All breeds with love, care and socialization become wonderful pets (is that really true?)?

How about instincts. A dog that has been bred for guarding and has a huge dominance level, can it snap at one point or another? Is there any Vet type scientific website that address this?

no matter how much you train you dog they will always have their own natural instincts which you can not take away. but if you use the right training then you can have a loving family pet. but no matter how much you think you know your dog you should never under estimate them.

no dog is bred for guarding. only dogs are trained for guarding. yes if a dog has a huge dominance level it will be harder to train but if u work very hard it can b a mamber of the family. some dogs are just more difficult to train than othersand btw Mel is obviously lying. there is no such thing as the hspca.

Couple of things missing, in my humble opinionYou're missing the genetic make up of the dog...dogs can be genetically unstable...due to bad breeding and such...(that is not breed specific)The "wonderful pet" phrase, can be different things for different people. My wonderful pet, might be wonderful for laying on the couch, and yours hunting wild boar...a stable guard dog, in good and knowledgeable hands, will NOT snap for any reason....

From the very beginning they need to be well trained, especially if they have a family history of violence, aggression, fighting, guarding, etc.. Any dog can be perfectly loving its whole life, but if its exposed to something new and frightening anything can happen. Always check lineage before you get a dog. Like the other guy said, never underestimate an animals instincts

Google "aggressive dog breeds" .

Not entirely true. Some dogs are born with genetic temperament issues. There is even a form of epilepsy that causes fits of involuntary, unprovoked, and uncontrollable aggression. You've also missed a crucial point as well. Love, care, and socialization are not all that is needed to have a good pet- you also need TRAINING. But any dog with no mental defects can be a wonderful pet with love, care, socialization and training. Dogs don't just 'snap' for no reason.

Love comes last.Training, discipline and exercise should come first on ANY dog.Instincts in regards to guarding or dominance - are kind of a moot point. Some dogs have a high dominance level in their breed, but if you are training them from Day 1 - it will never be an issue for you. Dogs are also not naturally protective - a dog making a lot of noise through a window is not necessairly "guarding" anything. Because if the thing they are barking at actually approaches, who's to say the dog doesn't hid behind you?Socialization is definitely important if you don't want your dog to become human/animal aggressive. It is almost like training them to face and not fear the unknown.Aggression can be due to bad breeding - bad breeding of bad genetics, there is nothing you can do about that unless you have the resources, time and patience to work with that dog and be aware of its triggers and avoid them.

It depends on how you define "pet" and what kind of household you are talking about. Some "pets" also are working dogs that do a job. If you are strictly talking about a household pet, some breeds are not suited to it because of their temperaments. For example, very few households are suited to the Fila Brasilero that no matter how much you socialize it, will not accept strangers in the household at all. Few owners are prepared to handle such a dog and few people live such isolated lives that only people who live in the home actually go there.Sometimes breed is not the issue and an individual dog, even from birth, does not have the temperament to be a suitable pet for most people. One member of the breed may be fine and another isn't. Temperatment is genetic and though socialization and training can make some dogs suitable pets, not all dogs have a stable temperament and some cannot be trusted in all hosueholds.

I think that it's bad genetics that Ican ruin a perfectly good looking pup-

Look for references for the words 'genetics' and 'stable' and 'clear'. You'll get your answer then.

Wouldn't trust ANY website as "proof" - though if there where any they wouldn't be dot coms....Genetics play a HUGE role. Not ALL just how the dog was raised, though that does play a very important factor. Experienced dog owners would be able to work around or with genetics, general run-of-the-mill people would NOT.A dog who is bred from generations of, say, guard dogs would have a higher chance of inherited the guarding instinct and behaviors than a dog bred from show or pet animals. Does that mean ALL pups from a litter like that would inherit? No - a lot of pups from (properly bred/trained) guard dog litters do not have what it takes and/or do not show those qualities.Dogs in general do not "snap" - more often than not the dog will have been showing some sort of behavior that experienced owners (or even people with common sense who read about training and behavior) would have picked up on. RARELY do dogs just turn around one day and SNAP.When choosing or working with a dog, you DO have to take genetics into account. End of story. Prepare for any traits known for that breed. In working dogs, prepare to give them a job of some sort. Herding breeds DO tend to herd. Terriers DO tend to be small animal aggressive.

