Tamaskan Aggression?

[Sfernan1]

Hi! It;s me again, with more questions. We are getting close to making our decision. I would like to know what experience everyone has with biting and aggression, if any.
We are going to have a little niece/nephew soon, so our dog should be able to put up with toddlers hugging, pulling on tail, ears, etc.
Furthermore, my parents, who have two pugs, will be pet sitting when we travel. One of the pugs is aloof to other dogs, while the other one is a funny little guy who likes nothing more than cuddles and humping. Yes, humping. He cannot get enough of it, he is neutered, but he humps his brother every night, even when we separate them, he still humps in the air!
I love my two little pug siblings, and the though of my Tam fighting with the scares me- the size difference is quite marked!
Tolerance for annoying babies, pugs is a must, and same for over affectionate strangers (I am one myself, after all).
How are your Tams in situations such as these?

[AZDehlin]

My cousin has two 6 month old babies and my 7 month old tamaskan does great with them. Very gentle with them even when they take his toys out of his mouth... As for other dogs he is great with dogs he sees all the time, with strange dogs he is a bit too boisterous and could hurt a small dog.

[Tuskietoes]

I really think that the key for a balanced and well mannered dog is socialise him early and socialise him a lot. Dogs will be dogs and more often than not sort themselves out in social situations. But regardless of breed they can be shy, dominant, playful or aloof and when they interact with each other they pretty much figure our the hierarchy themselves.

I think you'll find that if you socialise your pup with as many dogs as you can right from the start, you should be fine. As for the size difference? I personally find the smaller dogs to be the bossiest/feistiest in the playground And don't forget that your parents pugs have teeth too and I'm sure they'll look after themselves if play got a bit too rough for them.

Generally speaking, as a breed Tamaskans are very social dogs and aren't naturally aggressive... but they are big dogs and I really can't emphasise enough the need to socialise them young and socialise them often. This of course applies to all dogs regardless of size or breed. I guess there is a responsibility though of owners of large dogs like Tamaskans to make sure that they do this right from the start. With their size and wolf-like appearance they often attract attention and it's up to us to make sure that they are friendly and confident dogs and that each one is a real ambassador for Tamaskans all over the world. Hope this helps

[claireyclaire]

As for the size difference? I personally find the smaller dogs to be the bossiest/feistiest in the playground And don't forget that your parents pugs have teeth too and I'm sure they'll look after themselves if play got a bit too rough for them.

Totally agree with this, last week on a husky walk I watched my friends huge, gorgeous, soft mal bend his head to say hello to a jack Russell, who promptly took a chunk out of the mals nose. Poor baby didn't know what had happened he just stood there with blood dripping off his muzzle

[JulieSmith]

Saga is great with kids and dogs of all sizes, our small terrier is the boss

If you socialise and teach good manners on meeting people and dogs aggression is not a problem, the main problem while the Tam is young is being too bouncy and hurting by accident, but if your Tam has met the pugs while still a small puppy they will be boss

[Jen]

Well I have a two year old female Tamaskan and two children of three and six months and I must say Sasha has always been very sweet with them both and quite protective.The is some funny photographic evidence of this at the end of Sashas thread on the picture section!

The only down side is they are very mad when youngsters and they can easily bowl a child over if they are running around playing and dont see them and this has happened a few times here

[Sfernan1]

Thank you everyone! You are all so lucky to be owned by such lovely pets... The decision discussions continue on

[Sylvaen]

[TerriHolt]

that is ADORABLE! love giggling tots

[Lynwae]

This video makes me happy
Thanks!

[Booma]

What a stack in the second video!! Can't believe that kid didn't start bawling.

[Sfernan1]

I saw those online too! Thanks for posting. Sampo's family is a member of the forum? Such a good looking boy. I showed this to my family because they saw photos of Tamaskans and were horrified: "That's a wolf!!!!!! Can;t you get a Labrador?" They changed their minds after this video. It helps to get everyone's opinion on this to be sure this kind of tolerance is the norm, not the exception.

[Sfernan1]

Baby's thoughts "I shall stab you with my booooook!"
Sampo's thoughts "A-ha..."
Baby's thoughts " I shall conquer you with this vacuum cleeeeeeener head"
Sampo's thoughts "I shall leeeeeek you!"

[AngieH]

Soooooo cute!

[TParham86]

Very cute!!

[Luna]

Love this!!

[AZDehlin]

So funny this is how my Zephyr is around children

[jmarino82]

My tam is excellent with my two year old(see Photo thread a boy and his dog), out cat and other dogs. As with all dogs it is important to socialize properly to avoid fear issues or inappropriate behaviors that aren't bad but are solely out of ignorance.

