[PennyWhistle]

Sorry, kind of hard to "hear" humor in a post.

I thought maybe the incongruity of the described play would explain itself, Foster.

 

[Noey]

Goldens are "mouthy" to start with. My guys go mouth first into everything and like to "hold" your hand with a soft mouth.

All dogs can bite. I wonder how they define it... And nails are constantly causing issues as mine are also "high fivers" and tend to slap you with a paw to get your attention and or use the paws/legs in ways I've only seen a golden use them.

People are probably worse biters... have you been in a room of toddlers? they bite as well. : )

 

[Bender]

Goldens tend to be mouthy dogs, it's part of the breed - they like to have something in their mouth and often they'll pick an arm or a hand and it becomes a habit to do so. Some might call that a 'bite'. Also people assume goldens are great, sweet, perfect tempered dogs that can go in the ring and get a perfect score in obedience from day one without training - so they don't train them. At soccer there's a golden for every other dog out there, watching with their family.... they get a golden and assume they don't need to train anything. People see a golden and assume they're friendly and safe to let their kids pet without asking.

But a pit bull owner will tend to do more training and/or control over their dog, and less people will allow their kids to run up and pet that dog too.....

And sadly, because they're popular (thanks to Air bud and the thought that they make perfect pets), there's a good market for back yard breeders to produce them. I've met some nasties too.

Lana

 

[Ranger]

But a pit bull owner will tend to do more training and/or control over their dog, and less people will allow their kids to run up and pet that dog too...

...you'd hope.

 

[kwhit]

I've always heard that Labs were #1 for bites involving children.

As far as Pit Bull bites, I really believe that any dog that even slightly resembles a Pit will be labeled as such. I doubt that 1/2 of the media people even know what a true Pit Bull looks like and most reports involve mixes. I remember one report that labeled a Boxer as a Pit and another that claimed a Bullmastiff as a Pit.

 

[Muddypaws]

I saw that show last year and was a little surprised but people that don't know better will confuse "mouthy" with bite. Sad but true, our trainer warned in puppy class that one mouthy moment with the wrong person can label your dog a biter. He was very serious when he taught "no bite" and that under NO circumstance is it acceptable for a dog to put his/her mouth on a person.

It's a shame our beloved breed has this reputation, but statistics are hard to argue.

 

[Deisel's Mom]

I think any animal could be a potential biter.....shoot I'd bite if I was threatened or mistreated

 

[FlyingQuizini]

Ive owned an aggressive dog not a golden i ha sen to add but a lot comes down to what people think is aggressive,mine tried to kill my son he went strait for his throat,luckily i was able to bring him down in time,(it turned out it was an illness)but on another forum i visited there was a lady who posted that she needed help with her 12 week old golden pup who was aggressive.i mean come on a 12 week old pup:no:.but thats how she saw it.

Hate to break it to ya, but even 12 week old pups can be truly aggressive. Yup. I've seen those, too. :-( It's very sad when that happens. Often, in the right hands, they can be rehabbed. But sometimes bad genetics are just too stacked against them.

 

[GoldenJoyx'stwo]

I know of someone who had to put their GR down due to aggression. It's thought to have been a neurological issue. I remember walking Shadow as a pup and a little girl saying she was afraid to say hello to him. Why? She had been bitten by a Golden.

I do feel people should remember that Goldens are dogs and dogs have the capacity to bite.

 

[Retrievers Rock]

I feel like I've heard this before. However, I have also read an article in the past saying that dachshunds were the #1 biters, but b/c their bites were generally small and insignificant, it usually goes by unnoticed as compared to, say, a pitbull bite.

This is not the article I'm referring to, but it carries the same idea:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Top-Biting-Dog-Breeds&id=1407118

I'll believe this one! My aunt's bit my face when I was little, and I had my top lip sewn back together as a result.

 

[PennyWhistle]

Well...I guess I can sort of see how they could be aggressive. Afterall, they do turn into a dingo now and then. You all know what I mean...when they lay on their backs, ears flopped up, foxy look in their eyes, and they let their lips fall back...if its not The Dingo, I don't know what it is.

 

[Jax's Mom]

Dogs are dogs...they can bite. But I tend to agree with the poster that noted, Goldens are a very popoular breed, and more dogs=more bites.

 

[Nicole74]

My golden has bitten. Three times when she was 5 months old. I do not trust her at all around strange people or children. I have to keep a very good eye on her. Most of the time she is fine, it's just when she is in her moods I have to keep a more careful eye on her. Bailey is snarly and snappy too during her moments.

 

[sharlin]

They're in the sporting group for a reason. Original purpose was for an overall good gun dog with a soft mouth and a medium to high prey drive. In the book Animals In Translation the author pointed out a couple of instances involving Goldens because of their breeding and their intelligence. Are they more PRONE to bite? Probably not - just a whole bunch more of them out there.

