Why Dogs Attack - Rather Interesting Article

This is an article about why dogs attack. When people say the attack came out of nowhere, it may have seemed like that to them, but dog attacks never happen without something to provoke it. The article is written from the point of view of a dog, defending his territory. He believes his owner, John, needs defending against this stranger, Henry. John and Henry are shouting at each other from across the street, but to the dog, it sounds like his owner is frightened:

http://www.k9magazine.com/the-anatomy-of-a-dog-attack-2/

Read the story, then at the end, all the signs of a potential dog attack are listed. There are a few things there I didn't even know. Perhaps the information given might help someone to avoid an attack.

 

This is an excellent article from Ryan, who has been a consistant campaigner for improved understanding of dogs and the problems relating to dog attacks (and the problems with the current UK laws relating to dogs and the prevention of dog attacks).

Here's some video of him in action on TV (with his dog) discussing the issues:

[video=youtube;5DQsujS9iiE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DQsujS9iiE[/video]

 

Some dogs are problematic.
I have seen many dogs going nuts in front of people wearing uniforms (that is not specific to dogs btw).
It can be funny when a couple of policemen show up at the gate; but it gets annoying when it's directed every day at the same postman, etc.
Dogs should be trained to memorise different uniforms and react accordingly.

 

Usually, the dog's behavior is a reflection of the behavior of the owner of this dog.

 

I can tell you one thing. Don't run.

German Shepard behind an aircraft wing up against an outside wall. I didn't know one of the guys brought his dog. I went to get one end of the wing to bring it inside and he charged out from behind it with teeth bared and barking. I ran. Mistake. He reached me just as he reached the end of his chain. He did a flip and I lost a chunk of my butt. I turned around and he was just sitting there with his head tilted.

Another time I went to check out a junked sports car in an empty lot. Out from behind the car came another dog, growling and baring teeth, ready to attack. I faced him down and slowly backed out. No bite.

 

Good Article, thanks for sharing

 

I have 2 attack Westies and we are ready for the enemy lol

 

I have an Invisible Fence; and I always worry about people or worse, kids who ignore the Beware of Dog Sign and come into the yard. I’m sure may Dog won’t attack, but he’s 70 lbs of Muscle and play; and would knock down anyone just for fun.

 

Good article Mak. I agree with it 100%, most often people don't realize how their actions affect and dictate the actions of their dog. People need to be made more aware.

 

no matter it's still not excusable. 99% of dog owners can't control their dogs which isn't a dangerous issue when it's a small breed but when it's one of the larger aggressive breeds there are serious dangers. There are so many people who are incompetent as dog owners it's not surprising there are so many attacks and deaths from dogs. Last week a women was mutilated by two pit bulls in my city, she made the error of visiting a friend who had no ability to control her dogs.

I've a medium size dog that I keep on a short leash when on walks where we could encounter strangers. At home he is introduced to visitors gradually, he's not a vicious dog but he is very protective of his family and home and I'm aware of when and why dogs bite so I take preventive action to avoid those situations.

 

Wyly, my big lab used to square up to everything but he particularly hated any dog bigger than him, once famously tackling two rottweilers and absolutely hated every Jack Russell or wee yappy dugs in general. He would cross the street to get a bite at a Jack Russell. This ended with my husband trying to stop him biting a Jack Russell which then bit him in the leg and did some damage to the tendon.

He was never lucky with dogs though. Hoosier, when he was a boy he was told that old "don't move" chestnut and he didn't move and that German Shepherd attached itself to his right elbow where the scar lingers still.

Mak, the article is very sad. Most dogs in an uncertain situation look at you for direction. They are usually happy to take the lead from you. If they don't receive any pointers on how to act they go into defence mode. It's still severe to go into full attack. He obviously thought he was getting pointers and that is what he was supposed to do.

 

Tell that to the countless victims, including children, just walking down the sidewalk and suddenly, w/o warning, not even knowing a dog was there, they're attacked by a pit bull.......

I love dogs, but that's one unpredictable killer I would never have.......

 

"wee yappy dogs" I take it your husband and you don't like yappy dogs particularly Jack Russells. Which would explain your dogs action as likely picks up on the body language of the owners...I used get annoyed when my daughters boyfriend would show up, not surprisingly the dog took a stronger dislike to him than to other people, two years on he still dislikes him a lot!

me too, I was bitten in the thigh, standing still completely unprovoked attack, I can't think of any reason what I could have done to be bitten...

 

agreed...I've been attacked by an uncontrolled terrier that was ankle high but there's not much damage it could inflict, a pit-bull that's like having 5 year old kid wander around with a loaded gun...

 

It would be a lot more convincing if statistics were included about circumstances. I remember many neighborhoods that I decided not to even walk through as a teenager and young adult because there were so many stray "crack dogs" (i.e. the dogs of owners that are completely irresponsible to the dog's welfare and allow the dog to establish a neighborhood "territory" outside of their yard) roaming around. They form packs and can be very dangerous. I remember vividly being in a car with a bunch or crack dogs attacking a car. Unfortunately, the driver (not me) found it rather funny to run over as many as possible.

