re my reaction to a rottweiler dog ? Or would you be the same ?

[chankins]

Not sure if I over reacted today or not, but was at the beach with my three dc, my sister and her three dc, and my mum and her jack russel dog. All was fine until we saw approaching a large rottweiler off the lead, with a young couple and their toddler in a buggy close behind. TBH we said amongst ourselves why do people with little kids have dogs like that ? but then proceeded to pass without comment.
However then another large dog bounded up and started hassling the rottweiler, who didn't like it and started racing around, growling and snapping at the other dog. This ended up bascially on top of my mum and her little dog, and three of the children. (The other three were in buggies.) Neither owner had any control of their dog and they ignored the owners calling them away. I kept calling my dd1 (5) away from the scene as I was worried a fight would break out and she and her cousins would be caught in the middle. In the end I walked over, grabbed her arm and pulled her over to me and the buggies, and her cousins followed. I said to her ' come away from all those dogs'. The girl then got very shirty and offended and made comments about the rottweiler obviously not biting anyone. This was at the same time she shouted at her toddler to shut up as he was crying. We ignored and walked away. But honestly, why do people with small kids own such powerful dogs, and then can't even control them ?

I think you acted correctly in moving your children away from the dogs. The dogs weren't responding to owners commands and you didn't know the dogs personalities. I'd have done the same in that situation had they been labs, springers or ankle-height terriers (see Mamazons last post).

I own a Great Dane who gets way too much attention from admirers and thus has grown up thinking that the whole world loves him. Almost always he obeys orders but very occasionally he will let his ego get in the way and go and say hello to someone - for which I always apologise and put him straight back on the lead. If he'd ever shown the slightest sign of aggression he wouldn't get off the lead in public anyway.

Norks - always wanted a GD but never had the space.

Space is important with a Dane. Their farts are so terrible that in a small house you'd all die of gas poisoning.

(he's on my profile btw)

oh he is very handsome indeed.

we had two harlequins come in when i was at the rescue centre.

i begged and i begged to bring them home btu they knew i would never let them go

but i made sure i got to pick their new owners. they went to a couple who lived in a HUGE house that backed right onto wimbledon Common.

they were lovely and would even let me come say hello if i saw them out in the village.

it is my ambition to be rich enough to get a house big enough to own two GD's

Recently a 9 week old was mauled to death in her own cot by the families rottweiler while the grandmother was looking after it and the mother had just nicked next door. I wouldn't trust one with a child myself - they are all aggression and no intelligence IME.

do you have much actual first hand experiance with a Rotty then Ausiemum?

i mean obviously what happened to the child was horrific but themother had no business leaving a child in a house alone with a dog of any breed.

i am sure that any kanine behaviourist will explain that the dog was not used to the child as s/he was so young. the baby made some noise the dog investigated, because he had no experiance of this 'thing' he was scared and therefore acted with aggression as a mode of defence.

i really do not feel the dog is always to blame in such situations.

You might want to reread your heartless post about the death of a newborn baby.Story Here

Yes I knew a lovely looking Rotty named Napoleon who dug up his owners back yard until the owner figured out that if he put a tub of water in the backyard that the dog would stare into it for hours waiting for the other dog to do something and if someone disturbed the water he would bark his head off. Not a very good reference for the breed.

Not a dog hater myself. My parents bred Irish Wolf Hounds and Scottish Deer Hounds when I was growing up and we had nothing but positive experiences with them. So I am a big BIG dog lover. But only if you have a few acres for them to run explore and hunt - which is there natural instinct! Such big dogs just do not belong in city backyards. When my youngest is a bit older I will be getting a Beagle so the biggest worry I have is that they like to wander and love their food!

not heartless at all. as i said its a horrific but your post stated she left the child alone in the house.

there are only elephants and gorillas that are known to recognise their own reflection so any dog would behave the same way towards what he though was another dog.

it was an act of cruelty on the part of the owner.

and my apologies for getting your name wrong in my previous post

I think we agree that a pair rottweilers loose in a suburban back yard plus a baby is a recipe for disaster. Although I don't believe that a Rotty would have been "scared" of the baby - probably more like intrigued ...

