I agree some training is important but far more important is for the dog to feel like part of the family and treated with respect and affection. A neglected dog is also abused dog. I have a rescue terrier like that. With time, affection, respect, and the freedom to just be herself she blossomed into a really good family dog I’d trust with even the smallest of children.
You may be mixing up training with discipline although the two generally go hand in hand.
You can have a disciplined dog who listens to you when you give him/her basic commands like ‘stay’, ‘get in the yard’, or to come when you call to them. That’s a bit different than, say, teaching them to do dog tricks like ‘sit’, ‘lay down’, or ‘fetch’. Then you have the working breeds who crave working and need the guidance to know what to do like when Border Collies herd sheep.
There are certain breeds of dogs I simply don’t feel comfortable leaving alone with small children simply because kids can and will do the dumbest things like pulling on a dogs ears or tail or hair not knowing the dog hates that.
I’ve seen my Pit get into a fight with another of my dogs without hurting the other dog at all but she gets some cuts on her face. She is teaching the other dog boundaries the only way she knows how. You know what? It works. The other dog doesn’t make the mistake of getting too close to the Pit’s food again or whatever the basic lesson is all about. Sometimes it’s about establishing a pecking order. Pack members need to know their position in the pack with the human as the leader.
In human terms this would be considered a spat between siblings but because dogs sound like they tearing each other apart when they do that (even though they aren’t); people mistake it for something it isn’t. Unfortunately if a dog, especially a medium to large strong dog, does this to a soft human; the damage to the human will likely be worse.
I have no children living at home and if I anticipated any; I would not have gotten certain breeds. People need to do their homework to decide on what breeds they should allow in their homes under the conditions they have. We humans are supposed to be the smart ones but sometimes I really wonder about that being true.
I would suggest that very, very few % of trained dogs are then neglected or abused. Someone taking the time to actually train their dog is probably planning to then include the happy dog in their life, which in turn makes the owner happy. Supposedly only around 5% of dog owners bother to train, even the barest minimum ‘come sit stay no’.
Again, it would be interesting to know what % of unprovoked dog attacks happen with trained vs untrained animals, and how pits compare to all dogs.
Freegards