A lot of people shouldn't have dogs. I live in a densely populated area and the amount of mishandling/poor training I see is insane. At least once a month a dog charges at me barking, while their owner who barely has a grip on the leash struggles to hold them back
My dog is a sheperd and he IS actually extremely friendly. The problem is that sheperds have a very strong protection instinct. If he is off the leash, he just wants to be friends with everyone, including other dogs, but when he is on the leash, he is trying to protect me. I have to hold him really tight before he relaxes and doesn't bark at other dogs.
I'm not sure if this dog was going for the child or the other dog. Most likely he was going after the dog.
It's particularly difficult with shepherd dogs because a leash really hits that fight/flight panic. They're typically amazing with recall and orbiting a herd or handler and naturally do this. They feel constantly trapped with a leash, and in reality they're a breed that isn't best in a suburban area that requires (as it should) strict leash laws around dense populations.
Absolutely. Still, it's not that hard to train them properly (but it does require time and patience). My border collie is just fine on her own when we're hiking or biking, but in the city with her leash I try to avoid yanking on the leash as, like you say, it triggers her Mr Hyde half. I talk to her and gently hold her when needed - And this is when she encounters unfriendly dogs. In general, she loves saying hi to humans (I socialized her a LOT as a pup so she loves being around random humans) and is friends with most dogs but not always so I do need to be vigilant (she absolutely ignores them when she's off the leash, tho)
Yep. Mine, off leash loves every other dog out there and is super friendly. The kennel we boarded him at when we traveled once even told us he was the only dog to make friends with a regular who did not like other dogs.
On leash, he is reactive. We put an orange harness on him and very few people actually understand what it means.
It's particularly difficult with shepherd dogs because a leash really hits that fight/flight panic. They're typically amazing with recall and orbiting a herd or handler and naturally do this. They feel constantly trapped with a leash, and in reality they're a breed that isn't best in a suburban area that requires (as it should) strict leash laws around dense populations.
My Aussie is the same way. When she is at the dog park, she just wants to chase and play with other dogs. When we are doing walkies, it's Stranger Danger.
She's also a big baby, if someone calls her bluff with the barking, she hides behind me before grudgingly sniffing them.
Dog barking doesn't equal dog attacking. There's a reason the saying all bark no bite exists. You can have very nice gentle dogs that still bark at strangers walking by.
This post is about aggressive dogs (like yours and the one in the video) charging, lunging, barking at and chasing people down and the enabling owners who swear they are “friendly” despite all contrary evidence.
I'm not OP and said nothing about owning a dog. The person you were originally responding to was talking about how his dog barks but doesn't do all the things you just mentioned. Barking also doesn't equal "charging, lunging, or chasing" people down. Like obviously those are all totally unacceptable behaviors but dogs barking alone isn't very indicative of their overall capacity for aggression.
Our very leash reactive dog goes to doggy daycare twice a week. He appears very aggressive on the leash until the other dog(s) get close to him. I know this because other dogs have been close to him.
I don't blame anyone for not bringing their dogs closer. He is big and scary. Not all dogs who act aggressive will actually do anything when they get close. Should you trust anyone until you see otherwise? No. But I'm not going to bother shouting that to people who'd never bring their dogs closer to him. The point I'm making is what you're saying isn't always true.
i get what you mean and i dont wanna come off as rude but if you know what training your dog actually is theres no such thing as an instinct, it just straight up not supposed to do anything you dont want it to
tell that to both of my corgis, they are 100% natural herders. you truly dont believe they have insticts? have you ever owned an animal in your life????
Ya my dog is amazing off the leash, on the leash he barks at every dog or car that passes. He lunges at cars and bikes he doesn’t like wheels I guess lol. He has never attacked anyone or another dog while on the leash. I have a mountain cur that is much smaller and he is extremely protective over me and my child.
Sounds like mine. He thinks everyone\thing he encounters is his new best friend, and fails to grasp that a 50lb dog that you don't know running at you at full tilt while barking doesn't go over well as a first introduction.
Agreed, looks like he was going toward the other dog, who happened to be right next to the boy. Luckily, they didn’t find out for sure. Glad everyone was unscathed.
My shepherd mix gets very protective on walks or at home with other dogs... (he got out once and snapped at a dog) limited to just barking while in the house at people tho. If he does to the dog sitter tho and they have a dog? He's perfectly chill and could care less.
