I have a female pit bull terrier who is a little over a year old. She has bitten twice now..what should I do?

Question

She has accidently gotten out twice and she has went and bitten two different dogs..the latest last night. She is really good with my children. We have had her since she was five months old. When we got her the people before us abused her and didn't feed her properly. I knew of the pit bull's backround but hoped if I raise her like one of my own children she would not turn out like her breed. Does she realize what she is doing is wrong? My kids have gotten attached to her as my husband. I am ready to give her up as I do not think there is anything we can do for her as I feel if given the chance she would bite again. I am just writing to see what other opioins are and are greatly apperciated.

And by the way the first time my daughter had snuck behind my back when I was in the laundry room doing laundry and thought she was going to take her for a walk (she's 5) and took her out and of course my dog is stronger and pulled her and my daughter fell and she ran up the street..that was the first time. The second was last night when my 9 year old wanted to put her out side on her chain and it is snowy and icy and he fell down the step while doing this and at the same time someone came walking by the ally by us with a dog that was NOT on a leash and my dog ran after it. Both times as soon as you call her name she crouches down and stops what she's doing and comes back. So they were both accidents..and this is very important to my children and our family so I would apperciate some not so stupid responses. Also between our neighbors there are three dogs and she does play with them. So she has been around other aniamls.. I will take her to a trainer to see if this will help her.

Answer 1

First of all, dog aggression is a completely separate issue from people aggression, so you don't need to fear that she will go from attacking other dogs to biting your (or anyone else's) children.
It seems you have done well in training her to recall, and socializing her so she plays well with dogs she knows. Unfortunately, for many pit bulls the impulse to fight with strange dogs is simply irresistable.
It seems this problem happens only when your children take her out. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN. You must make an ironclad rule in your house that the dog never exits the house, under any circumstances, unless she is on leash, and the leash is held BY AN ADULT. Your children are simply not old enough to control your dog. You can make this easier to enforce, and help prevent another oops by training her never to go out any door until you have gone first and give her the command to go. If you are not sure how to do this, get a dog training book, or contact a trainer.
If I were you, I wouldn't be looking to get rid of the dog, as she seems perfect in every other way, but I would make very sure that she never left the house without an adult holding the leash again.

Answer 2

What are you going to do when she gets out and there's no one to yell stop when she goes after another dog? And what if the person walking their dog is a little kid?

You hoped to raise an abused pit bull like one of your own children? Nice thought, but the problem is she isn't a child. She's a dog. And not just a dog, but the biggest of the terriers.

Sorry for saying this, but this is the reason Pit Bulls should be outlawed. My biggest fear when I walk my dogs is coming in contact with a Pit Bull on the loose. And in your situation, the problem becomes coming in contact with one of your kids walking your pit. Look, any breed can be dog aggressive, the problem is the size and strength of Pits anbales it to kill a small dog before anybody can do anything.

This is a disaster waiting to happen.

Answer 3

You didn't say if your female is unspayed or not. Unspayed females pit terriers are only aggressive toward other female dogs.Dogs are naturally pack instinctive and pits need to be social with other dogs. They can't be kept away and they can be trained to accept other dogs. That doesn't mean she will like the other dogs..she will be trained to not be aggressive to them. Also you might not fully know the abuse she went through and I know from experience with my dog that understanding and patience with the animal can almost always change their behavior. Her age too has alot to do with her aggression. If she isn't spayed her hormone levels are high until she is 3yrs. You commented on her breed. Just because she is a pit bull terrier doesn't mean she is naturally aggressive. Alot of pit bulls have been trained to be aggressive. One male pit bull I had was a big baby and wanted love and attention all the time. He wasn't aggressive towards humans or other dogs. Perhaps your dog wasn't socialized properly or has fear issues. There is also the dominance factor. Intense training and patience is what she needs and you will find no better or loyal pet after this is done. If you have the time to do it start off slowly on getting her socialized with other animals. If she acts aggressively put her on time out while she is on a leash. That mean tugging gently if she tries to go towards other dogs and repeating no. I do hope this has helped in some way.

