# Insight Appreciated: Raising a Pittie with Other Dogs and Small Breed Animals



## Lamidge (Apr 14, 2011)

Hi there. My name is Brittney and this is my first time in these forums and I wanted an opinion. I also apologize if this has been discussed before. I used the search feature and found a similar piece but it didn’t really cover what I am curious about in particular.

I’d like to think of myself as fairly animal savvy. Though I now work in finance, I used to work as a vet tech and also for many years at the SPCA, helping to educate the public in doggy behavior and acclimating new pets to new households etc – so my knowledge of dog breeds and dog behavior is pretty decent.

Our current household consists of two Cavalier Spaniels and four cats. Because we understand pack hierarchy, we’ve always been wise to establish ourselves as the pack “alphas” and took great care in doing our best to socialize our dogs from a young age: allowing being groomed/handled, doggy daycare and parks to adjust to being off leash around new dogs, experience near fast moving animals like the cats, near wobbly and sometimes loud toddlers (though we are childless and plan to remain so), daily exercise and stimulation, avoiding alpha-challenging games like tug of war, etc. Our worst habit is the fact we don’t take great care in making sure we enter or exit doors first, and we do let the dogs walk in front or in back (or to the side, or wherever else their noses take them on a leashed walk).

Our entire lives we’ve also been pittie advocates. As a child, I had a dog we got from a neighbor whose dad was a black lab and whose mom was a pitt/rott. Sweetest and most trustworthy dog I’ve ever known.

We want to adopt a pit puppy (YOUNG, between 8-12 weeks) to bring into the current home – and realize the extended effort a responsible pit owner faces. We understand that no matter what happens, society will always blame us and our dog for anything, so because of that, we understand that it is ESSENTIAL our pit be a well behaved member of society (we plan to train them to get their Canine Good Citizen certification, which our current dogs are training for) and properly socialized.

For all the effort we know we will need to put forth to raise an outstanding pittie spokesperson, the one new bit of information I am reading on sites is making me hesitant. Though I know many pit owners with small breed/other dogs and cats in their household who have never had issues – I am now reading countless “warnings” on breed info sites reminding me that every pit, no matter how well socialized or whether they were raised in the same house, will at some point turn on their own pack (animals, so the dogs and cats, not us) and cannot be trusted whatsoever with other dogs. The usual expectation is that once they reach adolescence (between 7-18 months seems to be the popular length of time on these warnings), they WILL do this and all the pets in our home will be at risk.

Have you found this to be true? While many breeds will have a larger instinct to overcome things (i.e. you’re going to work harder to raise a border collie to not chase your cats than, say, a pug or other low prey-drive breed, but it is completely possible), is it actually true that animal aggression will ALWAYS come out in your pittie?

Or is this hype that pit advocacy sites are pushing in an attempt to REALLY limit the folks who own pits, in an attempt to reduce bad PR for the breed, to help change their view to the public (which isn’t bad, but possibly reduces even the most knowledgeable folks from adopting one and raising it in a good light)?

Insight appreciated!


----------



## EckoMac (Aug 25, 2010)

Adopt an adult pit, 3 yrs or older, and crate train. Never leave your dogs unsupervised. Yes, even the most mellow of couch potatoes can potentially attempt to eat your other dogs. My dog is soooo mellow, as soon as the neighbors lab comes outside, he wants to EAT him. I have a chihuahua, as long as they eat separate and are crated when I'm not home they get along great. I don't want to know what kind of Mexican hors d'oeuvres Chili would become if I left them alone together. Almost found out once, luckily food is a big motivation to my 50lb Bully and he left her be for a biscuit. NEVER again. If you crate the pitt you set him up to succeed. It's better and safer that way.


----------



## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

No matter how well you raise the dog you NEVER leave them alone with your other dogs and at some point the APBT may get dog aggressive and you would have to separate them. When I first started in this breed I thought you could train the DA out of them and keep them as a happy pack. I was just starting out as a dog trainer at a large training center and had several pits. I also had a border collie who was fantastic. One day two of my pits (who were therapy dogs for years and never showed DA) killed my border collie. I was devastated and and the more research I found the more I realized my walt Disney perspective of dogs was totally wrong.

Over the years I have increased my kennel size to almost 20 dogs at this point and very few can live together, most are in dog runs and separated. many years later I now own my own dog training business and compete heavily is dog sports. My dogs are fine on leash with each other however if taken off leash many would fight. They do not live together but I demand they ignore each other on leash. So yes you can have control over them to a point but not in a off leash living situation.

I do have a Boston Terrier who lives in the house with my retired pits however I do not leave them alone with each other even if I go outside I take one with me. I never let them fight or become possessive of anything and I am constantly on the watch or any trouble. just the other day my Boston got brave and tried to take a toy away from my old alpha female.... yeah I had to jump in and save him before she got mad. There is always a possibility they could still get him but I try to keep everything under control. Now you could get a pit who ends up being fine as part of your pack but I would never endanger my other animals to see if they will end up getting along. It is not worth the risk! My last litter of APBT's I bred I had to separate brother and sister at 8 months old. They got into 2 really bad rights at a young age and that was the end of them being able to live with other dogs.

Bottom line is unless you are willing to separate your pit from your other dogs by crating or a dog run, and you are willing to permanently separate them if any aggression shows up then get one. If you cannot manage that then do not get one or you will regret it.
I give you a lot of respect for doing research before you get one, most people learn the hard way then blame the dog.