 

I would find out what kind of home life the dog had. Chances are the owners have made it so vicious. I don't have a problem with pitbulls, I think they are gorgeous animals! They are banned here, though, although dogs that look like pit bulls have been seized and destroyed, because the council can't tell the difference between a pit bill and a dog that looks like one.

As a result, we've had beloved family pets killed because someone has decided that if it looks dangerous, it probably is.

 

Nope. If that were the case then I would be a case of split personality.

 

Pit bulls in the wrong hands are unpredictable. But I just have so much admiration for those dogs. Steadfast, loyal and brave.

 

You know, I've heard enuf stories about the owner of a pit bull exclaim "Well, I'll be danged! Brutus has never done that before! Why my pit bull has always been as gentle as a lamb" - after his pit bull attacked someone walking down the street and Brutus walked away chomping on a detached arm....

Quite a few yrs ago I listened to this vet, who had worked w/animals for decades explain that some dogs are unpredictable - they can be sweet, smiley, cuddly critters for a long time - then suddenly w/o warning, they'll either turn on you or someone else and he said that's the nature of pit bulls and chows...

I think Chows are beautiful, but would never have one b/c of that. I read animal stories written by the owners or someone involved and here's one I'll never forget.

This woman's mother had a Chow, the woman married, had a baby and would often take her little girl to visit her mother. The Chow was gentle around the baby, never had a problem w/the child. Time went by - when the little girl was 3 yrs old, they were visiting grandma again and that day, w/o warning, the Chow suddenly turned on the child and took half her face off...... the mother & grandmother saw it happen since they were sitting w/the child - there wasn't any tugging at it's tail or anything...... just a sudden attack to the child's face..... the child had to have several surgeries to put her face back together.....

The story gets worse - the grandmother refused to get rid of the Chow. So the daughter told her she & granddaughter would not be visiting her again - until she got rid of it...... and the story ended there.

I have a neighbor who has a beautiful dog. Asked Jim what breed Tinker Bell is and he said a Queensland Heeler.... she is gorgeous. After Tinker Bell and I got to be friends, where she'd come right up to me for petting, one day Jim told me she was really half Queensland and the other half is Chow..... said he wanted to make sure that Tinker & I were ok w/each other b/f he told me the Chow part.... but he always has her on a tight leash....

 

So was my German Shepherd, Queenie...... and she was a helluva lot prettier...

 

I remember seeing a video where a cop was sitting with his german shepherd k-9 dog and a reporter was interviewing the cop and that dog suddenly took a big chunk, OUT OF THE BLUE, and with no warning...out of the reporters face.

And this dog had visited school class rooms and were petted by the kids.

I think some breeds are more unpredictable because they are naturally more territorial and aggressive.

 

I bet in 99% of your storys about evil pit bulls, they are in fact not even pit bulls. Dogs are my life, they are how I make money, this is my field of choice. I am telling you right now, I would trust anyones child around a REAL american pit bull terrier. They are the original nanny dog. Are the dangerous to other dogs? Yes they can be. ANY terrier can be aggressive towards other dogs and animals. Real pit bulls are not guard dogs, they fail at it, they like people way to much.

Now these ghetto curs that have spent their entire life under fed and on a chain, abused by their owners, yeah they can be dangerous, but those "bullys" and am staff mix's.

If you go to ATTS.org you can see the temperment of just about any breed you want, I hope it would open, if you can be non media biased. The golden retriever scored just slightly WORSE then the american pit bull terrier, we all know how nasty those goldens are!

 

Yup, GS are also aggressive and some can be unpredictable, like the cop's K-9. What a shame that happened.......

I couldn't have asked for a better watch dog than Queenie - very protective of me & kids. Kids would rough house w/her and she loved it.......

One of my funniest memories about that wonderful dog was when husband & I would take the kids to the park to play - there would be a slide. Queenie would be right there w/all the kids, climbing up the ladder and sliding down the slide w/them.... I would spend the day laughing at our crazy, fun-loving dog....

 

ya that myth is constantly repeated but stats tell the real story.

A 2009 report issued by DogsBite.org shows that 19 dog breeds contributed to 88 deaths in a recent 3-year period. Pit bulls accounted for 59% followed by rottweilers with 14%.

Of the 88 fatal dog attacks recorded by DogsBite.org, pit bull type dogs were responsible for 59% (52). This is equivalent to a pit bull killing a U.S. citizen every 21 days during this 3-year period.
The data also shows that pit bulls commit the vast majority of off-property attacks that result in death. Only 18% (16) of the attacks occurred off owner property, yet pit bulls were responsible for 81% (13).

The combination of pit bulls, rottweilers, their close mixes and wolf hybrids:

77% of attacks that induce bodily harm
73% of attacks to children
81% of attack to adults
68% of attacks that result in fatalities
76% that result in maiming



so a dog that makes up .033% of the US dog population is responsible for 59% of human deaths. All the doggie myths you can create doesn't counter the cold hard facts, Pitt bulls are death on four legs that 99% of people have no business owning.

 

Dogs bite.org is a terrible website. Its as biased as fox news or msnbc. If you want stats I would start somewhere that doesn't have an agenda. If you google dogsbite.org you will find a ton of info on what im talking about, the woman is, frankly fanatical, and will twist date to her needs.

I offered you a non biased test center that works with ALL dogs. No bias there.