Tyrannical wrote:Some dog breeds simply are more violent and dangerous on average than others, and the cause is genetics. It is wrong to say all members of a breed are"too" violent, but statistically as a group they can be.
Environment is a mitigating factor in animal behavior. But separating the learned from the intrinsic behavior of dogs is sort of like the difference between domesticated and trained wild animals. That difference, and one which domesticated animals were bred for is comfortableness and non-aggression towards humans. Certain dog breeds as opposed to most domesticated animals were not bred for these characteristics.
Now I'm sure Seth realizes that in an average environment on average, a yellow lab will be less dangerous than a pit bull. But Seth believes that you shouldn't judge all pit bulls based on a smaller percent of the population, and that good training can improve behavior.
This has been shown to be untrue.
The current thinking is that only a small proportion of a dog's behaviour as regards violence is down to its instincts, and that a great deal of violent behaviour experienced is down to a learned behaviour - and usually the result of either abuse or deliberate training.
Breeding in dogs has tangible results mostly in appearance and strength, and general instincts. A willingness to attack humans and indeed, human children, is not a guaranteed result.
When we look at the cases of dog attacks, and in particular fatalities, there are a number of things we can say:
1. Journalists routinely get the breed wrong - and this results in bull-breeds being unfairly blamed in many cases.
2. The owners have not raised or socialised their dog correctly
3. The owners have abused the dog or trained it to be violent
4. The dogs were unsupervised.
It is still quite rare for a family pet that has a modicum of socialisation and training to actually attack and kill a human being.
Seth is absolutely right.
And, while I'm on, you're far more likely to suffer a dog bit related fatality from an encounter with a labrador than with a pit-bull.
