There is so much bad information on dog breeds, dog temperament, breeding, and the effect of training to successfully accomplish behavioral modification it’s mind boggling.
We had a male Fila Brailiero (Brazilian Mastiff and hands down the best guard dog in the world), a female Doberman (a fearful girl with a very soft temperament), a female Great Dane (hard as nails and extremely confident) and a male Pitbull (the ultimate lover) all living in happy harmony together, both in their outdoor pen and in the house.
You MUST know what you should expect and how to handle ANY dog before you get it. If your best (and hopefully knowledgeable) attempts to control the dog fail, shoot it, as it has no business being around humans.
“There is so much bad information on dog breeds, dog temperament, breeding, and the effect of training to successfully accomplish behavioral modification it’s mind boggling.”
Yep. A lot of people are just plain stupid/ignorant when it comes to dogs and training. My wife and I breed GSDs, and my wife also has a dog training/behavior modification business, and it still amazes me what people do to their dogs, either through ignorance, or just plain stupidity.
A lot of people don’t need dog or cats: they aren’t fit to care for them.
We screen prospective clients before we will place a dog with them. If you are a responsible breeder, you have to do that, to ensure that you are not placing a dog in an unsafe or unstable environment; and to be sure that the dog is appropriate for what your clients are looking for. We turn away a lot of prospective clients.