When you and your dog are at the park, do you look sideways at certain breeds? Are you anxious that a dog from a particular breed may attack you or your dog?
A recent study in the Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances shows it’s the owners rather than the breeds we need to worry about:
… contrary to popular belief, breed has little to do with a dog’s aggressive behaviour compared to all the owner-dependant factors.
… According to Joaquín Pérez-Guisado, the main author of the study and a researcher from the UCO, some of the factors that cause aggressiveness in dogs are: first-time dog ownership; failure to subject the dog to basic obedience training; spoiling or pampering the dog; not using physical punishment when it is required; buying a dog as a present, as a guard dog or on impulse; spaying female dogs; leaving the dog with a constant supply of food, or spending very little time with the dog in general and on its walks.
… approximately 40% of dominance aggression in dogs is associated with a lack of authority on the part of the owners who have never performed basic obedience training with their pets or who have only carried out the bare minimum of training.
[Via : Dogs Are Aggressive If They Are Trained Badly.]
That part about physical punishment
had me concerned, but the article does talk about that a bit, and is not advocating beating dogs.
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