Most aggressive dog breeds

Instinct is very real and isn't uniform across dog breeds.

I have nothing but hate for people that breed problem dogs. Not just talking aggression. But a lot of races have very known medical problems.

Small short dogs very often get back problems. E.g. Corgis, yes they look cute. But very soon they will live in a world of chronic pain. That's not cool.

Don't even get me started on pugs or Chihuahuas...

The animals we create are ALL entitled to the exact same unconditional love and protection as our own children. The hatred you feel over a pet being bred with a shortened lifespan or discomfort should be virtually imperceptible next to your rage towards those who farm and consume pigs, cattle & dairy, chickens & eggs, sheep & wool, turkeys, fish, and other vulnerable individuals.
- No. I will continue to be more upset over the animals we breed and keep in chronic, prolonged pain over the span of 12-15 years for no other reason than our own entertainment. Than I am over animals we raised for slaughter.
  That doesn't mean i think cattle should be kept in deplorable conditions or be exposed to unnecessary stress.
Pretty much all purebred dogs will have a greater chance at health complications than mixed breeds.
Same goes for humans.
Or Frenchies. I briefly wanted one until I considered having to watch it struggle and suffer across its life.
It's also really stupid to buy dog breeds with known medical problems. Surgery for your dog is not cheap. Your loved pet will suffer. Buy another breed without known problems
- But X breed is so cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  snaps picture for instagram
Generally agreeing, but as a Corgi owner just a small correction: They are short in height but have a long body. It's not a problem if the breed is small, the proportions have to be right.
Corgis, although at the border to a problematic ratio, the breed lines I'm accustomed with are still fine(Europe). Corgis tend to have back problems when not properly prevented their whole life - avoiding downward stairs, restricting jumping or anything in the direction of dog sports made for Aussies, etc. But due to their stockier build they are pretty robust against the typical problems you see in Dachshunds for example. It also helps that they're not hopelessly mis-bred yet
- "The dogs are fine as long as they don't do stuff that dogs typically do".
  Great stuff.

Ah yes, those pesky chihuahuas and their bite force of 235 PSI and 60% fatal attack rate 🙃

Aggression and danger are often inversely correlated.

Ofcourse you can breed aggression, its so absurd to claim that you cant.

