Banned Breeds

Up to Veterinary Corner Forum

Banned Breeds
Posted by docmike at April 06. 2009

Banned Breeds

So I am sitting in a lecture room with a bunch of other veterinarians listening to a very highly respected animal behavior speaker and he asks this room full of doctors “Which breed is going to be involved in the largest number of human bite cases this year?” Some of the vets shouted out responses: Pit Bull . . . Doberman . . . . Cocker Spaniel . . . Chihuahua. The speaker indicated that we weren’t even close. When we pressed him for the answer, he said simply: “Golden Retriever”.
You could have heard a pin drop as we all tried to understand what we had all just heard! “Excuse me. I thought you just said that the breed I specifically recommend for families with small children because of its pleasant disposition was going to be involved in the largest number of human bite cases this year.”

The speaker confirmed that we had heard him correctly and it was specifically BECAUSE the Golden Retriever is so often in families with small children that it was going to be the year’s most frequent biter. Now, the bites would probably not be serious, but for actual numbers of incidents of dog teeth contacting human flesh, the Golden Retriever would be the most frequent offender.

Now, I love Golden Retrievers. I have owned one in the past and I would own another in a heartbeat! But what if someone used that statistic to ban the breed? After all, it IS the most frequent biter! But I don’t think there is a person on the planet who would want to ban the Golden Retriever . . . or Collie . . . or Cocker Spaniel. And that is the point. Banning a specific breed (or breeds) is not the answer and never was.

At my hospital we never discriminate against breeds. We DO discriminate against bad manners. If you are a jerk you are a jerk and it doesn’t matter if you are a Yorkie, a Pit Bull, a Lab, or a Great Pyrenees. I once asked a client to control his rather unpleasant dog and he said “No way. If I try to grab him he’s going to bite me!” Well if he’s going to bite YOU, what the heck do you think he’s going to do to ME?! I suggested he might be happier at one of those cheap shots clinics and he left.

Dogs behave the way they are taught (or allowed) to behave. Each dog could grow up to be a Seeing Eye dog for the blind or a worthless junkyard dog, depending on how it is raised. We see many Staffordshire Terriers in my practice and they are all as nice and sweet as can be. In the many decades that I have been in practice, I can count the number of times I have been bitten by a big dog on one hand. (Small dogs and cats . . . . couldn’t even estimate!!)

So banning specific breeds just makes no sense at all. Banning or restricting vicious dogs and coming down hard on owners who do not properly train and restrain their dogs, now THAT’S something I can get behind!

Re: Banned Breeds
Posted by planocom at April 09. 2009

I can help with that issue!
If Dr Mike will enter a blog post that is called Questions & Answers (or something to that effect) I can edit it so that it always appears as the top post.
We have associated message boards where anyone can create a new topic for each blog, but we don't have the email update option programmed yet.
(So bloggers know when there's a new question and users know when a reply is made.)
We hope that's up and running in May.
Re: Banned Breeds
Posted by TJBee at April 08. 2009

Hi Dr.Mike
Just had to let you know I really enjoy your pieces here.
They are informative and with just a touch of humor. Love the line "If you are a jerk you are a jerk and it doesn’t matter if you are a Yorkie, a Pit Bull, a Lab, or a Great Pyrenees."
There are a lot of people I want to tell that to.

Still trying to figure out where to ask question. I have one about 'cauliflower warts'.

Banned Breeds

Banned Breeds

Banned Breeds

Re: Banned Breeds

Re: Banned Breeds

Document Actions