got a pitbull puppy--problems :(

Hey whats up. im pretty upset right now....this is a very long post. If you dont want to read just scroll all the way down and answer my questions.


Ok here is the situation--my brother is 19 and just got a job. He has always wanted a pitbull puppy ever since he was a child.... so becoming overpowered with the fact that he has a job now and has money for once he decides to go out and buy a texus rednose pitbull(this is the first dog we have ever had) off a friend who was selling it. Now the reason his friend sold it was because couldn't take care of it (something about little siblings I'm not sure. That and that it is a pitbull so his parents were scared and made him get rid of it).
Now here I am thinking what the hell! He decides he can't take care of it because of his family...wat the hell why would you even buy a pup in hte first place then?????)

Alrite so my brother goes to work 9am - 6pm each and everyday except he has only wednesdays off for some weird reason. Anyways so here is where I come in...he basically has forced me to stay home and take care of it during the time hes not home. Im 18 by the way and will be starting college in march..so if the pup stays he is safe till march..but when march rolls around im gonna be too busy...

Ok heres the thing about the dog. How am I suppose to play with it? Whenver I play with it I just let it run around the house, we play tag sort of (chase each other or he chases me), I take it in the backyard or the front yard and kick a tennis ball around and we both run after it. I have not taken it out for many walks yet bc its too cold and he always shivers and walks back to the door whenver I try to get him outside (hes 9 weeks old). Plus whenver he gets out the neighbours dog, a 6 year old rotweiler that lives a block down, will start barking and immediatly after hearing his barks my puppy will stop dead in its tracks and run back to the front door of my house like there is no tomorrow. Also most of the time he I am laying on the bed (he sleeps with me) And many times during the day he will just fall asleep on me, when he does that should I wake him up instead and play with him?

Because he is young and its too cold to really get outside do you think it will make him aggressive when hes older if I just play with him inside because he is not socialising with as many people and animals as I would like right now? He will start school in about 2 weeks. It is a 6 week course at petsmart which will help me teach him how to sit,lie down, stay etc; However you only go 1 hour 1 day a week...argh. Thats not very much socialiazation! Also, second question is my mom and bro occasiaonnly yell at each other---often times than not =it is infront of the dog. Can this make him aggressive and stuff? Usually when they yell at each other (they yell at each other about the dog--my mom thinks he will bite people when hes older and we will get a law suit on our heads beacuse he is a pitbull and they are "dangerous" (arggh), also beacuase dogs smell and she says that the pup will pooh and piss everywhere and the house will smell so bad thus our house's value will drop and no one will buy the house when we try to sell it/or we will not get much money for it etc. Im trying my hardest to raise a good dog since my brother refuses to sell it, plus im starting school in march so untill then I have alot of time for the dog, but when march rolls around I will be out of the house about 8 hours a day for school + working. But yeah, I feel horrible for the little puppy because he has been here for a week basically and he is adjusted so well here. He is use to the family, and I am too afraid to sell him because this is his 4th home, and I feel that anymore than this at his age and it might mentally disturb him or something. I feel horrible . My brother really adores him and stuff and I KEEP TELLING HIM TO SELL IT and he tells me he is, but inside I know his secret plan. Hes just lieing to me! He wants to keep it and I guess since no one will want the pup when it is like 15 weeks old we will have no choice but to keep it or put it to sleep...and knowing me as he does he knows I wont do that to the thing. I mean don't get this wrong, even though this post of mine is pretty much just a rant I am really attached to the dog and like it. But yeah there are no registration papers for it or anything and what I hear is that he is a purebred pitbull...but since there are no papers I dont know that for sure. Can the vet tell me what it its true breed is?

Since I have no way of really tracing back where this dog came from I only fear that it came from a puppymill or something, and it will have health problems when it gets older---its vet bill will be like $5000 or something and then lastly it will be put to sleep, thus ultimatly this whole time we had the pup it was a waste of my life.



question--please answer them!


1. Will my mom's and brothers yelling at each other around the dog make him aggressive?

2. How do I play with the puppy?

3. It keeps chewing and biting me hands. What do I do?? Everytime he has done this so far I just stick a toy near his mouth and he bites at it so thats good.

4. Because he is young and its too cold to really get outside do you think it will make him aggressive when hes older if I just play with him inside because he is not socialising with as many people and animals as I would like right now?

5. I live in canada, British Columbia. Do dogs here need to be liscensed or something? Im guessing thats what the registration papers are for, can someone please explain that to me?

Hmmmm thats about it right now its 2:42am i am so frusterated so I had to post. THis post took almost an hour to write. I cant stop thinking so I guess ill be up for an hour more.....even though I have to wake up at 9am tomorrow AGAIN so i can take care of the dog....argh. haha but its alrite I like the little thing plus im good to it so its all good .

#1.- I don't know. I've never had that problem.

#2.- Playing with a puppy.....how I play with puppies is fetch. And sometimes tug. I was watching a Golden Retreiver puppy and I took its toy and would throw it, she would go and get it and bring it back, then I would tug on it (or just hold it and let her tug on it) and then when I got it, I'd throw it agian.

#3- When he bites your hands, yell, 'Ouch!' in a yelping noise. I've never had the biting problem either, but I've heard the above works really well.

#4- Yes, if he doesn't get much socialization now, he will probably be undersocialized when he gets older. Maybe you could take him to a dog freindly store (we have Petsmart here) and let him socialize with the other dogs and people. Also, you could take him to a puppy kindergarten class so he will get socialization and trained at the same time!

#5- No idea.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. HOpe that helped a little bit though!

