With dogs, do size and breed matter?

All pet dogs (and even strays, which probably account for more dog bites than all the others), like all people, need to be socialised, with us, human beings and with their own kind. And more than them, it’s their owners that need obedience training from the day they bring the pup home.

My own Boxer, Chops, was a big sloppy oaf with my friends because he had been taught how to behave around them, but was a terror with other dogs, simply because I had not taught him how to behave when among his own kind, making him believe he was one big dada dog who was boss of the canine world. My Labrador, Wag, was just the opposite: He was unpredictable with people, could not be trusted around children, but was happy to make friends with other dogs (unless they did something unacceptable) simply because I had introduced him to a pair of lovely Labradors, when he was a pup. A little stray pup (of one of his friends), who I named Hands-Up would wait for Wag every evening on the path I walked him on the Ridge, and roll over, squeaking excitedly and squirting away, as Wag trotted up to him and gave him a regal nod, like a Mafia don blessing a novice pickpocket. But Wag would snatch a biscuit – none too gently – from a child with no compunction, just a warning growl maybe. Chops too, once pinched a biscuit from my toddler nephew, but apologetically and very gently, with a lugubrious sigh, suggesting, ‘ah, my friend, what to do, such is the way of the world.’

Wag was a perplexing case, because he had been brought up (and socialised) in just the same way as our two earlier Boxers (Bambi and Chops), so why he had these most uncharacteristic, unpleasant Labrador traits was hard to fathom: possibly due to excessive inbreeding (or because he hailed from Hapur). The Boxers, which might have appeared more ‘ferocious’ were totally harmless and never even growled at anyone, ever.

And, just as undesirable traits can be bred into a dog, they can be bred out of dogs, too. Boxers were originally bred for bull-baiting (as were Bulldogs) and in Germany, could only be given their breed certificates if they (and probably their owners) passed an Army test, for discipline, physical strength and demeanour. So they were tough, no-nonsense soldier dogs if you like. That was until they went to America and the UK, where over generations, these hard-core traits were bred out of them and they became the big, sloppy family clowns they are today. The same holds true of English bulldogs. Don’t get me wrong: a badly brought up Boxer can also be a nasty piece of work..

Does size and breed really matter so much? Well, obviously, a big dog can cause more damage if it attacks, but even the smaller yappy-snappy ones can be holy terrors and are more likely to have hair-trigger responses being size-challenged. A beagle, a dachshund, or a Yorkie can be as much of a terror as a Mastiff or a Rottweiler.

It’s the people who breed these violent dogs or train them to be so, that need to be put away, before their dogs. ‘Weaponising’ a Bull-mastiff or Pit-bull is as good as opening up with an unlicensed AK-47. More important than merely registering your pet dog with the authorities, it should be made mandatory that anyone who wants to keep a dog, attend and pass – with their dog – a training school, especially mastering primary-level commands: “Sit! Stay! Come! Heel!” The only thing your dog wants is to be able to please you, and regrettably, if that includes attacking children or the elderly, well so be it, that’s what it will do.

What you do have to watch out for is the pack instinct. Dogs are pack animals, and when a pack collects, say in a park, they can switch into hunting mode, which turns even the sweetest-tempered dog into a horror from hell. Well, we can hardly blame them – look at what happens when our own mob mentality takes over…