Moin, lovely dog you had!! Would have liked to get Jojo and Ozzy together!
AGN, as long as your Chetak is silent, you are fine. Jojo doesn't like the Bullet sound!!!
Gents, please refer to Wikipedia on Rotts as to the "dangerous" stuff. Also check the various kennel club links below the article. Most of the rumours on Rotts are about as true as ..... well, gold at the end of rainbows???
There was a long article I read about the impact of Hollywood on "dangerous dogs". It seems when "Uncle Tom's Cabin" came out (long, long back), there was a scene showing bloodhounds chasing an escaping slave woman and her child. So, bloodhounds became the "bad dog" in those days. WW2 movies showing GSDs (German Shepherd Dogs) used on concentration camp prisoners ensured that the GSD breed had its day as the "worst dog breed". Similarly, dobermanns, rottweilers, pit bulls, all have had their day of notoriety, hence putting a new spin on the old phrase "every dog has its day"!! Funnily, the Alaskan Malemute / Siberian Husky, in spite of not being very good pets, had seen a surge post the release of 'White Fang". Dalmatians after ..... you guessed it, "101 Dalmatians", Pugs (in India) after the Vodafone ads. ........ Again, Dals are very very delicate dogs, prone to illnesses, blindness, etc. Pugs (their noses being what they are) are prone to asthma and other breathing problems, heart problems.
The Internet, as the biggest gossip monger in history, also plays an important role in demonising / sanctifying certain breeds. Also, the press treats dog attacks similar to firearm usage (and you know how they treat the latter!!). So you'll find thousands of stories about dog attacks, if you just do a simple net search (most will be duplications, anyway).
I think I'll someday make a movie about a killer Pomeranian Spitz, or a psychopathic Chihuahua!!
(you put it in your pocket, it bites you "over there"
)!!!
Actually, small dogs are more likely to bite, however, their bites are less likely to hurt. A GSD, on the other hand, can take your hand off!
A lot of canine (or human for that matter) aggression depends on how they are kept. Many, many "rich" people keep their dogs in huge bungalows / farmhouses, fed, trained, bathed, by servants. These dogs will consider the servant as their proper master, and can one day even bite the real owner (i.e. the guy who
pays, but doesn't
play!) These dogs also become possesive of the entire bungalow / farmhouse area as their property, and are likely to attack and probably kill any "unauthorised intruders". Of course, being dogs, they don't know all the laws of proportionate force and so on!
In contrast, if the dog is in the midst of a family (whether in a castle or in a slum), he'll in all probability grow to be a well-balanced, loving individual. And with big dogs, the problem is compounded, because very few people will have the courage to go up to him after he's 4-5 months old. There is a friend of my son, who used to run away from Jojo when he (i.e. Jojo) was so small we actually carried him out!!
Moreover, many people intentionally ill treat their dogs to make them ferocious, starving and beating them. Due to this treatment, these dogs are perpetually in an ill temper. If you have read (not seen the movie, actually read the book) "White Fang", this is how Beauty Smith turned White Fang into a killer dog. And due to the ill temper, they are on a short fuse, ready to bite and kill. Chaining dogs also has similar effects.
If you treat a human kid similarly, you'll get similar results, as Bollywood has shown time and again!! And as the terrorist recruiters all over the world have proved in real life.
There was a case recently, of a British soldier, posted in Afghanistan. He came across a wounded dog, hurt in a dog fight (the soldiers actually busted the dog fight). Obviously, being bred for fighting, he would have been ten times more aggressive than a normal dog. This sergeant smuggled him to base, cared for him. For some reason (doggie bush telegraph??) this sergeant became a focus point for wounded, hurt dogs, pregnant bitches. He effectively became a doggie hospital!!! All these dogs - stray feral dogs, fighting dogs, discarded guard dogs - were so-called "vicious killers". And none of them bit / attacked the sergeant or his colleagues!! In fact the dogs even warned them of mortar / sniper attacks by the militants!
A pet Rottweiler in UK, out on a walk with his master, ran off into the bushes, where a guy was trying to rape a woman. He chased off the would-be rapist, stood guard over the lady while his owner went for the bobbies, helped catch the rapist (poor chap was bleeding badly where the dog had bitten him) and won an award from SPCA UK.
If you get the dogs from champion bloodlines, as Moin and I have done, they are bred to be well-behaved in shows (the judges even poke around the dogs' "family jewels", and the dog should stand at attention all throughout!!!). So a part of the aggression is actually bred out of the system (just like aggression can be "bred in" in case of fighting dogs).
There is also a myth which says that the owners have to proportionately sized as the dogs (probably because of Paris Hilton and her Chihuahua
). I am 5'6", somewhat overweight on a sedentary frame!!! And I keep a Rottie!