Questions for bully & APBTA 'type' owners

[Pops2]

I live in the house with 7 dogs. 5 APBT two of which are females and three are males, intact, the females are spayed. I also have a Boxer/APBT mix, male who is nuetered and a Shepard/Lab female spayed.

4 of the APBT are kin (momma & 3 babies) all the other dogs were brought in at a later time.

The "family" of APBT have always gotten along peachy. The other 3 who were brought in, are welcomed of course (after MUCH training due to the DA) however they are not "included" in the closeness the originals share. And there have been 7 total for many years.

If you are wanting same sex, or more then one, I suggest selecting siblings from a pups age.
DA is very common in this breed, so is prey drive. I have indeed seen it, but have never had success in the mixture of APBT and livestock. I have had horrible experiences personally with this issue even after an APBT had been raised with goats. They were so close they would keep each other warm on cold nights, and the dog literally grazed on hay with the goats for a year......then "it" happened

Anyways, good luck on your choice, but to even own an APBT for any reason, please educate yourself to the max first. Lord knows we neeed NO more bad rap!

the bolded just cracked me up because the most intent to kill each other DA dogs i've seen have been female littermates. one pair was pit bulldogs & the other two pairs were catahoulas. the houla owners tried like hell to stop their fighting including liberal use of a knotted rope, a hotshot (cattle prod) & hotsauce in a squirt gun. eventually one gave up & sold one & the other just never hunted them together anymore. i've never seen that kind of obstinance outside the box in dogs like i saw in those gyps.

 

[crazedACD]

^ Yikes...yeah..I distinctly remember patching up two sibling teenage female pits in the vets office. It wasn't even like one bad fight, it just looked like the product of constant bickering, holes all over them. As a general rule dogs don't do well being raised together as siblings..not even on the fighting side, but even learning to look to you for interaction.

 

[kady05]

If you are wanting same sex, or more then one, I suggest selecting siblings from a pups age.

Holy crap, did you really just suggest people get same sex SIBLINGS? Generally speaking, that's a huge no-no, in any breed!

 

[Mach1girl]

Holy crap, did you really just suggest people get same sex SIBLINGS? Generally speaking, that's a huge no-no, in any breed!

I have several same sex siblings AND in the past often chose same sex siblings. Never had a problem. And I highly do ubt it was "just my luck" however I reckin you never know....so just be careful in what you do choose. I believe the reason they always work out for me is because they are born together and raised together. If two are removed from the other siblings fairly young enough, that eliminated much of the "competition" right there. The two together usually bond well.

 

[AdrianneIsabel]

I really wonder why that is an issue. The two RT females I was speaking of that tried to kill one another were sisters.

 

[Mach1girl]

My siblings have always seemed to be more "caring" towards one another. Cleaning each others faces, etc... I seriously have never had an issue.

The ONLY issues that I have had in all my years of dogs were that the siblings werent very welcoming of "newbies". They would sit around and chill with each other but if another one stuck their head in the way to be cleaned or what have you, they would either warn the dog or turn away and go to sleep!

 

[Barbara!]

I would say same sex siblings is definitely a better bet than same sex random-dogs-that-don't-even-know-each-other.

 

[Romy]

Holy crap, did you really just suggest people get same sex SIBLINGS? Generally speaking, that's a huge no-no, in any breed!

For what it's worth, the only bitch fight I've ever heard of with borzois involved litter sisters lovingly raised together. They were intent to kill and one's chest was torn open pretty bad.

 

[Kat09Tails]

One of the worst dog fight aftermaths I've seen was a pair of altered JRT brothers. One dog lost an eye and an ear and the other nearly lost a leg.

I'm not saying siblings can't get along but it's certainly no more a guarantee than other dogs.

 

[Romy]

In my (very) limited experience, they're a lot more out of the blue than fights with unrelated dogs. The two girls were fine and lovey just like any other zois cohabiting, until one day one got irritated at the other and instead of snarking it turned into a death match.

 

[Mach1girl]

It can probably happen in most two of the same sex living together conditions whether or not siblings then...because in all honesty, I have had siblings of the same sex AND different sex for over 25 years, and all have been APBT. I have had many other breeds mixed into the bunch as well. And this has been my experience.

