i wouldnt recommend a pit bull rescue place to get a dog that will be around a child
the rescues do not get the full 101 on the backrounds of the dogs.
and they dont always put the ones who are agressive towards kids or other dogs asleep. infact there are so many dog/kid/one gender agressive dogs in shelters that are available to be adopted

You can also contact your local vet's. Let them know that you are interested in puchasing a pit, but that you want them to be from a reputable breeder.

My vet actually knew who I bought mine from. And said that he had referred him to many people asking for pits.

I have had pits before to answer that question. I love the breed. I would also like to add that I have no questions or concerns about the breed temperament as a whole. Nor do I have any problems with raising my child around the breed in general. My two pits were great with kids. My only issue is finding a dog that hasn't been specifically bred to fight. Contrary to what some people believe it is not simply about how they are raised. Genetics does play a role. Breeders that breed for fighting are looking for certain characteristics. Some of them are fairly innocuous like gameness, strength, etc. Others are not so harmless like prey drive. If you're breeding for a high prey drive, that is not a dog to have around a small child. It will go for anything smaller than itself. You might argue that it could be trained out of the dog. Maybe it can, maybe it can't. I never succeeded in getting Zandi to stop killing mice. All I know is all that it takes is one incident to harm my son. Then there's also the fact that a lot of these breeders will inbreed the dog. That is not safe or stable by any means and not easily overcome with training. That isn't to say that maybe a dog or two from a litter like that wouldn't be able to be trained to be a good family pet but due to the size, strength and gameness of these dogs, it's not a chance that I would be willing to take with myself or my son. Don't forget, I know how strong they are... I had two. But there is definitely some good advice here. I've been approaching this from the negative side of things. Don't know why it didn't occur to me to approach it the easy way. When I get my pup, I'll post pics. Off to find one right now!

I think how you raise a dog does have a lot to do with how it's going to be, but genetics does have a lot to do with it. If the parents are aggressive than the liklihood that the pups will be aggressive is high.
We had a Springer Spaniel when I was a kid "Dunmore". His mother was the sweetest dog int he world, but his father was aggressive (very). It turned out Dunmore had an aggressive streak too and chomped on the mailman. He was well trained, never abused, and he still turned out to be mean.

Good luck on your dog search

the parens being agressive has no effect on the puppies at all
there have been numerous studies that show thats false and untrue. it would be like seing "if two mean parents that hate dogs have a child the child will automatically be mean and hate dogs too"
no
its not like that
if the parents raise that child to be mean and hate dogs then yes thats what the child will be brought up to believe.

and kay i agree with the inbreeding alot of breeders DO inbreed dogs from the same litters and family lines which causes gene deformities

I've had the experience of dealing with a puppy from fighting parents once and whether that pup's temperament was a fluke or not, it's not a chance that I am willing to take. That was the pup that I had before Zandra and that pup went right back to the owners.

Its all about the dogs temperment itself it doesnt have anything to do with the parents. But I understand being more cautious having an infant also. Although you can have the nicest parents and have a dog that is aggresive...and it might not be becuase it has ancestors that were fighting dogs, some dogs have a temperment where they are "fear" biters meaning when they get scared they bite.

I have a miniature pincher which a breed that has a rep for biting...and I would trust her around any little kid. My neice comes over and drags her by her ears and pulls her skin and she just sits there....becuase we taught her that she is a baby and babies cant be hurt. When my niece was just a baby, and my sister and I still lived at home...if she cried my dog would run around barking at everyone untill someone came and got her.

A teacher I was very close to at my high school (she taught journalism and was the sponsor for our student council) had a pit bull for many years as a pet together with her husband. He'd gotten it from his grandparent's litter and given it to her as a gift while they were dating in high school. They loved their dog sooo much, and she had pictures of it all on her desk in our classroom, and she even brought it with us on a stu-co trip to the beach. She eventually became pregnant and had a beautiful baby boy. Her mother was over visiting one day when the baby was about 10 months old, and she fed the dog for her daughter. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but if I remember right the baby was sitting on the floor in the kitchen while the dog was fed, and it attacked the child brutally and killed it. It was horrible, and it makes me cry talking about it that it happened to this woman that was so young and loved her dog and son so much. It hurt her so bad that she packed up all of her stuff and without telling hardly anyone where she was going, moved somewhere across the country she wouldn't have to talk about it again. She has since become pregnant again. The dog, of course, was forced to be put down.

