Scary Dogs: Are They Really Scary?

Pit bulls are scary looking things aren't they, boxers too, and don't forget those Rottweilers, they're beasts aren't they? Just in case you couldn't tell, I'm being sarcastic; I've known at least one dog that was a breed that I just mentioned.

The pit bull I know, is the sweetest and one of the most well behaved dogs that I have had the privilege to meet, while the cocker spaniel that lives in the same household with it, jumps all over you so you pet him, the pit bull calmly walks up, wagging his tail, and quietly asks that you pet him too. The boxer I've known, she was a sweet thing, my parents told me that when I had gone missing while at my grandparents' house, they looked all over for me for at least two hours, before someone looked in the dog house and found me sleeping there, with the boxer allowing me to use her as a pillow. Although I don't recall my encounter with the Rottweiler, my parents have told me that this mean Rottweiler got hurt badly and couldn't move, and they knew it was a mean dog, but instead of letting them hold me back, I went right up to the Rottweiler and started petting it, they said it didn't even growl at me.

I also currently have a shar-pei, which is supposed to be a vicious, little, beast of a guard dog, and the vet even told my parents he would rather have ten Rottweilers than even one shar-pei, and my sister also recalls a show on Animal Planet that said right away that shar-pei can be very vicious and you have to get them used to people right away. Yet the shar-pei we have, is an idiot, a happy go lucky one, but an idiot, he gets beat up all the time by our other dog, so his nickname is Scarface because of all the scars he gets, and he absolutely loves little kids, he loves to play with them, and he likes babies too, we can let our little baby cousins crawl around on the ground at our house with no worry at all that he will harm them.

These obviously sweet dogs, get such horrible reps from the media and just because one out the dozens of them, attacked a person, dogs do not attack people, unless they trained to, that is why pit bulls that are used in illegal dog fights tend to attack people, because they were trained that if they don't attack, they will get killed. If a pit bull used in dog fighting gets put down, shouldn't those K-9 police dogs also get put down, I mean we can say for sure that they have attacked people, heck; I bet that some of those people have even died from those attacks.

I know that situation is different, but it's still the same, isn't it, German shepherds are scary looking dogs too, so are mastiffs, and some people think that golden retrievers and labs are scary too. I actually know a few people that think little dogs are scarier than big dogs, so if bans are put on pit bulls, because they're scary and just a few out of the dozens of them have attacked a person, shouldn't the other dogs be out down, I mean, I've heard of more attack from little dogs from my friends, than I have of attacks from big dogs.

If more of my friends know of attacks from little dogs, then from big dogs, then why do the media only focus on the attacks made by big dogs? Why do they only give the big dogs a bad rep? They should be fair if they're going to give a dog a bad rep, give the others a bad rep, and really, more people get killed by coconuts, then they do by dog attacks, 150 people a year die from coconuts, and what, like a hundred people only, die from dog attacks a year, if something needs a ban, then I say it's coconuts, those are the real killers.

Then also, more dogs get abused by people, then people get abused by dogs, because dogs depend on us, we have to get them their food, we have to make sure they're healthy, and most importantly, we have to make sure they're loved. It is not the dog's fault if they attack someone, it's the dog's owner, they're the ones that have to get the dog trained so it does not to attack people, and if the dog doesn't have an owner, that just makes it worse, because whoever owned the dog before abandoning it, obviously didn't at least bother to train it, or better, leave it at a dog pound or shelter.

Another factor of why a dog attacks, is that, like Cesar Milan says, "Dogs live in the now", they don't think about the past, or the future for that matter, they don't think, "Hmm, if I bite this person, what will happen afterwards?", they think more along the lines of, "This person is scaring/angering me, *BITE*". They aren't like us, like if we're about to sneak out of the house we think, "Hmm, if my parents catch me, I'm gonna be grounded for at least a month." or we think, "This is gonna be real fun." Dogs don't think that, they just think of what's going on right now, they don't look back on past mistakes, they don't think of what happened after they had already bit someone, they just think they're scared, or really angry, and they bite or attack, because they don't know what else to do.

Please, the next time you see some scary looking dog and are about to run the other way, don't, just walk past it calmly, just because it's scary looking doesn't mean it's going to attack, and even if it's growling at you, just make sure you give off the right sort of atmosphere, one of a pack leader, and walk past the dog, it will respect your space because you're acting like a pack leader, and it knows better than to attack a pack leader; besides running away would most likely anger the dog more.

Remember, not all dogs are as scary as they seem.