Just a note no matter how good the dog is or how much you trust it never leave a young child alone with an animal. The child can hurt the animal accidently and then get get hurt when the animal defends itself.

[Booma]

My tam is excellent with my two year old(see Photo thread a boy and his dog), out cat and other dogs. As with all dogs it is important to socialize properly to avoid fear issues or inappropriate behaviors that aren't bad but are solely out of ignorance.

Just a note no matter how good the dog is or how much you trust it never leave a young child alone with an animal. The child can hurt the animal accidently and then get get hurt when the animal defends itself.

I was waiting for someone to say this. I wasn't sure how to word it without offending anyone :p

[jmarino82]

My tam is excellent with my two year old(see Photo thread a boy and his dog), out cat and other dogs. As with all dogs it is important to socialize properly to avoid fear issues or inappropriate behaviors that aren't bad but are solely out of ignorance.

Just a note no matter how good the dog is or how much you trust it never leave a young child alone with an animal. The child can hurt the animal accidently and then get get hurt when the animal defends itself.

I was waiting for someone to say this. I wasn't sure how to word it without offending anyone :p

It's a matter of personal safety. My husband is a former animal cop and has horror stories. I'd rather ruffle someone's feathers than have a child scarred for life. My son knows to ask for kitty time or Luna and I use child gates to seperate them if I can't be there to supervise. I love my dog but I love my child more.

[Booma]

I've talked to people before who just say "I trust my dog, he/she wouldn't hurt my baby" and they get really mad when you say that you should always be careful anyway.

[jmarino82]

I've talked to people before who just say "I trust my dog, he/she wouldn't hurt my baby" and they get really mad when you say that you should always be careful anyway.

Those same people shoot their dogs then junior yanks is ear so hard it really hurts and the dog snaps to make the pain stop and rips a whole in jr's cheek..
Or when kitty scratches when her tail is pulled and scratches them up kitty gets kicked down the stairs or worse. I don't trust any animal completely. Not risking my child. An ounce of prevention...

[TerriHolt]

my GSD i could have trust with anything... i knew i could trust her 100% because she was so soft and loved every single family member, even adopted stray cats while i was in another room... but... what i didn't trust was illnesses... the only thing that would make her bite would have been something to make her not her self like a brain tumor or some other really serious illness... even then i don't think she would have but there was no guarantee so even tho i did trust her more than i trusted most humans, i still never left her alone because there was always that small possibility of serious illness and how would i have know? so yes i can say i trusted my dog 200% but i still never left her with the kids (not that she left my side anyway, where ever i went in the house she followed)...

[melanie]

I agree very much from what was said,I had 3 dogs years ago,before I had my 3 children.
I had a German Shepard,a Doberman and a Samoyed.All 3 were males.As the dogs reached 2yrs
I then had my first son.I never pushed them away,and they got on really well with our baby.
Couple years later,had twins,bous as well.All dogs lived a long happy life with the 3 children.

[Blustag]

I have had dogs all my life not just one but several at any one time, raised kids etc and even though I always trusted my dogs I would NEVER leave a baby or small child in a room with a dog for even a minute.

Off topic... Pet Hate... I hate to see people out walking their dogs with their lead attached to a pram handle! I have seen terrible
accidents from people doing just that so will usually go over and have a quiet word with them.

[blufawn]

I also never left my son alone with any of my dogs, although I trust them, accidents still happen, such as the time one of my mums Malamutes tried to give my son her paw, but instead punched him in the nose and gave him a nosebleed.
Another time my son was knocked over by a dog in the field so my Deerhound in his protective way decided that he would help my son by lying on top of him and stopping any of the dogs getting near, of course the poor lad was being smothered and he couldnt get up, but its the thought that counts.
I suppose I have more of this to look forward to with the next one lol

[JulieSmith]

I also never left my son alone with any of my dogs, although I trust them, accidents still happen, such as the time one of my mums Malamutes tried to give my son her paw, but instead punched him in the nose and gave him a nosebleed.
Another time my son was knocked over by a dog in the field so my Deerhound in his protective way decided that he would help my son by lying on top of him and stopping any of the dogs getting near, of course the poor lad was being smothered and he couldnt get up, but its the thought that counts.
I suppose I have more of this to look forward to with the next one lol

yes, but no one else's dog will get near your children.

