Can dogs just have bad blood?

[magoo's_mama]

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday whose dad bred great danes he only bred one litter. Apparently he did all the neccessary testing and research into the dogs lines etc.. His father is very educated and was not looking to just make a profit from the breeding. Both dogs were kept very much a part of the family and he spent alot of time training, showing and working with his dogs. The dogs had one litter and he sold all the pups but one.
The male dog out of the blue attacked the son (my friend) and he required many stitches. The dog was laying on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed and my friend approached him. It was very shocking to the family but figured it was fluke because he was startled by the son. Then some time later he bite the father and he also required some stitching up. They had the dog put down because "he had bad blood" "genetically aggressive". But then this is the part I find really bizarre, 7 out of 8 of the pups "turned aggressive" and had to be put down also. How could something like this happen? Is this at all common? The father almost had a nervous breakdown because he was devestated by the whole ordeal. My gut reaction was that putting the pups down was totally overacting. Am I wrong? Could the dad just have bad blood that he passed on to the pups also?

 

[Jan]

I believe that temperment can be passed down. though more often it is a result of the environment.

 

[magoo's_mama]

I believe that temperment can be passed down. though more often it is a result of the environment.

Does that mean it would be appropriate to put down all the pups?

 

[hanley]

I don't think they should be put down, I think they should be trained by someone that works with issues like these dogs have.Dogs are like people in a lot of ways, do you like everyone you meet or have contact with, No & neither do dogs. But we learn how to get along with others & these dogs need that same chance.LOL, Hanley

 

[boxer]

Temperament is certainly hereditary to a large extent - which is why breeders have to take that into account alongside conformation and health issues prior to breeding. But it's not everything either LOL - this is the old Nature versus Nurture argument. Yes, genetics play a part. And yes, environment/experiences play a part. Together you get the end result, and whether or not that means an aggressive dog is as much up to the person who raises and trains it as it is to genetic predisposition.

I'm bothered by the initial male dog being put down because of a couple of bites. Having "bad blood" isn't an explanation for why he bit, it's a poor excuse for human failure. It makes me wonder whether there was some other provocation, or even a health problem (brain tumour, for example). And health problems can be genetic. That, of course, is why testing to screen for genetically inheritable conditions is so important *If* that was the cause, then yes, his offspring could be affected and end up in the same state.

If it was simply a temperament issue, however, I would certainly not expect all of the puppies to end up the same. The "end product" is the result of both nature AND nurture and in different homes those pups would have been nurtured (ie. training, environment, experiences) in different ways. Hopefully at least *some* of them didn't go to novice homes... A good breeder should at least try to match the temperament of a puppy to it's new owners, and a novice owner shouldn't be given a challenging puppy. Any person who doesn't have the experience to be able to do that shouldn't be breeding, irrespective of how much 'research' they think they've done.

There's no way of knowing if there was a physiological cause now (autopsies might have shown that), but assuming no other common factors I would be inclined to at least suspect a genetic health defect. Obviously, that means the remaining pup should never be bred. I don't buy into the wishy-washy "bad blood" theory though. While it might, in a round-about and ultra vague way, cover genetically inheritable health conditions that can affect how a dog behaves, it also suggests removal of responsibility from people. When you own or breed a dog and it ends up aggressive, then I think you have a responsibility to find out why. Just blaming it on an indefinable concept like "bad blood" really doesn't cut it for me.

 

[Tricia77]

I agree with Boxer. To put down a litter of pups because we think, maybe, they have this mysterious bad blood is frsutrating. We could do several other things if that were the case - only sell to experienced owners - spay and nueter to prevent passing this on.
I for one feel that most dogs bite for a "reason" we may not think its a good reason but they do as they are wired to do.

Just my thoughts but after reading Culture Clash I really feel we need to be a litttle more knowledgeable about doggy thinking.