If I Got a Pit Bull..

[Squidbert]

Oh.. well.. see.. I'm a moron! There's no pit rescues here.. And at the shelters there are VERY rarely and pits.. Maybe this is not such a good idea.. I probably wouldn't be able to get my dogs to meet them before hand.. and that could be disasterous.. sigh.. pout! One of the few reasons I dislike this province.. harumph!

 

[misticaleclipse]

Really? not even on petfinder? there are so many in ontario...

 

[Honey_Bear]

I guess I am wondering why you would want to chance getting a possible dog aggresive dog when you already have 2 dogs

Pits don't have a nature to be mean. No dog does. It's based on the way it is brought up. Most people hate Pits and rotweilers because of what they think they know about dogs. LacyGirl has a SWEET rotweiler and Dulce has really sweet pits. Dulce and PitLover can give you more info.

 

[Zoom]

It's in a PitBull's nature to be dog aggressive. It just is. It's thoughts like this, that you can "nurture" out genetics that is causing issues with BSL and the like, because people won't accept responsibility for thier dog's behaviors.

 

[pitbulliest]

I believe that I read somewhere that when Pits reach full maturity, around 3 or 4 years old, their temperment changes, and can become "crazy". It sounds weird, but it's true. They've been known to have a complete personality change at that age, and become even MORE agressive than the norm.

Be careful of adopting one 3 years and up.

What that means is that the dog is reaching maturity at that age, and DA is usually either present or not present at that time...doesn't mean that if the dog doesn't present DA at maturity that it won't become dog aggressive later on in its life time..but it is LESS likely...

I myself would adopt a full grown dog...only because its behavior, although not necessarily, is someone set at that time..when you get a pup, its hard to know what to expect..especially from a shelter where the background of the dog is usually limited...just keep in mind that the dogs need to be supervised when together at all times...

there's a saying that you should never trust a pit bull NOT to fight...although I can see why people say that, I always question why they would direct that at a dog that has grown up with dogs...for example..I have a pit bull..and a Chihuahua..the chihuahua is CLEARLY the dominant dog...the pit bull is afraid..well not afraid but RESPECTS the smaller dog...is it fair and valid to say that I should never trust my pit around my chihuahua?

I'm curious what people have to say about this...I used to keep the two apart when I left..but noticed that my pit bull used to get separation anxiety...afterwards, I left them alone...for a short period of time...came home to find them both sleeping peacefully...no messes EVER after that...I never leave toys out before I leave..never leave food out..

What do you guys think? Especially some of the pit bull people here...is this ok or am I being irresponsible even after they now know each other for years?

 

[elegy]

What do you guys think? Especially some of the pit bull people here...is this ok or am I being irresponsible even after they now know each other for years?

i would never ever ever leave a pit bull and a chihuahua alone together. all it would take was two seconds of insanity for whatever reason and you'd be minus one chihuahua. the risk would not be worth it to me.

 

[casablanca1]

I do not at all agree with your post. Staffies have the ability to be just as aggressive as an APBT. I don't care HOW legit the breeder is. It's in their blood..so to say a Staffie is less likely to be DA as an APBT, is silly. You see them behving at shows because they are TRAINED to do so. Do you see them playing with other dogs there? No. It's a show, and they take it seriously. Friendly, yes..never DA, no.

I didn't say American Staffordshire Terriers were never aggressive or that American Pit Bull Terriers are always aggressive. I was talking about trying to tip the odds in favor of getting a dog who's not dog-aggressive from a dog type that is, typically, dog-aggressive.

1) The odds of getting a dog-aggressive individual of one of the pit bull types are lower if you go to a breeder whose intent is to produce dogs for the breed ring as opposed to going to a shelter, where the majority of dogs were either the result of breeding for dog fighting or for image.

2) The AKC's older, more conservative standards means that a decent AKC breeder of American Staffordshire Terriers is less likely to produce a dog-aggressive puppy than, say, a decent UKC breeder of APBTs. The UKC has always been more of a working registry than the AKC; this is not such a great thing if what you want is a dog which has departed from its historical behaviors such as attacking and killing other dogs.

Again, I'm not saying that all UKC APBTs are dog-aggressive, just that I think that the greatest chance of getting a non-aggressive pit bull lies with sticking to show-line AKC AmStaffs.