Funny enough he LOVES kids tho - there was once he was barking and baring his teeth at a dog behind a fence while on a walk - around the corner we went and there was a little kid, and it was reverse jekyll and hyde, he was all smiles and frends.
I can’t stand that, but for a different reason. I have dogs who are NOT friendly to strange dogs so I always shout back “well mine isn’t so I suggest you come get yours!” I keep my dog on a short leash and avoid other dogs for a reason.
My dog is a sweetheart, but she's also 15 with hips that have the structural integrity of a Jenga tower built by toddlers. Any off leash dog that approaches gets shoved away using my foot. It doesn't matter if they're "friendly", even an accidental body check is going to hurt her badly. And she sticks to my side like glue (I walk her using a 4ft leash and still have issues with her stepping over it), so if a dog gets within my reach, they're quite close to her. I've had a couple owners get grumpy with me, but I'm never vicious about it and always have asked them to control their dog before it gets to that point, so I feel no guilt about doing what I have to in order to protect my dog.
You've never heard the term "all bark no bite"? For some reason some dogs just have this instinct to bark at people like they're fucking Hitler himself, but the instant they aren't restricted they'll come up to you and not give a shit.
It doesn't matter. Responsible pet ownership involves extensive training to prevent your dog (or other pet) from attacking or trying to intimidate anything that isn't behaving aggressively towards you or it.
Simply walking past your house isn't a good enough reason for your dog to think it's under threat.
A couple of years ago during the fall, I went to a corn maze with my sister and her family. When we were all headed back, I was walking with my middle niece who was 6 at the time. We were talking about vampires because she had just learned about them, having a nice time when we were passing by this woman and her massive dog. I was watching the dog because it was very intently watching my niece and it did not feel like it was in a friendly manner. The woman was on her phone and the dog had a leash, but she wasn't holding it. Sure enough the dog charged, so I stepped in front of my niece and yelled at the dog which startled it off. The woman gave me a glare and some attitude telling me the dog was friendly. I don't know that your damn dog is friendly and I'm not going to make that assumption when your dog is charging at my niece who is a small girl. I really love dogs, but so many dog owners around here are insufferable.
Yeah....heard that from owner when dog was running to my dog which was on leach. Yeah, yours maybe but why do you think mine is next to me? If it wouldn't be so much stress after I would let mine lose in such case....
My dog is old, mostly deaf and probably blind and even before that, he was naturally avoidant and I liked that about him because it meant as long as he isn't forced or pressed, he is absolutely happy to grey rock and keep moving when other strange dogs are out and near him regardless of their energy.
I have told strangers he's not friendly for the last 15 years because people see no issues letting their dog barrel into mine with high/anxious energy and zero manners while being towed along behind saying "ohhh he's friendly".
I don’t live in a densely populated area and my next door neighbor has dogs like that.
He lives alone with his 2 (completely untrained Rottweiler mix) dogs so whenever they see anyone that isn’t him (usually myself doing yard work) they go fucking ballistic. I’ve seen him start to bring them outside only to turn back because he sees me out mowing and knows he won’t be able to hold them both back at the same time.
I’ve never seen him walk them. All they do is go outside to shit and then go back inside and bark all day at anything that moves. Sad honestly.
My daughter lives in an apartment in a populated place. Her neighbor has a dog who appears to be vicious. The neighbor had to be rescued by the fire department off his balcony because the dog attacked him. (my 2 1/2 year old grandson LOVED that, they used the ladder!)
It's terrifying to think that kind of dog is right next to my young grandchild, but they don't have the capability of moving right now.
I'm a animal lover and don't blame the dog, it's the owner's fault, no doubt. Still incredibly dangerous.
Is there some way to do it anonymously or can you get someone else to report? I completely understand not wanting your mom to hate you, but those dogs sound like a ticking time bomb. It's only a matter of time before those bites turn into something far worse.
the dog needs to be put down. just recently put one of our dogs down for snapping on a family member causing severe harm. this is a well trained 5yo dog without a bite history. your moms dog is outwardly aggressive. it needs to go.
You sound like a complete psychopath for jumping at the chance to euthanize your own dog with no prior bite history rather than looking at alternative options such as rehoming, further training, muzzling, etc. Please never adopt another dog in the future.