Couldn't agree more, Aussie. Mr MIL has a Beagle and it scoffs everything in sight, on the other hand my 2 yo can sit on its back all day because she is so stuffed of food she cannot move! My parents have a weimaraner who we have been told can be bad with kids, but she swims, plays on the beach and is generally one of the kids when we visit them in Spain, so it is definately how you bring them up and being aware of their capabilities that makes a safe dog.
We have a cat who has a tendency to bite the baby if she cuddles too hard, so I wouldn't even let her play with the cat unsuppersised

a pair of any breed of dog and unsupervised child is a recipe for disaster.
pack mentality combined with a childs curious nature and penchant for grasping at things equals a nightmare.

and yes it is possible that the dog was curious of the new animal that had entered his territory.
when you look at situations from a dogs eyes its quite easy to see where the problems start......HUMANS that cannot behave responsibly. they forget that their lovely dog is actually just an animal with a natural fight or flight instinct.

IQ tests before people can buy 'dangerous' breeds OORRR IQ tests before people are allowed to breed themselves

So let me get this straight Mamazon, and feel free to correct me if i'm wrong ...

Rotties can "be just as great a family pet as any other" and "its more to do with how they are treated and the experiance of the owner" ...

... so long as it is used to the child/baby and the child/baby doesn't make any noises that the dog needs to investigate, because if it has no experience of it, it will be scared and therefore act with aggression as a mode of defence??

Doesn't sound like as an ideal a family pet as any other to me ...sounds like a total recipe for disaster

Agree with not being left unsupervised - i won't let my nearly 8 yr old be along with my GR, no matter how soft and soppy and lacking in guarding/fighting breeding she is ...at the end of the day, she's still a dog

I haven't read the whole thread so apologies if this has been said.

It isn't an issue of what breed the dog was - the issue is that they were untrained.

My mum has a Golden Retreiver (a "medium" sized dog) and to be honest, I'd trust her with my DS's life - they play together, they sleep together and have done since he was 6mo old.

My friend has a rottie - she is the cutest, soppiest, licky-est dog I know! She is so funny... and SAFE. Why? Because my friend has been responsible and trained her.

My mums boss (a dog trainer with over 35 yrs experience - worked and trained dogs for all sorts of things from gun dog work, security work and "normal" training) has a German Shepherd. This dog is trained as a security dog for the training site - it is safe and trained to police-dog standards (where they hunt out a person).

This dog was attacked by a WESTIE (yes - a little white west highland terrier). It got on the GS's back and had hold of her round her neck - we feared for her life. The story didn't hit the headlines though - who would believe a GS being attacked by such a "small so therefore safe" dog? No-one! Other way round though and it would be "oh look at that dangerous dog - can't believe people keep such dogs" etc etc.

My point (finally) is that you can trust NO dog - especially untrained dogs. No breed is more trustworthy than another if it is untrained, and even trained you still have to be vigilant.

This sounds exactly like a situation I found myself in in September 07.

Walking home from school with a friend. Four children in total. I had my two dogs, both on leads - labrador and JRT. Friend had her Springer on a lead.

Rottweiler came bounding across a main road. Laid into my labrador. The Rottweiler was so big and strong I could not pull her off my dog. I screamed and shouted and in the end I had to kick the dog off. The owner (young lad - covered in earrings, tattoos and busy with a fag) came out and started f-ing at me telling me it was my fault? My labrador got back on to her feet and held her back leg up. Whilst comforting the kids, my dogs, and getting myself to calm down the owner came out again and this time I had a go at him for being completely unreasonable for swearing at me, told him he should keep his dog under control, or better still, secured in his garden/tied up. He then showed his fist to me so I told him I'd send the Police round to him.

I walked home with crying children, a dog limping and me very shaken up.

Rung DH who was on his way home - gave him the address - he went and saw the guy and told him if he ever threatened me again he'd call the Police and to keep his dog under control.

His reply was that the dog was only 9mths old (by god it was big for 9mths) and in season - dh told him all the more reason to keep it secure so not to be mated etc. The owner also added he has a problem with his temper and he apologised for his threatening behaviour.

I ended up in the vets that evening with my dog who had pulled a muscle in her back leg - she is 12yrs old - she has been on pain relief ever since.

I'm not labelling rottweilers as nasty vicious dogs but if they fall into the wrong hands they are a breed, imo, that can easily become that way. Same applies to pretty much any dog - given the right care, attention, training etc any dog, I think, has the potential to be lovely.

Totally agree with Mamazon here - Rotties are NOT naturally aggressive or dangerous dogs and as you said the rottie was behaving perfectly normally and even afterwards was only running about. I have heard Rotties both growl and bark so that's bollocks as well.

In fact I have only been bitten by dogs twice in my life (and have spent all my life around different breeds of dogs), both biters were Jack Russells and the smaller lapdog breeds and terriers are the only ones I would say I can't 'read' therefore don't trust.

I've not read the whole thread, so apologies, but my mum is a dog breeder and I've grown up around many dogs.

