Quote:
Originally Posted by Nathans_Dad
Yes, bad owners and poor training can cause poor behavior in a dog. I have also seen dogs that are just plain aggressive. Guess what, they were BRED THAT WAY. People who have pit bulls, dobermans or chows have to understand the dogs were bred to be aggressive. It's in their DNA. Either train the holy heck out of them or don't get that breed.
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Breeds are not generally bred to be aggressive, rather protective. There's a big difference. That's why I have no issue being around the breeds you mentioned (add Shepherds, Malinois, and a few others to round things out) so long as the dog knows I'm welcome in its den. I had a young Doberman for short time; not really trained yet. That dog would defend the backyard against invaders to within an inch of its life. Once I nicely introduced her to the evil invading neighbor, indicating he wasn't so nasty, she would run to the edge of the fence to say hi whenever she saw him.
Some individual animals are indeed hard wired to be inherently dangerous; fear, man issues, separation anxiety, stranger issues, resource guarding). It makes them unpredictable, which I tend to have an issue with. These issues can also be acquired via environment, which is usually the case.