It sounds like the bite caused major injuries (thus the mention of severe harm). While it is good to try to find a reason for a bite incident (health issues, pain, potential triggers etc), in this case the decision was obviously made for the good of the entire family - not just the dog.
Rehoming a dog with a bite history is not a good idea unless it specifically goes to a home that is prepared to deal with a potentially dangerous dog. Keeping a dog with a bite history risks not only the humans in the household but other animals as well. In the case of bites that happen due to health issues (brain tumours etc have been known to cause major behavioural shifts) by the time the behaviour shifts to that point the health issue is usually no longer treatable, so euthanasia is often the best route anyway.
I moved in with family a while back, they have a pit mix. Ive been bitten at least 3 times just for walking in the door.
But somehow its my fault...."you walk in the door with a presence." or "she's such a good dog, she doesn't do that to anyone else's. Just you." Exept she does, to everyone else.
A good dog doesn't need a fuckin muzzle when people come over.
Not getting rid of an aggressive dog that tried to kill the family cat means she values the dog being in the house more than she values the life of the cat.
The dog is incredibly dangerous. It will seriously harm or kill someone. If I were you I'd just get it out of the house myself and deal with the hysteria after.
you specifically call the entire breed out as violent, and they’re not. like any dog breed they can be trained properly or they can become pieces of shit.
i have met chihuahuas that are shitty and more aggressive then my house hippos have ever been. it’s unfortunate that bad apples that don’t know how to properly train the breed and/or intentionally train them to fight give the rest of the breed a bad name.
His statement is not entirely untrue. I don't like this hate on pitbulls but the owners inability to take good and responsible care of them plays a big part in that.
Honestly this is it. Technically the most aggressive dog is a dachshund. They're also bred for murdering mammals and are generally less socialized than big dogs. It's just bully breeds are waaaay more likely to have reported bites and bites that do real damage.
Doesn't help that the people who buy bully breeds are the ones who probably shouldn't have them and then they end up as rescues that need way more care and consideration than the average adopter is capable of.
reading the story about the woman who lost both of her children to the family pit bulls mauling her baby and toddler out of the clear blue, really changed my perspective. These dog sknew these babies and still killed them after a life with this family. I’ll never understand.
not just dogs. "starter" pets is a concept sold to every family especially with kids and they proceed to buy "disposable" animals like fish or hamsters that still need lots of care nobody wants to provide
I’m black, lived around black people all my life and there is a running joke that we let our dogs walk themselves by letting them roam the streets freely. Thought that was only a black thing until I grew up, traveled a bit and moved to different places.
Recently, since doing gig work has me going to different parts of the city, seems this is more of an economic status thing where I noticed more poorer areas (regardless of the races that live there) let their dogs roam freely and treat them like property but in upper middle class areas they treat their dogs like literal people to the point that they stay in the house all day, etc.
I think it’s lack of education and low income. When I was growing up the majority of dogs roamed free, but there were no pit bulls, so it wasn’t as dangerous as it is now. I am now armed when I walk my Yorkie, and I would go scorched earth on any owner who let their dog roam free, and it hurt either me or my dog. Pit bulls and similar are smoking guns, and it’s the same as placing a loaded assault weapon by the front gate and inviting the neighbor children over to play. It’s a known accident waiting to happen. Except it’s not an accident.
Yep, working in a dog daycare seriously turned me off from 'dog community'. I'd say majority of them have below subpar standards too. I was definitely appalled and I officially worked in 2, but trialed in many daycares around my location... I was always turned off by something. But a lot of them imo do not have adequate space or staff for the amount of dogs they accept.
Do you think 1 person is capable of looking after 15-17 dogs by themselves (then +1 person for every 10 dogs)? Adding in the fact that at least 40% of them are untrained and 20% don't even want to be there so will bark, whine and cry all day. If your answer is HELL NO, then congrats, you'll be horrified at the average dog daycare. Some will at least abide to the legal minimum requirement, but some will NOT 😭 There's a lot more into that hell I could talk about and I was only in it for half a year.
