Which Breed Of Dog Is Most Aggressive?

[Spiritwind]

I agree with Twisterdog that this is probably to small a sample to be a true representative.. but it is interesting..

Working at Vet clinics for almost 9yrs... I can agree, I've seen many many aggressive Chis. Like many other people have stated, mainly because the owners think their behavior is cute and just let the dogs get away with it. I've also seen a lot of Dachshunds that were a bit aggressive, but also pleanty of sweet ones... Min Pins as well.. and many cockers..

But I also agree with what Giselle said about aggression and reactivity. My smooth Collie, Paris, is a very sweet dog.. a giant lap dog... she does great with other dogs in the house or out in the yard, or at a dog park or other large fenced area.. but she does have A LOT of chase instinct/drive and has issues with wanting to chase cars if given the chance (her grandmother and great grandmother - neither of which I owned, both were owned by different people I knew - but both had the same problem..both were hit and killed by cars they tried to chase)... also if she is in a small fenced area (think kennel run etc.. 10 x 10 or 10x20 or some long narrow run) for even just a few minutes she gets very "fence aggressive" and will fence fight with a dog next to her.. and run up and down the fence barking and acting stupid... which is why if I ever have to go away for a few days I try to take Paris with me so she isn't in a run going crazy and acting stupid... if she was kept in a kennel environment for long I think she would become very cage aggressive.

Also if Paris is in a kennel/run with another dog and a car drives by because she has such a strong chase instinct she gets so crazed and excited wanting to chase the car she will turn and jump on and nail the dog in the run with her.... however if she is out in an open area... she is perfectly fine...

[Twisterdog]

Also if Paris is in a kennel/run with another dog and a car drives by because she has such a strong chase instinct she gets so crazed and excited wanting to chase the car she will turn and jump on and nail the dog in the run with her.... however if she is out in an open area... she is perfectly fine...

My dogs do this every day. Their yard borders the run for my boarding kennel, so when I let a kennel dog to exercise, my dogs run over to the fence to see who is over there. Even though the fence is almost solid, with privacy slats, they still run up and down the fence with every kennel dog that I let out. Even though my dogs live together in the same yard and house with no problems at all, they will bite each other at the fence. I have noticed that it is the dominant dogs who bite the lower ranking ones, almost as if the right to bark at strange dogs on the other side of the fence is a priviledge bestowed upon the alpha dogs. Or maybe they are just wierdos. LOL

[Spiritwind]

My dogs do this every day. Their yard borders the run for my boarding kennel, so when I let a kennel dog to exercise, my dogs run over to the fence to see who is over there. Even though the fence is almost solid, with privacy slats, they still run up and down the fence with every kennel dog that I let out. Even though my dogs live together in the same yard and house with no problems at all, they will bite each other at the fence. I have noticed that it is the dominant dogs who bite the lower ranking ones, almost as if the right to bark at strange dogs on the other side of the fence is a priviledge bestowed upon the alpha dogs. Or maybe they are just wierdos. LOL

It drives me nuts!! LOL I know one time probably about 2yrs ago I had Paris and Kelsey outside in one of my smaller fenced area for a while.. it was nice out so figured they would like to be outside for a while.... I had to run in town for a few minutes and was going to just leave them outside while I was gone...

Well I walked to my car... paris and kelsey standing and watching me... get my car... Paris starts to bark a little... then soon as I start the car, Paris really starts going nuts.. and as I start to pull foward Paris starts running the fence, and runs into Kelsey who was just standing and watching.. well she ran into Kelsey... jumped on her, knocked her down, and Kelsey was laying on her back, legs straight up in the air as Paris was standing on top of her biting at her... obviously I got out of the car and broke it up and Paris got her butt put into a crate... Paris knows I don't put up with that crap anyway and saw me coming and got off Kelsey before I got to her...

Paris and Kelsey are littermates... they were raised together, they are buddies, and very bonded with eachother.. when I take them to the dog park they play with eachother more than any of the other dogs there. They are house dogs, they sleep on the couch together, eat together... do everything together... they get along just fine... paris is just so reactive to cars she turns "crazy" for that short time... even when Paris is in the house and I am leaving I can hear her at the window barking like an idiot...

The dog park I go to is surrounded by woods and you can't see the cars parked near by because of all the trees... actually its a little bit of a walk from where you park to the dog park... there is however a bike path that runs along one side of the fence of the dog park and back thru the woods... when I've had Paris at the dog park and a biker rides by if she is near the fence by the bike trail she will run along the fence after the biker as well... but she does not react aggressively like she does with cars... she just has a very strong chase drive I guess....

[Giselle]

I understand what you guys are saying!

That's exactly what I mean: if any emotion is unusually high, like too much excitement, too scared, too frustrated, too stressed, the dog has a very likely chance of channeling those emotions into an aggressive act. If a dog has an extreme desire to chase or play and the dog is restricted, that dog's high emotions can manifest into lunging and, if you're in the range, biting. In fact, this is why we have fence fighters at the shelter, but, once you take them outside, they're sweeties!

Aggression is not a black and white 'thing' that you can gauge or place in a clean, numbered list. It varies with each individual dog and circumstance. A better indication of aggressive tendencies would be a look at a dog's arousal and threshold levels. Until we have a comprehensive list of THAT, I will look at this and other similar surveys/studies with indifference. JMO.

[Sevaede]

I understand what you guys are saying!

That's exactly what I mean: if any emotion is unusually high, like too much excitement, too scared, too frustrated, too stressed, the dog has a very likely chance of channeling those emotions into an aggressive act. If a dog has an extreme desire to chase or play and the dog is restricted, that dog's high emotions can manifest into lunging and, if you're in the range, biting. In fact, this is why we have fence fighters at the shelter, but, once you take them outside, they're sweeties!

Aggression is not a black and white 'thing' that you can gauge or place in a clean, numbered list. It varies with each individual dog and circumstance. A better indication of aggressive tendencies would be a look at a dog's arousal and threshold levels. Until we have a comprehensive list of THAT, I will look at this and other similar surveys/studies with indifference. JMO.

Agreed. That's exactly what I meant with my post. My sisters parents have messed with each of their dogs to varying degrees and have different sorts and amounts of aggression with their dachshunds. It's really sad, I've known the older one since he was a pup and he was such a good boy. He's so miserable now, after being overweight, and having so many back problems.

[Seravieve]

I got bitten by a dachshund about a year & 1/2 ago... was a friend of J's that we were dog-sitting and took him and Eli to the dog park. He was an obnoxious dog to begin with... Own is... ignorant of dog training and proper correction. So when I scolded him and went to grab ahold of his collar, he turned around and bit my hand. Had to get a tetanus shot because of it. And two lovely scars.

I dont generally like it when people lump all dogs of one breed together.. Its all on the owners really. And I agree with the post about people not training their small 'cute' dogs. I'd say this has something to do with that problem. I'd also say that most of the dachshunds I've met.. I havent liked too much due to behavior problems. So who knows really... but its interesting.. =)