Answer 4

You seem to have been operating on the principle that your love and affection could counteract an inherent tendency to fight other dogs. You were, unfortunately, very wrong. She thinks that fighting other dogs is great!

Training would have been a better way to inhibit her dog aggression, and the first bite might have been a warning to you to do that.

All is not lost. You need to cowboy up, lose the defeatist attitude - why give up before you've even tried anything? - and train this dog. Even a dog-aggressive pit bull can be trained to recall immediately. With "stay", "come", and "down", she never has to be in trouble again.

Of course, this means that you have to give her enough exercise, too -- many dogs will go stir-crazy if they don't have enough exercise. So since you're afraid of her disliking other dogs, you may not have been taking her out much.... you have to face the problem and deal with it. You owe this member of your family that much.

She'll never have as good a home as she does now. There is no mythical "place in the country" for her to roam and stay out of trouble. You wouldn't get rid of one of your kids for getting into trouble; find a top-notch trainer who is not afraid of dealing with aggression.

Good luck.

Answer 5

These dogs have a bad rep, Its not the breed so much as how its raised. knowing that she came from a bad background you knew this was not something that was going to be a easy thing. Putting her down is something that may have to happen. BUT before you do that i would suggest an obedience class. They can do wonders. If she good with people and your children I think it would be well worthe it to have her in some classes. they they could work on not only the aggression with animals but the escaping as well. Both things can be handled. I would hate to see such a beautiful animal be killed for something that can be fixed. Good luck

Answer 6

I understand where you are coming from. I have a female pit bull as well.

She barks at people that she does not know, but does not bite. After a couple minutes she ends up rolling around on the couch with new visitors. And, she will fight with other dogs because she has a very dominant personality when it comes to k9 socializing.

If she is good with people there is a chance that she will be fine. There are many kinds of dogs that don't like other dogs but are fine with humans. It is important that if she ever started to fight with another dog in your presence that she will listen to your command words to make her stop. Training her into obedience will help tremendously with this. It relates back to the dominant personality traits. You are alpha-dog. Not her.

I would try to work on making sure that she does not get out. If you have fencing problems, get them fixed.

Answer 7

I would talk to an animal behaviorist if I were you. Pit Bulls tend to be animal-aggressive (Nothing against the breed, they just are). How is she getting out? If you put extra precautions into effect to keep her from escaping, would there be any other problems with her? (IE: How is she when she sees other dogs on walks? Is there a possibility she was provoked by the other dogs?)

Answer 8

You need t puppy proof your yard!! SHE CAN NOT BE ABLE TO GET OUT!! You need to find a trainer that has pit bull experiance and train her, you can not be lazy on the training if she continues biting she will have to be put down. I can say if a dog got out and bit my dog, i would demand it was put down, and a feww be paid to me to cover bills etc. You need a trainer, and a better proofing of the yard. Or find a pitbull experianced home, that will not fight her.

Answer 9

It is YOUR responsbility to keep her PROPERLY CONFINED.

Getting out just isn't an "oops" thing. You need to properly confine a Pit Bull - especially given their bad rep, and dog aggression.

You can't train dog aggression out - so it has nothing to do with raising her around your kids.

The bites should be reported. If ANimal Control has been called, they may take her and quarenteen her and deem her a "dangerous" dog.

YOU need to be responsible, and make it next to impossible to allow her to escape. If she does, you're liable.

Confine her better, and find a trainer in your area to help you out.

Answer 10

This is TOTALLY the reason these dogs are on the chopping block!!!!! You know it has "issues" and it gets OUT!!!! Dogs like this CANNOT ACCIDENTALLY get out!!!!!!!!

You have to take some kind of action if you cannot guarantee she will not get out again!!!!!!!

IT can be accidental all you wnat, that does not change the fact that neighbors probably have a image of you PTIBULL in their mind as a dog killer. It is not a far leap in most peoples mind to see where attacking a person is next. This kind of ACCIDENT cannot happen when you have a dog aggressive dog...and surely NOT if it is a l pit bull!! YOU have less margin for accidents than others....you margin of error is ZERO>