Campaigners have welcomed the move to outlaw the breed they argue is "a clear and present threat to public health", but concerns have been raised it may not be practical and lead to other kinds of dogs being prohibited.
Growing up a neighbor had three Rottweilers that they let run free.
They mostly stayed on their property, but every once and a while they’d come down to my house. Usually because they were following a deer’s trail, so their prey drive was in full gear by the time they’d see me and my sister playing outside.
Rotts get up to like 120lbs on average, but some are even bigger. So out of nowhere we’d have these three massive dogs that were bigger than us, sprinting at us barking their heads off.
We weren’t good tree climbers, so we got one of those wooden playhouse things you had to climb a ladder to get in.
I still don’t think we should ban them, but I think most people agree dogs shouldn’t be free roam.
Barking is a performative aggression. It’s meant to intimidate. Predatory attacks frequently don’t have warning barks. It’s quiet staring then a lunge.
The behavior you described sounds dangerous, but it’s a known thing (that doesn’t make it less dangerous, but does give opportunity to blame the owner that they should have known they had an aggressive dog). Terrible owners don’t correct this behavior and have dogs that are dangerous to people. But there are many dogs that show zero aggression before attacking. There’s a bunch of biased sources but I think there is some truth to it, nearly half of dogs that kill have not shown aggression towards humans before.
Side note: Rottweilers are the #2 killer dog breed in America. They average about 10% of all fatal attacks. Pits are the #1 killer dog breed. The past couple of years they’ve been 65%+ of fatal attacks.
Growing up a neighbor had three Rottweilers that they let run free.
They mostly stayed on their property, but every once and a while they’d come down to my house. Usually because they were following a deer’s trail, so their prey drive was in full gear by the time they’d see me and my sister playing outside.
Rotts get up to like 120lbs on average, but some are even bigger. So out of nowhere we’d have these three massive dogs that were bigger than us, sprinting at us barking their heads off.
We weren’t good tree climbers, so we got one of those wooden playhouse things you had to climb a ladder to get in.
I still don’t think we should ban them, but I think most people agree dogs shouldn’t be free roam.
Barking is a performative aggression. It’s meant to intimidate. Predatory attacks frequently don’t have warning barks. It’s quiet staring then a lunge.
The behavior you described sounds dangerous, but it’s a known thing (that doesn’t make it less dangerous, but does give opportunity to blame the owner that they should have known they had an aggressive dog). Terrible owners don’t correct this behavior and have dogs that are dangerous to people. But there are many dogs that show zero aggression before attacking. There’s a bunch of biased sources but I think there is some truth to it, nearly half of dogs that kill have not shown aggression towards humans before.
Side note: Rottweilers are the #2 killer dog breed in America. They average about 10% of all fatal attacks. Pits are the #1 killer dog breed. The past couple of years they’ve been 65%+ of fatal attacks.
My dream is everyone eventually learns what “per capital” means and how important it is compared to total numbers…