Some dogs are as chill as their type b owners, but many aren't. Many of the breeds known for aggression are good working breeds that lack training/or were never worked with after puppy training.texas yankee wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:35 pm Thanks for calling out my post - you are right, and I should have been more specific with what I posted - I'm not a dog lover, and I don't know much about training dogs, or dog behavior, but just as a drug dog is trained to alert on grass or coke and such, versus avocados or hot dogs, I have always assumed that a family-type dog would be even-tempered, probably barking when the door is knocked on or someone approaches the yard, but not randomly attacking anyone - I also don't know how a dog like that differentiates between a family member and a burglar or some other bad guy - some kind or training, maybe, with regular reinforcement - maybe familiarity - I guess that any dog can "go off on" anyone, at any time, but with a breed that has a historical track record of attacking family members, kids, and other people familiar to the dog, beyond "one offs", it's amazing to me that the owner of such a dog would trust that dog for even a second with a loved one around, or let down your guard even by yourself. The tolerance that municipalities show towards those kinds of dogs amazes me, too.
I'm far from a dog expert but IMO, it starts with training and socialization and the issue is many people stop there. As for how a dog knows who is who- I introduce people to the dog, as I do the rest of my family and give her a command to let her know the person is ok to be in the house. I do not introduce her to contractors and other professional visitors and keep her behind a gate- she lets them know she doesn't approve of their presence inside. Like any "skill" a dog must also be worked regularly to be on his/her game. Half of the work is done to reinforce the hierarchy and the bond/trust between the dog and handler/owner/family/etc..