[Tiantai]

I also never left my son alone with any of my dogs, although I trust them, accidents still happen, such as the time one of my mums Malamutes tried to give my son her paw, but instead punched him in the nose and gave him a nosebleed.
Another time my son was knocked over by a dog in the field so my Deerhound in his protective way decided that he would help my son by lying on top of him and stopping any of the dogs getting near, of course the poor lad was being smothered and he couldnt get up, but its the thought that counts.
I suppose I have more of this to look forward to with the next one lol

Well we all know the old saying, "never leave children alone with dogs no matter how big or tiny they are or how friendly they can get"
Sometimes I think children with a fear towards dogs (something that I lack due to growing up with dogs of all shapes and sizes) have an advantage over those who lack those fear as they're instinct to stay away from them reduces their chances of getting caught in a sudden "aggression" although I have been trying very hard to help one of my little cousins to overcome that fear while my Buddy was alive. I've seen him freak over a tiny toothless chihuahua pup.

I have never owned a Tamaskan so I don't know ANY Tamaskans who have shown such aggressions but I'm sure you know very well that ANY DOG can accidentally hurt a kid without realizing it. I remember Guchi a Songshi Chuan (Chow) almost crashing me into a cactus during one of my visits to my granduncle's house. He was just excited but the fact that he pushed me near the pot showed how reckless he could be.

Off topic... Pet Hate... I hate to see people out walking their dogs with their lead attached to a pram handle! I have seen terrible accidents from people doing just that so will usually go over and have a quiet word with them.

I totally agree, whenever I see that I just don't know what to tell the owners. One mother told me to "mind your own ******* business" when I tried to speak to her about the dangers of what she was doing.

[derrick]

I really think that the key for a balanced and well mannered dog is socialise him early and socialise him a lot. Dogs will be dogs and more often than not sort themselves out in social situations. But regardless of breed they can be shy, dominant, playful or aloof and when they interact with each other they pretty much figure our the hierarchy themselves.

I think you'll find that if you socialise your pup with as many dogs as you can right from the start, you should be fine. As for the size difference? I personally find the smaller dogs to be the bossiest/feistiest in the playground And don't forget that your parents pugs have teeth too and I'm sure they'll look after themselves if play got a bit too rough for them.

Generally speaking, as a breed Tamaskans are very social dogs and aren't naturally aggressive... but they are big dogs and I really can't emphasise enough the need to socialise them young and socialise them often. This of course applies to all dogs regardless of size or breed. I guess there is a responsibility though of owners of large dogs like Tamaskans to make sure that they do this right from the start. With their size and wolf-like appearance they often attract attention and it's up to us to make sure that they are friendly and confident dogs and that each one is a real ambassador for Tamaskans all over the world. Hope this helps

I agree and have a first hand account of a Tamaskan owned by a friend of mine. He didn't socialize him much due to laziness it seems. The tamaskan does just fine with my dog who was 2 when the 8week old came to live with us. We never saw an oz of aggression and they played so well.

fast forward a few months and I had heard 2nd hand stories of my friends now 100# tamaskan being aggressive with other dogs. He was so afraid of his dogs potential for violence, he socialized him even less.. Now he's attempted to murder other dogs, and my new resuce who was a bundle of fun and energy nearly got ripped in half by the beast and even after recovering from his injuries hides in my closet for most of the day. I doubt he'll ever be the same..

please please please if you'd like to be a tamaskan owner, follow the advice of all these other owners and socialize and do it often. Quit your job and just concentrate on socializing. These are entertaining, loving animals for a majority of their lives, but they are quick to flip the switch and turn into absolute monsters.. For the love of god, socialize these animals..

[Jadzia1313]

please please please if you'd like to be a tamaskan owner, follow the advice of all these other owners and socialize and do it often. Quit your job and just concentrate on socializing. These are entertaining, loving animals for a majority of their lives, but they are quick to flip the switch and turn into absolute monsters.. For the love of god, socialize these animals..

Socialization and training is key in raising any dog of any breed. I wouldn't go so far as saying Tam owners need to quit their jobs and just concentrate on socializing. There is a good balance when socializing properly and watching your dog's body language in the process. I have a very lovely Tamaskan Dog and two GSD/Siberian Husky/Alaskan Malamute mixes. During the busy season, I work about 11 hours a day (not counting the commute. I didn't quit my job or even go part-time status when any of my three dogs came to me, but they are all three good with other dogs, cats, and kids. I agree that no one should ever leave a any dog unattended with a baby, but my Tamaskans supervised time with my baby is an amazing bond to witness. Socialization from an early age with constant positive reinforcement is very important, and this should start before the puppies even leave their breeder's home.