fireflyfairy,

I will disagree. My sister had a coc-k-er spaniel, she had him trained to be nice and etc. The dog turned six and all of a sudden this cute, little dog turned viscious. The dog would attack anyone especially if you walked into the room (he thought it was his territory). No corrective training worked. She did not abuse the animal.

His vet told my sister that the dog has genetic disposition to turn aggressive and viscious at a certain age. Genetics cannot be changed. This dog ended up being put down because his whole entire nervous system shutdown and it was genetically caused.

All the dogs from his litter ended up this way. Another friend had Rotteweiler/Pit Bull mix. This dog was aggressive from the get go, and it was trained to behave and was not abused. It tried to attack a biker passing the yard one day, thankfully there was a wireless fence. It took a lot to calm the animal down. What would happen if there was not a fence or it was a little kid. This dog was not abused, trained correctly. So what caused the aggression? Genetics, which cannot be changed.

Yes, I do think that some breeds need to be banned because those breeds are aggressive by nature not nuture (learned). The public must be protected. How would you feel if you were attacked by a dog that you have known to be non-aggressive or if it was a child that was attacked? The public would be outraged. A dog should not have to penned up for the better part of the day to ensure safety of the public.

I do agree that some dogs are abused and do become aggressive because of abuse. But there are some breeds that are just aggressive by genetics and some owners are just not responsible enough to keep those aggressive by nature breeds under control. The expect the general public to be able to handle the dog.

I agree Jenny. I had never heard of a coc-k-er spaniel being aggressive until now. I will say that particular event would be very much related to the inbreeding of the species. It has been proven that the more a species is interbred (parent with offspring) the more likely the resulting offspring will exhibit aggresive behavior, again highlighting the importance that needs to be placed on the ownership of animals and better laws and more funding twords prevention of such cruelty. Mostly, these types of mass inbreeding occur in puppy mills, which agains goes to put emphasis on looking at where one buys a puppy from. Most pet shop puppies are from mills. And yes there are breeders who get lazy, cheap and selfish and inbreed to keep the "bloodlines" clear.
Myself, I have raised, trained, and cared for several akitas, doberman pinscher and wolf hybrids over the years, as well has my husband. We have seen overtly aggressive rotweilers come into our dog obedience classes that the owners could not control. We were able to correct that and turn the dogs into approachable and socialable animals.
It is sad that you have experienced such negative interactions with dogs. However just because someone thinks they have a dog trained, they very well could not. Mind you the dog was originally tamed by man for gaurdianship purposes. Each breed was created for a specific task and unfortunatly many humans have exploited one or another.
I have to ask, what then do we do with mixed breeds of these sorts? An Akita Husky mix? A Rottweiler Saint Bernard? A bull terrier lab cross? Do we then make all dogs in existance destroyed? Where then is the line drawn? When will german shepards, doberman pinschers and mastiffs make the cut? To cut off your nose to spite your face is cruel indeed. People need to be screened for owning pets just like they are for adopting kids.
It ultimately comes down to the education of humankind. Ever think where these breeds come in for helping us? Some of these dogs make great cadaver dogs. Or gaurd dogs in prisions. Or sniffing out drugs in security checks. Yes I have seen dogs get nasty, but in every situation the dog was abused, negelected or so inbred it was cross eyed.