Fostering rescued pit bull with mysterious past

yoko

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Most of the stuff you have gotten offended over was people calling you out when you were making the situation worse instead of better.

The thread got 'heated' when you did.

I agree with the last post you should definitely have a professional help you with this. Rereading this thread you keep trying a bunch of different things and the one thing you NEED is consistency and it doesn't sound like you quite know how to use it.
 

milos_mommy

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It does sound like he's doing really well! One thing about allowing him on the bed, I don't see a problem with it at all if he's not guarding the furniture, but you should ask him to sit or something before he jumps up on the bed so he sees it as a reward, and try to teach him a command to jump off the furniture.

MOST (not all) of the advice you get on here will be pretty good advice from pretty experienced people.

Not most of it will be tactfully delivered ;)
 

j0equ1nn

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I wanted to check in to say Sam is doing great, and mention something about his food, and point out one other little thing...

So, we noticed that Sam really prefers fish to any other kind of food. I don't know if this is a typical pitbull thing, but in case it is, I would suggest anyone having similar problems to try this solution. We kept trying different kinds of foods, and I noticed his guarding used to be way worse when he didn't really like the food. When he likes it he just enjoys it and doesn't have to time think enough to start getting nervous. So he's currently on a diet of canned AvoDerm: salmon & wild rice stew formula, mixed with dry Premium Edge: skin & coat formula, salmon, potato and vegetable formula. Ever since he got switched to that, he has finished every single meal in one shot as soon as he gets the okay to start eating (meaning NO guarding whatsoever), and even comes into the kitchen wagging his tail upon being asked "hungry Sam?" I am thrilled about this, and I have a feeling Sam is pretty stoked about it too. I don't mean for this to be a dog food commercial, but I know a lot of people read this forum, so if by chance someone is having really similar experiences to what I described, with a young pitbull, I highly recommend trying this food.

The other thing I wanted to point out has to do with how to properly handle an aggressive dog during an incident. Luckily in my case it ended up not being all that important since Sam has learned to trust people, but I can see how it could be profoundly important for other people in other situations. As far as I can tell there really is a vast dearth of information of what a person is supposed to do in the event that they are genuinely afraid that their dog is going to bite them. Maybe it's a liability issue, maybe it's just that most of the time the dogs are put down and people are too sensitive about that to talk about it, but whatever the reason, it was REALLY hard getting a straightforward answer to the simple question "What do I do if my dog tries to bite me?" I recall from the last time I reviewed the forum that some people said to walk away while others said never to walk away because it would teach the dog he could dominate you ... which is pretty confusing. Another answer I got was to "have someone in the house restrain him." Obviously that does not help at all. Nevermind that you might be the only person in the house, but what exactly then is that other person supposed to do to restrain him? Like I said, thank God this ended up not being an issue for me, but I am concerned about other people having problems looking for a clear answer to the same question. I would say that in my experience, if the dog is not really going for it, that holding the muzzle and saying "No bite" firmly, but being careful not to hurt the dog, then giving him a time out, has seemed appropriate. But I would add that I don't think it would have worked if I were the type of person to scare more easily, I think part of what brought the situation under control was my confidence. But if you don't have that confidence, I really don't know what I would suggest. Also, it turned out that scarey as he might have tried to be, Sam was never actually going for an actual bite. If he was, trying to grab his muzzle could be very hazardous I expect. Just wanted to probe y'all about that and encourage someone to maybe put together some solid advice on the topic for future reference.

Much thanks to all the people on here who helped me out. The rest of you should probably move over to a hamster forum where you can't do as much damage. Anyway I hope what I've shared has been able to help others and give back to the community a little.
 

milos_mommy

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I'm always glad when posters like you who came here with a problem come back to update us :) I remember hearing about Sam and I'm glad to know he's doing better.

Grabbing a dog's muzzle is probably not the best idea, because 1) if he is really trying to bite, you're going to get very injured, and 2) for lots of dogs, especially rescue dogs, someone grabbing their muzzle is intimidating, and 99% of the time a dog tries to bite a full grown person, it's out of fear. Grabbing the muzzle is just going to make them more nervous and defensive and likely to bite.

For a dog who's just kind of being a brat, perhaps never learned proper social skills or is growling not because they're scared but because it's been reinforced, doing that might help, but it's going to take an extremely, extremely experienced dog trainer/behaviorist who knows the dog's entire history to be able to tell which is which.

Time outs, not as punishment, but as a "break" or to get out of the situation, a cool-down period, are often helpful during training.
 

raeben

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Would you leave your Pitbull alone with ....

a 4-year old child the dog did not know? Even for a minute?
 
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j0equ1nn

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ATTN: MODERATOR - please delete this thread

Unfortunately I have a vindictive ex who has been picking things from this thread to use out of context against me. Not being a moderator, I do not have the option of deleting the thread. So I'm posting just to request that a moderator do so for me.

Sam, by the way, is doing GREAT! Consistent with the better advice I got on here, his problems turned out to be entirely fear-based and not aggression-based. After living with us for an extended time now he is very trusting of us, and everyone he meets on the street (except the occassional dog phobia) adores him. I get complements all the time on how sweet and well trained he is.

