In Defense of Aggressive Dogs...

[kokopup]

I was not trying to hijack your thread with my post concerning aggressive dogs and irresponsible owners. I was relating an instance in my recent past where a neighbor had a pit bull that in my opinion she should not have had because of the nature of this dog. I have owned some reactive aggressive dogs in my 69 years. My first dog at 10 was a Chow that was over protective of me and because of that I had to give him up. If my parents had been more knowledgeable about dogs It could have been trained to not be aggressive toward others. I guess to this day I resent having to give up my friend Sandy. I know with proper training any dog can be nonaggressive and even a Pit Bull can be taught to count to 10 before reacting, I have owned a Doberman and German Shepherds that were loving members of my family. One of my Shepherds became so socialized he was useless as even a watch dog. I was in the Navy then and dozens of people walked by my fenced yard daily. She got so used to people they could open the gate and walk in and she just wagged. Sort of like Koko but at least Koko will alarm if someone new comes up.

I know you say that dogs ( in this case a Pit Bull) do not attack humans or animals without provocation. That is true at some level. If an experienced dog behaviorist had been witness to what occurred he would have been at a loss to determine what was the trigger for this aggression. I know there are several factors that are contributors.
You had an owner that did nothing but dump food and water through the chain link fence. You had kids that came to play maybe 2 or 3 times a month. You had no supervision to prevent this dog from roaming at it's own whim. There did not appear to be a consistent pack leader so this dog was on his own. It is fortunate that he was on his own because if he had teamed up with others he could have done no telling what.


When I say unprovoked I am saying no immediate visible trigger. The dog had to travel half a mile, and climb a fence to get to the goats. I'm sure he could smell his pray but there was nothing to stop it from making that half mile scamper. In my mother-in-laws case the dog traveled 1/4 of a mile to charge her hanging cloths. In my case I would never have known what hit me because I was kneeled working on my lawn mower when Koko intervened to turn his attention.

I'm sure in the right hands this dog could have been rehabilitated and maybe made someone a wonderful dog. It takes special skills to properly socialize a highly reactive bred like the Pit Bull. This is true if raised from a pup, but to take on a dog that already has issues is another thing altogether. That is why I said it should be destroyed. It never became an issue with the owner because when she moved she left her dog ,her cat, and a house full of belongings.

I will leave you to your thread now. I don't know that much about the effects of dopamine or serotonin on a dogs behavior.

[Giselle]

Koko, you need not defend your story nor your stance. Once again, I was trying to STOP the speculations regarding whether the dog you encountered was unprovoked or not. That was my intent: to STOP the speculations because we weren't there and we don't know, so we must take your account as is and accept it as you've delineated it thus:

I made that comment to clarify that nobody - especially none of us - can really comment on the dog's state of health or behaviors, so it would be best if we left your encounter as is.

You've indicated that you've felt an unjust offense, and I apologize if you've gotten that negativity from myself or any other comment on here, but I can tell you that my intent was to preserve your story from others' speculations/questionings, as we all will never truly know. Don't know how to clarify that any more.