@shibamistress yes, my mom has a similar mentality. She always tells me to get a 'big dog' when I live on my own for 'protection' reasons. But, she grew up in this part of the world and I find it very common for many people to have that similar 'a dog is a weapon' ideology. It's very annoying and sad. To me, if I was to get a big dog then I would concentrate on making it very friendly! To have an aggressive dog, well--not only is it a danger to other people/dogs, but a dog that is a ticking time bomb waiting to go off on you. I understand that getting a big scary dog, is well, already scary for people to avoid you, but then, I wouldn't actually want it to be scary.
I had a conversation with a woman at work today that reminded me of this article. She's from Dublin and has a very negative opinion of Akitas which was pretty sad. She made comments like they are illegal there, are vicious dogs and usually owned by thugs.
It's sad really when keiko was 12 weeks old and I was socialising her a lady was stroking her and asked what breed she was and when I said JA she recoiled her hand and said "oh they are vicious aren't they?" Needless to say I firmly told her it's the owners not the breed that's the problem and pointed out that her daughter who was with her had a staffy and they also get a bad reputation.
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I understand that getting a big scary dog, is well, already scary for people to avoid you, but then, I wouldn't actually want it to be scary.
It can be extremely frustrating!