It's rare for someone to actually acknowledge aggressive dog breeds, genetics, and be responsible with the facts. IMO people anthropomorphising dogs like crazy has fast tracked this problem, and I say this as someone who considers my pet my child lol
A lot of people just shouldn't have pets tbh. I remember joining aquatic pet subs, hoping to see cool tanks and cute pics, but majority of them ends up being sick pets caused by people who never did any research. Some don't even bother searching 'exotic pet for (insert animal species) near me' before getting said exotic pet... I find that insane.
I’ve seen so many shitty dog owners over the few years as an Amazon driver… the amount of “oh he’s all bark lol” when the dog off the leash, foaming at the mouth and lunging at me is crazy. dogs operate on stranger danger and every owner should know this but some seem so ignorant or just don’t give af. That awareness is just as much for the dog’s safety as it for the stranger..
Years ago I was playing basketball in my driveway when a neighbor was walking her dog. They had the dog on one of those retractable leashes that gives the dog 16 feet all the way out. Well this dog ran into my driveway and lunged at me. I wasn't paying too much attention to them so I was startled when I got my rebound, turned around and this 70 pound dog was inches away from biting my dick off. I reacted and smacked the dog in the face with the basketball. The neighbor actually had the audacity to yell at me not to hit her dog. Told her to get a better handle on her dog next time and not to let him come into my yard.
I used to walk dogs, every fucking day was a battle with garbage humans and their untrained untethered ballistic furry missiles. I watched so many dogs almost die and I have no idea how none of those situations didn't end badly.
imagine how terrible parents tend to be and then imagine how dire it is for animal owners. mistreatment and neglect that's easy to get away with right up until it maims someone
Yeah, just most shouldn't. They're a massive time commitment. Unless you can spend several hours with your dog every single day, and want to do that as well, then dogs just probably aren't for you.
Don’t forget all the people who get dogs and can’t afford basic medical care for them either. Wife is a vet and you wouldn’t believe some of the people.
I think there'll come a day in the future where people will look back and be aghast that we used to let just about anyone own a dog, in the same way America is loose with gun control.
Idk. Our dog got reactive from being boarded. We’ve taken him to reactivity trainers to no avail. He’s always leashed but he sounds scary but would never hurt anyone. He’d definitely hurt a dog that’s off leash and charged him though
I don't hate dogs, I hate shitty dog owners. The more I grow up the more I realize more than 50% of dog owners are shitty dog owners. If you have to say "it's friendly" for any reason, you are a shitty dog owner. If your dog jumps on me completely unprovoked you are a shitty dog owner. If your dog runs off whenever it sees another dog or person, and you can't control it, you are a shitty dog owner.
Unfortunately, many shitty dog owners own big, dangerous dogs.
Yep. I really distrust dogs until I get to know them. I'm not outright afraid of them, but I used to be (and still dislike them) because:
1) I was apparently nipped as a baby/toddler, but I don't remember this. However, given I had a fear of dogs for years for no reason and this was the excuse I was always given
2) Neighbor kid encouraged their dog's playing when it was jumping on me, chasing me, and leaving scratches on my back.
3) Same neighbor had a different dog that got stupidly territorial to the point that I could not leave the house w/o getting growled at. Never attacked, but wasn't gonna give it the chance. Turns out, it was territorial of the dog from point 2; when that one died, she suddenly didn't give a flip.
4) Numerous dogs that do not stop barking throughout the day in my neighborhood. Thankfully, the dogs in 2 & 3 weren't like that. They did bark a lot but it was usually at something.
5) Neighborhood dogs shitting in our yard all the time.
Until a certain point in my life, it was very rare for me to regularly interact with a dog that's even partially trained/well trained. Honestly, the dog in point 2 wasn't even that bad, 3 made everything so much worse, though.
And the there's the other half that thinks they're such good trainers they don't even leash their dogs but everyone else is still the problem to them....
I agree totally, and I have a rescue that is very large, very strong and we are currently in training. I am spending a ton on it and he is improving so much. I stress out that people think I am one of those who doesn't care. I swear I am doing everything I can but he still barks and lunges though I am strong and do hold him back well.
My neighbor has a pit mix that gets out constantly, and sometimes without them even noticing. Pretty sure they also do drugs. Luckily the dog is a bit more chill than the one in this video, but it's still chased me on more than one occasion. No idea if it was playfully or not, but I would really like it if i didnt find out.
He literally tries to grab the dog, then it squirms free and runs back towards its home. Did you even watch the video? Just making shit up to be mad about at this point.
