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My Pittbulls,What to do...:(

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#21 ·
Sorry to hear about your sad event, a friend of mine is going through something very similar right now. We were up north playing paintball this past weekend, and he got a call from his wife, his pitt/mix had attacked his other pitt/weimaraner mix. Over a squirell. The weimaraner mix ended up with some nasty stiches, a broken leg bone, and many drainage tubes, as well a torn aterie in the leg. The other dog was ruffed up quite a bit as well. First fight since hes had both dogs, they've been together for 3years I believe now. He almost lost the one dog beacuse the couldn't stop the bleeding, and then again because he couldn't find a vet he could afford or that would take payments. Luckily he did find a vet, and both dogs are on the road to recovery.

I have one question though are both your male dogs fixed/nuetered ??? If not this could be a source of some of the agression, though if there past a couple of years old it might not help. Stories like this worry me greatly as I have three dogs myself and a baby on the way, two boxer/mixes and a bulldog/something maybe pitt maybe not mix. All three are males, fixed and about the same age by a month or two. Luckily the all get along very well. They sleep together, eat together, play together. Sometimes I think I have one dog, there so together lol.

I hope you come to a solution thats good for you and your dogs, there your family to, even if they are just an animal.
 
#22 ·
Maybe the crating them at seperate times would be a "bandaide"
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as much as I hate to say it, this is probally true. If a dog wants to get out of a crate, especially a breed like yours, it will destroy the crate and then go after the other dog. And yes I have met at least one dog, a boxer, who has chewed through and broken the metal bars and a few of her teeth, of her crate when she was younger just becuase she didn't like being in the crate when the owner left. At her heaviest I think she around 80lbs or so. So now imagine that with a 85lb pitt who DOES NOT want the other dog in what he considers "his" house. Heck my bulldog chews through wood, concrete, stone, and metal, and anything else he gets his mouth on outside. I wouldn't trust a crate unless you have a super strong industrial safe one.

Training might be a better option in the long run.
 
#23 ·
sorry your dogs dont get along!!! imo one does have to go, it is just nature for 2 male dogs to fight to me the alpha male.... such is life...

I would love to have a clearfin lion in my reef.....but ...... he would eat my clowns, and gobys, and shrimp, and...........

you have to know someone who would care for him and give visitation rights!!!
 
#24 ·
it is just nature for 2 male dogs to fight to me the alpha male
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I wouldn't agree, if theres already a dominant male(human or dog) alpha in the house, then there should be no fighting, but again your dog has to know whos alpha. If your dog is under the impression he's the alpha in the house the he needs to learn hes wrong. And that dad and mom are alpha not the dog.
Like I said I have 3 males and getting to be "alpha" has never been an issue, because I'm alpha in my house, not the dogs house or territory but my house and my yard/territory(it's important that the dogs learn this it helps cutt back on territory agression), or cause of dispute, now who gets the new toy, thats a whole different story.
You have to teach the dog or dogs the pack order in the house and not let them decide whos in charge.
Not to make any females angry but it usually works best when all the dogs in the house know Dad(I've always found dogs respect males quicker than females for some reason) is in charge no exceptions(unless theres no males in the house) regardless of who brought the dog into the house or who was there first or even whos dog it is, in my household its Dad, Mom, the cats come next(yes the cats, and if you've never seen a cat make a bulldog shiver with a look then your missing out LMAO ROTF and no he's never attacked the dogs once, just got in there heads when they were pups smaller than the cat), the dogs, then the fish. If you let them decide it will be a bunch of fights and chaos naturally. But thats up to the owners to be in controll at all times, accidents can be fatal. Owning a dog isn't easy but it is rewarding, when done right.
 
#25 ·
the important thing here is that your girlfriend got bitten. It could have been ALOT worse! I think that should be your main concern, i too have pets, and to lose one would be a tragedy for sure, but when people are involved, you have to consider that being most important. You have a big decision to make Nick, i dont envy you that, just weigh all of your options so that you make the right one for both of you! GL! Sue
 
#26 ·
adawg said:
I'm sorry, but if I had a pet that hurt a loved one, either accidentally or on purpose, even if fighting another dog, it would be gone so fast it would make your head snap. Perhaps it is my growing up on a small farm, but a pet is a pet and is not to do ANYTHING to harm me or anyone else.
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The more I think about this, the more inclined I am to agree with adawg. I love our dog, but if she ever attacked anyone (regardless of reason), I would have her put down. It's just not worth the risk and we have to step back and remember our priorities. Pets are animals. As much as we tend to think of pets as members of the family, they are not equals to humans.
 