We have bite statistics. Every year, pit bull and pit mixes far outnumber every other breed for human bite attacks, consistently, and always make up far more than half (to the tune of ~70%) of all total bites, by breed. Every single year.
Yet people ignore statistics and are eager to jump on the pibble defense train. “My little angel would never bite anyone!”
Maybe. But numbers don’t lie. Just stop breeding them. It’s cruel to people, and it’s cruel to the dogs themselves, that the breed continues to be perpetuated. Breed-specific behaviors are visceral and strong, whether you have a retriever, a pointer, a herder, or a throat mangler. The breed behavior can be invoked at any time, relatively easily.
- A friend of my wife and I got a pit bull a couple months ago. She was going on and on about how sweet he is and how he would never hurt anyone. Last week, it mauled her roommate. Nearly took his hand off while he was changing into his work clothes. His career is likely over and she's still defending the dog.
- Maybe. But numbers don’t lie
  This is only said by people who've never actually taken a class about statistics.
  Numbers may not lie, but they also don't make assertions. People suck at interpreting data and that fact is constantly utilized to mislead people.
  I'm not saying this to defend pitbulls, just that bite statistics don't really tell us anything about innate aggression in dog breeds. Just like FBI statistics don't tell us about innate criminality in ethnicity.
  Those bite statistics don't make any attempt to rule out misleading variables. It could be that pitt bull bites are reported more often because of the extent of harm they cause. It could be that people who gravitate towards breeds who are thought to be more aggressive are wanting and are training for aggression.
  Statistics is hard, and can generally be used to shape opinions on just about anything.
- I understand the bite statistics but you have to keep in mind how those are reported too.
  No one is reporting their neighbor's chihuahua taking a bite at their boot. Bites from smaller breeds mostly go unreported.
  It does give a point as to why pit bulls and other large breeds are dangerous though. Whether they are more common or not, they certainly are far, far more serious when it happens.
  Responsible ownership has always been an issue with pitbulls, as irresponsible people tend to adopt and breed them.
- It's not that pits are more likely to bite, it's that their bite is way more damaging. If a retriever (bred for a "soft mouth") bites me, I am way less likely to need medical attention than if a pit bites me. Even biting at lower rates than many other breeds, pits come out on top of medical reports because each bite is more damaging.
- We do have bite statistics, and the people most qualified to interpret them disagree with you
  https://www.avma.org/sites/default/files/resources/dog_bite_risk_and_prevention_bgnd.pdf
- This massively differs per country. Pitbull bites are generally nastier than other bites so they're overreported. It's also partially the public image of pitbulls being nasty dogs that gets them reported more often.
  Historically the "most dangerous breed" has changed quite a bit. For a while Great Danes were the worst, then it was Dogo Argentinis, Malinois, German Shepherd, Akitas, Labradors, Jack Russells, etc...
  In France for example pitbulls only rank 12th for most bite incidents.
  Research on it has been mixed, with studies focusing on nature finding that the breed matters surprisingly little when it comes to aggression. It seems more likely that there's a certain group of owners that handle their dogs irresponsibly, which tend to popularize specific breeds. This seems more likely because places that banned 'dangerous' breeds don't see a decrease in bite attacks; the owners of the dangerous breeds mostly get new dogs, which then just bite people again.
- If you can breed aggression, you can breed against aggression. Which means you can breed pit bulls to be less aggressive.
They literally did the opposite with foxes. Some guy kept breeding the nicest ones until he got a "breed" that wouldn't want to murder you on sight. I'm pretty sure levels of aggression absolutely are something innate in some animals.
- "Some guy"
  Come on now, let's not buzzfeed our facts here!
  Dmitry Belyayev is the guy, though work continued long after his death
- Also he did it both ways. On population selected for nice behavior became dog like. One population selected for aggression. The second population goes insane when someone enters the room trying to attack through the cage door.
- Russian silver fox im pretty sure
Exactly. I mean, dogs are wolves that were bred to be less aggressive and more suitable to be companions to human. Of course it can go the other way.
Yeah. That's just shit being thrown at the wall to see if it will stick.
The real question is, who's throwing the shit? It's either some troll trying to convince morons to believe something that isn't true, or it's those same morons looking for something to justify their stupidity.
Science and the American Veterinary Medical Association would love to have a word with you. But I guess you do love the literal pitbull hate community so who cares what you think on the matter.
- Science
  Do you have a source for that? Because everything I've read says completely the opposite. The 'science' I'm aware of says that genetic tendency to aggression is very much a thing, even in humans.
- It's both. It's insane to me someone can watch animals instinctively display insanely complex behaviors untaught (e.g. herding by australian shepards) and the scientific research to reduce aggression in a related species before coming to the conclusion that there is no way whatsoever that nature is a significant component. Oh, and just completely ignore breeds bred for traits and behaviors seemed desirable for every domesticated animal.
  Nature has no place at all it's only nurture. Sure.
- Really? "Science"? Hahaha
  The "nature/nurture" debate is a question of how much influence each has - it's not a binary question, but a continuum.
  And if the AMVA is saying aggression is solely taught, then they lack any credibility whatsoever - that's an utterly unscientific perspective.
  I say this having worked with vets, competed in obedience trials, and trained numerous dogs (with the assistance of very successful trainers). Each dog is different, but there are very clear traits in breeds, achieved by... breeding for those traits.

Even if this were true, it's not just the aggression. It's also the biting power. At the end of the day, I could stomp a Chihuahua, but I get scared when my own 90lb German Shepherd comes running towards me because he is terrible at slowing down.

