Meet Bruce!

[KnittyNorah]

no such thing as a bad dog, just bad owners

While I agree that there's no such thing as a 'bad' dog, and there are certainly too many bad owners, there are mentally-ill dogs and those with neurological disfunctions, some of whom may have aggression as one of the symptoms.
Sufferers of canine rage syndrome give every appearance of being a 'bad' dog - their owners, though, however good they may be, can do nothing about it. It is a neurological disease, which appears to be genetic in origin and often, though not always, displays EEG abnormalities.. It can be very difficult to diagnose and sadly, too often there is no useful treatment and euthanasia is the safest answer. It is often, in milder cases, thought to be 'merely' a behavioural problem, and good, responsible owners can really beat themselves up about it, wondering where they went wrong to end up with what appears to be such an untrustworthy dog ... and feel terribly sad and guilty when the dog has to be euthanised after a nasty attack.

 

[raleighnut]

While I agree that there's no such thing as a 'bad' dog, and there are certainly too many bad owners, there are mentally-ill dogs and those with neurological disfunctions, some of whom may have aggression as one of the symptoms.
Sufferers of canine rage syndrome give every appearance of being a 'bad' dog - their owners, though, however good they may be, can do nothing about it. It is a neurological disease, which appears to be genetic in origin and often, though not always, displays EEG abnormalities.. It can be very difficult to diagnose and sadly, too often there is no useful treatment and euthanasia is the safest answer. It is often, in milder cases, thought to be 'merely' a behavioural problem, and good, responsible owners can really beat themselves up about it, wondering where they went wrong to end up with what appears to be such an untrustworthy dog ... and feel terribly sad and guilty when the dog has to be euthanised after a nasty attack.

yep, my aunts dog out to have been 'euthanised' nasty litle fecker bit about a dozen people, Yorkie's are a right pain...............a bit like little blokes, all aggression

 

[Drago]

I've only had 2 dogs and I find labs the perfect compromise - sweet natured, soft mouthed, safe around kids, but big enough that no one takes the pith when we go in the lounge bar of the Chav and Machete for a swift Guinness.

 

[KnittyNorah]

yep, my aunts dog out to have been 'euthanised' nasty litle fecker bit about a dozen people, Yorkie's are a right pain...............a bit like little blokes, all aggression

That's a generalisation - you can't tar all dogs of the same breed, with the same brush, just because one or two you knew were nasty.

Equally generalising but in the other direction, I know a woman (who used to show and breed yorkies) who has had as many as seven at a time, as well as a current litter (she now has three) and hers are, from youngest to oldest, the sweetest, quietest, snuggly-est little dogs it would be possible to imagine. They are about as much trouble as the 'toy dogs' (I mean actual stuffed toys!) they are named after, except that they need to be fed and do their business.
Not my cup of tea - I like something livelier! - but my goodness, I can see their attraction for someone who wants a small, quiet affectionate dog.

 

[Drago]

It's that time of day again...

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I agree that you can never be certain about a certain breed
When I was a kid my parents always told me never to trust a Black Lab - apparently they had known a few 'bad' ones - but only when black

Also - at the time Alsatians (OK OK OK GSDs) had a bad reputation
in both cases it was apparently due to breeders going for sellable feature (such as big GSDs) without considering temperament.


As far as mentally ill dogs go - then they do exist.
There used to be a beagle that lived next to me - the owners never let anyone near him - even family - because he would appear perfectly OK and wag his tail
and then attack for no apparent reason.
They took their responsibility seriously and there was never a problem - but they told me that if I ever found a problem with the fence between the 2 properties then to tell them and not try to fix it myself just in case their dog was in the garden. They were very careful about it and there was a separate barrier in front (from their view) of the fence just in case
and there have been a couple more that I have known
One was a gsd (hence quite big and lots of bite power) and totally untrustworthy. My friend was 'going out with" (and staying in with!!) the endest daughter and so knew the dog well. He reckoned it was the only dog he had ever met that could be cornered in the middle of an empty field - scared of its own shadow!

