Prometheus wrote in
:

On Sat, 02 Oct 2004 21:28:06 GMT, Lobby Dosser
wrote:

Peter De Smidt pdesmidt*no*spam*@tds.*net* wrote in
news:415efe92$1_3 @newspeer2.tds.net:


That's quite scary, though, isn't it? Clearly most owners are not
knowledgeable or equipped to do such training, and it's a leap of
faith that it's possible to overcome this inborn tendency. You might
make it less likely that your dog will attack others, but will you
totally remove that urge? I doubt it.

ANY dog will attack any other, or anything else. They are predators.
Predators are aggressive. The only differences among dogs is size and
ability to do damage.

Wrong, most domestic dogs will only attack after pretty severe
provocation. I favor Collies and Irish Setters, and I've never, ever
seen one show an agressive side unless someone they don't know is
trying to force their way into their home. No doubt it is *possible*
to train one *to* attack, but I've never seen it done. On the other
hand, it seems that anything in the terrier family will attack unless
well trained *not* to do so. It's not even a fine distinction, it's a
major one, IMO. Size has nothing to do with it- when was the last
time you heard of a Great Dane or St. Bernard attacking someone
without provocation? I hear about Pit-bulls attacking people all the
time, and they're smaller than either of those breeds.


What's provocation to a dog may not be provocation to us. The Collie,
BTW, is up there with the other larger breeds on the CDC list I posted.