Dog Lovers, Get A Cat!

Don’t freak out, but dog bites man is not a story.  Now if a man bites a dog…well, that’s a hoe ‘nother thang as we say around here.  The news outlets seem to be making a great deal of hay over dog attacks lately.  I’m sure that to the 60-year-old mailman or disabled woman that were attacked lately it was a pretty dang important story.  I’m just not sure it’s a national news story.  And there is still the matter of an age-old saying in the news business, “Dog bites man is not a story, but man bites a dog is."

So what the heck is going on?  Is it really that slow around the national news desk?  Is it because the victim was 60 or disabled?  Maybe it’s because the dogs were pit bulls?  I can kind of understand the story a week or so ago because it was at a celebrity’s home and his longtime caretaker was killed.  But the dogs were mastiffs or something.  With the stories this week no one has died and the folks, while I’m sure are well known and respected locally, are not national celebrities.  So that brings us back to pit bulls.  But then there have been pit bull attacks almost weekly for years.  Unless there is a child or death involved, mostly both…not a whisper from the big media outlets.  Why now?

Michael Vick is why.  No, I’m not saying it’s Vick’s fault.  I’m saying the focus on celebrity, pit bulls and dog fighting is the reason media cares now.  In a strange way it gives us a chance to dialogue about something that’s pretty important.  Owning dogs. Not just dog fighting. I mean everyone knows those guys mistreat animals.  To geek ‘um up for the fight they suspend cats and set the dog on it to give them a taste and feel for killing.  If the dogs aren’t aggressive enough they’re killed in ways that are only limited by the twisted imagination of the breeder.  If they do ‘show’ as it’s called, they are trained to fight.  If they fight well they breed them.  Sometimes brother to sister or parent to offspring trying to insure they pass on the gene.  The making of a killer is pretty gruesome, ruthless stuff.  But all that is not required to make a killer dog.

All a killer really requires is the right convergence of circumstances.  You see dogs are fairly simple animals.  I know…Spot ain’t simple, he is the smartest dog in six counties.  I had an English setter that would look at the directional light on the dash of my truck and brace herself against the turn before we moved.  I get that they can assimilate complex behavior.  Nonetheless, when they have a genetic predisposition to some activity, it shows up extremely pronounced in their personality.  In work breeds these instincts are even more dominate.  All work breeds are high-energy, high-powered, high maintenance personalities.

I say this because I’ve experienced it.  I’ve had boxers, spitz, mixed breed, Labrador retrievers, Irish setters, English and German pointers, field trial and show breed English setters, greyhounds, bloodhounds, red bone coonhounds, artic tundra wolf hybrids and well you get the picture. The oldest was 21 and most lived with us into their teens.  All were pets, friends and fellow adventurers.  I’ve even raised and released squirrels, raccoons and coyotes.  Yep, I was that guy.  You know, the one people go to with wild critters that need rescuing or rehabilitation.  One thing I can tell you is that they all share a majority of common natural instincts, even squirrels and coons.  But what all of the canine share is they are pursuit hunters.  Just like lions or tigers if it runs they will chase it.  If left to their instincts they will eventually kill it.  The difference between our ole buddy Goldie the retriever sitting at your feet and the pit bull that hospitalized the mailman is mainly tools and circumstance.

Golden retrievers have been bred for generations to have a few desirable characteristics.  Their predilection for pursuit, strong instinct for hunting and pack loyalty is used to train them as retrieves for hunters.  Fortunately, one of the bred for characteristics helps to off set the killer.  As a matter of fact all domestic dogs have been bred and inbred to have what I call an eager to please gene.  It is actually what separates wild canine from our domestic pals.  What this ‘eager to please gene’ actually is, is they will recognize humans as pack leaders.  There is even a breed of dog from Italy called Maremma that will, because of selective breeding, accept sheep as their pack leaders.  So strong is their pack instinct that they protect their pack to the death against other dogs or predators.  Don’t even think about it. They are beautiful, 100 pound, white dogs that resemble golden retrievers, but they are not good pets.

