# Former Bait Dog



## Kdevito777

Hello everyone, 

On November 14 2020 my girlfriend and I came across as a pitbull mix that has a lot of emotional baggage. Her name is Leia, she is a tan pitbull mix, we aren't sure what her mix is but have a DNA test we can run. Our vet says she is around 3 years old, already had puppies and we had her spayed after getting her adopted. 

When we first got Leia, we knew she came from a bad living situation. Her owner who lived in Philly owned houses in Trenton that he rented out. Leia was at one of these properties and pretty much "came with house". She was outside 24/7 on a short lead with a dog house shaped like an igloo. A neighbor would dump some extra cat food she had every once and a while. My mother in law is a traveling nurse, and works with the local animal shelter. On her routes, she is familiar with local stray animals. She feeds ands helps bring in any one of these animals that may need medical attention. On one of her morning routes l, she saw cops raid the house where Leia was staying. Both members of the house were arrested. Leia was taken by the animal shelter with the help of my step mom and the shelter had seen her before. My mother in law checked in the next day to see if she could come and see her. When she arrived they understood it as my mother in law wanted to foster her right then and there, Leia became my birthday present and I couldn't love her more. 

Leia was in the shelter no more then 24 hours before her entire living environment was about to change. Right away she seemed just happy to be inside and approachable. But we have had some incidents where she has turned aggressive, always seems out of the blue and towards certain people. It took her a while to fully warm up to me, I have a few scars on my forearms from bites. We always keep her away in another room when any visitors come because she has charged and hurt family members. 

Over time she has become attached to my girlfriend and I. We still experience times where she will charge me but have avoided any incidents like when we first got her. She cannot be around other dogs and we won't take any chances with people coming over. We signed her up with a dog boarding school where she will be there 3 weeks, this training school came highly recommended and after a deep dive we believe this place can help her. 

She was dropped off Thursday (Oct 14th) and right away l knew she was scared, I believe she thought I was abandoning her. The head trainer did the check-in himself, weight and medical evaluation. He had to use calming chews because her stress was through the roof no more then being there 15 min. After the first night, we called to just see how she was doing. The head trainer called us back and told us that she was not doing the best. She cannot be around other dogs, she freaks out when she can see one 50 yards away. She doesn't eat and was very slowly getting settled in. He also mentioned that with his experience and seeing scars on Leia that she was most likely used as a bait dog. She has quarter sized scars around her body, an ear that has chunks missing on the ends and missing bottom front teeth from fang to fang. She carries alot of emotional baggage and stress that the trainer said will never be cured, all we can do is hope training resonates with her. Our goal is for her not to become territorial in our house with guest, we know we will never be able to have another pet with her. 

After this long winded story we come to my questions. Has anyone else experienced this kind of special case and what worked for you? Should I talk to my vet about a medication that will help with her fear or aggressive behavior. She is my dog and will not be leaving my care no matter what. This is strictly a help post. Any responses would be appreciated.


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## sergio87

Thx four your recommendations, I thins are very useful. Greetings!


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## 2DogTrix

Kdevito777 said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> On November 14 2020 my girlfriend and I came across as a pitbull mix that has a lot of emotional baggage. Her name is Leia, she is a tan pitbull mix, we aren't sure what her mix is but have a DNA test we can run. Our vet says she is around 3 years old, already had puppies and we had her spayed after getting her adopted.
> 
> When we first got Leia, we knew she came from a bad living situation. Her owner who lived in Philly owned houses in Trenton that he rented out. Leia was at one of these properties and pretty much "came with house". She was outside 24/7 on a short lead with a dog house shaped like an igloo. A neighbor would dump some extra cat food she had every once and a while. My mother in law is a traveling nurse, and works with the local animal shelter. On her routes, she is familiar with local stray animals. She feeds ands helps bring in any one of these animals that may need medical attention. On one of her morning routes l, she saw cops raid the house where Leia was staying. Both members of the house were arrested. Leia was taken by the animal shelter with the help of my step mom and the shelter had seen her before. My mother in law checked in the next day to see if she could come and see her. When she arrived they understood it as my mother in law wanted to foster her right then and there, Leia became my birthday present and I couldn't love her more.
> 
> Leia was in the shelter no more then 24 hours before her entire living environment was about to change. Right away she seemed just happy to be inside and approachable. But we have had some incidents where she has turned aggressive, always seems out of the blue and towards certain people. It took her a while to fully warm up to me, I have a few scars on my forearms from bites. We always keep her away in another room when any visitors come because she has charged and hurt family members.
> 
> Over time she has become attached to my girlfriend and I. We still experience times where she will charge me but have avoided any incidents like when we first got her. She cannot be around other dogs and we won't take any chances with people coming over. We signed her up with a dog boarding school where she will be there 3 weeks, this training school came highly recommended and after a deep dive we believe this place can help her.
> 
> She was dropped off Thursday (Oct 14th) and right away l knew she was scared, I believe she thought I was abandoning her. The head trainer did the check-in himself, weight and medical evaluation. He had to use calming chews because her stress was through the roof no more then being there 15 min. After the first night, we called to just see how she was doing. The head trainer called us back and told us that she was not doing the best. She cannot be around other dogs, she freaks out when she can see one 50 yards away. She doesn't eat and was very slowly getting settled in. He also mentioned that with his experience and seeing scars on Leia that she was most likely used as a bait dog. She has quarter sized scars around her body, an ear that has chunks missing on the ends and missing bottom front teeth from fang to fang. She carries alot of emotional baggage and stress that the trainer said will never be cured, all we can do is hope training resonates with her. Our goal is for her not to become territorial in our house with guest, we know we will never be able to have another pet with her.
> 
> After this long winded story we come to my questions. Has anyone else experienced this kind of special case and what worked for you? Should I talk to my vet about a medication that will help with her fear or aggressive behavior. She is my dog and will not be leaving my care no matter what. This is strictly a help post. Any responses would be appreciated.


There's no right answer to this. Honestly, I have immediate doubts about any trainer that goes to the "bait dog" excuse. And if she is escalating that badly in the hands of the trainer, it also leaves me with doubts. I went through a lot of mediocre to downright terrible trainers when I brought my bully home. There are a lot of trainers whose tried and true tactics are not the best fit for a bully. I hope this one works out and is good, but I see red flags (maybe just because my own experiences had been so bad and left me jaded). If you decide you are looking for something else, let me know otherwise I will shut up and bow out.

Regarding medication, some people have a lot of luck and some don't. Finding the rights meds and dosage is a long and complex process and is hard to do for humans who can talk to you. It is even harder to sort out for dogs.


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