Staffy's And Rotties Most Dangerous

[RL1]

I for one, also cross the street to avoid Rotts in particular because i've only had bad experiences with them.....yes sure there are probably a few around that are nice and well mannered but i would rather not risk my dogs or myself on the hope that it may be nice

I think the ratio of good to bad behaved Rotts is more than " probably a few around that are nice and well mannered". I know my 8 year old bitch is considered the most friendly, tolerant and gentle dog by all at the local off leash park.

[Jed]

I thought, once the government had eradicated the "pit bull menace", they would probably begin on staffies - but it's a double header, so owners of staffies and rotties need to be vigilant about stories like this. Write to the editor, write to your local member, write to your councillor, so if any of them even consider bans for these breeds, you have some history of objections. If anyone wants it, I have dog bite stats available, which might help.

[CatsnStaffs]

I thought, once the government had eradicated the "pit bull menace", they would probably begin on staffies - but it's a double header, so owners of staffies and rotties need to be vigilant about stories like this. Write to the editor, write to your local member, write to your councillor, so if any of them even consider bans for these breeds, you have some history of objections. If anyone wants it, I have dog bite stats available, which might help.

Sadly, I very much agree with this post Jed. I too have said it is only a matter of time before the next breeds are added to the 'hit list' as the dog attacks just keep happening , even though the government had clearly fixed the problem with BSL It would be very unwise and perhaps quite foolish to adopt the 'oh it wont happen to my breed' approach and suggest getting in now and forming a solid base to wage the fight on. It is the public that needs educating,well to call it educating is a term 'we' understand but quite alot of the general public may take offence to ( you know,the I know boats sydrome) so I feel just getting out there and promoting your breed/breeds in the most positive light you can

[FB Rescue_Adoption]

I hate articles like this, when are people gonna realise that a dog is what you make it. Every dog has the potential to be a menace, as does every child not raised properly, time to make the owners more liable for their own irresponsibility.

[vk2mpj]

I was once told - what you do with your Rottie reflects back on the breed, how true. When I was young, I was bitten on the arm by a Collie rough but it didn't stop me owning one years later for 14.5 years but unlike you I didn't blame the breed or have a fear of them for the rest of my life. :p

I bet you have a large photo of Hugh Wirthless on your wall don't you, another person who hates the breed.

How did you know?!

I worship the man, have a little shrine.....*whispers* Don't tell anyone!

Mmm so how many nice Collies did you meet after the one that bit you? Have to be at least one right? See right there.....thats the difference

Whats the difference?? You have a bad experience with a Rotty and you hate / have a fear of them. He had a bad experience with a Collie, but chose to get over it and saw the breed for what they are, and not tar them with the same brush simply cause of one deed. If you think it is simply a case of meeting a nice example of the breed and that makes things all better, then I invite you around to meet Gilly, I must warn you though, he is a dangerous dog... he has a tail and a tounge, and is not a fraid to use it! :p

You know, the only incident I have ever had with a dog is with a SWF, there was this one that would relentlessly case me on my pushy on my way to school. It would nip at my ankles, bark & yap etc. Smart little thing only appeared on this one section of bike path that was up hill, so riding faster was easier said than done! But no-one gave a damn as it was a SWF.

It is the same sort of dogs and owners that give me filthy looks when I walk my Rotty, the SWF drops off line and starts pulling, barking, snarling etc whilst Gilly ignores them. The owner gives me the death stares cause I have a Rotty. I have even had one go as far as having a go at me, for "walking an entire dangerous dog, in his walking area" WTF??? Cause I am new to the area, I need to seek permission? This moron doesn't even know me or my dog, and yes he is entire, but is NOT dangerous. I have 3 young girls, and would not own a dog if there was the slightest sign of agression. Notice I said DOG not BREED.

The strange thing is, if I walk my GSD (yes I own two large breeds...) I have no dramas at all with anyone. I have people activley stopping me to pat here and comment on what a beautiful dog she is (I just need to work on her barking...). She could do as much damage as the Rotty...

This is a joke, I have had a bad experience with an Aborignial, and if I dare to say something along the lines of what I have read here and other places, I would be branded a racist. But cause I am a reasonable person and can see that it is a case of one person amongst hundreds of thousands, it would be wrong and unfair to blame the majority cause of the actions of a minority. EXACTLY the same principle applies to these dogs, perhaps we should start screaming "BREEDIST" (if there is such a word).

I don't see the government introducing race specific legislation to deal with people of difference races who cause problems, so why should they introduce BSL.

End Rand....

[traciemc]

I cringe hearing of a dog attack then the words " a rottweiler was responsible..." then you see the footage and as long as the dog, usually a cross breed, is black, then its a rottie.

I'm sick and tired of irresponsible media telling lies and targeting breeds that don't deserve it.

