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Dangerous Dog advice


Ken Stone

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My sort of estranged sister in law lurves Pit Bulls. They have 2 that are "rescues" (*barf*). One that is a complete sweetheart and another that on two different occasions has tried to murder the one that is a sweetheart. My SIL can be naive so she thinks with enough love she will change the nature of the murdering Pit. I personally couldn't care less if one of her dogs kills the other but I am concerned for the children that live in her neighborhood. I've been tempted to call the village and let them know my concerns but I'm not sure it is the right thing to do. So far the deadly animal hasn't threatened humans, but it only takes once and you have a dead toddler. What should I do folks?


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My sort of estranged sister in law lurves Pit Bulls. They have 2 that are "rescues" (*barf*). One that is a complete sweetheart and another that on two different occasions has tried to murder the one that is a sweetheart. My SIL can be naive so she thinks with enough love she will change the nature of the murdering Pit. I personally couldn't care less if one of her dogs kills the other but I am concerned for the children that live in her neighborhood. I've been tempted to call the village and let them know my concerns but I'm not sure it is the right thing to do. So far the deadly animal hasn't threatened humans, but it only takes once and you have a dead toddler. What should I do folks?

It is the right thing to do.

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Dogs can be aggressive towards other dogs without ever showing aggression towards humans. With the limited.information here, I doubt your phone call would do much, or carry much weight.

Eta: what's with the quotes and barfing action in regards to rescues? I've had a shelter dog for 8 years and she's awesome

I find the term "rescue" to be cheesy and nauseating.

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Eta: what's with the quotes and barfing action in regards to rescues? I've had a shelter dog for 8 years and she's awesome

This. Will except for the part where I don't have a rescue dog. But I would not rule it out should we decide to get one.

They are in fact rescued: from bad ownership and from being put down in a shelter.

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Dogs can be aggressive towards other dogs without ever showing aggression towards humans. With the limited.information here, I doubt your phone call would do much, or carry much weight.

This. My westie is very mean towards other dogs, but loves people (except the postman who she barks at a lot).

I find the term "rescue" to be cheesy and nauseating.

:huh: Why?
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This. My westie is very mean towards other dogs, but loves people (except the postman who she barks at a lot).

:huh: Why?

I feel like the bar to being a hero has been lowered tremendously. It used to be where you had to actually do something impressive to be a hero. Now you can go drop a 20 at the shelter and instant hero status.

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I feel like the bar to being a hero has been lowered tremendously. It used to be where you had to actually do something impressive to be a hero. Now you can go drop a 20 at the shelter and instant hero status.

Nobody is calling them heroes because they have a rescue dog.

I have two and they play VERY rough with each other and can be aggressive at other dogs. I would also trust them unconditionally around a toddler.

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Dogs can be aggressive towards other dogs without ever showing aggression towards humans.

Until the owner of a dog that the aggressive dog is trying to murder tries to stop it, and the dog turns on them (this happened on my street a few years ago - a chap's rotweiller killed dogs while out on walks in two separate incidents, but nothing was done. On the third time, though, the person walking the dog got bitten too, and the rotweiller was summarily put down).

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My neighbor has one of these vicious pitbull dogs. The thing is constantly barking at my kids through the fence and tries to stick his snout through the fence to bite them. I heard the dog attacked some other dog last year but i really don't pay much attention. They are perfectly content to sit out on their deck and let the dog bark all day. I kind of feel bad for the dog because eventually it is going to attack someone and get put down.



I've been around a few Pitbulls and Rottweilers that were friendly and lovable but the owners really knew what they were doing in regards to training. One of my friends had a slightly overweight Rotty that you could trust with anyone. He was really an amazing dog. Unfortunately in my experience the vast majority of the pitbull owners I've seen are more likely to be a wanna be gangster type. The dog is just another accessory like their straight brimmed hat, saggy pants and gold chains.



Changing subjects a little - my kids are lobbying hard to get a dog. I cant deal with shedding dogs so i was thinking about one of the new cross breeds that do not shed. Anyone have advice on what to look and what kind of dog might fall in this category? I'd like something smallish but big enough to handle a long hike on their own.


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OP - call it in. It probably won't make a difference, except to alert the authorities that concern has already been raised. It's about all you can do if you don't want to / feel you can confront your sister about it personally.




My neighbor has one of these vicious pitbull dogs. The thing is constantly barking at my kids through the fence and tries to stick his snout through the fence to bite them. I heard the dog attacked some other dog last year but i really don't pay much attention. They are perfectly content to sit out on their deck and let the dog bark all day. I kind of feel bad for the dog because eventually it is going to attack someone and get put down.



I've been around a few Pitbulls and Rottweilers that were friendly and lovable but the owners really knew what they were doing in regards to training. One of my friends had a slightly overweight Rotty that you could trust with anyone. He was really an amazing dog. Unfortunately in my experience the vast majority of the pitbull owners I've seen are more likely to be a wanna be gangster type. The dog is just another accessory like their straight brimmed hat, saggy pants and gold chains.



Changing subjects a little - my kids are lobbying hard to get a dog. I cant deal with shedding dogs so i was thinking about one of the new cross breeds that do not shed. Anyone have advice on what to look and what kind of dog might fall in this category? I'd like something smallish but big enough to handle a long hike on their own.




Yup, the problem is almost always the owners, not the dogs (per se; once the dog has a problem, a change of owner is only going to do so much to improve the dog).


They're like helper dogs - for the hard of thinking.


Pit bulls, Rotties, Staffies etc with proper owners (from pup, properly socialised etc) are generally as soft as anything. Having said that, I've never taken an of my dogs through dog-training classes, but I invariably take them with me for human training.



As for a non-shedding dog, you'd basically be looking at a poodle cross; labrador-poodle probably being the best for a family doing day-long hikes


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Sounds like a job for Cesar.



You can change the behaviour of a dog but it takes a lot of work. Also the owner needs to be able to keep calm and be consistent.



I have a rescue dog and pretty soon after we got him he bit my Nan on the hand, down to the bone. Being British she was very much against us putting the dog down so we persevered with him. He has never bitten anyone since. Really he was just under-socialised and she startled him when was half asleep so once he realised people are nice he has never been aggressive again although he is still hard work.



It does take time though and if you can't have someone with your dog most hours of the day I don't know how you would do it. It is like raising a child. Like with a child you need love but you also need tough love and you need the will to follow it through.


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You want dangerous dog advice? Try taking away their food while they're eating.

Hey-oh.

I can take food off my Spaniel. The only time I get a little worried is when he has eaten something that hasn't passed through properly, like socks, or stockings, grass mainly now his a little older.

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if you do get into a nasty situation



1) Start with anything that can distract the animal; clapping, yelling, a whistle, a hose.



2) If that doesn't work and if you can, approach the dog from behind and lift up his hind legs like a wheelbarrow (lift near the haunches). They can't get to you and can't really move. You can then drag them away from any bad situation.



3) A dog's neck is the most vulnerable spot, there no bones protecting it. If it comes to that, hit the neck as hard as you can until you crush its windpipe.



4) if it attacks you, be willing to shove your forearm into its jaws to occupy it from damaging other things

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This thread is seriously disheartening. From the assertion that we should stop using the term rescue dogs to the blow by blow of how to crush a dog's windpipe, I would consider this to be fairly canine unfriendly. It was also disheartening to read zelticgar's post about the stereotype of pitbulls.

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