Do you think aggresive, vicious dogs are always because their owner?

Pit bulls can be wonderful friendly dogs. I know three and they are all sweethearts.

I think they have to be mistreated very young to become stereotypical mean dogs.

No. Whenever I pick out any pet I usually spend quite some time in the floor with the whole litter to get a feel for personalities. Just like humans, some seem a little shy, others bold, some more aggressive, others more submissive. Treat them like people and take some time to learn who they are. Sometimes I will roll a puppy on its back and touch its tummy, or pet it while it is eating, to get a feel for its temperment. While a little snippy growly pup might be trained to be civil, I would rather leave the work to someone else and pick one that is easy going by nature. It seems to me that some are just born very very dominant.

Dogs have instincts that you have to understand though,. They are pack animals that want to belong to a group and respect hierarchy. You have to establish yourself as Alpha. They are instinctively territorial and they bark. Sometimes I think people want to adopt a dog and “train” it to act like an ostrich. Newsflash. A dog will act like a dog.

Yes….dogs have tendencies, but the way they are raised makes them obedient, kinder, gentler. Meaner, feistier. It’s all in the upbringing.

I agree with @escapedone7.

I volunteered at the Human Society whilst in high school and walked a bunch of pit bulls. They were all sweet and beautiful doggies!

All dogs can be dogs and I am cautious about them always. I adore dogs and am very careful when I get one about their temperment… Thanks for the @escapedone7 comment. I do believe environment can make some changes for the good and the bad. Most owners are owned by their dogs :-) not as it should be the other way around. BUT, It is silly to say that certain dogs do not have better tendencies toward different working traits. Breeds of dogs are bred to increase the traits that predominate in each. So yes some will have more or less of that trait than others. Some will be more or less agressive than others. The breed is important because the traits are refined. Certainly some people should never own an aggressive dog or an aggressive breed.

I rescued a dog that had been mistreated, and she never got over her aggressive tendencies. She was fine with me and my immediate family, but I had to keep her away from other people.

Pitt bulls, rottweilers and other such dogs are stereotyped as being aggressive because that’s how they were bred to behave. Pit bulls were bred to fight, just as labs were bred to retrieve and Saint Bernards bred to find people in avalanches. It is up to the owner to make sure a puppy from an aggressive breed is properly socialized when it is young to avoid resorting to those in-bred instincts. All dogs have the capability of being wonderful, sweet dogs, but if an owner doesn’t know how to properly raise certain breeds, especially aggressive ones, you will end up with a violent dog that promotes the stereotype of that breed.

No. We’ve got a pitbull and she’s the most gentle, patient and loving of the three dogs BUT she is powerful so when she reacts in a normal way to tell the others she’s had enough of them humping on her leg or hanging like a rat from her underneck skin with their tiny teeth then she can cause serious damage. Her nip or a couple of warning mouthings come with giant hard sharp teeth that can and have punctured just because of her jaw strength. Ideally I wouldn’t have paired her with small dogs but ours is a blended pet family and think a lot of people do this. She may have been bred to fight and defend, we know she’s built and capable for it but our job as owners who love her is to protect her as best we can from having to be in situations to warrant that.

Yes! The secret to having a good dog is love and spending lots of time teaching them right from wrong! much like our children!

Hmmm that’s a good question actually…In my opinion I think yes because. Why would a dog or any animal in particular want to be nice to anyone if their owner mistreats him/her? If I was a pet (dog or pet wolf :3) I would probably have my nice moments, but it’s understandable for pets since they always get mistreated. I don’t think god made animals so they could be beaten…. But, I think yes in my opinion again. Hope this gave you something for reference (if I said that right…)

I think the whole, nature vs nurture arguement is relevant here. The majority of the time a dogs personality/habits/tendencies will be influenced by the way it is treated and the experiences it has in it’s life and so the owner has a major responsibility to ensure that the dog is raised in a way that will encourage a non aggressive personality. I have never met an aggressive dog that’s problems couldn’t be traced back to a bad experience (or a health problem) and so I find it difficult to believe that dogs are born aggressive.

Of course it’s not 100% always because of their owners. But it can certainly be influenced by the owners. A pit bull is a dog that is inherently more powerful than most others and they require a skilled trainer in order to not pose a threat. For instance, the dog must always comply and drop whatever is in its mouth (well not even put it IN their mouth), due to the locking on nature of a pit bull’s jaw. The dog must heel to not run up and startle a kid. Etc.

Most if not all dogs were bred down from wolves. All of them have certain amounts of natural instincts left behind. Some more than others – like herding dogs, such as a border collie I am looking to add to my farm to help me out with the sheep. Others are much more domesticated and wouldn’t hurt a fly. But you can never trust that they won’t revert back to instincts, and as an intelligent owner you must be prepared for that situation and resolve it immediately.

Only recently was I introduced to the NILIF method of training – nothing in life is free. It basically amounts to making it clear to the dog that you are the alpha dog, as such the dog embraces its roll as beta dog and doesn’t even attempt misbehaviour. I think this will be the approach I will take with my working dog. As much as he will be my friend and partner, he is also a tool that can cause damage. The last thing I would want to happen is for either him or anyone else to get hurt as a result of wanting to be “kind” or “soft” on the dog and choosing to not train him to be compliant of my wishes about situations instead of thinking and deciding for himself. Such as with managing the sheep – I am the shepherd, I know what the next step is, his job is to help me round them up or separate a certain sheep, not to play with them and choose what ones to pick out himself.

Domestic dogs are a bit different but they all benefit from knowing who is the alpha dog. I’m pretty sure this is one of Cesar Milan’s key principles in dog training, letting the dog know you are the alpha and he is not. Once the dog knows this, they comply, it’s their nature as a pack animal. While it might be cuter to have a dog that jumps all over you when you walk in the door, there is something to be said for a dog that is calm and content and sits patiently while you portion out his meal, and only eats it when you say “Go ahead”.

No. Some breeds are naturally aggressive.

well a dog could turn into an aggressive mode because the owner just raised it that way but their are other reasons as well they could just be afraid. or they just havent been around much people and they turn out to not be friendly.