I understand what you are saying .................
Anyway....off my soapbox
Great post! You make a lot of good points.
I think though that you cannot breed viciousness into a dog. It's not an instinctual behavior like having a tendency for a soft mouth that can be bred into gun dogs.
I'm not sure...temperments can be very tricky and seperating the genetic from the enironmental is difficult. I'll put forth some "food for thought" here....
Some breeds are bred specifically for a high degree of aggression towards strangers. These are breeds where they are inherently suspcicious of anything "out of the ordinary", they don't take many cues from the owner as to the acceptability of the stranger and remain highly suspicious. If you look at the genetic evolution of instincts and temperment and what is called "
neotany" you'll see that is typical of very young pups in a certain period of development where they are very suspicous and react with fear at anything strange. Where-as pups normally grow of this - certain breeds are bred to retain this high degree of suspicion. Breeds like livestock guardian dogs for example - Anatolians, Great Pyranees etc. who bond with their flock whom they are raised with as puppies and regard strange canines or humans as threats or the Presa Canary dogs, a breed that is very suspicious and also very powerful and assertive. These breeds need intensive socialization that is on going and a knowledgeable owner if they are going to live in an area where they encounter a lot of people because they don't like strangers much and quite likely won't be entirely comfortable in certain situations. That's instinctual, it's bred into them and while aggression towards humans may not have been intentional it's the by-product of what those dogs were bred for in the same way as a soft mouth. I guess the problem is - what happens when genetic temperment intersects with environment and how the dog was reared.
If you at dogs bred for a guardian type temperment such as German Shepherds or Australian Shepherds you have breeds with a lot of "edge" to them. They are not as anti-social as the prior group but they are very atuned to any difference in their environment and, if not properly socialized will react. I am not sure whether the Presa fits here or with the above but it is a breed with a high degree of aggression bred into it for "protection" purposes. With any breed bred for that, you can get a time bomb if the dog is not socialized right. It is often difficult to tell if the "protection" is based on fear, confidence or a combination unwittingly encouraged by the clueless owner. That is a very dangerous mix.
Another aspect of temperment is how forgiving and flexable it is. Some breeds are much more forgiving of isolation, trauma and mistreatment and can emerged unscathed others are not. I've seen pitbulls on both ends of that. I've found many of the breeds in the herding group to be much less forgiving and more easily fucked up (such as Aussies and GSD's, which I am more familiar with).
Another thing that I think some Pitbulls have that works against them and can lead to bite incidents is that with their facial musculature and tight tight skin, they can be very difficult to read. If you cut off their ears in a fighting crop - communication is even more muted. Dogs like that don't always telegraph their intentions clearly the way other breeds can. In addition some breeds like Chows and Akitas are notorious for giving away very little of what they think before they act. So, if a kid (or adult) commits what in doggie lingo is a gross breach of manners and puts his arm over the dogs shoulders in a hug - a well socialized dog with a stable temperment would tolerate it, another dog might move way or growl and another might immediately bite as if the child were a rude dog. That can lead to screaming which in many dogs elicits prey behavior and mauling. It's a fine line.
So...while I think most of the time you aren't "breeding viciousness into the dog" you are breeding for a variety of traits that come together in a way that night all too easily produce a vicious dog - sometimes breed traits, sometimes individual quirks and sometimes both coming together with a bad environment and poor socialization.
This is were people who claim pit bulls are naturally vicious killers start to sound just like people who claim blacks have an inborn tendency to steal and Jews are wired to cheat people out of money.
I totally agree - it's very much dependent on the individual dog. Among the top breeds most likely to bite are Dachsunds and German Shepherds. Pits are pretty far down I think.
It's weird how the branding of America has spilled over into how people see dogs nowadays. It all about the breed just as it's all about the brand of clothing you wear. People sem to think that because they buy a dog that has some sort of certificate saying it's purebred golden retriever that they know exactly what they are buying as if they bought a pair of designer jeans. They don't realize it's living creature and that it has much more in common with other members of it's species than it does with some standardised ideal of what the dog breeding industry wants you to think it is.
That is a really interesting point! And so true! I work with Aussie Rescue (ARPH) - and more often then not I find what people want when they think they want an aussie is not a hard working dog with strong guardian and herding instincts but some sort of Golden Retriever in a blue merle suit. People get these puppies and then they don't know what to do when the dog exhibits the traits it was bred for.
I'm pretty much across the board against most dog breeding because it has led to so much abuse of dogs for the sake of fashion or gambling or other things. Pit bulls are one off the breeds that has suffered less than say English bulldogs or teacup chihuahuas from deformaties due to over breeding. I agree with you that owners probably should forn association like the owners of German shepherds and Dobermans did when those breeds where considered public enemy #!. I think that education has acheived a degree of success already in correcting misconceptions about pit bulls because I see more and more people willing to adopt abandoned ones in my state. Still there is along way to go.
And seeing as how people are people, I think that once pit bulls pass from being the scapegoat another breed will probably get put in their place. Just like it seems many people have a need to scapegoat certain ethnic or religious groups .
I couldn't agree more!!!!
Not so. They have the reputation because they are aggressive and many of those that own them cannot control them. Plus that little troubling fact that they have more brute strength and determination to finish the kill than many other breeds.
People have been wondering for years how it happened, you could earn some good money describing the process.
