I apologize for the delayed response. Thank you for your replies and opinions. First I am going to tell you about how he acts on walks, his reaction to strangers, and then I am going to tell you about the bite incidients in detail, and then I will reply to the individual posts. I also filled out a form explaining Magnum's behavior to a behaviorist.
I will also say, NO, a collar grab is not his only trigger. Being touched in any way when he does not want to be touched, is his trigger. He wants to be touched, or grabbed on his own terms. A collar grab is just his most common trigger - what most
commonly causes the bites.
First: We take Magnum and Bella on walks at 10pm at night. We live in a neighborhood (we do have a big backyard that the dogs are able to play in all day, but we go for walks at night, when we are the only ones out). When Magnum goes on walks alone, he slinks along, tail between his legs, freaks at every sound or movement - rushes to the end of the leash away from the sound/movement and takes a very long time to recover even slightly (as much as he is going to recover, anyway, since he acts so scared from the beginning). When he goes on walks with Bella, he acts
much more confident - night and day. He prances along with his tail held high, rushes towards smells, etc.
His reaction to strangers: When he was acting this way as a pup I thought I could solve it with socialization, so I asked random people to give him tons of treats when they met him. When doing this, Magnum would stay at a distance and then eventually slowly slink up to them, at as far away of a distance as possible, reach his neck out and gobble up the treats, and then back away. I continued doing this, but as he got older he started putting his hackles up and growling at people as well - so I stopped. When he met my roomates he put his hackles up, growled, and paced around them.
Bite incidents:
His first bite happened at 8 weeks old - this last summer. My ex-boyfriend accidentally let him slip out the door at our apartment, and our neighbor was outside. She walked up to him nicely, talking to him, and he went up to her (being wary), when she picked him up, he panicked, yelped, and grabbed onto her arm. He made her arm bleed.
The second bite happened when my ex-boyfriend attempted to carry him to his puddle of pee on the carpet (just to show him why he was being told no, and why he was being taken outside). As soon as Magnum saw his pee, he started fighting in my exboyfriend's arms and bit him. That was a very common reason for his bites as a puppy. As soon as he saw he did something wrong, and he was being told no and was being held onto in some way, he would panic and bite. If he was not being held onto, he would just wiggle and wiggle and wiggle and wag his tail.
When I was spending the night with a friend I had let Magnum outside to go potty. Although I had looked over the yard and it was completely fenced and secure, I did not notice a hole that was dug under the fence because it was covered by bushes. I noticed Magnum rustling around over there and called him and he didn't come. I went over there, noticed the hole, and grabbed his collar. He turned around and in a frenzy, bit me.
When my 40 year old roomate was playing with him outside the other day, she turned away from him and he jumped up and bit her arm. He didn't draw blood, but he ripped her sweater.
His most recent bite - he was digging a hole in the yard and would not call of of it. I went up and grabbed his collar and he turned around and bit my hand, and my hand bled quite a bit.
On to the replies.
Do you live rurally, and is he happy at home, or do you live somewhere where you must take him out and around people every day?
I do live in a neighborhood, I have a big backyard. He is very happy at home. I do not need to take him out around people every day.
I am so sorry to hear about your loss, crazedACD
((((HUGS))))
I don't have much advice, but since the collar is a trigger can you replace it with a harness in the meantime? That won't fix him, but it may make him a little safer for the people in his household at least for now.
Yes I can. But I strongly believe. No, I know, that if the harness is grabbed, he will bite because of thart as well.
I like my dogs to be bombproof, regardless of breed. I would euthanize any dog that I couldn't trust or predict in 100% of situation. Bottom line. Too many good dogs out there that could make you much happier.
It sucks, it hurts, I know, but it's the right thing to do.
I, too, like my dogs to be bombproof. Especially my pit bulls, because they were bred to be bombproof with people. That is who they are supposed to be, and what any good breeder strives for.
I do not think you can predit a dog 100% of the time in any situation, and I do not think "many dogs" could make me happier. Magnum makes me very happy.
But doing it simply because she's a Pit Bull and there's a stigma out there? Pfffft LOLOLOLOLOLOL Yeah, sorry, but I really don't give a flying **** about what society thinks. The "Pit Bull image" would play NO part in it.
You see, I used to think like that. The "I don't give a F*** what people think about my dog or my breed, they can **** themselves," but you shouldn't think like that, if you truly want to fix the problem with BSL and BSD in the world today.
would probably do some marker training with on/off the furniture. Make it a fun game vs a tense situation. You could probably also make grabbing his collar a positive association with training, but if you move too fast through the training you could get bit-a good trainer should be able to work with you on that.
Can you please explain marker training?
I'm a full time RVer, I'd just move
I find that so sad
You have no remorse for the multiple pit bulls affected in that area or their owners?
Have you tried putting a drag line on him (a Shoer leash, about four feet or so that you can grab onto when you need to ) instead of grabbing for his collar? I grab buddy's collar countless times every day and give it a little tug, which is I existent followed by a yummy treat of cut up string cheese and the command to sit ... Now, instead of fighting or thinking he has to fight, he sits and waits for his treat .
I don't like the first idea because that sounds like avoiding the issue rather than fixing it. Maybe I'm wrong here - but I want to FIX the problem, not avoid it. I really like the second idea though
And I could write a ****ing novel about the level of irresponsibility of someone keeping a biting APBT or mix around. I own one and I take it personally. This breed's reputation is damaged possibly beyond repair and I will never be ok with someone jeopardizing my stable, loving, temperamentally sound AST's life (or my right to own him) by keeping a man biter around.
Until you own and love a breed vilified by the public you won't understand where I'm coming from.
Do understand this is why I am having such a hard time with this.
But I do like the idea of consulting a professional and trying to fix the issue, before jumping to euthanizing him.
It depends on the breed. I personally hold APBTs to a much higher standard than most breeds, because APBTs are the only breed out there intended to have such an enormous degree of bite inhibition toward people as a breed trait. Considering the fact that the majority of APBTs will not lay tooth on a person, even if the dog is in severe pain, or redirect on a person who breaks their hold during a fight -- traits so deeply ingrained in the breed that even show dogs I've owned who haven't had a pit dog in their pedigree for many generations have been predictable in those situations -- then yes, fear-aggression very much defines "unstable" in this breed.
I, too, have the same expectations of the breed.
I think I covered everything. If I missed something, let me know.