My experience with dogs is enough in that I will never leave my DD alone with one, let her get close to one that she doesn't know and generally treat them as dangerous.

I have been with dogs my entire life and have only been bitten by trained dogs.

It's instinctive with dogs - much as you might love your fluffy-wuffy-wuffykins, he still might bite a toddler that gets in his face. Quite simple.

Idiots should not be allowed dogs, all dogs should be trained - even the small nippy ones (most likely to bite), and you should never be complacent around them.

Would anyone else agree, though, that Rottweilers are a bit, well, dim? Apologies if I offend their owners.

My experience is only based on our neighbours' dogs and our own family's, but while my parents have in the past owned two GSDs, both well and quickly trained, and obedient to commands, and very good with me when I was tiny, the neighbours got a Rottweiler. Despite lots of special training, it never really grasped more than a basic 'sit', couldn't be trusted to stay where it was left, and used to chase visitors. I didn't enjoy playing out with their daughter much!
The family then got a GSD, and he was, like each of my parents' dogs, a delight.

Do we think that different breeds have generally different levels of intelligence - and therefore amenability to being trained? Or am I veering into canine eugenics?

At the end of the day you cannot take it for granted that just because a dog is off the lead it won't be aggressive. It is just being walked by a selfish individual who clearly has no regard for everyone else and their dogs, children etc.

I think everyone is right to be concerned when being approached by a dog off a lead, no matter what breed the dog is. Any dog has the potential to bite - because every dog has a set of teeth! Not all dogs will be friendly and want to play.

I have even had occasions when a dog will approach mine, have a sniff, want to play then completely turn and want to bite.

It is a shame that these days it is more a case of walking your dog and watching/looking out for dogs off leads whose owners are about a mile behind rather than actually enjoying your own walk....oh, and at the same time, watching where you put your feet because there are also those dog owners who simply refuse to pick up the piles of poo their dogs leave behind or if they do put it in a bag they dump the bag in the hedge...how clever is that?

SOrry but had to lol at the comments on this thread about people shouldnt have large dogs with children and large dogs should not be left off the lead.
I have 2 giant dogs and they are well trained and socialised and have never displayed any aggressive tendencies. WHy should they not be allowed off the lead in areas where small dogs are allowed to be?

I grew up with various dogs including jack russells and bull terriers. People were also scared of the docile soft as butter but very menacing looking bull terrier but it was also the jack russells that would bite! I would never have a jack russel near my kids I didnt know well.

I am also fed up of small dogs going at my large dogs and their owners doing nothing about it. They are frequently chased around by little dogs and their owners think it's okay because they are larger. They dont get it scares them. Of course if one of my dogs reacted by biting back it would be all their fault!

That said, I steer well clear of rotties I dont know because you dont know how their owners have trained them.

I know that I get abuse at times from having large dogs from ignorant people but I also know many responsible rottie owners who get constant abuse.

However, I would have still steered well clear as you did so yanbu.

WHen my two dogs play fight to the someone who doesnt know dogs it looks very scary.

I have a JRT - there is absolutely no problem with her and kids. She has spent her short life with my two kids playing with her - she mingles with all the kids at school.....given the right training and socialising any dog is great with kids.

Again it is down to the owner and them making an effort to spend time with their dogs teaching them right from wrong.

Dogs off the lead are far less likely to be aggressive to other dogs than a dog on the lead. I usually find that dogs on the lead are aggressive, sometimes because they havent been socialised properly and are kept on the lead or because they are aggressive anyway. I never let mine up to dogs on the lead but when mine are sadly other people let theirs up as I said.

I'm going to disagree. On the lead - off the lead - makes no difference. A dog can be aggressive either way.

What I was saying was that we should not take it for granted that just because the owner has allowed their dog off the lead it is ok and won't be vicious.

I don't let my dogs off the lead - that does not mean they are aggressive. I don't let them off the lead because they have a far greater chance of me being able to control a situation with a dog having a go at them plus with one being a JRT I have a far greater chance of her not going down a rabbit hole. They have extending leads instead and we have a large garden.

And by the way my dogs are brilliant socially so don't presume that just because they are on their leads they are not social animals - you can't label dogs like that either. It is just me being a sensible and responsible dog owner.

only really read op but you didnt do anything wrong,you just moved your children away from fighting dogs.same as any parent would,no matter what type of dog.ofcourse yanbu to move your children/or children in you care away from potential danger.the owner probably is quite nervous of being judged because of press at the moment but you did right thing.you couldnt have just stood and watched while your children stood near fighting dogs just incase you upset anyones choice of pet.