I couldn't agree more, Sophie.
Honestly, I read and re-read all of the posts in this thread... and I don't find your posts to be close-minded, at all. I agree with your comment about the crazed, blood-thirsty dog Koko was talking about. It could easily be a case of high prey drive and/or a dog who is accutely sensitive to fast movements. Is a Husky who kills a cat an aggressive dog? The story also seems strange because dog-aggression, livestock/animal-aggression, and human-aggression are very different. A DA dog could be the least HA dog in the world, or vice versa. Gonzo is incredibly sensitive to movements, whether it's livestock, another dog, a person, a car, a balloon, etc. Of course, he doesn't have prey drive. He has herding drive, which is modified prey drive. Desensitizing him to stimulus and working on re-directing his focus has helped a lot, but I would never trust him alone in stimulating situations. Either way, ANY dog who is allowed free reign of a neighborhood should not be blamed for ANYTHING they do. Their owners should be banned from ever owning dogs for that kind of idiocy.
It is incredibly rare to find a dog who truly bites unprovoked. What people don't understand is that every single dog, even their sweet old Lab/Golden/etc, has the propensity to bite and WILL bite if they are pushed far enough. Some dogs have a fuse a mile long and some a millisecond. In almost any case, that fuse can be stretched out with regular, positive, fairly easy training and good management. I don't think that most people do understand a dog's body language, to be honest. Things like yawning, licking, cowering, turning away, earset, tailset and hard stares are often completely ignored or misunderstood. I have noticed that all of the people I know who have been bitten before by dogs have been bitten more than once, and my dogs are never fans of them. Some people naturally get it, but some people seem to think that dogs and people have the same way of communicating non-verbally. Dogs who do bite "unprovoked" are more than likely dogs who have been trained by their owners, unintentionally, to show no warnings and to bite first and ask questions later. Dogs who are alpha rolled, pinned, smacked, and punished for growling are often the only dogs who learn to resort to biting without a warning and without giving the bitee any time to correct what they're doing to bother the dog. In the end I feel that except for in rare cases, most aggression is caused by people, whether unwittingly or ignorantly or accidentally or even intentionally (through unscrupulous breeding, or for breeding towards aggression in the case of bully breeds and guardian breeds)... and it can be (and should be) eased and managed by people.
I completely agree that each dog is an individual, and just because a dog is aggressive/reactive/what have you does not make them any less worthy of life than any other dog. My reactive/fearful dog happens to also be the most loving, devoted, obedient companion that the rest of my family and I could ever ask for. But I suppose he should be euthanized because he doesn't adore everything and everyone. When people say that dogs who have issues should be PTS, because there are plenty of friendly, aloof dogs in the world, it really bothers me. My dog with issues is irreplaceable. Ultimately, if you as an owner educate yourself and take every step necessary to keep others and your dog safe, I do believe that nearly every single aggressive dog can be helped and can be kept safely.
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