pitt bull/mastif mix too aggressive?

Question

i have a 11 month old pitt bull/mastiff mix, she has just recently become more aggressive to me. Especially when chewing bones or around food. She seems to be fine around my boyfriend though. what am i doing wrong? what can i do to fix the problem before she gets too violent. i love her so much, but she is a little scary sometimes... HELP!!!

Answer 1

What she's doing is very normal, but that doesn't make it okay. She is challenging your authority. I suggest you take her to some training classes pronto. Teaching her commands teaches her to listen to you, enforcing you as alpha.

I also suggest the "Nothing In Life Is Free" (NILIF) program. It is a great system for dogs with dominant tendancies. My roommate used it with her dog when he started to get uppity. He is very well behaved now, and it is a positive-reinforcement system! http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

Answer 2

Food aggression can be tricky. We foster animals for the local humane society and our most recent behavior problem was food aggression. To solve the problem we needed to show the dog that a human hand near the food was a good thing. We started out by using a saucepan with a long handle as the food bowl. Put a couple of pieces of food in and then when they are gone, pull the pan away to refill it. This shows the dog that the hand brings more food to the bowl. Once you can successfully get the pan away while the dog is eating, you can start inching your own hand toward the bowl. It is a long process, but it builds the trust that you are not going to take the food. As for the bone aggression, some dogs just aren't good with bones. Bones are like the ultimate prize in the dog world. You can either leave the dog alone when you give her the bone, or just eliminate the bones. Hope this helps. There is plenty of info on the web about food aggression in dogs.

Answer 3

Is this your first dog? Growling and barking are things many dogs do while they're playing. I have an AmStaff(very similar in appearance to a pit bull), and he makes really vicious sounds when he's playing. I'll take him and my Golden Retriever to the park, and when they really get into playing, people actually stop and stare as if they're thinking "Is that pit bull killing that golden retriever?!?!". It's all in good fun though and my Golden loves roughhousing with him. So anyway, it is pretty normal for dogs to make those sounds when they're excited and playing. As long as he is acting happy and isn't showing signs of aggression (tense, staring eye contact, hair on back standing up, curling lip to show teeth, etc.) then it isn't aggression at all. I would recommend talking to a trainer so you can teach him to play more calmly, as this will freak people out, and if you aren't experienced with a very powerful, hyper dog, he could accidentally hurt you or worse yet, someone else. I'm sorry, but I don't live in your area, and therefore can't recommend any trainers. But look around. It shouldn't be too hard to find a good one. Your dog is a pretty easy case, so most trainers who know anything about dogs should be able to give you good guidance ADD: As for him biting your shirt, that's also pretty normal. He just needs to learn manners. Dogs lightly bite and nip at one another when they're playing, so sometimes they will nip at their owners during rough play as well. If you play rough with him, he'll play rough with you. If you play more calmly, with training, he'll play more calmly and politely. Also: Do not use Cesar Millan as an example for training your dogs. He's good at what he does, but those techniques need to be catered to the individual dog, and doing this type of behavior modification incorrectly could result in worse behavior from your dog, aggression, and even bites.

Answer 4

Any dog should respect you and know that you are the master. Your pup can prob understand that your boyfriend is the stong one and she is trying to put it over you.

I dont nesicarily think that it is the breed mix as any dog can be agressive, this behaviour maybe coming through from the dogs mother or father. Any dog can be agressive!

You should always be able to take food or toys off your dog without any problems. Pups need to be taught this early as possible.You should never be scared of your dog. You need to be very carefull with her, cause if she doesnt teeat you with respect what might happen to visitors or the public?

If she gets worse, you may have to think about whether it is safe to keep her.

I hope everything works out, she would be adorable as both mastiff and pittys are cute pups!

Answer 5

the dog is good to your boyfriend becuase he knows your boyfriend is dominate.i have trained dogs for a while now.i train great danes which is a very large breed and i train them to be aggressive becuase people like to steal them.there is only one thing you can do if she is still small enough.you need to grab the dog by the slack skin on each side of the head and pin it down on its back and almost like growl at her until she submits.if you can't handle her like this don't try it.the best time to do it is when she gets aggressive while she is eating. let her know this will not be tolerated.if you can't handle her have your boyfriend do it.this will not hurt her only scare her.i have a friend that has a english mastiff that was very dominate toward his wife and the only thing that worked on him was me holding the dog down while she spoke to it in a very aggressive voice and she lightly bit his ear until he submitted.it took about 3-4 times then they became great friends.the dog is very loyal to her now.remember dogs are pack animals and they go by rank and right now you are below her in rank.remember these things will not hurt the dog only scare her.

Answer 6

you have show her whos dominate...and the reason why she's acting like that to you is b/c u r another femal. pitt bull/masif mix will be more aggressive than most dogs but you need to train her now while you can still handle her else she will completely outta control and most likely hurt you and someone else as she gets bigger. My suggestion is take her to training classes...those time of aggressive dogs need some serious training so u can take them out into public and not worry about hurting someone else.

Most importantly she must learn to listen to you and your boyfriend. Especially you...she knows she stronger than you alrdy so she will try to dominate you...your b/f is the dominate male..when she starts to get to breeding age it will get worst unless if you have her spaded.

Answer 7

You need to establish that you are the dominant one here, not her or things will get much worse! Do some research, talk to some trainers or better yet, hire a good dog trainer. Just one or two sessions with a trainer would most likely benefit you and show you how to establish dominance over her correctly.

Answer 8

Not good. you are not the alpha in the pack, if you were you could just take whatever and the dog would not react this way. you may not get a second chance with this dog if he bites you it could be a signifigant "event". i would think about what is occuring long and hard, and if it were me and the dog was growling at my wife it would be gone. this may not be a popular answer, but i have seen some vicous dog attacks they are not pretty. good luck, if you keep him get some serious help training him. you have to get alpha quickly

Answer 9

She doesnt take you seriously as the alpha... dogs can sense hesitation and fear and they can read your body language easily and find out just how to push you around. You need to learn how to become the alpha... dont EVER fear your dog, you are the master of everything, the leader of the pack.. act like it and you will have nothing to fear from your dog. To put it simply your dog has no respect for your ability to be her leader.. I suggest using NILF (Nothing in Life is Free) training to reinforce your position as pack leader.. http://www.pets.ca/articles/article-dog_nilf.htm
Also I suggest you take a lesson in becoming alpha.. it will help you to understand the kind of social dominance hierarchy canines follow and how you can live up to the role of leader in the social hierarchy... http://www.pets.ca/articles/article-alphadog.htm

Answer 10

Just try to remember that dogs respond to energy. They don't understand words at all. She knows that you're afraid and she's taking advantage of it because she has a dominant personality. Be firm in disciplining her when she shows aggression and don't back down.