As a groomer I deal with a lot of dogs, however have only maybe sent 3-4 dogs home without finishing them (due to aggression or stress) in the 6+ years I have ran my shop. (I’m quite competent at getting aggressive dogs done, some that cannot be done by anyone else)
The most recent was a westie. It was originally booked with my other groomer but she could hardly get the grooming noose on the dog. It was so aggressive and trying to bite so badly it bit it’s own tongue hard before she got it’s noose on.
I took the dog over and got it all done except it’s face. Again it was so aggressive it bit it’s own tongue hard again (possibly twice) and I was too worried the dog would bite my scissors or even just it’s own tongue again to continue.
I do not think that I have ever met an aggressive dog. Only fearful ones. The ones that bite have been a Standard Poodle, impossible to read and you just never knew what was tipping her off. When I ask vet techs what breed they are most leery of the answer is always Cocker Spaniel and then Chow.
The one that scared the crap out of me was the intact male Portuguese Water dog, he’d rush you then stop and give a hard stare…his body would go totally rigid and immobile and his eyes would lock on me… just weirded me out b/c I couldn’t read that as anything but aggressive. Maybe someone with more experience has a different interpretation.
Dog aggressive: Chesapeakes, several of them.
People/territorial aggressive: blue heelers at the vet clinics and Airedales in the back of trucks/at homes.
Working at a vet, I have to say chihuahuas, min pins, cockers, Australian cattle dogs, labs, and goldens. Personally the only dogs who have bitten me at work are labs. Both are dog and human aggressive. One would be trying to get at a dog and if he couldn’t, he’d just turn around and nail you instead. I refuse to touch them when they’re in for an appointment or boarding. We muzzle more labs and goldens now then pits, rotties, dobies put together. We have a golden that we cannot trust period in appointments and boarding. He’s bitten more then one of us. What I hate about labs and goldens are that they don’t seem to give you warning. At least the “aggressive” breeds will give you warnings.
A dachshund, it was sooo aggressive we have to have falconer gloves to handle it. It was so small you couldn’t get close enough to sedate it to handle the thing. It was quick as a snake. I will NEVER own a dachshund, Chihuahua or toy poodle.
We did have large aggressive pits come in but they were always cruelty seizures or drug raid dogs brought in by animal control. The dog sitting in her crate chewing her bone is a large pit so those haven’t turned me off in the least.
My kids have grown up around mastiff’s and rotties and have only been bitten by small shitzu type dogs. The smaller dogs are always up on laps and the first place a kid looks is in it’s face and then SNAP.
The most aggressive dogs I have been around are german shepherds. I had a few family members in the police force and their dogs were ferocious. Even the “pet” shepherds they had at home were very aggressive.
As I write this, my mastiff is curled up on his blankie, snoring. The other night we heard a gunshot and he ran into the bathroom.
The one that stands out to me is a husky that just bit me out of nowhere. It was laying there happy and just lashed out at me. It bit me on the hand. It had previously bit a child, but that was during a house fire. My mom sent that dog home (we were watching it while the house was being rebuilt) and told the owners it should be put down. I never liked that dog much.
I also remember a border collie that was just nasty. It tried to bite me in the face.
[QUOTE=Louise;7201727]
Cocker Spaniel. I got bitten by one vicious little thing when I was a kid. He belonged to a neighbor and was just plain nasty.[/QUOTE]
totally agree. My first dog was a cocker spaniel (English type) and he bit everyone in the family. He was food aggressive but not only that. We never knew what would set him off. It could be a piece of paper across the room… a shoe he could see. Once on his bed in the kitchen in the evening, we could barely go into the room!! Why we kept him for 16 years is beyond me!
We would meet other cocker spaniel owners and ask “Is he/she aggressive?” and 80% of the time, the answer was YES!
I will never have another one and will never trust another one! Our friends have had several, all aggressive and biting. They were the American type. Their latest is great though!
Chatting with my vet and relating the fact that my DD’s friend (a vet) had a GSD lunge at her and bite her in the neck, my vet said they do not touch a GSD w/o muzzling him/her. No matter what the owner says!
And we have a neighbour down the street who has a standard poodle who is a terror!! He came after my lab a few weeks ago and my DD had to kick him hard and grab his leash to get him off… his owner is quite aware and careful, but he did escape this time. He scares me too although he goes mostly to the dogs.
lab mix. owner was moving and tried to poison it with their prescription meds. dog didnt die so they dumped him- at least three unprovoked attacks on humans followed until he finally died on a chain in their son’s backyard (couldn’t have dog hair in the house-RIGHT.) always wondered if he was aggressive before he was poisoned.
[QUOTE=foundationmare;7201856]
A german shepard dog. He jumped a ditch and bit me in the ass when I was a young las§. Noe I am not a fan. Went to a show last weekend and really dislike the low slung look of gsds now, I think it is ugly and looks painful.[/QUOTE]
Very painful for the dog too. I know one who can barely walk and she is only 2. But hey! she is a purebred… well no thanks! I’d rather have a mutt than that poor dog!
The only breed of dog to ever put teeth on me, and it’s been three different individuals of that breed, is the Australian Shepherd. One bit me in the face, one in the arm, and one in the calf. All three were unprovoked, in each case I was walking by, not addressing the dog or its owner in any way.
Wouldn’t take one if you paid me.
Silkie Terrier… my family owned him. He bit everyone in the family. I still have a scar from him biting my foot, and one on my hand… thirty years ago. Ten years after we put him down everyone in the family would occasionally jerk their feet up when the telephone rang… he was a monster.
Poodle that my grandfather owned. I knew him for over a decade. He was a “medium” Poodle, whatever the technical term is for those. Roughly Cocker Spaniel sized, not as small as most toys I’ve seen but definitely not a standard. Grandaddy got him free from his breeder because he had white boots and chest, and the breeder wanted solids.
