Woman charged after her Rottweilers maul young girl on UK street

NewsCore ^ | August 31, 2010 | Graham Fitzgerald

[Salamander]

Yeah.
Kinda.

[rip]

[Salamander]

Excellent post.

[Juana la Loca]

My brother had a Rottie. I would say this, they are like owning a handgun. If you are properly trained in handling a handgun and observe the necessary safety rules, there’s no problem with having one in your home. If you are scared to handle it, don’t know how to handle it properly, or have it just to scare people with...you have a dangerous situation on your hands. With Rotties, you have to establish yourself as the pack leader, or they will assume the alpha role and you don’t want a 120lb dog calling the shots.

I was not comfortable with my brother’s Rottie. It would come up to you and lean against you and ask to be pet. You would pet her and everything would seem fine, but when she had had enough, she would growl to let you know “that’s enough.” When I mentioned to my sister-in-law that this behavior was a problem she would say, “that’s just how Rotties talk.” I should mention that this same SIL severely sprained her wrist when she was walking the very same Rottie on a leash, when it took exception to the construction crew filling a pothole down the street. The dog knocked her down and dragged her across their property as it charged the workers. Same SIL later owned a Greater Swiss Mountain dog with food guarding issues that attacked her...not bit her...attacked her. She managed to get the dog to the vet afterwards, but it was trying to attack everyone at the vet’s office...it was in an absolute frenzy. The vet took one look at the dog and said “it needs to be put down” and they did so immediately.

My point is this...people who don’t understand dog psychology have no business owning dogs that have dominant personalities. Stick to lap dogs and companion dogs where your ignorance doesn’t endanger yourself or others.