and hear on TV to be the truth and if you don't, they'll just call you cynical.