Pets

during an office exam. The miscreant? A dachshund who had been his patient for years. Also, I myself inadvertently raised a dog to be suspicious of strangers, dominant, aggressive. I had to watch him like a hawk. A 7# Maltese!!! Turns out, raising a dog to be the most important member of the family isn't a good idea! I adopted a Border Collie/Akita cross who'd been raised by another family like I raised the Maltese... the family wanted a guard dog. They got one. He was something else to socialize, adored children and small dogs, but would create problems trying to protect children from their parents or trying to run unthinkingly into traffic to visit a toy poodle being walked across the road. But, anticipating disasters, I managed him and adored him. When we hear of pitty attacks, we're probably hearing of dogs who were raised like my Maltese and the BC/Akita and became suspicious of strangers, dominated the family hierarchy by being included in everything human and generally thought their purpose was to guard at all costs. The problem is the owner.