Most dog attacks are done by cross breeds...

I've had rotties for 20 years and every one of them has had the most beautiful temperament and are the biggest sooks.

Every staffie I know would never attack a person - a goat or chickens maybe!

There needs to be positive publicity about the targeted breeds before they are taken away from us forever and what a tragedy that would be.

[mita]

Those sorts of stats don't help much unless you know absolute numbers.

Agree.

And also know how how the breed labels were collected & how they were then extracted from a data base.

Dog 'labelling' is done by the Council here with the labels....Primary breed & Secondary breed for each dog.

People owning a purebred, just write the breed name under Primary breed.

People owning a mixed breed dog....like they believe it to be a Labrador X (or looks like that)....have to put Labrador under Primary breed & something else under Secondary breed.

But when data is being pulled out, it's pulled out by the Primary breed. So Labradors & Labrador crosses get pulled out as one group.

This seems to be one 'standard' way of collecting data about dogs.

Primary breed & Secondary breed (if applicable).

Or someone is just asked, 'Primary breed?' To which both purebred Lab owners & Lab cross owners would say the same.

But data is pulled by Primary breed, giving the impression that the total number is made up of purebreds alone.

Edited January 11, 2009 by mita

[NorthernStarPits]

also in emergency centres stats are recorded,, fella with half an arm missing gets asked the question 'so what sort of dog was it.'

[mita]

Agree, NSP. The other variable is who first 'describes' what the dog is....& it may well be a victim or a witness....in shock & likely, no expert on dog breeds.

'Labelling' the dogs for data collection is the elephant in the room of dog bites & attacks. If this data is being collected for the sake of stats & analysis, then it has to be as accurate as possible. Presently it's as broad as anyone's guess.

The present system asks for Primary Breed thus lumping in Crosses with Purebreds. And also lumps documented purebreds (with papers) in with any dog, from any other source, that anyone lists a Primary Breed only.

This gets ratcheted up when the 'breed' is popular & numerically highly represented in the population.

Look at all the dogs, from all sorts of sources with all sorts of appearances, that finish up with the label Staffy or StaffyX.

If stats are to have any scientific reliability, it should be only the Staffies with documented papers that can truly said to be 'Staffies'.

Which means it may not be a bad thing to add to data collection, an additional question of the owner...if this dog has pedigree papers (with some kind of documentation required, because many people have confused ideas about what 'papers' are).

Whatever is done....something needs to separate out the purebreds from registered sources, in the data collection.

Because Qld Uni research has shown that the purebreds from registered breeders came out as best in how they were socialised as puppies. And that such socialisation is linked with less likelihood for aggression problems later.

Under the present system, these dogs are being lumped in with those from other sources that are likely to be more represented in bites/attacks. So the registered purebreds finish up condemned by association via too broad use of a breed label.

Edited January 13, 2009 by mita

[Jed]

And most of the dogs which have bitten and are added to the stats are, in fact, crossbreds. I went through the stats from some years ago, and cross referenced them, where possible with reports of bites. The ones I could find were x breds, and I found 80% of the dogs in some breeds.

However, we are at the mercy of the media and the government. In light of recent developments on breed bans both here and o/s, one hopes that Governments may change legislation or at least not enact further breed specific legislation. Which not only costs innocent dogs' lives, causes endless grief to their owners and needless public expense, but does not reduce dog attacks.

If existing legislation had been enforced, dog attacks would have fallen over the past 10 years. Instead, BSL was introduced, and council resources were used to eradicate pit bulls, instead of working with existing legislation to actually do something about savage dogs.

[mita]

And most of the dogs which have bitten and are added to the stats are, in fact, crossbreds. I went through the stats from some years ago, and cross referenced them, where possible with reports of bites. The ones I could find were x breds, and I found 80% of the dogs in some breeds.

However, we are at the mercy of the media and the government. In light of recent developments on breed bans both here and o/s, one hopes that Governments may change legislation or at least not enact further breed specific legislation.

That cross-referencing doesn't surprise me in what it turned up. We'd see it in everyday life....look at how most people call any nuggety, medium dog....a 'Staffy'.

The biggest criticism that's worked in getting BSL reviewed by the authorities....is that there's no scientific base for a dog's appearance being predictive of that particular dog's behaviour. (Point now being made by the RSPCA in the UK).

As the reason for having BSL laws in the first place, was in the interests of public safety....then the authorities are back to square 1 in coming up with dog management legislation which is based on 21st century science.

But if the method of collecting dog breed data for bites/attacks, is to continue as presently (Primary Breed covering all dogs)....then it will continue to collect 'dirty data'. That is, information that's not accurate. So anything about dog management then based on that data.....will be worthless.

