The World's Most Aggressive Dog Breeds

But, they are so cute and small :)

Please don't copy the text word-for-word from the linked article, except in the quote box. Edited.

What's wrong with you, woman? Is this your hobby to that stuff? Do you have life? Or something smarter to do???? I really don't understand that kind of people! All i have to say is GET A LIFE!

This is my job, Bugy.

He may have mistaken you for a lesser mortal, MissC.

Surprise surprise, pit bulls are NOT mentioned.

There is an error in the title.

Please put an apostrophe in the word, "Worlds". Worlds is not possessive. World's is.

Glad they pointed out that some of the most aggressive dogs are the little pipsqueak tiny ones. One reason why I think chihuahuas are cute, but I would never own one.
Also my husband's grandfather used to have a Llasa Apso that would growl and bite people for absolutely no reason AND it would pee on everything.
That's not to say big dogs aren't aggressive though. Husband's sister & husband lives in his parents old house and the people next door have 2 german shepards, 1 obviously wasn't socialized as it should've been b/c it bit the living crap out of her husband when he got too close to the fence.
Always hear that Chows are the most aggressive dogs though.

Dogs are pack animals and will respect a leader. Consistently show any dog you are the *boss, and all is well.

*Boss. Not bully. Dogs don't respect bullies.

I was bitten on my face by a chow/husky mix when I was 7. To this day I am afraid of any dog with a curled up tail. Don't ever take for granted that any dog will be friendly

I would like to thank you for posting this. Having been a part of animal rescue my entire life, I am sad to say that animal education happens far too infrequently and is often inaccurate.

I was, though, slightly disappointed that American Staffordshires (more commonly known as Pit Bulls) were not included in the “Unshakeable Bad Dog Image” list. Media frenzies like the Michael Vick case and many others create a terrible, impenetrable image for these dogs every day. People should be aware that they are incredibly playful, sweet, and intelligent dogs who love their family and love children. They are a beautiful breed and are vastly underappreciated.

@rampatmonkey - You are certainly right that you cannot take the friendliness of any other dog for granted. However, this is countered by making sure not to approach stranger dogs without first checking with the owner or, if they are alone (as a stray), going through a careful process of approach. I am sorry that you were bit - I, too, was bit twice as a child. The circumstances are possibly or probably very different from yours, but I realized that the bite of one dog is not the bite of all dogs. I hope that you have found ways around your fear as life is truly, truly brightened by these wonderful animals.

In my 47 years I've had many many different breeds of dogs. My parents use to raise and show chows, and yes, they are VERY aggressive. You can't keep two of the same sex together. Now, I have a shepherd/lab mix, a korgi, a jack/rat terrier, a dachshund, and a pit bull....the pit is the biggest weenie in the world and the dachshund is a terrorist.

As someone who has worked as a vet tech for several years, my number one breed to muzzle is a Chow.
I am surprised German Shepherds are not listed, however...

Where are Shar-Peis on this list? My #2 "always muzzle" breed ... after the chows, of course. And Jindos are known for their aggression. Cocker Spaniels will bite first, ask questions later.

There are not bad dogs, only bad owners...same goes with kids.

Holy crap, that page reads like it was written by someone who cut and pasted it from about 100 different web pages. Why don't people provide any numbers to go with their so called facts on certain breeds. This reads like a bunch of anecdotal junk.

I am not here to defend any particular breed either. I have 2 50lb mixed breeds and a pug.

I rarely hear news stories about Chows killing or mauling people like our favorite kicking toy the Pitbull. If we are talking purely about non fatal bites I don't think there are any real accurate numbers since majority probably not reported.

My chow must be defective. Or maybe I have "raised' him to understand that he is not the alpha of the family.

@~April, I'm not surprised by your pack's dynamics. I've met very few dachshunds who weren't little terrorists with voices and attitudes roughly 10x their actual size. I've also met very few pits who weren't total sweeties.

I grew up with Dobes, and the biggest problem we had with all but one (who we got as an adult, so did not raise him) was that they never grasped when they'd outgrown laps.

Friend's kid was attacked by a Rott Sunday. Owner controlled dog with a single word command! My dachsund is cranky, and my jack digs and nips...

I love dogs. However I don't fully agree with "There are no bad dogs, only bad owners" mantra. Dogs have temperament. To say that it is always the owner's fault all the time implies the dogs don't have personality or individuality. There are good dogs and bad dogs, in the same way that there are good owners (people) and bad owners. And big powerful dogs like pitbulls should be treated with more care, just because they have the potential to do more damage.

We used to have 2 dachshunds and they were some of the goofiest most active dogs. The male we had didn't get along w/ another male dog, but to people, he was the most loving little weenie.

And I agree, that it's not always the owners fault for a dogs personality/temperament.
For instance, a mixed breed dog that my brother adopted from a shelter (that was given to my husband's aunt when it was about 7 months old). It was a male dog, looked like it had mostly Border Collie in it and that sucker was mean as hell towards other dogs. Nice as can be to people. Sweet and gentle, but even though it was fixed as a puppy, and no matter how socialized it got with other dogs, it still had that extremely violent dominant alpha dog thing going with the other dogs on the property and almost killed a few of them.
I remember when they first got the dog (it was only a few months old, still a small cute puppy), they also had another older puppy (that's now ours). And from the very start, the male dog would attack it.

There are not bad dogs, only bad owners...same goes with kids.

What about kids with ADD? Other disorders that affect behaviour and interpersonal communication? Dogs can be born with a temperament that veers toward aggressive, no matter what you do. This is why many breeds are not only bred for their physical abilities, but for their manners.

As for the tendency of little dogs to be more aggressive, I think this is largely because, at least with breeds like dachshunds, their bites don't do enough damage for their poor temperaments to be isolated and bred out.

While I love pit bulls (never met a bad one yet) I know that just by virtue of their physical design they are incredibly dangerous. My biggest wish is that people stopped heaping all of their fears on the breed and focused on a more positive push to breed out aggressiveness, as was done with great danes.

And although I was attacked by a doberman in my youth, I still think they are majestic and beautiful dogs. I never learned to hate the breed because of one dog.

It's really annoying when people say that staffordshires aren't listed in the text. The reason they aren't is because they aren't agressive. I have a staffy and he is the most sweetest thing in the world, I've met people with staffys and their dog is just as sweet. They love people. Plus it's also the way that people raise them that makes them look like aggressive dogs.