Yeah, we can breed dogs however we want to, so why not breed dogs that are less dangerous? Not to mention less prone to health issues just because we think they're cute when they have a nose so small that they can barely breathe. Dogs breeds aren't sacred, most of them are a very recent phenomenon. Breed for positive traits, both for them and us.
- There already are my dude. Plenty of dog breeds that are just what I like in a dog; goofy, lovely, loyal but not territorial/protective and nothing that could seriously hurt anyone. The other characteristics comes down to subjective preferred traits and, for example, whether you're a first time owner or experienced with raising and socialising dogs.
  But you can't ignore instinct. And some have instinct that's just not compatible with your personal live. Ie. don't get a shepherd if you live in an apartment in a city.
  And some have instinct that is not compatible to keep as pets.

im pretty sure aggression is bred in for some dogs for thier purpose of being a gaurd dog, or something as bull baiting. also cats can be unpredictabally aggressive.

It's literally why they're called bully breeds.
Shhh the entire concept of genetics is a big ol conspiracy that makes people who live in a fantasy where they control everything through behavior and education, since that is the only thing they control, really hurt. If you point out some things are destined (yes I know nature/nurture) they lose control because their fantasy collapses by conflicting world views.
This is probably what pebbles (who wouldn't hurt a fly ™️ ) thinks anyway
It's a little of column A, a little of column B
Yes, it's true that some dog breeds have been bred to be more aggressive- but aggressive can mean many things.
I was roommates with a guy who had a Pit bull. Awesome dog, great with the kids. Never seen her so much as growl at a person. Animals though she did not fuck around with. And that makes sense, they were bred to fight other animals. So while they are aggressive, they aren't (naturally) aggressive towards humans, though obviously you can train them to be.
I had a different roommate who had a Chihuahua, Chihuahua's were bred for two things, to be fearless rat hunters and to be burglar alarms. They also have a personality quirk where they typically only bond with very few people, and even then it can take a little while for them to gain your trust. For about the first month after he brought her home she would bark at me every time I entered the room she was in. After she got used to me, she was the sweetest little pup you could imagine. If anyone else came by she just couldn't handle it. If I picked her up and held her while talking the other person she would eventually calm down some, but she still didn't like it. You usually just had to put her in a different room. She didn't nip at them or anything, but if they had tried to pick her up it probably would have been a different story.
Not all Chihuahua's behave like that, but it's typical.
I've lived with a Doberman who was a total coward (and neurotic the poor thing), and a Rottweiler who was perfectly fine with me, until her owner was out of sight, and then she acted like she had no idea who I was. As a kid we had a German Sheppard who was a total sweetie (the kitten thing was an accident), and I used to own a Chow/Lab mix who literally loved everyone and everything.
The breed plays a big role in their behavior, but so does training/ socialization. People who blame it solely on one thing or the other are just wrong imo. Some dogs will never be perfectly chill, but you can train them not to be assholes.
I think for chihuahuas it's largely a self-defense thing. They have to be aggressive to compensate for being so small.
I'm 70 years old, have always had cats around, and have never come across an unpredictably aggressive cat. At least not towards people. Some cats don't like other cats, but that's very predictable for what are mostly solitary creatures. Cats are not dogs, and it's a mistake to compare them.
- I think some people are just bad at reading cats.

My neighbours had a small hunting terrier when i was a kid, forgot the name of the breed. Fucking asshole dog tried to bite me every time she saw me although i went in and out there every day. Also she killed everything that moved, cats, birds, hedgehogs, ...

Neighbour was a hunter and those fuckers were bred to follow badgers into their sett and kill them. Badgers can be quite nasty themselves so most animals stay away, but not this breed. Only chance the badger has is to kill the dog, even if half of its nose is bitten off, it doesn't give a shit.

So I'm a bit sceptical about the whole "aggression is not bred" theory.

So I’m a bit sceptical about the whole “aggression is not bred” theory.
Good, because it's a load of bullshit perpetuated by idiots with agendas.
Bred for the size, trained for the aggression. I've seen typically passive breeds be overly aggressive in exactly the way that the breed is known for not being.
They're animals.
- Have you ever seen a puppy of a working dog? Pointers will point. The training they receive is what to point, not how. Retrievers will retrieve, herders will herd, trackers will track. But when someone suggests that a dog that has been specifically bred to fight and kill, oh, they were just trained that way. No, they have been specifically selected for aggression and prey drive. It is at best naive and at worst deadly to think that a working dog comes as a blank slate and will only perform actions it has been trained on.
- If you're suggesting my neighbours trained her to be aggressive - they didn't - it was their family dog, they did the standard obedience training (sit, stay...) but no protection training. All their other dogs (german shepherds) were friendly.

