A very good point. Grandchildren can rough house with a Labrador, never a snarl or a snap. My Labrador is an early warning system not a landmine.
I have a pretty good warning system. Two Long Coated German Shepherd Dogs brought over from Germany. Protective but not aggressive. They have different barks and I can tell which one is barking. R will only bark if a person is approaching the homestead. L will bark at almost anything including deer or turkeys crossing the yard. If R barks, I pay immediate attention, she is never wrong. If L barks there is a good chance of spotting wildlife in the yard or field.
Our third Sheltie, a tricolor, will be six on the 29th. She is part of the family. The dinki-dink sound of the motion detectors on the cell phone sends her barking to the font door--even when it was she who had set it off on the back porch. After the mail has arrived, she will not relax until it has been brought in and offered to her for evaluation. We have motion detectors, smoke detectors, and.... But it may be the dog who saves us.
No dogs yet sadly, we have a baby on the way so a new dog won't be happening for at least two years, I am expecting to have two German shepherds once the baby bear can walk, I intend to send them to aggression training school run by a couple of AF vets that used to teach the K9 units at Lackland AFB. Hopefully by that time I can also get the land that I've been wanting. For shooting, hunting, and raising some sheep.
We've had Springer Spaniels so I am not anti dog. In my area of residence there are dogs then there are nettlesome dogs. I walk as in miles with with a walking stick made from a long handle shovel shaft. The problem with dogs is the owners that allow them to roam freely daily. We no longer have dogs because of our age mid seventh decade. Those of you that have dogs properly train them! If by chance a dog attacks me I will not hesitate to destroy it. I'm not going to be injured or crippled by a dog because of a fool owner not training the animal properly or leaving it to run free during the day. Domestic dogs given the opportunity will run in packs and also pull down live stock.
For a watch dog that has minimal shedding(no dog sheds zero) look at the schnauzers I like the standard though the giant is a great deterrent
Have you ever been around a standard? I have yet to encounter any shedding in over 14 years of them owning me. Maybe I have just been lucky.
This is actual research on bites by breed. Labrador retrievers: 13.3% Pit Bulls: 8.4% German Shepherds: 7.8% Rottweilers: 3.9% Chows: 3.5%
Coincidentally I just finished watching a video on personal protection dogs (PPD). People pay a lot of money for these animals & the video clearly demonstrates that whoever buys these dogs expects them to take on whatever attacks them while they get away. I disagree with people that expect a dog to assume full responsibility for their safety. I have a very courageous male German Shepherd that I know is perfectly willing to confront any aggressor. But he is also a valued member of my family, not an expendable protection machine. As far as I'm concerned he and I are a team but I am the principal protector not the other way around. I would never let my dog loose in the yard to confront intruder(s) or ask him to tackle an attacker before I first expend all my options. We are the ones with the brains & capable of using weapons that are vastly more effective than a dog bite. Unlike humans dogs need to get really close to fight and while its possible for a good dog to stop a conflict he does so by putting himself at great risk of serious injury from a club, a knife or a gun. Where dogs excel over humans is in their superior senses of night vision, smell & hearing & some say other senses that we still don't completely understand. Dogs can detect danger well before we do and if we know how to read their behaviour we can be prepared for trouble much earlier. Dogs should be used to warn us of imminent danger and when necessary discourage attackers but humans are much better equipped to effectively fight back against other humans.
With three large dogs and two cats here, I have clumps of hair blowing around like tumbleweeds but I guess that's the price of pet ownership.
Well-said. And, I wonder how many “bites” can be logically explained by the dog simply trying to use his/her mouth as a field-expedient hand, and the person swiftly pulls away, in a panic, raking access the dog’s teeth. I am asking/saying this in defense of all dogs, not just Labs, but, the retrievers might be more apt to use their mouths, as hands, than some other breeds.
Well I guess we are speaking a different language, I was talking about noticeable shedding. I didn't notice the non-noticeable shedding. That may have happened, but I didn't notice.
These are not individual bites but rather biting incidents. The actual damage the bite causes isn't accounted for. I'd rather be nipped by a Lab than chomped and have flesh torn by a pit bull. Both are "bites" and counted as the same in this kind of survey.
We've had small poodles (10-15lbs) for 20+yrs and a rescued standard for about 12, they shed after getting trimmed, the little ones let you know if something is different and the standard gets between us and whatever is there, usually a deer or squirrel, the standard is Very protective of our grandkids
We had a Standard Poodle mix. Muffins was 40 lbs of the most loving, protective & athletic dog we have ever owned. He was special.
Statistics don't tell the whole story since we don't know the severity of each of those bites. One of the benefits of a lab is they were specifically bred to have a soft bite since their job is to retrieve small game without damaging it. Those other breeds listed were bred for fighting and protection; when they bite their instincts are telling them to cause severe damage. Knowing this, I for one feel a heck of a lot better with a retriever around my kids every day..
Well sort of, but that doesn't mean they can't bite hard when they want to. I have seen many labs crush birds that they retrieved. It is a disqualifying fault in a field trial. The stats on dog bites are misleading. A dog licking a kids face will likely be recorded as a bite if the kid cries. Everyone knows of a friendly pitbull or rottweiler and a mean basset hound. Which breeds will get your homeowners insurance dropped?
