Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all,

I have a 4 year old pitbull (completely legal since I live in Ontario) who I recently adopted from my vet clinic, as she was abandoned by her owners.

She has an amazing temperment, except for her interactions with other dogs.

She is general not able to be in the general area of a dog without barking and growling, and I hesitate to allow her to approach. She always wears a muzzle when outside (as per the bilaws in Ontario) and is FAIRLY well behaved on leash and responds fairly well to commands (both of which im working on).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

You are probably looking at a pretty typical pit bull. They are bred to fight and therefore be dog aggressive. The best you are likely to get is control of her through training but you are not gonna have a dog that can be with other dogs as an unsupervised interaction. A great deal of positive training for attention, "look at me" and fine tuned behaviour on leash so you can avoid troubles. I would say find a trainer that knows the issues but that is a crap shoot as to getting someone who is actually successful.

thanks a lot.

Thats pretty much the things I already figured; I just needed some solidification on my theories.

Yeah, it is something that many bully breed owners learn to live with. If it isn't totally explained to you when you adopt a dog it can be a problem. It, dog aggression, can also, of course, occur in other breeds.