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Originally Posted by does it ALL outdoors
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That will continue to be a problem, as long as there are dogs.
Good friends of ours had a few Bull Mastiffs. And they were good dogs. Big drooly, and with varying amounts of obedience. Good with kids too. Wouldn't be my first pick for a family dog perhaps. But they seemed to be decent guard dogs also.
One time, when the girls were home alone, and pretty young, someone tried getting in their front door. The current Mastiff (forget which) jumped up in a flash, and "bang!" slammed the door shut with 2 big paws. Growled deep, and stood there while one of the girls locked it. Didn't have to train that; just natural. But then they were bred to catch poachers on royal land.
They eventually got an American Pitbull Terrier, after some theft around their place. He wasn't near as good a guard dog, and about half the size, but the thefts stopped as thieves were intimidated by his look. Smartest of their dogs, and most people friendly.
You can't judge a breed on what 2 meth heads who let a little girl get ripped up are walking around. If there was no Mastiff or Pit, it would have been a different dog. Probably would have been a Husky, like the 2 that killed that little baby around Edmonton a couple years ago.
You could get rid of the Huskys too, which are a poor choice for having little kids, and it could be a Daschund like the one that chewed a babies legs off, in another room.
It's true that some bull breeds can be scrappy, and loathe to back down from other dogs. One of my teachers had what he described as a Pit Bull. He was walking with his girlfriend and dog when a guy was letting his aggressive German Shepherd jump up on his girlfriend. Sounded like he was trying to intimidate with his dog. He was warned to hold his dog back. He didn't, so my teacher unleashed his dog. Had that Shepherd dead in a few seconds. Tell me which dog is the problem dog.
Not a fan of German Shepherds myself. A friend who doesn't like Pits, just had to put his down because he bit a kid. They seem to make good police dogs, as they don't hesitate to latch onto people.
Yet people ignore that deliberate breeding and latch onto Pit Bulls supposedly being bred for fighting. Not originally, and not people! Completely opposite breeding goals. Not to mention that for the last 130 years, bull breeds were bred to be more social with other dogs.