I forgot to say, maybe instead of putting the pup down or whatever, you could try to find a Pittie rescue that would take him. He does need to be relocated because it sounds like you are having a very hard time with him because you don't have any time for a puppy. Just a thought.

As far as playing with him goes, you're doing a great job. It sounds like he's a lucky pup.

I'm not the least bit concerned about your care for him; you're doing a fantastic job. My only worry for the little guy is what's your Mom going to do to him when you're at school all day? You need to find a way to get your Mom attached to the pup - then you're home free. As for the pup dragging down the value of the house . . . that's absurd. We've always had a large dog in the house and it's never hurt our resale value in the least. Large dogs are much easier to housetrain than small ones, and a healthy Pit doesn't typically have much of a doggy smell.

And remind your Mom how safe she will be with him . . .

Vets don't necessarily have any real insight into dog breeds. They're more trained in what goes on under a dog's skin than what breed(s) of skin the dog's wearing. Truthfully, I wouldn't be too concerned with whether or not he's 100% Pit. Just go ahead and get him neutered at the age your vet advises.

Pits are NOT, by nature, human aggressive. If you raise a Pit with love you will have a gentle, loving dog. All your Mom has to do is pet the little fellow and talk baby talk to him and he will adore her.

The training class is a good thing. Taking him with you to the pet store is also a good idea. I do that with my Filas, even though the store where we get our food is an hour away. Also, take him with you when you go places that dogs aren't banned. Take him with you when you visit your friends.

Socializing him with other dogs and animals is also iimportant, just as you have said in your post. Right now he's pretty young, and you're doing the right thing by not making him face that Rottie he's so afraid of. Let him get a little older before you start walking him that direction again. You don't want him to become fearful; that's an emotion that does breed aggression. Hopefully there will be several small dogs in the training class. That's what he really needs right now - socialization with smaller animals.

They're also easier to handle with a halter. There's no chance of slipping a halter and it is much easier on you and the dog; no chance of neck injuries to the dog if he pulls, and it's much, much easier to work with him on the halter than a collar.

You are doing exactly the right thing on the chewing (it's really just mouthing, a puppy behaviour). My dogs - even Bimmer - will put their mouths over my hands or arms if they are feeling particularly puppyish and playful. A couple of people have seen Shiva do it, and let me tell you, they don't know quite what to think when they realize just how big that mouth and those teeth are! They don't know WHAT to say when I just tell her she's a big goofball and let her stand up to get a big hug and nibble my ear. What can I say, she's a very, very strange pup! LOL! Kharma prefers to rub noses. Now THAT gets some real reactions!

Let's see if we can't come up with some good websites with information about Pit Bulls that will help you and reassure your Mom. And maybe some posts from some of our Pit Bull owners here would be helpful for your Mom to read.

Oh, and by the way, you can probably check to see if there are any local regulations about registering dogs on the internet or by calling your local government office. I don't know if there is Breed Specific Legislation where you are or not; there's been a lot of it passed in Canada recently.

I'm not sure. Here in England all dogs must have an ID tag with your phone number on. You can have your name but it shouldn't have the dog's name on, or your address, in case he is stolen.

You say about walking him that he stops dead and runs for home...I assume you do have a lead for him?

It's perfectly normal for him to sleep a lot at that age, don't worry just leave him to it and enjoy the peace!

OK I'm in BC too. Where are you in BC? I"m in the Northwest so I'm probably not close to you. If you wanted to get rid of him and were close to me I'm sure I could convince my bf to take in another dog. that's never hard. We already have a pit.

As for licensing, every city has different bylaws. I suspect that there is going to be a push in the lower mainland for harsher control of pitbulls. Sadly. But there has been a lot of negative media there recently. We'd have to get it through the local "Acess Centre"

I live on the outskirts of town and don't have to get a license right now. That's because they can't decide who gets jurisdiction of this small area.

Sounds like you are doing a good job playing with him. Try teaching him to sit. Dogs like to learn. I love this website for training methods. http://www.k9deb.com/nilif.htm

For the nippying the technique mentioned above can work. Another thing to try is to simply walk away. That will be punishment enough. No more attentiion from you! Do it abruptly and make yourself clear. Give him a minute. You don't have to do it for long time.

Let me know where you are. Because there are lot of places to take your pup to socialize him. Keep him on a leash though because he is a pup you don't want to give anyone any excuse for trouble. Socializing is important for all dogs but particularly for pits. They also need to come in contact with a lot of friendly people so that they learn that other dogs/people aren't the enemy.

This is a bulldog rescue in Vancouver if that is your only option. http://www.hugabull.com/

Good luck. Ask any questions you like.

Saje

I just wanted to make this thread active again. I want to know what happened with this pup.

Anyone have news?

Yeah I wanna know too...

Hey whats up. Sorry I havent been able to get back to you in a few months Saje, Im in the vancouver area. Hey thanks a lot for those tips I really appreciate them.

Well I'v had my dog now for 3-4 months now and really hes just awesome. He knows a lot of commands like sit, stay, come, fetch, drop it, ball(he brings me the ball or any a toy), and is house trained. Man i cant even tell you how unbelievable this dog has turned out to be. After going back and reading my rant I feel really stupid, I guess i was just having a bad day. My pitty gets along pretty well so far with other dogs and almost everyone hes been in contact with. Im really glad that I have him here with me.

Yay! i'm glad things worked out for you and your pup!

I'm so happy that things are working out so well. The begining can be rough and we all feel frustrated. Don't feel bad about your post. We all understand. Really. I hope you post more. I'd love to hear more about your new baby.

And tell us his name! And we'd love to see more pretty Pittie photos, lol!

I'm so, so happy your dog is doing so well! Pits are really wonderful companion dogs.