Dogs that are raised properly never " snap ". I have had 2 Pitbulls for over 12 years and they sleep on my couch and are really gentle and loving. But.... They were designed 100 years ago to fight and guard. My neighbors beagle bit my son and caused injury. Figure that out.????

It's the owner, not the dog.Even if a dog is bred to be a guard dog, then it should be doing so, not trapped up in house somewhere being treated like a bunny rabbit, that's what spells disaster in my opinion. Too many people try to get dogs of a certain breed for the wrong reason. Some dogs were not bred to be strictly companions & people need to be more aware of that. Can a dog be genetically unstable? Yes I think so, BUT I also think that the dogs environment plays the biggest role in influencing his behavior, regardless of his genes.A stupid owner spells disaster for an aggressively bred dog.

Dogs are wolves and in the wolf pack the subordinate wolves are always looking for weakness in the alpha wolves. Dogs are no exceptions. They do this too. But we can change this simply by teaching our dogs obedient commands. Socialization is important to our dogs. It last from 3 to 20 weeks and during these important weeks we can socialize dogs to humans, other dogs and even different species. Puppies learn at incredible speeds and will learn a great deal at this time in their lives. Dogs are learning throughout their lives even when we are a part of it or not.

I think maybe others have missed the fact that the poster said "all breeds", not all dogs.In a perfect world, all breeds of dogs would make wonderful pets, if they were raised and trained properly. Even the working breeds. In a perfect world people would do their research and only purchase the breed that best fits with their lifestyle, so instinct would not be an issue.The poster did not mention dogs with genetic defects, or temperament issues. Those things are not in the breed standards.Wouldn't a perfect world be great?

There are rare instances where a dog is not mentally stable. They could have been inbred and inbred and inbred resulting is a small gene pool and a mentally unstable dog.Most dogs it depends on bloodlines what that breed was suppose to do. If you properly train a dog it will never turn on you. If it does YOU the owner have missed something important in training a dog. It is very hard to understand everything about a dog and pack structure. Its not only training, You have to be pack leader. If you ain't then it doesn't matter how trained a highly active dog is. If you dont meet his needs by walking to drain energy the trained dog is going to look at him self as leader because you are not providing him with what he needs.Thus the dog decides that he should be boss of you and only listen when he wants not the 100% you want. Or when he gets something good he wants like food rewards. It depends on a single dog and how willing its owner is to be pack leader along with teaching it the boundaries.

I would add "in the right hands". Any breed can make a wonderful pet - for the right person and the right situation. Some would require more work and management than others, though to get them and maintain them to that point.This does NOT mean all DOGS can become wonderful pets. Some are either defective to begin with, or are too badly damaged.

i just recently recevied a Pharoah Hound whos is a well behaved puppy, and is being socialized but his natural instinct as a hound is to go after small rodents, cats etc. he is starting to pick up on this but he cant help it, its in his blood.but he is very sweet with other dogs including my full grown rottie.he isnt dominant but he doesnt give in to everything i want. for example he will get off the couch if i tell him too. he doesnt growl at me for any reason,not even for food. such a gentlman.he even takes my annoying sister and brother teasing and poking!! u know little children play with the dogs by hugging them, pulling there ears a bit, pretending the tail is a jump rope...FACEPALM SLAPif i start giving treats he steals the bag and runs off with it.....only if its beef flavored....cunning son of a bitchbecause he really is one!T.T i view this as a sign of intellegence

A breed originally created to do some type of work, bred for the pet market is highly unlikely to have the correct temperament, spirit & working abilities which should be typical of the breed.*Genetics*, first & foremost. If a dog has a soft tone downed or weak temperament, then it would not be suited to someone whose purpose in having a dog was its ability to work. The behavior of a weak nerved dog would always be unpredictable & in a heighten state of fearful anxiety it could bite.A dog which had been professionally trained to work as a protection dog, would have a rock solid temperament, strong nerves, would never be arbitrarily aggressive & it's behavior would always be under the control of its handler/owner.