----------



## ashes (Jul 7, 2010)

Yes it is best to crate but your dog could live with cats and other small dogs many ppl on here have small dogs and cats with their pit bulls but they don't leave them unsupervised. Idk so far I've been lucky my eldest Pittie never gave us problems and was extremely attached to the LAb she grew up with. My 2nd pittie was very DA with female dogs and the only time we had a problem is when we were around lol we have cameras all over our backyard so when they're out on their own we could supervise and they're weren't problems when they were left by themselves. My 3rd pittie now she's about to turn a year old this sunday and has yet to show any aggressive signs toward the other dogs and prefers to be with them actually lol but doesn't mean it can't manifest or something could happpen but as of now everything is well.


----------



## 9361 (Jun 25, 2009)

From my personal experience, my dog was completely cold til she was about a year and a half. And she started to become possessive over toys and bones with other dogs. She attacked another dog in my home over a bone. So after toys were off limits. Then one day she attacked another female pit bull over seemingly nothing. She had known and played with this dog lots of times and never showed an issue. After that I have decided that she is dog selective. She can get along with other dogs under careful supervision. But I will never and have never left her alone with another dog. And thankfully the fights she had were easily broken up as soon as I yelled "out" But I do not take chances. She is 4 years old now. We have dogs on the other side of the fence that she runs the fence with and plays, but I would never allow her to play with them in the open. Too risky. When I get another dog it will be crate/rotate.

Also... remember this breed was selectively bred to make the ultimate fighting dog. Fighting is in their blood. And you can't change that.


----------



## kodiakgirl (May 9, 2009)

I completely agree with everyone else. Owning a pitbull can be a huge responsibility. You might get a dog who you never have a problem with, but then again you could get a dog who is a handful. Basically, this breed is genetically dog agressive (DA) and can have an extremely high prey drive. Dogmen of the past continuously bred them to be DA, but _never_ human aggressive (HA), this was so that they would have high drive for fighting (back in the day), but would be passive towards humans, because they couldn't have a dog turning on its handler in the pit. Some dogs may never show these tendencies, whereas others can be extreme. No matter what, you must always be prepared for the inevitable. 
My boy has always been good with other dogs and animals (our cat is his best friend), but I still don't take any chances. He is always in a kennel when I am not around, that way I don't set him up for failure. You sound like a responsible owner, and I applaud you for doing your research beforehand. Like performanceknls said, most people learn the hard way and the dog gets blamed, when it's only the dog's natural behavior. 
I noticed in your original post that you mentioned using dog parks as a socializing tool. With this breed, dog parks are a big no-no. There are way too many irresponsible owners who bring their dogs to dog parks, and if you bring a pitbull there, you are only setting it up to fail. You never know when another dog might run up and try to take a toy from your dog, and next thing you know you've got a fight going on, and everyone in the dog park is watching this "vicious pitbull maul another dog." And that will only add to their already tarnished reputation. Please, avoid dog parks with your pitbull _at all costs._ If you want to do extra socializing, take your pitbull for lots of walks, but _always on a leash_ so that you can always maintain control of your dog in case something were to happen. I think of my dog's leash as my insurance policy for him.  The basic rule that we all live by on here is that you can never trust a pitbull _not_ to fight.
Welcome to the board, we have many knowledgeable people around here with many years of experience with handling these amazing dogs. Stick around, and I'm sure you will learn more than you ever thought you would know about them, I sure did!


----------



## kodiakgirl (May 9, 2009)

EckoMac said:


> Adopt an adult pit, 3 yrs or older, and crate train.


I agree with this especially, if you get an older pitbull, their personality will be pretty solid. Adopting is always better anyway, give a homeless dog a chance for a good life.


----------



## Sloane (Apr 14, 2011)

*Our pitty and our 3 cats*

My husband and I have three cats that I rescued from the streets 8 years ago. I took in the whole family and adopted some of the kitties out but kept the Mommy (Mommy), one son (Henry) and one daughter (Baby).

Being involved in rescue we ended up falling in love with one of the pitties we pulled from death row a year ago and adopted her. She was a cruelty case and was starved. She is not good with our cats so they live happy but seperate lives. Our pitty goes to daycare during the day so the cats have the run of the house and when we are home they are seperated for the most part. We work with a trainer to help our precious pitty Dara overcome some leash issues but there is nothing much for him to do regarding their relationship. Some dogs are good with small animals and some dogs are not. Our Dara has to high of a prey drive. It is a lot of work but they are all happy and healthy with our current situation


----------



## Blue_Nose_Bella (Jan 16, 2011)

Sloane said:


> My husband and I have three cats that I rescued from the streets 8 years ago. I took in the whole family and adopted some of the kitties out but kept the Mommy (Mommy), one son (Henry) and one daughter (Baby).
> 
> Being involved in rescue we ended up falling in love with one of the pitties we pulled from death row a year ago and adopted her. She was a cruelty case and was starved. She is not good with our cats so they live happy but seperate lives. Our pitty goes to daycare during the day so the cats have the run of the house and when we are home they are seperated for the most part. We work with a trainer to help our precious pitty Dara overcome some leash issues but there is nothing much for him to do regarding their relationship. Some dogs are good with small animals and some dogs are not. Our Dara has to high of a prey drive. It is a lot of work but they are all happy and healthy with our current situation


What kind of daycare are we referring to with your pit? Doggy daycare is a BIG NO NO for this naturally dog aggressive breed.


----------



## kodiakgirl (May 9, 2009)

Blue_Nose_Bella said:


> What kind of daycare are we referring to with your pit? Doggy daycare is a BIG NO NO for this naturally dog aggressive breed.


I was going to say the same thing, but you beat me to it. Doggy daycare is a perfect example of setting your dog up for failure and taking a _huge risk!_ Unless it's a daycare where they keep all of the dogs separate with their own individual playtime, doggy daycare is just an accident waiting to happen for a pitbull...


----------

