[ Post a Response | True English Mastiffs ]
Posted by JennyR
on 4/7/2006, 10:14 am, in reply to "Re: question for Rodsue"
The incident did happen but I have no idea if the dog is in the breeding pool. There were two other young mastiffs in the fence with the dog that bit. The sad thing is the incident happened at the gals grooming shop, and the guy that was bitten was a worker of a neighboring business that had gone to the dumpster out back and reached over to pet and was bitten. The dog did bark and warn him and the owner had warned him previously not to try to pet that dog. It was behind a 5 ft fence. The gal refers to this particular b###h as her “non-tolerant of stranger” b###h.
It was a sad incident that spurred my intrigue about temperament, mainly because those who responded to the gals very sorrowful story only blamed the guy who put his arm over the fence, never did anyone mention that the temperament of the dog was questionable.
I want to discuss temperament not have a blame game or hurt anyone’s feelings. My opinion differed from some on the board, as opinions quite often do. I do not think that a Mastiff should bit a friendly stranger period. I understand that some very well behaved dogs do get possessive of their yards and vehicles, and I suppose some degree of barking and possibly growling is normal, but I would expect an appropriately reared Mastiff to be inquisitive of a friendly stranger, even those who are aloof would retreat at the presentation of the hand rather than bite. Now if the person continued forward, entered the gate, threatened the dog or its person, then I would have no problem with the dog using force.
I am just concerned that maybe we are slipping away from proper temperament and folks are just not recognizing it. I have real concerns with this breed specific legislation issue; it will only take a few bad apples of the 200lb size to really catch the attention of officials, look at the damage done by one Presa Canario (Bain) out in California, you think anyone could convince the public that those dogs could be trusted.
Thanks again for your thoughts.
JennR
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