Some dogs like pit bulls are from breeds originally meant as kill dogs on hunts.  They have a strong hunters instinct, drive to ignore pain and to finish the kill.  Selective breeding also gives these dogs the physical tools to do the job.  The Dog Whisper, Cesar Mallin calls these breeds, warrior breeds.  What ever they’re called, the eager to please gene is modest by comparison in pit bulls, rottweilers, maremmas and others.

So what do we do?  Do we knee jerk and ban the breed like some communities have?  Do we pass still more federal regulations to control who can breed dogs?  Do we try and breed the instability out?  It can be done.  Faced with regulations, breeders of Doberman pincher were able to tame the beast in the breed.   And it only took a few generations of dogs.  There are still bad apples, but because of better breeding practices the breed as a whole is far more stable now than it was 20 years ago.  But inbreeding of close relative strains was not the only problem.

Even the family pet can be a killer.  I have a friend who had to shoot his best friend.  His 90-pound, 3 year old black lab attacked his wife.  She was in the kitchen feeding the dog and something set the dog off.  Whatever it was the dog launched into a full attack.  After losing the use of a finger and breaking two chairs over the dog he eventually grabbed his .22 rifle and ended it.  Fortunately black labs are not equipped with the same physical tools as pit bulls.  His wife escaped with just some scaring.  She was lucky.  Would anyone argue that retriever breeds should be banned because of incidents like this?  The dog was registered and purchased from a reputable breeder with a track record for producing field trial champions.  So what’s the deal?

My friend’s dog suffered from an all to common convergence of circumstances that led to tragedy.  You see this dog lived like a king.  He had his own double bed in the guest room.  He had his own couch in the living room and if he wanted it he showed you his teeth.  My friend was a great guy.  He was a naval veteran, a marine biologist and an alpha personality…except in the house around the dog.  The dog was pack leader in the house, but he wasn’t stable enough to handle it.  When they were outside the dog was as disciplined as they come.  Inconsistent leadership and an unstable personality conspired against them.

In nearly all breeds, 99.999% of them will accept and need us to be alpha dog.  That same percentage will be unstable to some degree if we are not leaders.  It may be something as simple as pacing, chewing, raiding the trash or inappropriate barking at visitors.  Obsessive behavior can also manifest its self as a full-blown attack.  In most common pet breeds the attacks seem to come after escalation of behaviors over time that lead to a bite.  In a breed like pit bulls the most common outcome seems to be a serious mauling or death.  It is a little misleading because pit bulls have the skills and tools to do more damage.  So when it comes, it’s bad.  Some personality instability can be traced to bad breeders trying to take advantage of a breed’s popularity for quick money.  But it isn’t the only factor as evidenced by my friends Labrador retriever. 

I will not even waste my time talking to those half whit people out there breeding dogs without concern for the mental stability of the breed.  They will never get it.  I will instead appeal to dog lovers.  When you go to get a pet, especially a work breed, make sure to check the breeders references.  If they can’t or will not provide them, keep looking.  If the breeder strikes you wrong for whatever reason, keep looking.  And for goodness sake, interview the person who is raising the dogs before you even look at a puppy.  They are just too cute and logic goes out the window.

Most importantly, remember that whatever kind of dog you have or want, Goldie will need your leadership first.  Work breeds require a serious commitment.  No matter how good the conditions, chaining or sticking Spike behind chain link 24-7 will not make for a stable pet.  And you are not going to get the guard dog and companion you were hoping for.  A disciplined, well-trained, well-socialized animal is more stable and able to determine when it is appropriate to protect the pack.  Otherwise it will come back to bite you or someone you love.  If you do not have the time, energy or personality to devote to a dog, get a cat!

» left by Anonymous

4 years 154 days ago.

You are right. Buying a pet as a guard dog is a bad ideal. It seem to happen an awful lot. Dogs are animals not people and pets not self defense weapons. I wish people would keep that in mind!

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