Her dog had never shown signs of aggression before ever. I'd met it before personally and it was the sweetest thing. Mrs. Katowitz was the type of woman who would never have kept even the dog she loved as much as a child if she thought for one second something like this would happen to her son. But it did, for one reason or another. And because of that, I think that ANY dog, reguardless of whether or not it was bred for breeding (my teachers dog was actually from a line of dogs her husband's family had owned for ever and none of them were known for this type of behavior) or how it was raised (her dog obviously was raised right) can do this type of thing. It had no previous experience with food aggression either, and she had a cat in the home to prove it.

I know this sucks to read and no one wants to hear this, but because I knew this person myself and the pain it caused her in every aspect of her life, I felt I had to share. I don't really know what my point was, however, except that I would urge you to reaaally be careful and think your decision through (which it looks like you already have). I would never want this to happen again.

As weird as it is, I hold nothing against the pit bull breed because of it. I know that lots of breeds, from chows to chihuahuas (and keep in mind I own a german shepherd myself) can attack children and people. Also, my friend brandon brings his dog over regularly (a pit bull) and she's my dog's BFF. She chases my cats around, but thats only because she likes them so much. She loves people more than any other dog I've ever met, and she's soooo sweet. I just don't know if I'd own one with a young child in my home just because of what happened to my teacher.

well ive got 6 dogs
3 of them pit bulls and i love them more than anything

i dont know why pits have such a bad rep but people dont know that every year more people are bit,attacked and killed by breeds like GERMAN SHEPS, labs and other dogs TWICE more than the number of pit bulls

They really do seem like they have the worst reputation of all dogs. I also know that statistics show that they aren't the most violent either. I don't agree with any of the anti-pit stuff going around, but I do know that this happened to someone I knew and cared about and was one of the most horrible things that ever happened to someone I knew. Like I said, I have one in my home often Suzy. I know my teacher wasn't a bad or careless mother for owning a pit bull, and you or anyone else who wants one/owns one certainly isn't either. I just shared my story though because of the conversation about their temperament and what might cause them to attack: nature or nurture.

I'll be the first to say that the dog might have done the same thing if it was a poodle or a lab or a german shepherd. But I felt like I had to share the story. I don't want to ever hear of anything like that happening to anyone.

Omg that's horrible

yeah i understand what you mean
its sad and they get the bad rep because they have the stereotype against them

also it is never good to feed a dog around a child or anyone at all
some dogs just snap
food agression cannot be distinguished in all dogs sometimes and they may be perfectly fine with kids bening around when they are eating and then out of the blue they just snap.

thats a very sad story though
btw your white GSD is beautiful

Dogs have an instinctive nature for survival. Humans do not possess the same. You can't compare humans to dogs. I agree that if parents teach their child to hate dogs they will. That is a learned behavior, not an instinctive one

It really is sad. But you can't take it out on the breed.


Anyway


It's funny because I think my littlest cat has food aggression She's a year old, but she still looks like a kitten. It's sooo funny, I wish I could record it and show you guys. In fact one day I will, it's the most hilarious thing ever! She'll see me feeding my dog and know her turn is next and just start beating up my poor wittle puppy. It looks like shes a boxer. It's funny, but she doesn't hurt her because we put soft paws on her claws (we have leather furniture and I don't think declawing cats is humane). Some day soon I will show you. And thanks so much for your compliments on Lily. I've never put so much effort into a dog before, but she really is showing me more and more every day how worth it she is. We take her to obedience classes and everything. She was the valedictorian in her class. I need snoop dogg's "my dog is the shizznit" bumper sticker to put on my volvo... since I can't yet be a soccor mom I'm so proud.

any breed can be aggressive, I think pits get the bad rap because of the fighting and because when they are aggressive they do great damage. Most of the pits I have had the pleasure of meeting were very sweet and gentle dogs
My neighbors have dachounds (hot dogs) and they are the meanest little varmints that ever walked the face of the earth.