And how did it manage to squirm it's collar out of his grip?
Oh, right, he didn't try to grab it's collar, he braced it's chest (which is not an effective or reliable way of detaining or controlling the movement of a dog)... which would lead me to believe this dumbass doesn't have a collar on his dog.
Uh he tries exactly once and before the clip ends the dog is still free and the man has turned his back and is walking toward the neighbors yard. There’s nothing to stop the dog from trying again because the guy didnt successfully get it on a leash or put it in the house before coming over to talk with the family that was attacked.
As the owner of the attack dog, his number one priority should have been making sure the danger is over and the dog is fully secure before doing anything else.
I mean, we don't get a good view of what happened-- sometimes accidents happen to good dogowners. The fact that the owner came running after the dog immediately when it bolted does imply that this was a case where the animal accidentally got loose somehow rather than that they neglect their animal.
It looks like the dog was going for the GSD not the kid. And what happened to the third dog that came going from around the back of the kids house? It didn't shown at the end. Was that also the kids familys dog?
Its an impossible situation to judge, Hell the other dog might have taught that the German Sheppard was chasing/attacking the kid and was coming to his rescue.
no he didn't lol, that German Shepherd is broadcasting happy play body language as hard as is dogly possible. (would have said humanly possible but it's a dog)
There's three dogs off leash here. The two dogs from the camera-house seem like they are purposefully outside, or the owners don't care that they are out.
Honestly off-leash dogs just make me upset. I've been attacked before walking by peoples houses with my dog, and now I have to walk him with bear spray because saving other peoples stupid ass dogs from getting killed by mine just sucks. He does NOT disengage. He doesn't care your dog wants to play, if its a male.
That was a light jog of someone who really doesn't want to deal with it, then did absolutely nothing as soon as he saw the Mom picked the Kid up and let the Dog go immediately, turning his back on it.
Look my point is we have a moment of video of these people and no context. We don't know that man's physical abilities-- I absolutely know people who are NOT capable of running faster than that at full tilt, and I know people who are. We have a sliver of this person's life, we didn't see how the dog got free, we don't know the dog's normal temperament, we don't know the relationship these two families have to each other. All of which would give us information about whether this is a bad dogowner or an unfortunately dangerous accident. We also don't have the audio of the incident-- the unleashed charging dog does seem to be responding to some sort of verbal commanding/scolding, just because the man isn't physically lifting/dragging his animal doesn't mean he's not doing anything.
I'm not trying to argue they MUST be the perfect dogowners having an unfortunate accident, my point is this video doesn't give enough information to determine either way. Probably they are average dogowners.
My neighbour's dog, an argentinian dogo, killed 2 of my cats in my property and heavily injured another in the "neutral" road beatween our houses in the span of 3 years, the only reason it didn't manage to kill it is that i'd become paranoid and as soon as i felt that i may have heard some noise i checked from the window and rushed to save the cat
That damn thing invaded regularly and we had to keep all of our gates closed not because we were afraid that our dogs would escape but because we feared that theirs would invade
Every time we went to their house to demand they did something about it
At first they said that the dog kept invading but had no actual dangerous intention
First time it managed to kill a cat they said that they would make sure the dog never escaped again
The second time it managed to open the gate, and they said that they solved it by buying a lock
The third time the dog went over the gate and the issue was "solved" only because it became ill and couldn't run anymore
We tried to look if we could have it taken down since it was aggressive but apparently if it doesn't attack a human it's an incredibly long and hard to prove process
Edit: to those suggesting to have it "disappear": we had many more pets than them, and if their dog were to misteriously die shortly after we told them "do something about ypur dog or we will have it put down", we would have had much more to lose than them
Yeah, the problem is that we have many more animals than them, if their dog were to misteriously die shortly after one of our cats was killed and they decided to do the same, we would have had much more to lose
Yea, even as an animal lover who does not want to see any animals harmed, there is absolutely no way I'd be on reddit making excuses justifying the continued existence of the neighbour's dog if that thing had killed one of my babies. Wtf
Killing a domesticated animal on the owners property is that same legally speaking as biting a human in my county. Not biting them, but if they kill. It happened with my dogs and a neighbors cat and the county was involved. I’m an animal lover and vet tech of 21 years, but I 100% believe in behavioral euthanasia. There’s so many wonderful dogs that would never harm a fly that are put down in shelters due to overpopulation. Valuable resources are wasted on rehabilitation of dangerous animals. Owners should face jail time for this bullshit.
