Posted on 08/03/2005 10:19:25 AM PDT by Travis McGee
I've thought about getting a Matiff, I like Newfs, but I've always thought a Bull or English Matiff would be cool too. I've read that they have very good temperments, certainly if the dog (matiff) was a killer we would be reading about it instead of pit's and rot's.
One of my dogs has killed.
He got a medal.
More have saved lives. Some have died trying.
My uncle, from whom I learned, had many dogs recieve medals. Some saved the lives of who knows how many soldiers by running countersniper missions in the bush in the late sixties, early seventies.
Many of them died in the field. Most of them.
Of course, if a person's dog hurts a person, the owner is liable, just as if a person shoots someone, the gun is not the criminal.
Just like guns, dogs in the hands of police, soldiers emergency workers AND civilians have saved many times the lives that they have taken. You read about two or three sensational cases a year where a dog goes bad.
You seldom read where a dog has gone into a fire or a lake and rescued a human but it happens every day. So common it's mundane. There's also the Guide Dogs of America, who procure seeing eye dogs and wheel chair assist dogs, you never hear about them.
Guess what?
Rottweilers are great assistance dogs because of their calm manner, stability and great strength.
They are great rescue dogs due to their determination, great noses and tremandous courage.
They are wonderful companion dogs. I believe you'd think again if you ever saw the reaction mine get when we visit Operation Stand Down and they get mobbed by the homeless vets, who so desperately need the compassion that is found in the sloppy tongues and wiggling stumps of their tails.
They're cute! You've got some good company.
I know I wasn't invited but I looked anyway. :)
I'm with you. We're not getting the whole story.
I beg to differ as German Shepherds are certainly the Good Lord's idea of what a dog should be.
Nonsense about the stats---the pit bulls still had a large share of fatalities in 79-80 BEFORE the rise of crack houses and drug gangs(at least in comparison to the level it would hit mid-80s)
My basic opinion is that people should be held strictly liable for what their dogs do. That would solve most of the problem immediately.
I'm glad you like them. Tinker, the big guy, and Bebe, the minpin.
Of their temperaments, Tinker's is the best. I'm really glad Bebe only weighs 7 lbs, she's very "bossy."
Tinker is an American Mastiff from Flying W Farms, which breeds Old English and American Mastiffs. They do come with a lifetime health and temperament guarantee, and the bloodlines go way way back.
http://www.flyingwfarms.com/
I will say that they cost a lot, and the breeder is very careful to get the background on the prospective buyer, too. They will not sell the puppies to anyone they do not think will socialize, train and treat them properly.
These dogs are so big anything else would be completely irresponsible.
If you will also agree that they should NOT be punished for what they didn't do, then we are in agreement.
Same as guns. No reason a person shouldn't own whatever they can afford, as long as they conduct themselves as decent, respectful citizens.
You need to be careful of the breeder. Bull Mastiffs are lovely dogs, not as large as OEMs, but plenty big enough...
Sometimes a mastiff will be shy, or aggressive...such a dog should be put down and never ever bred, but as with anything, some unscrupulous people will, for money...shy dogs are as dangerous as aggressive ones, imho.
Excuse me what about labradores? ;-)
I'll admit to not knowing a lot about rotties, except my business does a lot of work with rottrescue.org (shameless plug for a great group of people). But I'd have to think there'd be some warning, possibly ignored. I've known many people who ignore aggression against kids. I was lunged at by a GSD when I was about 6. Luckily, the whole family reacted quickly. My aunt and uncle had the audacity to suggest it was my fault since I looked at the dog.
Of course, I denied looking at it since I had been told not to. But I did look at it. But I must have known even at a young age that such a warning was the height of foolishness.
A well breed socailized German Shepard is certainly a very fine dog. Almost as good a dog as a Newfy, the key word being almost. I am a big fan of German Shepards, hard to fine a better dog.
Right. There was a story the other day about a dog mauling some kid, and the owner is only getting an $85 dollar fine, and losing the dog. He should be held criminally liable for what happend.
At the same time, he should be allowed to have whatever dog he wants.
I never mentioned pitbulls, of if I did, its a looong thread, I didn't mean to. I was defending rottweilers and dogs in general.
I've never had a high opinion of pitbulls.
Almost as unstable as spaniels.
I would have guessed the little one is, or tries to be the boss.
They have so much more to prove.
Bebe is adorable! I have a male, at 10 pounds, and a female at 13 pounds. Bad and bossy to the bone! If they were as big on the outside as on the inside, there'd be no room on the couch.
"No doubt. We have some in our neighborhood who own mastiffs, rotts, pit bull. A LOT of dog owners let their dogs run around without a leash in residential neighborhoods."
EVery single dog(that isn't a tiny non-lethal dog) that is seen off its leash should be shot on sight. I'm POSITIVE in exurb and suburbs that there are leash laws.
The tiny dogs off leash get one warning to the owner, then they suffer the same fate.
Yes, he should;
Be held liable, and until he does or allows soemthing so irresponsible to occur, he should be free to own whatever he pleases.
After someone has done something is when they should get punished. Not when someone else does wrong, and not in anticipation that he may do wrong.
We are on the same page.
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