You are ABSOLUTELY right. It is a must (even more so with certain breeds) to know your dog's temperament and to be attentive when socializing. It is much easier to say that a dog breed is aggressive and isolate him, than to work with him so that he is well behaved and friendly. You are also right when you say that dog aggression can creep in at any age, and PitBulls have a bad rep. What some people do not realize is that they are great pets and depending on the dog and the owner, can be great for families, including those with children.
Duke's breeders are well recognized and breed their dogs for temperament and size. His original owners had 3 small children in the house and had to give him up because raising a puppy and 3 young children proved to be more than they could handle. It was not because he was aggressive. We are lucky to have such a sweet dog but it is now our job to keep him well mannered and friendly. Currently he has many "play dates" with dogs of all sizes and has not had any issues.
Bottom line: If he were to start showing aggression, we obviously could not continue to socialize him. We also do not want him socialized with aggressive dogs.
Now back to my original post: If you are in staten island and would like to meet up with a responsible "parent" to see if our dogs get along, please feel free to message us. I will work on creating a Facebook group. Thank you Ames, that was a great idea.
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Great post!
