Beware the rampaging packs of killer Dachshunds
By Gina Spadafori
July 9, 2008
I was going to get all ranty about the study the University of Pennsylvania should be too embarassed to be associated with, ranking dog breeds for “aggression,” with the Dachshund and Chihuahua atop the list.
But I don’t have to, because Terrierman does it for me, and does it better than I would have anyway. Before he got his rant on, he warmed up by collecting and posting silly Dachshund videos, so check those out, too.
The only thing that kept me from thoroughly enjoying the rant was his insulting the math abilities of reporters.
Terrierman, I’ll have you know that Christie is very good at math. As for me, my mother decades later still has my yellowing, cracked and weather-worn SAT results pinned with smiley-face magnets to her refrigerator door. Verbal … 99th percentile. Math … you just never mind.
Thanks for the plug!
I love dealing with reporters by the way — I deal with several a day, as it’s a core part of my job. Not all reporters are math-challenged, of course, but it’s the way to bet if you are starting out a conversation.
Patrick
Comment by PBurns — July 9, 2008 @ 2:44 pm
I assume you are just grabbing Terrierman’s pant cuff and playing Tug with it in your comments about “reporters”. We all know ( or should) that the average TV or newspaper reporter is prone to getting things wrong from syntax to quotes by the person(s) being interviewed to arithmetic. You and Christie are not the average! You are exemplary when it comes to reporting, which is why I have depended on you since March 16, 2007 to give me the facts, ma’am.
Comment by Anne T. — July 9, 2008 @ 5:46 pm
interesting. Don’t think I’ve ever met a snarky doxie, but my luck with chis has been less than stellar. The only owned dog I know that has been classified dangerous by the city happens to be a chi. I don’t really think it’s the breed, but lack of proper socialization on the part of raisers and owners. And yeah, prob crappy breeding also. I will say the prob isn’t unique to chis around here.
Can’t wait until my big files stop uploading so I can check out the silly Dachshund videos :)
Comment by straybaby — July 9, 2008 @ 8:36 pm
As a little dog owner, nothing pi$$es me off more than little dog owners who don’t insist that their dogs behave in public with proper manners. One Chi owner I know of actually is fairly belligerent about this - saying that she absolutely does NOT need to train her Chis precisely because they are little and can’t do any damage. Oh yeah? What about to reputation of little dogs everywhere. I’m sick and tired of having MY well-mannered little dog characterized as “one of those yippy little ankle-biters” because of the actions of OTHER little dog owners who let their beloved little terrors get away with everything.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — July 9, 2008 @ 9:18 pm
While we were looking for a house, we lived in a duplex with a woman who owned a pack of killer Poms. She would let them out, unsupervised, unleashed, into the unfenced yard and we (and our leashed Beagle) would have to run for our ankles’ lives. It was horrible.
Comment by slt — July 10, 2008 @ 6:16 am
The state of ‘scientific’ (and I am using the term loosely) research into canine behavior in the US is absolutely pathetic. Opinion pieces and ‘studies’ (such as the one you talk about here) based on nothing more than a few scattered bits of anecdotal information are the standard fare here - even in publications that are supposed to be peer-review journals.
Why have we fallen so far behind the rest of the world in this area? The best work being done today, IMO, now comes from eastern Europe. Check out the article in today’s NYTimes on petriceuticals for some excellent insights on this.
Comment by Janeen — July 10, 2008 @ 12:58 pm
I just read about this study—10 minutes before clicking over to check out PetConnection’s daily fare. Now I’m off to see what Terrierman has to say.
I gotta add my two cents before I do, though: Our hospital’s most aggressive breeds are Lhasas and Jack Russells. Not very scientific, I know, but there you have it.
Comment by Dr Patty Khuly — July 10, 2008 @ 1:27 pm
That’s OK, Dr. K, we’re late getting to the spay-neuter journal piece you wrote about a couple days ago. :)
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 10, 2008 @ 2:09 pm
I have a chi,and my mil has 2 dachsunds next door. The are all extremely aggressive ! I think its because people[especially children] approach small dogs in a manner that makes them afraid. A dog is a dog no matter the size,and should be properly trained. However any creature that is much smaller than everyone around it will become aggressive to protect itself.Especially small breeds which usually have a higher energy level. With the right training and exercise and supervision,they will be calm.
