Seeing more aggressive labs...........rant!

I was told by a Police Service Officer that labs have hit the high in aggressive behaviors.. Some thing like 3rd from the top.. What's gotten into people? As well I have seen tones of people that just breed to breed..:yikes: How do we stop it?

So very true. Living in a country where they have breed specific legislation and owning breeds that can be classed as dangerous everyday is a potential minefield.

Absolutely stupid when my 'dangerous' dogs have never caused any trouble but have been attacked plenty of times by so called safe breeds such as labs.

I only hope I'll live to see an end to breed specific legislation in my lifetime.

Exactly. They rank right up there with "pit bulls" for the bybs breed of choice.

I know it might be wrong, but there's a saying at my clinic to "Never trust a Lab." Now, that's not saying we hate Labs or anything of the sort, but it was put on the board after 2 new techs just assumed the Labs that were in their respective exam rooms were family-friendly playmates and both were bitten. I was bitten by a black Lab at the clinic for doing nothing more than entering the room and resting my hand/arm on the table.

I've also been bitten by a Lab while out jogging down a street over from my street. It took almost 30 stitches to close that wound up.

That's why one will never hear me say that I hate a particular breed. While we all have breeds we may personally like and/or dislike, I am not one that will make that decision based on the actions of a few bad dogs and the actions of a few more rude dogs that just had to structure or rules in their lives.

There are no bad breeds, just bad dogs (individual dogs).

I've seen a lot of both labs and goldens with aggression issues. We refer to them as "Mock-Labs" and Mock-Goldens". The majority of them with issues we've seen in this area have a very distinct look/behavior to them. Many are longer and leaner than the 'typical' retriever, with narrow, pointy heads, high pitched barks, and off-the-wall energy. And I'm not refering to field-bred variations of the breeds; this is something totally different. I'm sure there are some beautiful looking examples of the breeds that also have those aggression issues, but it does seem most of them have that look. It is really scary how quickly a breed can mutate from their original type to something so far removed from it.

Boston, your right, I have seen Red long and lean Goldens.. Attitudes from well you know where..Actually they looked like Irish Setters from afar.. Now again I have yet to see an Irish Setter with an over aggressive attitude but geeze this getting out of hand..

Having worked in a shelter so long, I'd seen my share of aggressive labs. Labs and jack russels are by far the most aggressive breeds in this area.

I went to the dog park today. Walked down in to the "pit" (its a big open field. its a old gravel pit, so hence the word pit) and there was 6 labs of all colours and 5 golden rets. then Blaze and I broke up the ret. convention since he obvously is not one of them, although he retrives the ball much better then all of them did. it was funn since I thought about this thread as I was walking in to there. but luckily all were happy go lucky and playful, like they should be. hen again they do have good owners who teach manners and socialize them.

It's odd that you should say that Miakoda, because our daycare says the same thing. The owner says that when she opened 5 years ago, labs and goldens were the easiest dogs to handle. Now both have had a huge popularity surge here, and we're seeing more and more of them showing both DA and HA.
I had one grab hold of another dog (pit mix) a few weeks ago. Mom was called to come get it and told that he was not welcome back. According to mom. "Oh, that dog must have started it. I picked a lab because they aren't aggressive!" Pity the poor daycare she takes it to next.