Are Dogs Dangerous? Dogs And Little Children.

[Eza 5]

Maybe some dogs can be dangerous for little babies. The dog can get jealous of the baby. The dog can have the feeling the attention the dog got before the baby is in the house goes to the baby after the arrival of the baby in the house. And the dog might miss the attention the dog thinks it once got.Other dogs are agressive. Some sort of dogs are known for not letting loose once they bite something. And that something can be a part of the body of a person. It can be a stick, a branch of a tree and it can be a leg, a hand and an arm. It can be another dog too. These dogs don't let go. So it means they bite through the skin. And they can cause nasty wounds. These dogs are maybe usefull for fighting competitions or for stopping burglars but these dogs are maybe considered to be dangerous in usually social traffic and society.Some dogs don't like it when people approach them when they eat. They think when somebody approaches them when they have their meal the approaching living creature might steal their meal. So they become agressive to a creature that approaches them when they eat. And small children sometimes don't notice the difference between a dog that wants to play and a dog who is occupied by his meal. So they approach the dog in both occasions.Another reason for some dogs can be that they feel threatened and intimidated when a person bends over them. They might lay in their basket and when a person reach over to touch them they might feel like they are attacked. And this might result that the dog bites.Dogs can get a dog disease and become dangerous for people. When a sick dog with this sickness bites a person this person might become serious ill.A dog might bite in the goods of some other person. A dog might ruin the belongings of the owner. The dog can cause damage. This might lead to a financial loss.All these horror stories add to the relative importance of the question:Is a dog dangerous?This topic doesn't represent the opinion of the poster starter about dogs. This question deals with something that can be attached to the situation of people who have a dog.If the question that a dog can be dangerous and that maybe all dogs can get dangerous the next question arises. This is the question what to do to prevent unwanted actions of the dog. One option can be that a dog needs severe attention. The dog needs to be be under control and be taken care off. And maybe a dog should not be left alone in one room with a baby. And maybe it is not a good idea to leave a dog alone in a room with small children. This means some precautions need to be taken when people own a dog.

Edited November 28, 2010 by Eza (see edit history)

[sheepdog 10]

Aggression in dogs, very good subject, and also very complex. In recent history, one of the important problems breeders worked to correct was aggression in dogs. Most dog do not play the same role in our lives that they did hundreds, or even thousands of years ago. Breeders deliberately bred out bad temperaments in a lot of breeds that otherwise would be a menace to society. For most dogs living in human society, having good manners is an absolute necessity. Pet dogs need to be friendly and easy going and able to adapt to the congregations of mass humanity they now find themselves in. It would seem that for the most part, aggression would not be a good thing, but there are many times when it is wanted and needed. My aforementioned reference to the Komondor in the previous post about why to have a dog, that protect my goats is one example where aggression is a wanted and desired trait. Dogs that protect us in our homes and cars and when we walk down the street are another perfectly reasonably time to have aggression in dogs. There are those who don?t believe in owning guns, in which case a dog can provide protection nearly as effective as having a gun. (personally I have a gun and a dog, so I?m unlikely to end up as a victim.) Would you trust your dog with a baby or small children? This can only be answered as a case by case basis. Not all dogs are trustworthy around children. The vast majority of dogs will not tolerate ear tugging and eye gouging by toddlers. There are however quite a few dogs that will tolerate it, and those canines can make the finest baby sitter you will ever have. Most will not only tolerate bad behavior from children, but will defend their tiny charges with their very lives. I have a ?fun? page on my web site where I collect funny dog cartoons and other jokes.http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ If you scroll down about three quarters of the way down the page you will see the start of the ?hug a baby? series of pictures. I think it?s just really cute! And maybe a bit scary when you think about it. Especially for anyone afraid of dogs to start with. I?m sure the parents were taking the picture and knew the dog and knew what to expect. I don?t know this particular dog, but I am real familiar with the breed itself, it?s a Neapolitan Mastiff. I?d be willing to bet that if anybody prospective child nappers approached that baby that the dog didn?t know, they would not live long enough to bother the baby. The right dog in the right circumstances can be a great thing. There are also different types of aggression. What is usually called food aggression is to my way of thinking, not even a true form of aggression. It is part of the instinct for survival and self-preservation that is hard wired into the dogs from the time of survival of the fittest was the way they lived. If a dog does not get his share of the food, he will not live. Just because his kibble bowl is never empty, he still has a few thousand years of evolution telling him that he must have and protect that food. There are also ?temporary? forms of aggression. A mother dog with a newborn litter that otherwise is as gentle as a lamb may turn aggressive when someone approaches her new litter. I still remember the only time in my life I ever saw my father run was when he went to see my new litter of Airedale pups my dog had just had. He was a big Airedale fan, had one as a boy, and wasn?t thinking when he approached her in his eagerness to see the new pups. She sure put him on the move! But this too is part of dog?s natural instincts for survival. There are also learned forms of aggression. Dogs that are tormented by certain types of humans, like children or ethnic groups can develop a serious dislike for that type of human. Case in point. My original Komondor female was wonderful with all baby animals, and she also liked most children, she would romp and play and wrestle with our step son, who was about 4 or 5 years old, but for awhile when she was a puppy we had a woman staying with us that had a small, 2 or 3 year old blonde headed boy. He used to throw rocks and sticks at her. For the rest of that dog?s life I could never trust her around small blonde children. She was great with bigger kids, and even dark haired youngsters. But she never forgot that one brat. And by the way, she did get her vengeance on him when she grew up, and managed to do it without even hurting him. He was bugging the daylights out of me one day, I was trying to milk and the brat was jumping around, making a racket and making the goats nervous, and they were about to dump the milk. I repeatedly told him to get back and leave me alone, but he would keep coming back and would not listen to me at all. After about the third time of me telling him to get back, my dog suddenly appeared at my side. She opened her mouth and took his entire arm in her mouth. She shut her mouth down just enough to hold his arm, never even broke the skin, and for about 30 very long seconds she just stared with those big evil yellow eyes into his face. Then she let him go. Scared the living daylights out of that rotten brat. He left quickly. Waited till he got far enough away and started screaming his little head off for his mommy. I loved it. He really had it coming. Aggression can also be a good thing if it is properly channeled. Our old Giant Schnauzer would kill my rabbits if she could get to them.. Not a good thing. However, when we impressed upon her that the rabbits were not to be killed, we later taught her that it was ok to kill rats. She became the finest rat killing dog in the area, and never even thought about bothering rabbits again. Training is the key to it all. A dog has to learn right from wrong. What they can and cannot do in our society. It is up to the owner to train his dog. And picking the right breed to start with also plays an important part in having a dog in our lives. That is why humans have developed over 400 different purebred breeds of dogs. And one of the reasons I have a real problem with today?s current fad of designer dogs. When you mix two different breeds together you have no way of knowing anything about the size, temperament or anything else about the dog. If you have specific needs in a dog, always consider a purebred first. So, yes, a dog can be dangerous. But they can also be a life saver. Just depend which side of the teeth you are on.