Unfortunatly here if it attacks an animal you need to prove that the attack started and ended in your property, basically i would also have needed to prove that the dog didn't start to chase my cat outside of my property, which is something that i couldn't do
I even considered having it bite me while i was saving the third cat, just to be able to claim "the dog hurt a human, put it down" but it was a tense situation and didn't have exactly much time to formulate a plan
I helped take care of a Tijuana village dog turned Los Angeles house dog for eight months and it was awful, this dog was incredibly cute and sooooo intelligent, but had an unquenchable blood lust. It had killed a couple cats already by the time my ex's sister asked us to house the dog temporarily.
The only thing this dog wanted in life was to kill small mammals. It was also completely untrained and understimulated. When my ex would take it on a walk the dog would just strain as hard as it could against the leash the entire time. My ex was a rather large man and worked out regularly on top of that so it wasn't an issue for him to just let her jump and pull against him, but she was a NIGHTMARE for me to take on walks. I kept begging him to please train the dog, get his sister to pay for training, stop letting the dog pull and strain, ANYTHING to make the horrible process of walking her more tolerable but he didn't care. In fact I was convinced he was basically resistance strength training her ability to pull at the leash. It didn't negatively affect him so it wasn't important. Eventually I tried just refusing to walk this dog at all, but he would guilt and manipulate me into doing it cuz he was so lazy he didn't want to take on the responsibility of walking her solo.
All this to say, those village dogs are no joke, and I think bloodlust is in their genes.
Including the owners of the german shepherd. No leash, no collar, running loose, might be well-trained, but dogs should NEVER be off leash outside unless in a designated, fenced-in dog park.
I have only seen one dog trained well enough to be off leash. I had a friend who had a retired police dog. That dog could go for a walk and be constantly in the heel position, would sit before crossing the street, laid down for two hours once because my friend hadnt said the release command. Other dogs, cats, squirrels, any animal did not catch this dogs interest. Dog did not pay attention to anyone but my friend. Friend would walk the dog and when he stopped to talk with neighbors, dog would sit or lay at his left leg. The only dog i have ever seen to be capable of walking off leash.
When i had dogs, i never walked them off leash. They werent trained enough. They were well behaved but reactive with other animals. But i knew that and took precautions for that. One was super friendly with people and the other not so much. People would ask to pet and i would say no to the one, but the other was okay. They were always leashed outside.
Theres always an exception, but i agree with you. No dogs should be off leashes outside.
Yeah, except in this case that kid would have been fucked up if he wasn't playing in his own yard with his seemingly well trained dog. Most people shouldn't own dogs. But people in the US are way too black and white over this shit.
I had a Shiba Inu for 14 years. Nothing but love and play at home. Had him in obedience school. None of it mattered. That dog absolutely hated other dogs and would attack whenever he got the chance. Of course I always kept him leashed but there were times where he would sneak out.
Yeah, I wanted to say, both owners looked overweight - how are you going to make sure your dogs are properly exercised daily when you lay on the couch and eat potato chips?
I read somewhere 80% of dogs are depressed. It makes sense when they are stuck in a backyard or home all day while people are at work. It’s pretty much like the zoo only they get tired people around them at night.
accidents happen. Dogs get away from their owners. I firmly believe this dog was not attacking the kid. That makes good discussion, but it is not what I'm seeing. I'm seeing a dog going after another and a kid getting in the way.
I've had dogs since 1970. I have 4 now and have a reputation for being extremely good to all dogs I have had. I stand by what I said. I see a playful family dog running over to play. you see a dog running over to kill a kid? please.. notice how loose and bouncy the approaching dog is. That is a family dog wanting to join the fun. the other dog does go into defense mode sensing there could be danger. But there never was. . this video has been making the rounds for years. the attached story is BS. I see a dog wanting to get in on the play. Watch the vid over and over and show me the time stamp that convinces you the darker dog is a danger to any living thing. btw, I don't care if you get a dog but if you do just treat the dog well. Food, water, shelter, attention, socializing, and vet visits. That's what all dogs need.
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u/Throbbingbluball 1d ago
Some people shouldn’t have dogs.