Camping with dog breeds considered dangerous

[ONG]

Morning Folks,

We RV'd quit a bit when the kids were younger, they are all grown with kids of their own. We are waiting on a Winnebago View and plan on doing some traveling.

The question for you is that we want to travel with our Doberman. He is well bred, very well trained, and loves people. He is 7 years old goes to work with me every day and is our self appointed greeter at our office. If he is napping when customers show up they demand to know where the dog is so that they can pet him. My grand kids will lead him around and even use him for a pillow. Unless you are a squirrel, ground hog or raccoon he does not have an aggressive bone in his body.

I noticed that some Good Sam and KOA campgrounds consider a Doberman as a dangerous breed. Do you think this ignorant fear will cause us problems on our journeys?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[Lantley]

westernrvparkowner wrote:

Deb and Ed M wrote:

BCSnob wrote:

ONG wrote:
In the news today

Children killed by pit bull mix and a border collie. I have never seen a border collie that was mean.

running and screaming children can trigger a reaction in a border collie to try to control the movement with biting used as a means to accomplish control.

I can also picture how many herding dogs (or heck, dogs in general?), when seeing adults running towards a crying/scared child - might feel compelled to defend the child against the "attackers"? Which might explain why the onlookers said the dogs "just kept coming back"?

Herders do not protect the livestock, they do exactly what the name says, they herd them. They may very well try and corral a bunch of wayward kids, and even might nip at their heels, but they don't attack them. Funny how within this thread we can accept the fact that the bred in instincts and traits are expected and perfectly acceptable when those traits and instincts aren't dangerous. But when a dog that is clearly bred as an attack or protection animal acts instinctively, it is somehow only because the owner is negligent, not because the breed itself has dangerous instincts.

I think it also points out Border Collies are not on the list. Should they be?
Can we actually tell what dogs are dangerous and which ones are not?
If these Border collies caused a death should they now be on the list? My dog is on the list, However he is not dangerous. He's been camping for 10 years now without issue.
Begs the question how accurate is the list. Are the CG without breed restrictions constantly having issues with restricted breeds?

[BCSnob]

Unsocialized dogs of most any breed can be dangerous; this is not unique to Border Collies.

A Border Collie's reaction to chaos and screaming could easily be interpreted as an attack. It is an inappropriate expression of the breed's instincts; inappropriate species to gather and no "shepherd" figure to gather to.

[ppine]

I have my third Border Collie. They are fiercely loyal and sometimes the unsocialized ones can be dangerous, especially uncut males.

Don't reach out and try to pet one.

[westernrvparkow]

Deb and Ed M wrote:

BCSnob wrote:

ONG wrote:
In the news today

Children killed by pit bull mix and a border collie. I have never seen a border collie that was mean.

running and screaming children can trigger a reaction in a border collie to try to control the movement with biting used as a means to accomplish control.

I can also picture how many herding dogs (or heck, dogs in general?), when seeing adults running towards a crying/scared child - might feel compelled to defend the child against the "attackers"? Which might explain why the onlookers said the dogs "just kept coming back"?

Herders do not protect the livestock, they do exactly what the name says, they herd them. They may very well try and corral a bunch of wayward kids, and even might nip at their heels, but they don't attack them. Funny how within this thread we can accept the fact that the bred in instincts and traits are expected and perfectly acceptable when those traits and instincts aren't dangerous. But when a dog that is clearly bred as an attack or protection animal acts instinctively, it is somehow only because the owner is negligent, not because the breed itself has dangerous instincts.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

BCSnob wrote:

ONG wrote:
In the news today

Children killed by pit bull mix and a border collie. I have never seen a border collie that was mean.

running and screaming children can trigger a reaction in a border collie to try to control the movement with biting used as a means to accomplish control.

I can also picture how many herding dogs (or heck, dogs in general?), when seeing adults running towards a crying/scared child - might feel compelled to defend the child against the "attackers"? Which might explain why the onlookers said the dogs "just kept coming back"?

[BizmarksMom]

BCSnob wrote:

ONG wrote:
In the news today

Children killed by pit bull mix and a border collie. I have never seen a border collie that was mean.

running and screaming children can trigger a reaction in a border collie to try to control the movement with biting used as a means to accomplish control.