 

[Aleron]

Due to having issues with my GSDs, SSA has been an area of interest for me that I have researched quite a lot over the past 10 years or so. Avoiding have dogs close in age is generally suggested to help prevent SSA. Generally speaking, the closer in age the dogs the more you risk having SSA issues. My two GSD girls were almost the exact same age and loves each other. They played together all the time, slept together, shared a big open crate together for naps and though GSD people warned me it likely wouldn't last I could not imagine these two dogs fighting. Then they started fighting :/

I have noticed in GSDs and Belgians that mother-daughters tend to be a good combination, providing they always stay together. I have known quite a few SSA GSD girls who got along great with their daughters and granddaughters. I have wondered if two girls siblings from these dogs raised together would be tolerant of each other or not. Siblings are generally not considered a safe bet at all but it could be that there are exceptions in some lines? There is a definite genetic tendency at play with these issues.

 

[Paige]

To comment on same sex siblings... neither Spanky or Bandit have scrapped since. Neither is what I would call DA. But towards each other? It brought out a raelly ugly side in both of them.

 

[stafinois]

Sibling pairs seem to go one way or the other, either terribly codependent or trying to kill each other. I've rarely seen sibling pairs raised together develop truly healthy relationships. The ones that managed were experienced people who did a lot with the dogs separately starting very young.

This is the kitchen of a friend after two Pit Bulls got into a fight while she wasn't home. I believe both dogs lived. It was a long time ago.

 

[crazedACD]

Sibling pairs seem to go one way or the other, either terribly codependent or trying to kill each other. I've rarely seen sibling pairs raised together develop truly healthy relationships. The ones that managed were experienced people who did a lot with the dogs separately starting very young.

This is the kitchen of a friend after two Pit Bulls got into a fight while she wasn't home. I believe both dogs lived. It was a long time ago.

That is totally horrifying.

 

[elegy]

They're a fighting breed. Better to assume that your APBT will turn on at some point than go through life with the notion that, if you "just stay positive" and "assert your leadership," it'll never happen.

Who said anything about "just stay positive" and "assert your leadership"? It's more like management, controlling arousal levels, supervision, separation when alone, and knowing your dogs.

Sure they're a fighting breed. Who ever said they weren't? Luce came to me bitch-aggressive and frustration-reactive. She'd 100% throw down in the right situation. For fun. I have zero question. So I haven't given her that opportunity.

But she lives well with my boys. I used to have to be fairly on top of play because they got so wild that I was worried that it would flip over into a fight, but these days they're pretty low maintenance.

 

[Mach1girl]

Sibling pairs seem to go one way or the other, either terribly codependent or trying to kill each other. I've rarely seen sibling pairs raised together develop truly healthy relationships. The ones that managed were experienced people who did a lot with the dogs separately starting very young.

This is the kitchen of a friend after two Pit Bulls got into a fight while she wasn't home. I believe both dogs lived. It was a long time ago.

Which TOTALLY could and would have been avoided IF the dogs were properly crated when they were home alone. WHICH can happen with same sex siblings, opposite sex siblings, no siblings, whatever.

 

[stafinois]

Which TOTALLY could and would have been avoided IF the dogs were properly crated when they were home alone. WHICH can happen with same sex siblings, opposite sex siblings, no siblings, whatever.

In this particular case one was loose and one escaped.

 

[AdrianneIsabel]

That is my worst fear.

 

[OutlineACDs]

I have noticed in GSDs and Belgians that mother-daughters tend to be a good combination, providing they always stay together. I have known quite a few SSA GSD girls who got along great with their daughters and granddaughters.

This has been my experience with my ACD's. I kept a mother-daughter pair for years until the mother had to be PTS for health reasons. I never had an issue with the two. I did have to separate the mother from my oldest dog, who was about 4-5 yrs older. They could never be together. I generally keep dogs about 4 yrs apart, so my oldest now is 7 and my youngest is 3. I think 4 years in between is a good amount of time to get a dog bonded, trained, and towards the maintenance age before bringing in a new puppy. My oldest now is female, and my youngest is male. When I bring in a new puppy it will be a female, I don't expect any problems, but I always prepare for the worst.