Looking at Rhodesian Ridgebacks or a Boerboel South African Mastif, love the Boerboel but not sure if I can keep it fed. Must eat a ton. I found a Boerboel breeder in Ft Worth and a RR breeder in H-town. I forgot how scary this all can be.
That's two spectacular breeds, both quite costly. Big dogs don't eat that much more than the small ones... In any case it shouldn't cost you more than a day of work a month. Good luck with your new pet and keep us informed!
"dog attack witnesses tell how children were sprayed with baby’s blood in playground as cops quiz two and tot fights for her life" Yeah, decisions, decisions? https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3258912/dog-attack-chatham-jenkins-dale-estate-kent/ You doggy-people are something else!
As a matter of fact, the sire of the Boerboel pups is named Cerberus. Biiiig dog. One thing about Boerboel dogs, they are guard dogs without the aggression. Do you react the same way when you see a toy poodle?
All dogs can be spontaneously aggressive - it's just that the bigger ones do the most damage, especially to children.
It's hysteria. Dogs have been stalwart human allies for tens of thousands of years. Their ratios of deliberate (that is, not done as a part of their function) attacks on human is quite low when one factors in their sheer numbers among us (or their positive impact). Certainly lower than ours, in any case. But what irritates me the most is those types who would make us live in a totalitarian state because their insecurities are the geist these days. There will never be enough liberty and freedom sacrifices on the altar of security, so that we can live long, dull, depressive and heavily regulated consumers' lives. Thank you - thank you very much.
Yes, it's a real hoot when this is the last thing a child sees before it closes its eyes for the last time, and the pain of having chunks ripped from their little bodies at last comes to an end, isn't it? Jesus you people must really be weird.
Nurture creates a dogs personality, nature creates its instinct, Few dog breeds rely primarily on instinct anymore.
You mean like the one in the link. and the many others that have 'had the instinct to taste blood bred out of them'?
And the funniest part of your drama show is that the dog in this pic is probably playing with someone or another dog. smh. One thing about jowly dogs is that when they run around their jowls fly apart and it shows their teeth really well. Then again they are guard dogs, expand that picture a bit and you might see the dog protecting a 5 year old from a sexual predator intent on kidnapping the kid. Beautiful dog though. If you are afraid of dogs, why on earth would you choose cerberus as a screen name?
Likely any dog that attacks has been in some way trained or driven to do so through human interaction. There are of course exceptions but as with all species these are rare. The Wolf has been bred out of Dogs for the most part. If we decided to focus on the "Bundys" of our species we humans would be nasty violent killers.
My current dog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, named Izzy, weighs 80lbs or so in the pic, could probably pull your face right off. Body count remains at zero. 8 years and counting.
I personally prefer pet adoption. Adopting a pet has advantages over raising a puppy. One being the freedom from having to house train. Another is that you can accurately assess a dogs personality, and disposition before hand. Critical IMO if children or other pets are a consideration.
All my dogs are, and have been, adopted. They make wonderful pets and as you say, have their personality assessed. It is a "you know it when you see it" sort of thing. You go from shelter to shelter (foster homes even), until a dog stands out. Most foster or shelter workers know the pet's temperament rather well and can advise you.
I took my toddler to a local shelter. He selected a 3 yr old 100 lb Chow mix. Staff & I both apprehensive. We put on a leash and went to an outdoor enclosure, my son holding the leash. One of the best pets I've had. Chows get a bad rap IMO.
You have to really screw up as a dog owner to have a violent dog. I've had 4 and never one of them bit anyone in a violent way.
I'm closing in on 50 years old this month, and have had several great dogs from shelters, and some just showed at our door unannounced and they were great too. But this time, I want a specific breed and want to start out with a puppy. Yeah it's more work, but it's so worth it.
ALL of them? I have had probably 10 different rescue cases (or 30 depending on how you define "rescue") in my family throughout my life time (so far) and they've all been wonderful, but raising a dog from a pup is something uniquely special. Surely you've raised at least one?
I once took a picture of my WGSD and my 3 year old holding his leash while he was doing some sort of rearing up like Hi Ho Silver, was absolutely adorable. Little kids with big dogs on leashes get me right in the feelers.
I rescued quite a bit in the day, along with willing foster partners. Yes, people do throw puppies away like a piece of trash. If memory serves, we had German Shepherd, Poodle, Bull Mastiff, a Boxer, a few more, and of course your run of mix breeds. I did keep pups to raise on occasion.
I don't mean to be rude, but why on earth would you encourage a dog breeder (by buying from them) when there are millions of unwanted dogs in shelters etc? A genuine dog lover (as opposed to someone who owns dogs as a fashion statement .. ie, particular breeds - based on how they look) wouldn't dream of supporting the breeding industry while so many dogs remain unhomed. If it's so important to you to have a dog that looks the way these dogs do, you will almost certainly find one in a shelter. Pitt and fighting dogs have the highest dump rate around the western world ... the shelters are full of them. On that, I wonder if you've ever wondered why that is? The bystander might assume it's because the dogs themselves are difficult. They'd be wrong. It's about the types of people who buy them.
You can get puppies and young dogs from shelters. We adopted 8 week old litter brothers from a shelter. Had them for 14 years, and they died within 2 months of each other.