Mine was also very easy to scare but she would run - preferably to me - at the first sign of trouble ( such as a shitzu - they always gave her the willies!!)
at one point we were in the pub and she was sitting nicely by my side at the bar as I was ordering another pint when a small girl - probably about 4 or 5 - came dashing into the bar area looking for her Dad - she took one look at my dog (a GSD) and divert to her and threw her arms around the poor dog!!!!
I lept towards her and grabbed her collar and made sure she was under control and not too scared - poor thing was totally confused and glad her Dad had come to her rescue.
The girl's father came over and just said "Oh she loves dogs"
lucky for her it was my dog and not some other that would think of it as an attack!!!


anyway - to finish (finally they all say)
some dogs have mental problems - like any animal - but most problems are caused by bad owners and some by people behaving like idiots!

 

[Drago]

I got a lovely video of 21 month old Bruce playing with my 18 month old twin grandsons a d a football yesterday. He was playful but instinctively knew not to be too boisterous and bowl them over.

 

[KnittyNorah]

There used to be a beagle that lived next to me - the owners never let anyone near him - even family - because he would appear perfectly OK and wag his tail
and then attack for no apparent reason.

Sounds very like canine rage syndrome. Sad for dog and owners - and even more sad for anyone attacked. Sounds as if they had a good handle on things, but it can't have been easy or given them much joy, really.
A friend's border collie became quite unpleasant as he aged and developed canine dementia - not biting, but acting threatening and aggressive, which was very out of character. It was clear that it happened when he was having a 'confused' episode, and I suppose the confusion made him feel anxious and vulnerable. He was diagnosed by a specialist veterinary neurologist at Liverpool University vet school.

 

[raleighnut]

I agree that you can never be certain about a certain breed
When I was a kid my parents always told me never to trust a Black Lab - apparently they had known a few 'bad' ones - but only when black

Also - at the time Alsatians (OK OK OK GSDs) had a bad reputation
in both cases it was apparently due to breeders going for sellable feature (such as big GSDs) without considering temperament.


As far as mentally ill dogs go - then they do exist.
There used to be a beagle that lived next to me - the owners never let anyone near him - even family - because he would appear perfectly OK and wag his tail
and then attack for no apparent reason.
They took their responsibility seriously and there was never a problem - but they told me that if I ever found a problem with the fence between the 2 properties then to tell them and not try to fix it myself just in case their dog was in the garden. They were very careful about it and there was a separate barrier in front (from their view) of the fence just in case
and there have been a couple more that I have known
One was a gsd (hence quite big and lots of bite power) and totally untrustworthy. My friend was 'going out with" (and staying in with!!) the endest daughter and so knew the dog well. He reckoned it was the only dog he had ever met that could be cornered in the middle of an empty field - scared of its own shadow!

Mine was also very easy to scare but she would run - preferably to me - at the first sign of trouble ( such as a shitzu - they always gave her the willies!!)
at one point we were in the pub and she was sitting nicely by my side at the bar as I was ordering another pint when a small girl - probably about 4 or 5 - came dashing into the bar area looking for her Dad - she took one look at my dog (a GSD) and divert to her and threw her arms around the poor dog!!!!
I lept towards her and grabbed her collar and made sure she was under control and not too scared - poor thing was totally confused and glad her Dad had come to her rescue.
The girl's father came over and just said "Oh she loves dogs"
lucky for her it was my dog and not some other that would think of it as an attack!!!


anyway - to finish (finally they all say)
some dogs have mental problems - like any animal - but most problems are caused by bad owners and some by people behaving like idiots!