Mrs: your dogs are beautiful!

ahh but humans do have an instictive nature for survival
you would be very suprised if you were put in a life or death situation what you would do to live for example.

humans and dogs posses lots of the same qualities
the will to live
the will to be happy
the abillity to save lives
and the ability to kill

there are good dogs and bad dogs
there are good people and bad people
bad people are not bad people because of who their parents are or how they acted but because of how they are raised and taught

just like dogs

I would be interested to know how you trained your dog to be so good with kids, if you wouldnt mind saying here or pm'ing me?

Im having trouble with our dog sometimes. Its understandable that she gets annoyed if Jay gets in her face too much, hes a typical boy and likes to tease her sometimes. He'll move his head back and forth infront of her face or he'll go push her head about when shes asleep, or keep taking her toys away from her when she wants them. So its understandable when she gets snappy with him, and I tell him off about it every time but he still does it occasionally. I guess I just want her to be more placid, like some dogs once they have had enough of someone pulling them about or whatever, they will walk away, but she goes to snap at him. Shes done it at his face once, and got his fingers several times. (doesnt leave a mark but he comes to me all upset crying and im like...well I told you not to tease her, you're making her be a mean dog etc). Shes not aggressive really, its like she doesnt like it and the only way she knows how to handle it is to warn him to leave her alone by snapping at him. Ofcourse everytime she does that I immediately tell her off - I do that by saying "NO LANEY" in a deep cross voice which she knows means shes done something wrong and she puts her head down like in submission to me, then I make her leave the room for about a minute. How else can I train her to not do it? Anyone have any tips? Shes still a puppy, shes 9 months old so I keep telling myself shes only young, shes still learning, but thats not going to be an excuse much longer. Shes half jack russell half chihuaha if that helps.

Mrs thats so sad what happened to your friend. I dont think I would own a dog if I had a baby, just wouldnt want to risk it. I waited until Jay was 4yrs old before we got our puppy for that reason. A baby cant defend itself at all.

I agree with mommy35 that pitbulls probably have such a bad reputation because of the severity of injury they cause when they attack.

My mum had a miniature dachsund growing up, it was the best dog. She hasnt had a dog for over 30 years but shes going to get another miniature dachsund sometime in the future.

Dog fighting is so sad
Goodluck with your dog search tigrescanela!

Sickmamma (I'm so sorry I don't know your first name ), usually dogs just become more placid with age unless they develop health problems, in which case they'll become more aggressive when faced with annoyance. You probably can not teach the dog to never snap at your son when he displays these (very typical might I add) little boy behaviors, as the dog really is only warning him to not hurt it. About the only thing you CAN do is to teach your dog to have a soft mouth. As stupid as it sounds, I promise you can actually teach a dog this. Then, even in situations when the dog is biting a human out of anger and not just rough-play, the dog will learn to not use more jaw-force than you have taught it to. This is also very helpful incase the dog ever has some type of injury occur to it that you have to assess (such as a broken limb or getting it's tail stuck in a door), it will not turn and deliver hurtful bites to you in a moment of desperation. Of course if provoked further in horrible circumstances where the dog really feels it must defend it's life it might bite as aggressively as it is capable of, but in my experience I have never witnessed that scenario.

But anyway

Teaching your dog to have a soft mouth (also referred to as bite inhibition if you wish to look up more information about it online):

First you must work on decreasing the force of the bites, and then you decrease the frequency of the bites. Remember this - bite inhibition must be taught in this order. If you try to decrease the frequency of the biting first then the dog will never learn to soften his bite. In the end, you should have a dog whose "bite" will consist of placing it's teeth onto your skin with NO force behind them.

