Thanks Dawn, I just wondered when you stated the dog was HEALTHY if you knew what tests they had had done or if any had been recommended to ensure it was not a medical problem, whether thyroid, brain tumour whatever, or even if they had been advised to castrate. It seems to me that because the dog was unpredictable it could well have been an underlying medical condition.

Was there any mention of contacting the breeder to see if any litter mates had problems - ok if a bad breeder this may not have been possible but it seems to me this programme had a huge chance to educate and once again failed to grasp it.

I believe they offer MUCH more follow up help than we see Het.

I dont know about the dogs breeder, but they said they spoke to AB breeders and clubs and trainers and rescues about the dog and his problems.
Dawn.

I can only comment from what I seen of the dog, which I guess was everything after the first five mins, but YES I would have taken him on given what I seen, but how much they show you is debatable,
I have in the past taken dogs similar to this from Bull Mastiff rescue, two dogs with major problems, Keiser who sadly died last year at the age of 8 years came to me at 18 months old,
also sasha who is still alive and kicking and was rehomed to my best friend so I can have ongoing contact with the dog, both have lead happy lifes, but would have been pts otherwise,
every dog is different though, some cant be turned some can, but at a year old, I would have thought he was worth a go if the right handler had been avalable,

But no medical experts or castration in case it was a hormone inbalance.

I wondered about this,,,,my question being did any of them come and see the dog?

I get calls all the time from novice owners, some say the dog is aggressive, some say not, when I see the dog I often find the aggressive dog is clearly not, but the owner does not know what is normal for the breed, rottys are talkers, this is often mistaken for aggression, others who say there dog is not aggressive can turn out to be satan, but they have witheld the dog from any point where the dog can do anything, so I personaly wouldnt take the word of someone on the phone,,, I would like to see the dog in the fleash so to speak,

but it really all comes down to the breeder,,,,the poor woman and her kids must have been gutted, how do some breeders sleep at night,

Yep, been there! I also refused to take the word of "pet" owners on a few occasions, and only once was I proved correct. In seven years of labrador rescuse, I saw some extremely aggressive and nasty dogs, whom I gave the benefit of the doubt to. In time they showed their true colours and their unpredictability came out and on one occasion causing a serious stomach injury to my boss.
I doubted the owners of these dogs thinking they were unsuitable owners, no training etc... but it was in fact the dog, some are born bad as much as we like to say its a bad owner, some dogs are born nasty, period.

Can I ask did they mention how the dog behaved round the kids,
did it bully them also? as said I did miss the start of the program and I think this is where they give you the dogs background,

Yep, it all seemed a little too Victoria Stillwell to me
They show Mick Martin at the start of the programmes saying to the camera "I've never met a dog I couldn't train" or words to that effect, so why on earth didn't they give him the dog to train...I can't help feeling yet another dog has been put to sleep for all the wrong reasons...why wasn't castration tried.

I think this programme is getting worse. You hardly see any of the training these days.. just recaps of the bad things the dog used to do. They have the dog jump over a few hurdles and hey presto they never have any bother with it again.