I've got more positive thoughts about how the public & the legistlators can be influenced. Can take a while, tho'. Look how long it took the anti-science of Dog Appearance (breed) = Predictive of Biting/Attacking.....to rise up the 'chain' until organisations like the RSPCA is rejecting it (with one notable exception!).

The next campaign to bang away at, is increased accuracy re breed labels when collecting data on dog bites/attacks.

Breed labels in any list of statistics, should be be strongly questioned re how they were arrived at & by whom.

[Banjo's Mum]

yup I seem to have a turd rotty ... he plays this game where he woofs at the back door then scurries off. If I look out the window he does a massive smile and rotty wiggle like 'ahhh made you look'

LOL!!!

I have to say that at the moment when I walk Banjo, everyone is like "oh isn't he cute" and come up and pat him.... I say give it 6 months and they won't be doing that at all. Like someone has already said, it is a pity that people have this pre conceived idea of how Rottys are. Each dog is an individual and will react differently to different situations... just like us two legged animals!

[Astese]

I have a very sad story.

Here goes, about 18 months ago our next door neighbours obtained a 18months old female Rotty. Well she challenged our dogs through the fence whenever we had our girls out the backyard. This poor animal was never walked, played with or invited into the house.

It escaped from the neighbours yard and attacked other dogs on three different occasions - eventually after much correspondence was entered into with the Council the dog was declared dangerous. Again the animal escaped - no action taken by the Council. The owners appealed to the Local Court about the dog being declared dangerous - the case was eventually placed before the Court (some 11months onwards). The dog again was declared Dangerous.

Not the end of the story yet - the owners never abided by the Legislation - no pen, no muzzle etc. So on New Years day we heard a dog screaming (no one home next door) . I said to my husband "you had better see whats going on it sounds like a dog is in trouble". My husband came running back inside - ring the Rangers the Rotty has just savaged and killed next door other little white dog. We rang the owners at their place of business and told them - no thanks to us just abuse.

Would you believe that the Council has done nothing about this whatsoever. I blame the owners and the Council for the death of the little white dog.

The Legislation does not go are enough owners should be registered and have to show cause why the should be allowed to have a dog. These people have had six dogs in 2years!!!!!!!

[Flaves]

LuvmyGSD, sad story but i will say that instead of a rotty, put another breed in that dogs place treated the same way and the outcome would have been the same

I feel sorry for the poor dogs - BOTH of them

[Mushaka]

Someone mentioned a few pages back that dogs should be listed as cross breds..

I was wondering if this is actually possible. I always thought you had to list what you believe the dog to be..??

Does anyone know if you can actually chip your dog and register it as simply "cross breed"..?

[rottiadora]

Someone mentioned a few pages back that dogs should be listed as cross breds..

I was wondering if this is actually possible. I always thought you had to list what you believe the dog to be..??

Does anyone know if you can actually chip your dog and register it as simply "cross breed"..?

Yes you can. We do it all the time at our clinic. Followed by a description, ie: colour, size, etc.

The NSW gov't push for a breed name but stuff 'em. No particular breed, no breed written down.

[Mushaka]

Someone mentioned a few pages back that dogs should be listed as cross breds..

I was wondering if this is actually possible. I always thought you had to list what you believe the dog to be..??

Does anyone know if you can actually chip your dog and register it as simply "cross breed"..?

Yes you can. We do it all the time at our clinic. Followed by a description, ie: colour, size, etc.

The NSW gov't push for a breed name but stuff 'em. No particular breed, no breed written down.

I really think this should be done... I had never thought it possible and always write down what i believe the cross to be

[Lisa.]

do you believe that an animal is human aggressive just because of its breed? or does the way in which it is raised have an effect on the individual animal?

what about the chihuahua who has a go at my staffy and then because i've trained my staffy to be neither dog or human aggresive, doesn't retaliate, does this mean we should start red flagging that breed? in my opinion, i am so frustrated with the perception of larger breeds being more feisty, when the small breeds, who, by my own observation, instigate... are worse!!! this country sucks for BSL and i am fed up with the stupid owners of these pussy dogs who are DA getting away with it because they're so 'cute' and 'cuddly' and now we might just have to investigate my rotti, or my staffy, because it tried to get the little yappy dog off its back at the park? this is bullshit. straight forward...

[GeckoTree]

Yes I believe some animals are human aggressive due to breed, for dog breeds the Fila Brasilero as one example have what is called "Ojeriza" toward strangers, that lends itself to human aggression out side of it's known family. A few other breeds come to mind who are often talked about aswell.

I also believe the way a dog is raised has an impact on aggression, for example dogs unsocialised towards people outside the family may lead to distrustfull even aggressive dispositions, even dogs specifically trained to be distrustfull of strangers would have a higher level of showing aggression toward people.

[Zhou Xuanyao]

A well bred dog should be even tempered. Some breeds have more suspision toward strangers than others, but none should be aggressive unless they are taught.