Comment by Leslie k — July 10, 2008 @ 6:21 pm
There is an old adage that states: “You can take the dog out of the fight but you cant take the fight out of the dog…”
Well, thats only true within limits but since I was a kid visiting my mom’s best freind who had a pekinese I have referred to these dogs as “carpet sharks”. They can be nastly little buggers who despite having no size to speak of clearly compensate with bluster and ankle biting antics that make you want to step on them just to shut them up!
If you could do a Mel Brookes / Young Frankenstien transplant of their “Abby somebody…” brain into a pit bull you would have to shoot the pit bull (probably several times - in the head) to put it down unless it got to the gun first.
Go ahead and try it! See how long the bunnies last then! Eh?
Comment by Bernard J. (Bernie) Starzewski — July 11, 2008 @ 2:26 pm
And just how much effort did your Mom’s best friend put into teaching her Pekingese acceptable behavior around people? (Assuming she put any effort in at all - as has been said before, if you don’t teach the dog what to do, you can’t assume s/he’ll figure it our for him/herself. As usual, it’s far more a PEOPLE problem than it is a DOG problem - but the dogs end up paying the price for it.)
Comment by The OTHER Pat — July 11, 2008 @ 3:03 pm
I think she valued her fingers and toes too much to try try to teach little Binkie anything. He was probably threatening to burn the house down if she ever betrayed him.
Comment by Bernard J. (Bernie) Starzewski — July 11, 2008 @ 3:06 pm
Bernie … sometimes I wonder if you’ve been drinking before you post.
Friends don’t let friends drink and use the Internets.
Dead bunny jokes are really wearing thin here.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 11, 2008 @ 3:28 pm
Bernie, I was going to ask whether your mother’s friend raised the dogs from pups, or adopted them as adults, but really, it doesn’t matter.
I have a two-year-old Chinese Crested, who had a really unfortunate home for the nine months from age three months to age one year. She arrived in my home, after being reclaimed by her breeder, terrified of everything except me, and fear-aggressive because of it. People, dogs, bikes, carts, yard lights, plastic bags, you name it.
After three months, she was an utter charmer with people, as long as they weren’t “dressed funny” (backpacks, hats, umbrellas), and there wasn’t anything else to set her off—like a dog. Or a bike. Or…
After six months, we were able to take a group obedience class.
After nine months, we were able to join a pick-up trick training class at Petsmart without difficulty or distress for anyone.
At a year—I was able to take her to a dog party and turn her loose in a fenced yard with seven other dogs, only a couple of whom she’d met before. The main problem we have with other dogs now is, that she’s figured out they can be fun, and is still working on learning proper doggy etiquette.
And just now—I just got back from walking her around the local pedestrian mall, including a stop in a bookstore to pick up a book.
My friend has a six-year-old Maltese, who had a remarkably similar early life to my dog’s, and was rehomed to my friend at a year old. With four more years than my dog has had, he’s learned more, still needs work, but he’s a sweet, sweet dog.
How were these miracles possible? By recognizing that they are dogs, not stuffed toys, and not convenient verbal footballs.
You have no imagination and no empathy, Bernie, or you would not be able to make the cruel and crude “jokes” that you do.
Comment by Lis — July 11, 2008 @ 4:07 pm
Well, I for one, am cheering the results of the study. I worked as a vet tech at a hospital/boarding facility for several years, and the dachshund and chihuahua rankings are 100% accurate to my experiences. It actually got to the point that we would put many of the dachsunds in the bottom level cages where the big dogs were, because no one wanted to approach them at face level.
I’ve been telling people for YEARS that most dachs
unds are hateful little things, and everyone responds with the same disbelief…despite the fact that they’ve only encountered one or two doxies and I’ve suffered through dozens and dozens of them. I’m glad to see the truth about their temperaments finally get some air time.
And chihuahuas…seriously, folks, who *didn’t* know that chis were mean?? On the other hand, I wouldn’t have put pit bulls or beagles on the list at all…
Comment by Kim — July 15, 2008 @ 12:27 pm
My cousin had dachshunds for many years, and every one of them was a sweetie. Every randomly met dachshund I’ve met has been a nice dog.
Chis—I can’t imagine why the smallest dogs in the world, often owned by people who want a small dog for companionship precisely because they have very little social contact otherwise, might find the presence of giant strangers alarming.
Comment by Lis — July 15, 2008 @ 12:43 pm
Kim, you can cheer all you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that the study is junk science, spoonfed to an unquestioning media.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 15, 2008 @ 12:52 pm