So, I don't think the thread serves a purpose anymore. If it weren't for the problem my ex is causing I would want it to stay up for the benefit of others taking in rescue dogs. But it's just causing me too much trouble.

So.. thanks and goodbye and.. please delete the thread!
 

Emily

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I wouldn't leave *any* breed of dog alone with a child, even if it knew the child. Let's not bring breed into it.
lol that poster sent me a PM months ago when this was active and wanted me to provide some sort of "professional opinion" (um... ok) that this dog was dangerous and shouldn't be around kids. She is related to the dog's owner or... something, and didn't want her grandkids around a pit bull. And she like, wanted something from me that would hold up in court if the kid got bit. It was SUPER weird, and I don't know why me.

I didn't answer the PM. LOL.

That person has an agenda, is my point.
 

ACooper

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Unfortunately I have a vindictive ex who has been picking things from this thread to use out of context against me. Not being a moderator, I do not have the option of deleting the thread. So I'm posting just to request that a moderator do so for me.

Sam, by the way, is doing GREAT! Consistent with the better advice I got on here, his problems turned out to be entirely fear-based and not aggression-based. After living with us for an extended time now he is very trusting of us, and everyone he meets on the street (except the occassional dog phobia) adores him. I get complements all the time on how sweet and well trained he is.

So, I don't think the thread serves a purpose anymore. If it weren't for the problem my ex is causing I would want it to stay up for the benefit of others taking in rescue dogs. But it's just causing me too much trouble.

So.. thanks and goodbye and.. please delete the thread!
Your request has been seen and is being considered. We don't delete threads lightly, and I've brought it to the attention of other mods for discussion.

Thanks to the person (you know who you are ;) ) who reported the post so we would see it.

A reminder to everyone, if you have in issue please send a message directly to a mod or mods or report a thread/post. We do not read every post/thread and there's a good chance a regular post will be missed.
 

crazedACD

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lol that poster sent me a PM months ago when this was active and wanted me to provide some sort of "professional opinion" (um... ok) that this dog was dangerous and shouldn't be around kids. She is related to the dog's owner or... something, and didn't want her grandkids around a pit bull. And she like, wanted something from me that would hold up in court if the kid got bit. It was SUPER weird, and I don't know why me.

I didn't answer the PM. LOL.

That person has an agenda, is my point.
She sent the same PM to me. It actually disappointed me that this guy was not a troll.
 

j0equ1nn

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dear moderator

Well if this thread is not deleted, here are what the consequences would be for me:

My ex will most likely pull certain posts from the thread to show in court to try to convince them that I should not be allowed to ever have my dog anywhere near our daughter. Then I will have to show the court the rest of the thread to put it in context and explain how my dog's behavior is under control and that I can be trusted to make decisions about my dog and my daughter without the court's intervention. I do not think the court would ultimately feel the need to impose litigation about my time with my daughter regarding the dog, but for the court to go over this thread, I would still have to pay a lawyer by the hour to read the entire thing, and also to debate the contents, which would cost me a lot of money.

If there is some positive benefit that you feel outweighs those incredibly unfair consequences for me, I suppose there is nothing I can do about it. But I hope you will decide to delete the thread.


I am confused by why someone would be disappointed that I'm not a troll, but I'm sure that that disappointment is vastly overshadowed by the disappointment one would experience if they'd followed that person's past terrible advice on how to deal with a nervous dog. I do not want to get dragged back in to a petty name calling session, but I think that the beneficial aspects of one consulting this thread could just as well be attained from other sources, and more effectively if those other sources are devoid of the various bad and dangerous advice that this thread is inter laden with.

A nervous dog with a rocky history needs love, consistency, and clear boundaries, to learn trust of its owners and environment. That's the takeaway of this thread in a nut shell in my opinion, and it's a pretty standard conclusion.
 

crazedACD

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If there is some positive benefit that you feel outweighs those incredibly unfair consequences for me, I suppose there is nothing I can do about it. But I hope you will decide to delete the thread.


I am confused by why someone would be disappointed that I'm not a troll, but I'm sure that that disappointment is vastly overshadowed by the disappointment one would experience if they'd followed that person's past terrible advice on how to deal with a nervous dog.
"Terrible advice" as in, seek a trainer who could evaluate the dog in person? :popcorn:
 

j0equ1nn

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Hi, I haven't posted on here in about 5 years. I just wanted to drop in and say that Sam is still doing great. His issues with guarding and the rest have improved very gradually over time and these days we don't even have to worry about having lots of people over who he's never met. He's popular with all our guests, and super friendly, and in general a great dog. Sam is 7 now.

There were a lot of misunderstandings when I was posting on here regularly ... misunderstandings and also people just being patronizing and insulting. But there was also some great support. So, in the spirit of that I hope to 1. bring joy to anyone who reads this who was there for me during our times of trouble, and 2. point out to all the people who said my dog was going to fail, bite someone, or have to be put down, that you were wrong.
 
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I wasn't here during the beginning of this thread, and from what I've read on this last page I don't really want to go back to read through it - but I am going to say I'm happy to hear that your dog has been able to live a wonderful life with you without any of those unfortunate things you mentioned
 

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