* Step one: Play with your dog and maybe get it roughed up a little (make sure this is done by you or another adult, but not your son), and allow NO painful bites. Almost all young dogs will stop immediately if you squeal (imitate a puppy yelp) in a high-pitched voice. (About 10% of puppies, however, will only get worse after the yelping. If you happen to have a dog like this, then in order for you to teach it that it is hurting you is to end the game all together and ignore the dog completely as quickly as possible so it can relate biting to you ignoring it, which is the worst punishment to a dog. If you end the game, it is very important you get away from the puppy as quickly with as little attention as possible. It's sometimes easier to have the dog tied up to something, that way you can just step back out of its reach if need-be. You could also be in a confined area with a gate and then just simply stand up and move past the boundary. Make sure you give the dog NO attention for a good 2 minutes. Remember that ANY attention you give the dog - even when it is negative - is attention. If it is really hard to get away immediately, when you begin to get up create a hand signal that means stop. You can use it anytime you want to tell the dog "Okay, fun's over. You're a jerk".) Keep in mind that this game requires you to administer NO negative reinforcement or punishments. Do not scream at the dog or shove your hand into the back of it's mouth or anything like that. All that it requires is you to yelp (or move out of the way) to get it to stop hurting you. If your dog is really excited and it's teeth are starting to hurt you a lot, than give it a chew toy and continue the game later. Too much at one time can be overwhelming for you and leave red scratches all over your hands. I know from experience that this is nooot a pretty sight

* Step two: Once you can get your dog to stop biting whenever you yelp (or stand up and stop the game) you can teach your dog soft biting and eliminate all pressure. Remember that this is a gradual process. Begin by setting a limit oh how hard the dog can bite (don't start out with something unrealistic for the dog) and anytime she bites you harder than that, yelp like a hurt puppy (or give your hand signal and leave), stop the game, and ignore for a few minutes. As your dog learns what is okay and what is not, start to gradually increase your expectations and only allow softer and softer bites. Make sure you don't do this too gradually or you will confuse and frustrate the dog and make it think that you are being unfair.

* Step three: after your dog's bites have become soft and harmless, teach it "drop it" (if she already doesn't drop things she has in his mouth on command). This is important because, one, it makes games like fetch easy to play and safer for children to participate in, and two, if your dog ever gets so mad at your child that she puts his teeth around his finger, even though she may not hurt him by her bite, she may be frustrated and hold it in her mouth, which would be really frightening for your son. Drop it isn't very hard to teach, either, so it shouldn't be too bad. Get a toy your dog likes and play fetch with it. Then when whe brings it back, offer her a treat she really loves (a slice of hot dog, a small peice of grilled chicken, a cube of cheese, etc) and say "Drop it". When she makes any effort to trade her toy for the treat, say "Good 'drop it' Laney! That's a good girl!"" I know this sounds like the dumbest thing ever, but after awhile she'll learn what you want.

* Step four: From here on out, just try and make sure your dog never touches a human with it's mouth unless invited. Make sure she doesn't get snappy and grab treats impolitely, or that she never grabs both his toy AND your hand while playing fetch. Anytime she puts his mouth on you without your invitation, then let her know you don't like it by yelping like a hurt puppy so she stops immediately. Every once in a while play mouth games with your dog. Place your hands all around her face and muzzle, and allow her to mouth your hand softly (basically gum you to death like a baby) and award her with lots of praise ("Goood dog, Laney! Good no biting!").


I know I just typed a whooole lot, but I've been up since 5 am and can't sleep. I'm soooo sorry for taking over your thread, Kay.

Good luck with your family, Sickmamma. I know that it seems like it takes a ton of time, but the reward you'll have with a dog and son you can trust together is priceless. I hope I've helped.

Oh, I don't care. I love dogs and i think it's well worth it if it helps someone to save their dog's life. I'm a fanatic about training dogs because badly behaved dogs wind up in the pound where in the majority of cases they're put down.

yay kay! let us know how it goes1 i hope you find the perfect match soon!