Originally Posted by APBT
Thank you Mr. Koerner and to all the advice I received from everyone. I decided It is best to not post a video of the dog in order to protect the breeder’s reputation, my dog’s reputation, and my dog’s ancestors reputation. Everyone has their opinion and there is no way of changing people’s opinion. It is very difficult to convince someone to think a certain way if they do not want to. I have tried before, but it is almost impossible. Having said that I feel I must defend Human aggresive dogs. The words “human aggressive” explain the result but not the catalyst of what caused the human aggression in the first place. A better phrase to identify a dog that exhibits aggression towards humans could be reffered to as an “insecure dog” that when provoked either bites, growls, barks or runs away. In this forum we are talking about the ones that bite when they are provoked. A human can “provoke” an insecure dog in ways that would seem harmless in the human’s eyes, however through the dog’s eyes they are doing something that poses a threat. Something as simple as standing near an insecure dog could provoke them. Having the ability to read an insecure dog’s mind is essential when approaching one. When an insecure dog is born in a litter, my belief is that it is mother nature’s way of reverting back to its wild side. There is a reason deers, birds, wolves, etc. go away when there are humans around. The reason is fear. The fear is due to the fact that different species most of the time don’t understand each other. And as humans we generally fear what we do not understand. If these animals were not afraid then there would be no deers, birds, and wolves left in this world and everybody would have a wolf rug in their living room.
There are some people that have the ability to relate to wild animals. These people were able to set their fears aside and form a trust with mother nature that few people can do. Not everyone has this ability to give 100% of themselves to an insecure animal and establish a relationship of trust and understanding. But why do I compare “insecure dogs” with wild animals? Well, both insecure dogs and wild animals are very similar in that they are not “mans best friend”, they are very selective of who they choose to trust. They are instead a “few mans and womans best friends.” Only people that are genuinely willing to set their fears and prejudices aside and give 100% of themselves will form a bond with these animals. Unfortunately, if there is not a genuine bond then there is a chance of being attacked. For example, has anyone ever tried to “rescue” a stray dog from the street with the best intentions, only to find out the dog didn’t want help and ran away? The dog ran away because it was afraid and chances are if you would have tried to grab it, it would have bitten you.
I have been attacked many times by dogs throughout my life for many reasons. And many times I have felt angry at the dogs. I felt angry because I did not understand that the dog was actually afraid of me at that moment in time for whatever reason. Seven years ago I acquired a dog that was bred to indiscriminately fear everything and attack. If I had known that the dog was going to be fearful I would have never supported the breeder by buying a dog from him. I am not going to say the breed because I can’t stand the “breedism” that exists against dogs. I tried so hard to socialize this dog and try to boost his confidence. Constantly taking him out on walks and exposing him to different scenarios, and trying to make a positive experience out of everything. Seven years later, I am proud to say I have one of the best representatives of my dogs lineage. It was through my time and effort that I was able to help him become a more confident dog. However, I did pass many hard times, where I felt like a failure, because even with all the time I spent on him, his genetics were too strong. I now accept him for who he is and feel content with the more confident dog I have.
Having an insecure dog is like having a special needs child. You must always be one step ahead of your dogs thought process to see how he is feeling or thinking at that very moment. In a way you are forced to do this to avoid getting into trouble with society. For example, if you have an insecure dog and you are walking in the park, if someone approaches you all of a sudden, you must hold on to that leash like your life depended on it to avoid any problems. If you socialized your insecure dog enough then nothing will happen, but the leash will always have to remain short and tight in these instance, just in case.
Since an insecure dog forces the owner to get into that dog’s mind or at least try 100% of the time for obvious safety reasons, the owner starts to think like his dog and learns to see it transparently. This skill could then be used with humans. Many times I have been surprised at how fast I am able to read a person when I first meet them. I know if that person is a hypocrite, crazy, fearful, traumatized, ignorant, special, smart etc.. I owe this skill I have to my insecure dog, who again forced me to get inside of his mind and in a way forced me to change.
Many people advised me in this forum to put the dog to sleep. But in my belief, the “dog” is part of my family and we are all in this together. Society will probably think I am crazy, but I have much respect for mother nature and the greatest teachers in my life were dogs. They have taught me the true meaning of loyalty and love, simplicity, honesty, transparency. For example, a dog will never divorce you. Human relationships are too fragile. Human-dog relationships are forever like stone. We should learn from the dogs and keep it simple.
I truly believe that when my dog attacked my family members it was because they did something that the dog percieved as a threat. Again his threshold of tolerance is much weaker than a stable dog, so what they did to provoke the attack could have been relatively seen as harmless in human eyes but as a threat in his eyes. For the rest of this dog’s life I am prepared to keep everyone around the dog and the dog safe. It is weird, but when you have an insecure dog, you end up protecting the dog from feeling threatened and you become the guardian of the household. Through my experience with living with insecure dogs I can honestly say that they do not enjoy being aggressive. In fact they would rather avoid it at all costs. Therefore, the owner if he cares about the dog ends up protecting the dog from feeling uneasy for the rest of its life.
I have some theories on how insecure dogs can go unnoticed in a kennel. For example: take an potentially insecure dog and put it in a stable environment such as a traditional kennel in a wooded calm area for its entire life. The dog will eventually get used to its surroundings and appear to be confident. However, take that same dog and put it into a more dynamic environment such as a city and you will notice aspects of his temperament no one has ever noticed in its previous kennel home.
Another theory I have on how an insecure dog or its ancestors can go unnoticed in a kennel is the following: For example take an insecure dog and put it into a traditional kennel ( a nice wooded calm area) for its entire life, with an owner that has many other dogs. Lets just say, the owner or breeder is only able to give a limited amount of attention to each dog since he has so many. As a result this insecure dog has never really bonded with anyone and is more open to be petted from a stranger visiting the kennel. Now take that same insecure dog and put it in my hands, someone who spends so much time with the dog in parks etc. that people would say I am crazy and you will have a dog that no longer craves human attention from strangers and becomes over protective of its owner. I think this is what happened in my case. The rest of my family does not have the same passion for dogs that I have and I have spent so much time with the dog compared to them, that the dog never really accepted them in the first place and attacked because they were always strangers in his eyes. This is why I am trying to make my family members spend more time with myself and the dog, so that they will be seen not as strangers, but more as family in the dog’s eyes.
I am not afraid to say I am a beginner to this breed. This is my first dog from this lineage on paper and everything I learned was the hard way. I would like to ask for some advice. My dog seems to be a redirecter. A few months ago, in my ignorance, I had three dogs out in my yard at the same time, including the one this forum is about which I will refer to X. The two adults started fighting and X wanted to join in. I was able to separate the two adults, but since I blocked X from getting close to the other dogs with my arm he started biting at my arm. He grabbed my jacket and shook and tore my jacket. He then rushed towards me like a train wanting to continue to attack. I stretched out my arms locked my elbows and held onto his collar to block him from getting near me. After about ten seconds of me holding him in place he calmed down. I let go of the collar and everything was fine.
Another incident happened twice, in the park. When I walking through the park on two occassions I came across two dogs that were off leash. The dogs got close to me and circled around me. I noticed that X was getting excited and after a short while of this he bit me in the leg. However, he quickly let go. I wanted to ask if this is acceptable behavior? The first incident of the fight was scary as he probably would have done damage if it were not for my jacket.
Thank you again, Mr Koerner and everyone else from the forum for the advi