 

[cham]

Dodson is a veterinary behaviorist if I remember correctly. Very experienced dog guy, he works (or did) at a university so he is more likely to have used a reputable source for his numbers compared to others... but at the same time there aren't good statistics on dog bites. Most are suspected to go unreported.
QUOTE]


Dr Nick Dodson is a Veterinary Behaviorist at Tufts Vet School in Grafton MA. http://www.tufts.edu/vet/facpages/dodman_n.html

I have taken one of my GRs to him who does have aggressive behaviors towards certain people. But he also has medical issues which in my opinion are connected.

Given a choice between Dr Dodman and his former associate whom I have also seen, I much prefer Dr Alice Moon-Fanelli who is now in private practice in CT. I found Alice cared, whereas I got the distinct feeling that Dodman was more interested in getting us out of there so he could get back to his next book, or TV appearance.

 

[Selli-Belle]

HMMMMM...

Very interesting thread that makes me consider things in a different light. Goldens are a very oral breed, they really like having something in their mouths in a way which is different than different kinds of dogs. People find it cute and unusual when Goldens have to pick up a toy or a shoe or a bra in order to greet someone, but I just consider it normal behavior. I have asked owners of other types of dogs if they do the same thing and their dogs don't feel the need to have something in their mouths.

My Goldens (and my Dad's Golden (Selli's sister)) have all liked to chew on their humans, but they will only chew on their specific humans, i.e., Selli will chew on me and my Boyfriend but no-one else (we encourage them to do it). My Duffy (Golden/Sheltie) and my parent's old dog Elmo (Golden/Collie) would never even consider putting a human's body part in their mouth.

Our Goldens have all been from breeders who breed for temperament and they have been intelligent, socialized dogs, but if you had a Golden from someone who didn't care about temperament and you add to that a dog who has a tendency to use its mouth to communicate with humans, you could wind up with a group of dogs who bite more than normal.

 

[PennyWhistle]

Okay, I stand corrected, but now I am wondering the dogs that have been deemed aggressive, bad breeding or bad training, or no training notwithstanding, I am ****** lucky Murphy is as sweet as he is, because he required very little correction, and he's the sweetest thing I have ever known.

 

[Heidi36oh]

My Golden's never been biters, but I have met quite a few that are, we have one next door right now that would attack in a minute, dogs or kids don't matter he don't like them..kinda scary!

 

[Stircrazy]

Okay, I stand corrected, but now I am wondering the dogs that have been deemed aggressive, bad breeding or bad training, or no training notwithstanding, I am ****** lucky Murphy is as sweet as he is, because he required very little correction, and he's the sweetest thing I have ever known.

My opinion is it starts with bad breeding. temperment is suposed to be one of the main qualities goldens are bread for but to often it goes by the way side so people can get perfect confermation dogs.. as long as they look good thats all they need.

I would say lack of socilization as the next important factor, then not corecting bad behaviour.

We rescued a golden x and it turned out to be severly dog agressive to the point it would want to kill another dog as soon as it saw it. I spent 4 months and 1000.00 in training with agression specialests (2 different ones) and neither could make any headway and had never seen a dog this bad. so we made the sad disision of returning her to the shelter as I couldn't even let her in the back yard alone as we had dogs all around us, walks were impossable ect.. we figured out there was a lot of chow mixed into her with the golden and I think there was probably more chow than golden, but I guess the spca felt it was easier to find a place for a golden Xthan it would be for a chow X.

but we ended up getting a pure golden from a breader who values temperment as much as looks and couldent be more happy with him. not an agressive bone in his body in 7 months has only play growled when playing tug of war, doesn't bark at other dogs or people, except to let me know he has to go to the bathroom. so I think there is a lot to the breading part.

Steve

 

[Luci]

Also, keep in mind the number of Golden's out there as compared to the number of other breeds.
As example, if there are 100,000 goldens out there and 1% of them bite someone, that's 1000 bites.
Now take a breed that the numbers aren't so high, take 50,000 Poodles (and this is just an example), and if 1% of them bite someone, the number reported would be 500, much lower.
Hence, it looks like Goldens bite more but they don't, there is just many more of them!
Hope that makes sense - it did in my head as I was saying it

Exactly what I was thinking.

I also agree with whoever mentioned that goldens are supposedly "come perfect" dogs. Wrong-o! I'm amazed at how many people just expect a dog to be good and well trained from the start with no effort.

Lucy is pretty mouthy, but we've taught her what she can put in her mouth and what she can't. I really wish people would do all the research when they get a pup. Including which basics to teach their new pet ie bite inhibition etc.