RE: New study quantifies aggression in dogs

mariette asselbergs — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 14:20:08 GMT

I would be interested to read the article, but my experience as a vet (40 years) and a dog owner (50 years) does not fit with the conclusions as presented in this report. Does my gut feeling based on seeing and working with multiples of 4000 dogs count against the results of info from 4000 dogowners?

Aggression in one situation not transferrable to other situations? Well, depemnds. A staffie which presents with owners with small children and the mother pregnant, and which then growls, tries to bite and goes for me the moment I want to see his ears, is for me a dangerous dog for the children, even though the owners say that "the children are all over him". This dog reacts to something he doesn't like with biting and active aggession and if a child would do something it didn't like it might do the same with disastrous results.

Anf breeds should not be taken into account when doing a risk assessment? First of all as vets we know how dogs of a certain breed often react to things. But more importantly, the damage done by some breeds is so much more serious than by other breeds that of course the breeds should be taken into account. If an English Bull Terrier is aggressive and bites, he/she is very likely to not let go and shake and shake and bite deeper until having had enough. Whereas a collie or a GSD will in a split second have attributed a multitude of bites.

So ok, interesting research, lets get on with a lot more research into dog aggression, but please be very scientifically rigorous and modest about conclusions and suggestions!

Mariette Asselbergs