Boots bit every person in the family at some point, including Grandaddy. He was never friendly or affectionate to anybody but Grandaddy, but he would just lunge at people now and then. Everyone in the family gave him a wide berth. Didn’t matter. And you’d better look both ways before touching or hugging or getting close to Grandaddy, because Boots would take it as an attack. The time I remember seeing him bite Grandmother was when she kissed Grandaddy goodbye. The dog came flying across the room at her. But if Grandaddy would hold him back or “correct” him (which amounted to only a “no, no, no, now don’t do that” tone), Boots would snap at him, connecting a few times through the years. Then after the snap, it would be, “Now, Bootsie, you know I love you. You’re my special little doggie.” Sigh. Mom never could figure out how a man who had no problems being firm with his kids or grandkids, never too harsh but always respected, and you knew you needed to behave, could be so blind with that dog.
Whole family hated Boots. We were grateful that about the time Grandaddy was starting to get forgetful himself (Grandmother already in the nursing home), Boots’ arthritis got so bad that Grandaddy took him to be PTS. He wasn’t blind to the physical status, at least. Not one of those “drag it out” cases of old people and their dogs. Mom and her sister had been afraid they’d be left to get Boots PTS when Grandaddy had to go to the home himself, and it probably would have taken one of those noose on a steel pole things to have anybody other than Grandaddy safely get that dog loaded up.
I have never liked Poodles since. Though one brother has standard Poodles, and they have been okay. Still, never a Poodle for me.
I grew up with doberman pincher guard dogs down the road. When they occasionally got loose, they did not attack me although they attacked someone else down the road. The dobie who lived across the road and who could climb our fence did not ever act aggressively to me or my horses or other pets.
In Atlanta, I and my aussies were in obedience school in advanced classes with a few pit bulls (one did the GA Power ads on TV with his owner) and rotties, and while all of us did not want to pair up with them for exercises, the dogs were not aggressive. My dog trainer owned the pit bull Pebbles who “starred” in the TV series “In the Heat of the Night.” That dog sat in her owner’s office at the kennel and behaved well. I had a friend in Atlanta who had a huge rescued american bulldog that was gentle. Ditto for friends who had one in SE GA. I did meet a young rottie in Atlanta, who later killed a child. And I had my sports car serviced where the attack dogs, provided by a private service, were turned out every night to prevent car thefts. No cars were stolen from any dealers in downtown Atlanta when they used the business of the guy who took in vicious dogs and trained them to be guard dogs, all kinds of big, aggressive breeds.
My only bad experiences with dogs were with the golden retrievers down the road when I was a kid. They disemboweled and emasculated my Manchester terrier. I’ve never liked goldens since that attack in our yard. My dog lived, thanks to the vet, but I despise the golden breed.
Well, there was the malamute looking dog that we had to PTS when I worked at the animal shelter. Mostly, I believe that dogs bite for a reason.
I am GLAD to see that as yet, no one has mentioned pit bull types. As a pit bull owner, sometimes it feels like I am constantly defending my breed of choice.
human aggressvie: chihuahua… both HATED kids and would attempt to bite us if we got close. They both mellowed as we got older but I never trusted them.
dog aggressive: cocker spaniel. One actually charged my new pup and I. Thankfully she’s the complete opposite of aggressive and hid behind me so I could grab the dog by the back of the neck (It wasn’t paying attention to me, just my puppy)
I know that there are Cocker Spaniels with issues, but I knew one that was really sweet.
I have heard of aggressive dogs of many breeds, so who knows. I have actually meant several people that had some pretty significant issues with dogs that they have worked through. Obviously they all spent a lot of time on it and always paid close attention.
After 20 years of working for a vet (now retired) the worst I ever seen was a Husky/St Bernard/ Germ Shep mix. It could only be handled with a rabies pole. Second place goes to a wolf hybrid. Third to a Germ Shep. All three of these dogs would come at you unprovoked and definately needed expert handlers. Fear aggression is one thing, because they are kinda like I’m ok if you leave me alone. The 3 dogs I listed above were in a whole nother catagory. I got to see the best of the best over the years because I was the vets favorite aggressive animal handler. (lucky me!)
I feel like if I answer this honestly, based on my experiences, I will get totally attacked, but I help teach classes at our kennel club and the most dog aggressive dogs have been GSD and pit bulls. I have seen both go after other dogs. The GSDs who had issues were nervy backyard bred dogs. The pits are typically rescues from bad situations. Oh and wolf-hybrids. I forgot about those. I have only met a few, but I haven’t met one that wasn’t dog aggressive to strange dogs…
As far as attacking people, I or my dogs have been attacked by a Rottweiler, a black lab, a springer spaniel (all males). I was bit by a water spaniel (male) as a child–totally unprovoked. I have had a cocker spaniel try to bite me. My friend had the meanest food/toy aggressive male American Eskimo (didn’t bite me, but bit other people). A co-worker’s grandchild was disfigured by their Rottweiler and one of my friends was attacked by her sister’s boyfriends Rottweiler a couple months ago (totally unprovoked). Her arm was mangled. And my grandparents neighbor’s pitbull killed her grandchild (lady had the toddler with a known aggressive dog–horrible, horrible stupid tragedy). http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_21516116/charges-filed-fatal-dog-attack
I regularly walked by a couple akitas that lived outside in their chain link backyard and I will admit I was always a little nervous.
One was a chihuahua kept on a leash 24/7 because even his owners couldn’t touch him, another was a cocker spaniel who at the point I met her had bitten at least 3 people in the face, and the rest were “designer” breeds that came from petstores and gosh knows where else. All of the mini mutants were exceptionally possessive and usually owned by people who never let their feet touch the ground.
