Now all the dogs you would expect are on these lists. Pit bulls, Doberman Pinchers, German shepherds, Rottweilers, Chows, and Akitas. Those don’t surprise me based on their use as guard dogs. At the same time, I don’t believe that a dog can be evil if not trained to be so. What was shocking to me was seeing Siberian Huskies either at #3 or #4. I couldn’t even remotely see a Siberian as being dangerous.
The reason I don’t believe Leloo is dangerous is because I’ve worked with her not to do that. I’ve shown her that humans are the boss and she can’t bite the hand that feeds her. She still has issues with stealing socks, tissues and anything similar to either. She tries to fight for said items, but I can rub her head, touch her while she’s growling and she still won’t bite me. I’ve found that in Leloo’s case she just wants to play or to get attention. The second she finds something more interesting, like a treat, she drops the item. I’ve used the “trade” command. It doesn’t always work, but most times it’s easier than trying to get whatever she’s stolen out of her mouth. For my husband, all he has to do is put his hand out and she almost automatically drops whatever is in her mouth.
At the same time with other animals, Leloo is generally gentle. Every now and again she gets too excited for a friend she jumps on other dogs. Leloo showed great restraint at the park over the weekend. Another dog, an Alaskan Eskimo dog, did not like her. Not that she did anything at all to him, he just didn’t like her. The second he entered the park, he blazed right up to her and jumped on top of her. Biting and scratching. It took his owner to get him off of her. She barely reacted to it all. She looked at him and tried to get out from underneath him. According to all the dangerous dog websites, she was supposed to kill that dog. At the very least be aggressive to anyone that came near her. Somehow though she just looked confused and walked away! Hmmmmm makes you think doesn’t it? I blame the owner of that other dog for his bad behavior. The dog was obviously over pampered. He seemed to have zero training.
During my hunting online I found out about this site: http://www.atts.org/about.html. American Temperament Test Society, Inc. This is a non-biased non-for-profit group that does temperament testing of dog breeds. I found it really interesting that Siberians ranked higher than several dogs considered to be “good family pets” such as: standard poodle, dachshund, beagle, collie (you know lassie), Chinese crested (ugly hairless dog),
Could a Siberian bite someone? Sure can! Can any dog be trained to be fearful, and aggressive? Sure, but my point is so could any other dog.
I think some of those little ankle biter dogs are more vicious than us big dogs. It's just that our bites are more damaging than those little dogs. Malamutes are on that list too. I think Sibes and Mal's are on those lists because people think we look like "wolves" so therefore, we must be dangerous. Ummm, yeah! If you want us to lick you to death!
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Huskies have a strong prey drive. There have been several fatalities (no where near the number for pit bulls) and all of that fatalities that I saw were inflicted upon children under the age of two. All dog fatalities in the US over a couple year period are listed here: http://dogbitelaw.com/dangerous-vicious-dogs/canine-homicides-july-2006-to-present.html. It isn't that they snapped one day or mauled someone while roaming at large. It is more that the infants were left alone and mistaken for being a small animal. Really, you shouldn't leave an infant alone with any dog. It is annoying to me that they are on these lists. I own a husky, and I was turned down housing once because the landlord's insurance company had them on the dangerous dog list. Putting them on the list might make people think that a husky will maul them to death, but that is absolutely not the case (again, though, be careful with infants).
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