Seeing this shit is honestly infuriating.

https://nypost.com/2022/10/07/tennessee-mom-kirstie-jane-bennard-hospitalized-after-her-2-kids-killed-in-pit-bull-attack/

"It can happen to ANY family by ANY breed of dog! 1"
They make it sound like bull dogs of all varieties - and other fighting dogs bred for many generations for aggressive traits - are just really unlucky, that they keep showing up at the top of the stats for child murder and mauling.
Only unlucky ones are the kids who have parents dumb enough to risk their lives with killer breeds in the house. I truly feel for them.
- Fighting dogs are generally animal aggressive, not human aggressive. In the old days of dog fighting, biting humans was a dog-destroying offense. Don't want that trait if you have to be hands-on with the dog for hours at a time training.
  Also, the media has fixated on pit bulls (American Staffordshire Terrier) as the de facto bad guy so, no matter the breed involved, it will most likely be reported as a pit bull.
  Have a read and see if your opinion gets altered any: https://worldanimalfoundation.org/dogs/nanny-dog/
- All those yorkshire terriers out there killing kids… smh
Technically it's correct, any breed of dog can maul a child to death, and every dog has some trigger which will cause them to bite. But you really can't argue with the epidemiology here. Pitbulls definitely kill an inordinate amount of children and pets.
- I don't know about "any breed" and we're not just talking a bite, we're talking killing two kids and nearly an adult human.
- Pitbulls and other "bully breeds" are some of the most often abused dogs too, wonder if that could be related 🤔
Jesuschrist

I have a pitbull (American pitbull terrier) that is a rescue. He loves people, but is so aggressive towards other animals that I can hardly believe it.

After having one for years now, I believe there should be some sort of training or licensing requirement before someone can own one. The combination of innate aggression and power is truly dangerous

I can never walk my dog off-leash, I can never hand my dog to someone inexperienced. I love my dog, but responsible ownership is much more burdensome than any other dog I've had.

Yep, adopted a pit bull several years back and had to re-home it after it attacked my border collie twice and if I wasn't nearby he would have killed her.
Got him as a puppy, raised him the exact same way we did the collie. He would just...snap randomly and go into attack mode. I also couldn't believe it. He was great with people though. Other pets and animals was a totally different story.
Sadly the remaining 95% owners of pitbulls "love them so much" they'd start literal riots if that becomes law. Because you know they wouldn't be able to pass the training, or even sit through it.
- I don't think they would riot, they would probably just get pitbulls from breeders that didn't check for licenses.
  But I agree with the gist, there are a lot of bad dog parents, and people get pitbulls for bad reasons. I want there to be an avenue to punish owners & breeders who do not take proper precautions.
- Pitbulls attract some of the worst owners. Some people purposely get these dogs BECAUSE they are aggressive.
Pitbulls and other shitty breeds should be illegal to breed in the first place.
Stop subjecting animals to a lifetime of suffering with chronic health conditions just so you can go "goo-goo-gah-gah" over them like a teenage girl.
I can totally confirm with my own experience with our rescue pit as well. He’s a good dog in the house and with our family, but he’s triggered so easily when out in our fenced yard by any other dogs out for a walk. Years ago we made so many attempts to acclimate him to other dogs through training, etc. and nothing worked. We can’t even walk him on a leash because he pulls so hard and chokes himself no matter what we do. But he’s happy to be a house/yard dog and feel like we’ve given him a good life.
Honestly all pets should have a liscence, that includes going through at least some certification for them since there isn't a reason to own one.
- I assume you would mean that there would be like tiers of license for more normal pets, and then a stricter license for Pitbulls or Mastiffs or whatever. What sort of competence do you want people to demonstrate before getting a pet like a Cat or Golden Retriever?

Two things are true at once

(1) Upbringing has an enormous impact on agression in dogs. To the point it actually can be a stronger variable in the prediction than breed.

(2) Some breeds still have stronger tendencies towards agression.