#27 ·
Our old elkhound, Bozie (who we put down earlier in the year) was very aggressive towards our other elkhound, and he learned to fight back. They're fights were brutal. We did take them to a professional, who helped the situation a lot. That said, we stopped them from having any opportunity to get at each other. When we were gone, one was always crated, and the other let free. When we were home, at least one of them always trailed a leash around the house. That way we could catch them if they got too close to each other. We always let them in the yard separately, which added several minutes to our morning and evening. I can tell you in no uncertain terms that this vigilance was really wearing over 6 years. Even with that, we had a couple of close calls. Even the expert we saw said that we would likely never get to the point where we could leave them unsupervised, and there was no question we would never get them to play well together. It's definitely a bandaid, and doesn't deal with the root problem, which may not be able to be dealt with.

Now, that said, this was with two 50# dogs. They're strong for their size, but nowhere near the size that you're talking about.

Another thing to know, just so you're aware of it, when a dog gets into a fight like this, the physiologic effects can go on for 3 or more weeks after. During this time, they'll be on a hair trigger to react in another situation, so they've much more likely to go at it if given the opportunity. Also, each time they fight, it increases the probability of it happening again, and it lowers their threshold for going at each other. Before we had dealt with the pros, it got to the point that if they walked within a few feet of each other, it was on.

There's a lady name Brenda Aloff who is an internationally known dog aggression expert. She lives in Midland, and is fantastic to work with. She'll work with you and the dogs, and if she's not going to pretend you can make this work if she doesn't absolutely believe that it can be done. If you want it, I probably still have her contact info somewhere.
 
#28 ·
I love our dog, but if she ever attacked anyone (regardless of reason), I would have her put down
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does this include self defence as well ? if so then sad very very sad.

If someone or even another stray dog hurt me, my wife, soon to be child or our dogs for any reason, I'd expect my dog to react one way and only way....
The reason your dog "attacks" is almost more important than the fact the the dog attacked.
Finding what provoked the attack, is number one, dealing with the aftermath of the attack is second. Most cases the dog is not at fault, and was only doing what it thought was right.
Just to kill it without regard is just a poor poor way of handling things. Over the years of being a dog owner I've put down 2 viscious dogs so far, a golden retreiver, and a lab mix. The golden would attack any time you tried to correct her, we even went to a pet shrink, before she was put down. The other was just a lost cause from a pup, super hyper protection disorder, he'd attack anything that came near any family member.
But just to outright say it attacked, time to put it down, without trying to understand what caused the attack or to try and prevent it in the future, thats just sad. And solves nothing. Regardless of what animal it is, it's a life. It lives, it feels, it loves, it regrets. And they learn from there mistakes if we take the time to show them. Take the longer route and help your dog out, or take fate in your hands play judge and jurry and sentance them to death, cause you know that makes you a bigger person, don't worry though you'll get your judgment in the end, we all will when we hit the big pearly gates.
Personally I think there should be a special liscense and schooling you have to go through in order to own any dog, just like you'd have to to get a gun. It's becoming alarmingly clear that people nowadays don't deserve the right to have a dog companion, let alone the maturity. You want something cute and fluffy that just sits and acts cute buy a toy dog. But real dogs take work, understanding, and compassion, no matter the size or breed. Sorry for the rant and not to HJ the tread but it really gets under my skin when peoples first reaction is death without regard. Thats just pure ignorance.
 
#29 ·
W.Oliver said:
TThe only solution would be to crate one while the other is out and then visa-versa. Anytime they are free together, there will be a risk for dominance agression. Crating or kenneling is not a bad option....I would be heart broken to give-up one.
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I too think that if you keep both, crating is the only workable alternative. One big problem with it (aside from being sure you have extremely strong cages - not the plastic ones) is that if the dogs are not used to being crated. It may cause them to have some issues and bring on bad behavior. Normally you could build them up to the crating, but trying to accomplish this with 2 at once will be a challenge.

We also crate our dogs in separate areas of the house to help keep them from having a pack mentality, avoiding pack vs. human dynamic.

FYI, we have 2 standard poodles and the one (female) is sneaky and SMART. She can open the metal frame cage from the inside or outside if only one latch is locked (it's great to see my 17yo daughter climb in the cage and call for Madison to "save her" and watch the dog open the kennel for her). The dog has freed her brother on many occasions because we only need 1 latch for him because he's not swift enough to figure it out:no:
 
#30 ·
As stated in a earlier post, My two dogs got into a scrape and it was ungood.
$1800.00 later and still not done.
What I want to say is I am not angry at them Because once you find out the cause of the fight and understand what was going on it make sense.
Now because I was not home And I am the pack leader it was suggested that The dogs felt it was business as normal to protect their kill..It was over a rodent .It happens .its not pretty but it does ..people with these breeds should be more careful when the own them.This can happen..I beleive that after many questions and many hours on the net that just because this happened and one came out over the other in their pack struggle DOES NOT MEAN THIS WILL CONT. TO HAPPEN They dont not tghink like a human.
Once order is re-established,meaning pack leader is there to maintain order life goes on..But you still have to be on guard.That is the reality of owning these breeds.not to sound mean but if you do more research on your breed this can be contained..Remember that they are pack anmial with an order they follow that is in their genes..This does not mean they are bad.
As far as the injury to a human DONT GET IN BETWEEN FIGHTING DOGS
even if they are yours.Find a differnt approch.
 
