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.

[dturm]

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

[Lantley]

BizmarksMom wrote:
To be clear, I have no issue with a business making rules about what can go on inside of it's property. That's why I call ahead.

My dogs are always on leash and under control. But the business owner doesn't know that. They don't know me, or my dogs. So, I call ahead and am upfront about the dogs I own. I've even had campgrounds forward me on to other campgrounds that will accept my dogs. It's only a big deal if you make it a big deal.

Exactly if the CG doesn't mind losing my money I don't mind spending it somewhere else.

[BizmarksMom]

To be clear, I have no issue with a business making rules about what can go on inside of it's property. That's why I call ahead.

My dogs are always on leash and under control. But the business owner doesn't know that. They don't know me, or my dogs. So, I call ahead and am upfront about the dogs I own. I've even had campgrounds forward me on to other campgrounds that will accept my dogs. It's only a big deal if you make it a big deal.

[Walaby]

At the end of the day, as pointed out by others, if you have a dog that is a breed that is banned, then there is little recourse other than to find another place that will accept them.

I personally believe that how a dog is raised and trained determines his or her temperament far more than what breed he/she is. But a business/campground has to do what they have to do.

Mike

[Lantley]

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.

[Walaby]

Lantley wrote:

Walaby wrote:
I get that stereotyping dogs based on certain breed being more aggressive than others is not really fair. Having said that, assuming it is an insurance restriction on the business, probably not much else can be done about it.

Unfortunately, businesses can ill afford to take a dog owners word for a well behaved dog.

Mike

Actually they do have to trust the owners to follow the rules.
They have to trust owners to adhere to leash rules, they have to trust owners that their dogs are well behaved.With or without breed restriction CG owners are trusting pet owners to have trustworthy behaved pets.
They all have teeth and may bite, breed restrictions do very little to eliminate that basic fact.
What is sort of funny to me is that breed restrictions are really saying, we trust all owners, except those that have these breeds!

My point was businesses can't afford to make exceptions to their insurance policy just because the owner says my particular dog, of the banned breed, is perfectly harmless.

Mike

[jfkmk]

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.

[Lantley]

Walaby wrote:
I get that stereotyping dogs based on certain breed being more aggressive than others is not really fair. Having said that, assuming it is an insurance restriction on the business, probably not much else can be done about it.

Unfortunately, businesses can ill afford to take a dog owners word for a well behaved dog.

Mike

Actually they do have to trust the owners to follow the rules.
They have to trust owners to adhere to leash rules, they have to trust owners that their dogs are well behaved.With or without breed restriction CG owners are trusting pet owners to have trustworthy behaved pets.
They all have teeth and may bite, breed restrictions do very little to eliminate that basic fact.
What is sort of funny to me is that breed restrictions are really saying, we trust all owners, except those that have these breeds!

[TexasShadow]

I like dogs. We have one, a Lhasa, who goes almost everywhere with us.
What I don't like is dogs running loose. Because I don't know if the dog is a pussycat or Jekyll and Hyde type. And I don't like dog owners who swear their dog doesn't bite...just before it bites me or anyone else.
So just keep your dog on a leash and I don't care what breed it is. I'll even admire him.
Some rv parks have banned certain breeds due to their owners ignoring the leash rule. Spoiled it for those who do keep their dogs leashed.

[Lantley]

doxiemom11 wrote:
Here in the midwest, it seems to primarily be private owned parks that have the restrictions. There is always state , county, city, forest and corp of engineer parks that normally do not have a breed restriction.

This is true on the east coast as well. Public parts do not have breed restrictions.

[doxiemom11]

Here in the midwest, it seems to primarily be private owned parks that have the restrictions. There is always state , county, city, forest and corp of engineer parks that normally do not have a breed restriction.

[Lantley]

BB_TX wrote:
"Dangerous dogs" is always a very personal issue and invariably bring out emotional responses no matter which side of the fence you are on. I am sure the percentage of dogs of any breed that are actually dangerous is very small. That doesn't diminish the fact that a large powerful dog has the potential to severely harm someone under the right conditions. "But he/she had never done that before!"

There are always those who say they vote with their dollars and go where their dog(s) are welcome. Likewise there are those who vote with their dollars and go where dogs are limited or prohibited. It is great for all of us that both options are available.

And yes, we do have a 75 lb dog. Not a breed generally banned, but could easily fall under a weight ban. And I have no problem with park owners setting their rules as they see fit.

You pretty well summed it up.
I don't agree with breed restrictions but I do respect the owner's right to set the rules.
In the end there are good dogs and bad dogs. There is no bonafide way to tell by the cover.
Luckily there are enough options to accommodate us all.

[BB_TX]

"Dangerous dogs" is always a very personal issue and invariably bring out emotional responses no matter which side of the fence you are on. I am sure the percentage of dogs of any breed that are actually dangerous is very small. That doesn't diminish the fact that a large powerful dog has the potential to severely harm someone under the right conditions. "But he/she had never done that before!"

There are always those who say they vote with their dollars and go where their dog(s) are welcome. Likewise there are those who vote with their dollars and go where dogs are limited or prohibited. It is great for all of us that both options are available.

And yes, we do have a 75 lb dog. Not a breed generally banned, but could easily fall under a weight ban. And I have no problem with park owners setting their rules as they see fit.

[ljr]

My biggest gripe has been when a teenager minding the gate decides my purebred "mutt" is some prohibited breed. I can't honestly say she isn't. Who knows? I stopped using privately owned campgrounds several years ago and haven't had a problem since.

[NCWriter]

I know this thread is about camping in the U.S. but I found the lists below interesting, since I'd never even heard of some of these breeds.

I travel with a service dog outside the U.S. fairly often, which requires various requirements and permits with the help of a USDA-certified veterinarian. It's fairly common to see a few breeds prohibited like Pit Bulls. Recently I was looking at Bermuda, and noticed their lists relating to importing dogs.

"Prohibited Breeds:
(Dogs of these breeds may not be imported, bred or used for breeding)
American Pit Bull Terrier
American Bulldog
American Staffordshire Terrier
Argentine mastiff (Dogo Argentino)
Boerboel (South African Mastiff)
Brazilian Mastiff (Fila)
Cane Corso
Neapolitan Mastiff
Presa Canario
Tosa Inu
Wolf
Wolf Hybrid
Any Cross of the above"

There's another list of Restricted Breeds - people who want to import a dog on this list have to build an escape-proof structure and comply with various other stringent requirements. Some surprises on this list for me.

"Restricted Breeds:
(Dogs of these breeds may be imported/kept once the conditions for keeping these dogs have been fulfilled by the importer/new keeper. New acquisitions of these dogs require pre-approval. Dogs of these breeds may be bred only following receipt of a Breeder’s permit.)

Akita
Australian Cattle Dog
Belgian Malinois
Bouvier des Flandres
Bull Terrier
Bullmastiff
Chow Chow
Doberman Pinscher
Dogue de Bordeaux
German Shepherd
Mastiff – English
Rhodesian Ridgeback
Rottweiler
Staffordshire Bull Terrier
Any Cross of the above"