But I agree with this sign’s main point. Banning pitbulls won’t stop the agressive dogs problem. Because the kind of people who usually buy pitbulls raise dogs to be agressive.

The people buying them either raise them to be aggressive or don't even bother doing any work with them and wonder why people don't like pitbulls.

As someone who has raised and fostered dozens of dogs over the years, actual Pitbull breeds DO tend to have problems with aggression. I had one Pit rescue that absolutely loved people, dogs, and cats, and for a couple of years, it was one of the best dogs I had taken in. Until one day he wasn't, he snapped and almost killed another foster we had.

I have had about a dozen or so mixed bully breeds and breeds like American Bulldogs, and not a single one ever gave me a moments hesitation. There absolutely is something in the full blood Pit breed that is an issue. I honestly believe we could breed aggression out of the breed, but it would more than likely just need to end up a bully mutt breed instead.

If you bred it out of them people wouldn't want them anymore. A lot of people want a big scary dog to protect their kids and them and stuff. But it's the same as a gun which statistically mostly kills the owners lol

Aggression is bred. I don't see this as funny.

It's very relaxing to pet a Chihuahua.

The oxytocin release lol

Yeah those little rat dogs got it in for everyone

Meanwhile, dog breeders over the last century or two:

No, no, no. We specifically bred them with high levels of agression so they'd be more vicious and willing to fighting eachother.

Fuck pitbulls. There, I said it.

Honestly, there's a million breeds. Fuck those people who deliberately choose aggressive, dangerous ones. Especially fuck them if they have their own children!
What has Mr. Worldwide done to you to deserve such disrespect?
Very brave
- Yeah & I'll say it again!
- The dismount is the riskiest bit.
https://www.avma.org/sites/default/files/resources/dog_bite_risk_and_prevention_bgnd.pdf

In a hypothetical situation where every dog breed is banned except for Chihuahuas, would the amount of deadly dog attacks be:

More
Less
Equal

If dog breeds weren't a factor, the correct answer could only be "equal". But nobody in their right mind would make that claim.

Thus breed is a factor.

No because you're no longer basing it on tendency to be aggressive but ability to do damage. These are 2 very different things.

Aggression is not bred

Our Pomeranian Mix: "I would violently murder all of you in your sleep if only I had thumbs."

I was thinking about Pomeranians as a counter to the asinine argument that aggression isn't bred.
I also used to have a collie. I couldn't imagine her getting aggressive with anything, animals or humans.

Yeah so this is wrong.

Bullshit if dogs can be breed to do certain stuff they can be breed for aggression. Like pitbulls literally where. My dog herds never been trained or anything but instinctively does it.

And yes lots of small dogs are assholes because of their owners but if they attack nothing bad happens.

This is true but it's part of what makes chihuahuas awesome. My ex had a chihuahua that we raised from a puppy. We were totally nice and he was still psycho. He would attack me if I woke him up too early in the morning. I had to pick him up in a huge pillow as defense. He would go bananas trying to attack strangers but it's only because he was "defending" himself and our pack. The worst part of breaking up is missing that dude. Awesome dog.

Also lots of chihuahuas are totally chill.

Chihuahuas

Hmmm… have you seen their owners? Yeah, it’s the owners.

My MIL had a chihuahua. She legitimately thought it was funny whenever that dog went for someone's ankles... Fortunately, she hasn't had another dog since that little cunt died.

Fun fact about dog bite studies. People go to the hospital and just say "a pitbull bite me". The doctors write that down and can't really do anything else to verify. Then those medical reports are used in studies about dog bites and dog attacks. Meaning we have ne reliable data on dog breeds and attacks.

Cough. Bullshit. Cough.
Burden of proof is on you homie.
- You think doctors and nurses are out running around neighborhoods tracking down dogs? Or do you think people bring the dog with them, like venomous snakes in a movie?
  If there's a designated agency that reliably tracks dog bite statistics with breed data, link it. Send it to the AVMA too because they also say there are no reliable breed based bite statistics.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7F4OfDSvPU&t=1s
  here is some in a convenient video

Do you want to bait all the pitbull haters? Because that's how you bait all the pitbull haters.

Sure, bait them right off a cliff