#31 ·
$1800.00 later and still not done.
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ouch, now theres love. BTW the royal oak vet office, does payment plans to I think Chris. In case the one you find doesn't work out. Hope Kayla, and Jasmine get better soon, Al misses his GF's(yea my Bulldogs a pimp hes got three GF's). And yes I'd still bring over all my boys to play with Kayla even after her issue with Jasmine, we'll wait till Jazz is feeling better and rdy for company. Stupid squirells, always starting fights. You'd think they do it on purpose.

N_Prise your not alone, if I didn't have three already I'd offer to house your one dog, but city limits and all. What I don't get is how I can have 5 or more cats, but only 3 dogs. Stupid rule, I easily have room for 4 dogs......maybe no one would notice a 4th dog "pop" up. JK hope everything works out for you though, very hard choice to go through.
 
#32 ·
JasonStan said:
ouch, now theres love. BTW the royal oak vet office, does payment plans to I think Chris. In case the one you find doesn't work out. Hope Kayla, and Jasmine get better soon, Al misses his GF's(yea my Bulldogs a pimp hes got three GF's). And yes I'd still bring over all my boys to play with Kayla even after her issue with Jasmine, we'll wait till Jazz is feeling better and rdy for company. Stupid squirells, always starting fights. You'd think they do it on purpose.

N_Prise your not alone, if I didn't have three already I'd offer to house your one dog, but city limits and all. What I don't get is how I can have 5 or more cats, but only 3 dogs. Stupid rule, I easily have room for 4 dogs......maybe no one would notice a 4th dog "pop" up. JK hope everything works out for you though, very hard choice to go through.
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That would be nice and thank you for the info..
 
#33 ·
After the shock and anger had left I was left with questions.
now i under stand .It does not make it better.B ut i know why now and i can move to insure that in the future I have better control of my Dogs(3 girls).
There will alwas be some kind of struggle with pack anmials,some just are not as horrible or distructive..It may just be them not doing what you told them .or not doing it like you wanted but you settled because of what ever reason at the time, but remeber that is a victory for them. Does this make them bad or evil?
No just dogs....
 
#34 ·
Find another girlfriend or tell her to get rid of hers.

Or muzzle them all the time.

Have you looked into "doggie downers"
 
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#36 ·
ChrisBerb said:
As far as the injury to a human DONT GET IN BETWEEN FIGHTING DOGS
even if they are yours.Find a differnt approch.
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Perhaps that should read: Do not have pets that put you in a situation where you may be in a situation that forces you to contemplate having to get between fighting dogs.

As I read this I guess I am confused. How is crating dogs, doping them or muzzling them any more humane than just letting one go? Worrying about violent fights isn't good for you, your girlfriend or your dogs.
 
#37 ·
Not only did your GF get hurt but your dogs did. Why put your dogs thru that kinda stress and pain. Your dogs are suffering from their injuries right along with you. Crating them up will only cause more tension/stress for them. I don't feel its fair to the dogs. Not when you could find a good home for one of them and know their happy-lets think of the dogs feelings here to
 
#38 ·
adawg said:
I'm sorry, but if I had a pet that hurt a loved one, either accidentally or on purpose, even if fighting another dog, it would be gone so fast it would make your head snap. Perhaps it is my growing up on a small farm, but a pet is a pet and is not to do ANYTHING to harm me or anyone else.

What if they are outside and somehow tangle with someone else's dog and in the process bite that dog's owner like it did your GF? If you don't have $1K for training, you sure don't have the cash to pay that medical bill.

Just my 2 cents...good luck in whatever you decide to do.
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+1 to that comment -- my wife and I adore all our dogs, but if one of them bit someone unprovoked, they'd be put down, immediately.
 
#39 ·
novi tony said:
Find another girlfriend or tell her to get rid of hers.

Or muzzle them all the time.

Have you looked into "doggie downers"
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Seriously...are you a dog owner or have a girlfriend? You shouldn't have either iif that's how you would handle the situation.
 
#40 ·
Crating a dog is not cruel.It has many good points
one being it givesthe dog a place form them to call theirs.two its a good place for them to go for quiet time.
The person who decides to get a fighting breed must go in it with their eyes opened.
Plus the crate is also a safe zone for the dog.
If you put them in a crate for a punishment then they will resist, and think of the crare as a bad thing.
there are many good things about crate training...
Just do let a breed that is use to human care go not all the time they survive...
 
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