+1
I have known plenty of herding dogs that are not at all safe around children. As a pit bull owner, I know how strong he is. I know how agile he is. I know what the public pereception of him is. For that reason I have made darned sure he is trained and never allowed to run lose. (He actually is fantastic around kids.)

[BCSnob]

ONG wrote:
In the news today

Children killed by pit bull mix and a border collie. I have never seen a border collie that was mean.

running and screaming children can trigger a reaction in a border collie to try to control the movement with biting used as a means to accomplish control.

[jfkmk]

Lantley wrote:

jfkmk wrote:
Everyone who owns a "dangerous breed" claims their pooch is a princess and would never harm a flea. Yet we all see the news stories about these dogs attacking. Whether your pooch is really a princess or not, they look menacing to some. Everyone in the cg pays to have an enjoyable experience without feeling threatened. When you decided to get a dangerous breed, you probably knew about their reputation, insurance issues, and potentially not being able to bring them certain places. Yet you chose the breed you did. You could have chosen say, a Lab, but you didn't. There are consequences to every decision, and you need to deal with it.

I think the whole dangerous breed thing is exaggerated.
I don't consider my dog any more dangerous than any other dog.
I do agree I have to deal with the consequences but that doesn't make My dog dangerous.
We have a couple of big camp outs on private property annually where there are easily 150 people or so. My dog runs free with all the other dogs the entire time. He's no more dangerous than any other dog there.

Agree that not every "dangerous breed" dog is dangerous, and you can certainly turn any dog, no matter the breed, into a dangerous dog. But, some breeds do have a reputation, some deservedly so, and you can't blame a cg owner for protecting himself and his business by banning the breed.

[ONG]

In the news today

Children killed by pit bull mix and a border collie. I have never seen a border collie that was mean.

[ppine]

Dobermans used to be the kind of dogs that made people scared. They are not as poplular as they used to be. Now it is the Pit Bulls and a lot of stupid owners that make everyone nervous.

Try calling around and asking at some of the places you like to camp and see what they say. It is hard to judge.

I travel with 3 dogs which gives some RV parks pause. (paws)> I just tell them we have a dog and two 1/2 dogs which are Welsh Corgis. Nearly all of the time we are okay. The same with motels. Sometimes we have to pay extra. I love dogs and always travel with them. Any place too fancy for dogs, I am usually not interested in anyway.

[dturm]

Conclusion wrote:
Given that breed is a poor sole predictor of aggressiveness and pit bull-type dogs are not implicated in controlled studies it is difficult to support the targeting of this breed as a basis for dog bite prevention.

[westernrvparkow]

dturm wrote:
I have to commend you all for having/keeping a civil discussion of this issue. It often is a topic that creates strong emotions that result in insults and then degenerates.

This is an article printed in a veterinary journal regarding dog bites, dangerous breeds, breed misidentification and breed bans.

Dog Bite Risk and Prevention: The Role of Breed

My reading of that article indicates to me that breed may very well be an important characteristic of attacks that cause serious injury, and the breeds most often listed as dangerous are correctly identified. The statistics cited at the end of the article somewhat disagree with the conclusions the author cites. It is an undeniable fact that the statistics cited show that breeds such as Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, German Shepherds and Chows are most often involved in attacks resulting in injury and breeds such as Labs, retrievers and the assorted "pocket dogs" are not.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Farmerjon wrote:

Our dogs are well trained and well behaved and have AKC Canine Good Citizen certificates and we carry the certificates with us.

THIS is what I would do if I had a dog on the often-banned list. Back when I had larger dogs, I found that once in a while, if I called to inquire about any dog restrictions, that my dogs would be welcomed to stay, even though they were too big, etc. Or, one place asked me to bring the dogs into the office, where they charmed everyone of course....LOL!

But in the course of camping, we've met plenty of dogs on that "bad" list (and they were generally the most well-mannered dogs in the RV park), so there ARE campgrounds who will welcome them. Have fun - dogs get addicted to camping pretty darn fast!

[ONG]

dturm said: I have to commend you all for having/keeping a civil discussion of this issue. It often is a topic that creates strong emotions that result in insults and then degenerates.

Indeed!