The recent fatal attack on a young woman by a couple of large mastiff cross-breeds in San Francisco, has caused many people to wonder if it could happen here. On a warm and sunny Malibu Sunday, dogs were playing and running loose all over; on the beaches, in the neighborhoods, in the Civic Center, or sitting peacefully next to a table at Deidrich’s. The lots were full of pickups with dogs sitting in the beds–some peacefully wagging their tails and others snarling at anyone who came too close.
We asked a local vet, a local psychologist and animal shelter workers if there was such a thing as a bad dog or a bad breed, or was it just bad owners. Some of the replies were surprising.
There are no inherently “bad” dogs, according to local veterinarian Dean Graulich of Malibu’s Pacific Coast Animal Hospital. Roughly 60 percent of Graulich’s clients are dog owners.
“There are dogs that have been poorly socialized, but they give plenty of warning signs that they can be dangerous,” he said.
Graulich owns a bull mastiff, a dog similar in ancestry to the two mastiff-Canary Island cross-breeds that killed sports coach Diane Whipple in San Francisco a week ago, thus starting the most recent controversy about which breeds are “safe to own.”
The most basic sign of a poorly socialized dog, said Graulich, is that “the dog is fearful of strangers and is overly protective of its master.”
With his own mastiff, Graulich said he “introduced it to as many people as I could when it was a puppy and took it with me everywhere.” Therefore, he asserts that his mastiff is nicely behaved, even with strangers.
Graulich does warn that keeping two or more dogs together of a breed that is known to be aggressive could lead to “pack-like” behavior.
In the event of the fatal attack on the Bay Area woman, witnesses said one dog took the role of the lead attacker and the second dog then joined in. Consequently, many blame the owners more than the dogs.
Graulich said he can cite examples at infinitum of dog owners who refuse to see a “bad dog.”
“We had one client with a really aggressive dog,” he said. “We told him the dog is a liability waiting to happen. But he was blind to it. I have seen people almost lose their insurance because the insurance company told them after an incident, ‘You will have to get rid of that dog before we will renew your insurance.’ It’s at that point when they realize it has become serious.”
The problem with angry dogs can sometimes be traced to owners who live in denial about their dog’s true nature, said Malibu psychologist Bruce Rays.
He agrees with Graulich, saying, “Some people really imbue their dogs with human-like qualities–as if it were a child.”
He feels owners of aggressive dogs should come to terms with reality and post signs warning service people they have dogs, send their dogs to obedience school and treat their dogs like they are loaded guns–with great care.
In Malibu, Rays sees one problem repeated time after time–service personnel being attacked by dogs when the dog’s owner failed to warn the workers about its territorial attitude. “I don’t know if it’s that they are not thinking about it, or just being careless, but they should take the time to introduce each of these people to their dog so that the dog accepts their presence,” he said.
Graulich cautioned against the ownership of certain breeds in the case of an owner who has small children in the home. “I would say a Rottweiler, a German shepherd–those are two I would not have with small children. But most of all, I wouldn’t recommend owning a chow around children, because they are snappers.”
Graulich said there isn’t a particular breed to blame.
“I don’t label this breed or that as one that shouldn’t be owned because it’s too aggressive.
“Of course, some dogs, when they do bite, can cause more damage, such as a pit bull, whose jaws can lock on you and they won’t let go.”
Despite his lack of support for outright bans on certain breeds, he does acknowledge that one country has chosen to outlaw ownership of certain breeds deemed to be socially undesirable: “Australia has outlawed ownership of pit bull terriers, Tosas (Japanese mastiffs), Dogo Argentinias (another mastiff breed) and the Fila Braziliero, a third breed of mastiff. The Fila Braziliero is the most aggressive dog in the world.”
But Graulich maintains that dogs have to be judged on an individual basis: “I have seen sweet Rottweilers, nicely behaved Dobermans, gentle German shepherds–it all depends on how the particular dog is brought up.”
During Rays’ 25 years of living in Malibu, he has seen several alarming examples of dog ownership. “One of the most bizarre was a man who would walk on local beaches every day accompanied by six Rottweilers, none of them on a leash,” he recalled. That man, he believes, was a troubled man and was reported to be having constant problems with his neighbors.” But yet, there is no law requiring you to leash your dog in that area,” he lamented.
“Whenever I see bizarre dog ownership by an owner, I began to suspect psychological problems,” said Rays. “I remember another Malibuite who had six black Afghan hounds and six white ones, plus a lion. When I see something like that, I suspect the owner might have problems.”
Graulich said buying a dog who may have been bred to attack can be prevented if one is careful. Graulich pointed out that when buying a dog found through an ad in the paper, one must remember the sellers are not always honest in describing the dog’s personality. “You might buy one that’s been abused, and has a problem,” he said.
Graulich draws the line at keeping a dog after a second biting incident. “You shouldn’t be keeping it if it attacks people,” he said.
One precaution a dog owner can take is to fit a “cage”–in effect, a metal muzzle–over the dog’s jaw before they take the dog out.
“The dog gets used to it and after while, doesn’t mind it,” he said. The cage prevents biting incidents and helps the dog get socialized without any penalties.
He approves of a dog being taken to the beach where permitted. “I think dogs should be allowed to run up and down the beach. “Providing, of course, they are under control of their owners.”
The size of the dog has nothing to do with judging its penchant for aggressiveness, said Graulich. “A small dog can bite as much as a big dog, but because they are smaller, there’s less damage.”
There are also dogs that can be too much for the owner. “A first-time dog owner should not get a Rottweiler, a shepherd or a chow,” he said. Some owners are in denial, said Rays.
“The problem with that, is that it causes some people to be blind regarding the flaws of their dog, e.g., if the dog’s a biter, they don’t want to know about it.
“Sometimes,” said Rays, “the owner will go to any lengths to protect their accused dog.”
He recalls one Malibu resident whose dog bit several people in Point Dume. “Rather than have the dog destroyed, she moved with the dog to San Diego,” he said.
One psychological reason that some dog owners are so resistant to having their dog’s aggressive tendencies curbed by training is that “some dog owners feel attacked and threatened personally when you are only talking about their dog,” said Rays. “It is difficult enough to get along with your neighbors as it is, but having a mean dog gives the neighbors something else to fight with you about.”
He even feels that there is a bit of transference going on when the neighbors criticize a dog owner for having an aggressive dog .
“The neighbors become the ‘parents’ criticizing the ‘child,’ e.g., the dog owner,” he observes. “And when people get criticized for having a ‘bad dog,’ the first thing they want to do is rebel,” said Rays. “And that’s when we have people buying even more aggressive dogs.”
Rays said the safest way for owners to handle a possible aggressive dog is, the “owners should be conscientious and responsible.”