[Assessment of a Bullterrier bloodline in the temperament test of Lower Saxony--comparison with six dog breeds affected by breed specific legislation and a control group of Golden Retrievers].

Abstract

The expertise on the interpretation of section 11b TierSchG implies a hypertrophy of aggressive behaviour in some bloodlines of Bullterriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, and Pitbull type dogs. This study aimed at finding out whether a hypertrophy of aggressive behaviour occurred in a certain Bullterrier bloodline. Dogs of this line were tested according to the guidelines of the Dangerous Animals Act of Lower Saxony, Germany (GefTVO) enacted on July 5th 2000. The Bullterriers' test results towards humans and environment were compared to those of 415 dogs affected by the legislation (Mittmann, 2002) and those of 70 Golden Retrievers (Johann, 2004) in order to detect possible differences in the occurrence of inadequate or disturbed aggressive behaviour. Of 38 Bullterriers, ten showed no aggressive behaviour towards humans and the environment. 27 dogs displayed visual or acoustic threats at most. Only one dog reacted by "biting or attacking with preceding threatening behaviour". Thus, according to the test guidelines, 37 dogs (97.37%) reacted appropriately in all test situations. Only one dog (2.63%) displayed inadequate agressive behaviour. No indication for inadequate or disturbed aggressive behaviour in this Bullterrier bloodline was found. Furthermore, no significant differences were found when comparing Bullterriers and dogs of the two others studies concerning inadequate or disturbed aggressive towards humans and the environment. On the contrary, throughout the entire study the broad majority of dogs proved to possess excellent social skills as well as the ability to communicate competently and to solve conflicts appropriately.