That used to happen to me and Sabor (my GSD) a lot, again it was generally little girls who would throw their arms round his neck........funniest thing was the look on the parents faces, I used to tell them that if I didn't trust my lad implicitly then he wouldn't be in that situation (pub beer gardens, music festivals etc.) as for black Labradors I agree completely, at one time the dog that statistics proved was most likely to bite anything. I had the worst combination possible, a black Lab/GSD 1st cross, totally unpredictable and bit more people/other dogs than I can remember (including me)..............TBH he wasn't really mine he belonged to a girl I met in 1980 but I/we then had him for 5 years, feeding him was a nightmare, he would growl and snarl at anyone who went near and you couldn't 'walk' him until after dark.
Funniest thing he did was I was out with him walking around a small industrial estate in Narborough (where we lived then) when a Police Car pulled up and stopped with the Copper getting out of the car and asking me what I was doing, "walking my Dog" I told him, of course there was no sign of Tommy but when I whistled and called him back he came bounding and seelng the open door of the Cop car promptly jumped in and when the Policeman went near growled and snarled at him. By this time I'd recognised the Copper as a lad I'd been at school with called Kev Jones and said "It's Kev innit" he said "yessssss" then I told him we'd been at school together about 5-6 years before but meanwhile the dog is still in his car, snarling at the world............eventually I went and found a stick which having got Tommy's attention I threw and off he went after that. We had a bit of a chat after I'd told him to close the car door in case he decided to return and get back in and told Kev the reason I walked the hound there was nobody was about at that time of night so it was safe to let Tommy have a run around.
Fantastic 'Guard Dog' though, he didn't wait for someone to come into the house but simply jumped through the window at them if they were in the garden, I had to replace the glass a dozen or more times and it got quite funny at the glass merchants...........they even knew the size of pane I needed but he never went after anyone when they had run away, simply stood at the gate barking and snarling until they went away then sat on the doorstep until either me or my fiance came home

 

[Drago]

Bruce been enjoying chasing the frisbee today. Ita warm, so limited the session a bit and I keep a bowl and water in the car so he could have a nice drinkie.

 

[BrumJim]

That's a generalisation - you can't tar all dogs of the same breed, with the same brush, just because one or two you knew were nasty.

Equally generalising but in the other direction, I know a woman (who used to show and breed yorkies) who has had as many as seven at a time, as well as a current litter (she now has three) and hers are, from youngest to oldest, the sweetest, quietest, snuggly-est little dogs it would be possible to imagine. They are about as much trouble as the 'toy dogs' (I mean actual stuffed toys!) they are named after, except that they need to be fed and do their business.
Not my cup of tea - I like something livelier! - but my goodness, I can see their attraction for someone who wants a small, quiet affectionate dog.

We used to have a Yorkie when we were little. Whilst I agree that it was the kindest natured dog you could ever find, it was utterly fearless chasing cats out of the garden, and not just cats; was once caught one night chasing a small fox and gaining, and scared the living daylights out of various paper boys until they actually saw it in real life, as opposed to behind a door. Definitely thought it was a big dog, despite not being one.

 

[KnittyNorah]

We used to have a Yorkie when we were little. Whilst I agree that it was the kindest natured dog you could ever find, it was utterly fearless chasing cats out of the garden, and not just cats; was once caught one night chasing a small fox and gaining, and scared the living daylights out of various paper boys until they actually saw it in real life, as opposed to behind a door. Definitely thought it was a big dog, despite not being one.

Well they are terrorists - ooops I mean terriers!

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Totally different but when I was a kid there were some large houses along the main road
one had a big wooden gate - about 6 foot high with decorative bits at the top
In the house lived a St Bernard

you had to be careful when you walked past the house and check if the dog had jumped up and put his head in one of the gaps
If he had - and if he could tell that you had not noticed - then just AFTER you walked past - so when he was JUST behind you - he would give one very deep very loud WOOF

if made people jump out of their skin!!

he wouldn;t do it if you noticed him - only if you hadn;t!

evil genius in dog form!

 

[Drago]

 

[Drago]