[Lacey's_Mom]

Ok, so we brought Lacey to Plymouth because she's really good on the leash, well apparently it was bring your pitbull to Plymouth day because there were tons of them! Now whenever she sees a dog or squirrel or anything move infront of her she pulls and starts to whimper. She used to live with another pit in her house before. So at Plymouth her and the other pits were "meeting eachother" kinda nose to nose and she sniffed and when we would start to walk again she'd start to whimper until the next dog.

She's never growled or barked at anything running past her. But is the whimpering an "I want to play" whimper or is it a "I want you in my belly"
whimper?

I just dont want to read her the wrong way and she goes nose to nose with another dog to "meet" and she tries to attack.

 

[ames]

My dog is hit or miss if he reacts or not. Sometimes he whines and reacts to a dog, other times he whines and doesn't. Very hard to tell. I just don't introduce him t other dogs unless I know the owners and they are OK with it. Saves everyone from any issues or problems. My pup's hackles go up and his butt stiffens when he isn't happy, his tail and everything still appear to be wagging, but I can see the difference. It has nothing to do with the whine IMO, at least with my pup.

 

[Lacey's_Mom]

Yea IMO i didnt notice any difference in her body language when she was around the other dogs, the squirrels and stuff, she wants to chase she'll pull, but if i'm walking her and a small dog goes by she just ignores it, but a big one she'll usually sit and look at me and look back at the dog and whine

 

[rob32]

a dog barks as a warning to other animals. a lot of the time a pit bull wont actually bark because they arent trying to warn other animals away, they invite encounters. ive had many dogs that wouldnt bark at other animals at all, theyd just attack once they were within range. and sometimes there isnt much of a difference between DA and playing. to them, it IS playing.

 

[duckyp0o77]

a dog barks as a warning to other animals. a lot of the time a pit bull wont actually bark because they arent trying to warn other animals away, they invite encounters. ive had many dogs that wouldnt bark at other animals at all, theyd just attack once they were within range. and sometimes there isnt much of a difference between DA and playing. to them, it IS playing.

this is SO true. which is why we dont meet strange dogs in public or anywhree for that matter. people are ignorant and dont understand that.

 

[rob32]

this is SO true. which is why we dont meet strange dogs in public or anywhree for that matter. people are ignorant and dont understand that.

i have the most unsocialized dogs ever lol. i know so many dog owners swear by socialization but i dont. my dogs have me, they dont need other doggie friends. besides, the first dog i introduce max to he will just latch hold of them. hes tried the couple times ive let him anywhere near another creature.

 

[k8nkane]

Hackles up doesn't necessarily mean aggression. Hackles raise due to arousal, whether it's excitement, fear, or aggression. Kane gets his hackles up when I get out his chuck-it because he loves fetch so much.

It's hard to "diagnose" body language over the internet because dog language involves so much more than looking at one or two parts--you have to take everything in.

If Lacey wanted to attack, she would attack. She wouldn't think about whether she wanted to or not. How long were these sniffs? How much exposure to other dogs does she get? Kane is dog-friendly, but when I don't take him out to meet other dogs enough, he'll start to get "desperate" to meet them. Sometimes when we're in Petsmart for the first time in a while, he'll see another dog and pull towards them and throw them play bows from across the store, lol.

As for the whole socialization thing ... I believe that for most dogs if you don't properly socialize them, you're setting them up for failure. If you don't expose them to other dogs, they don't understand how to properly communicate with other dogs. This has been proven in studies. HOWEVER, and I want to make sure I say that in caps, HOWEVER you can't get by on socialization alone. DA has a genetic component and genetics will always win over socialization--socialization will only help minimize repercussions and give the dog something to fall back on.

 

[rob32]

Hackles up doesn't necessarily mean aggression. Hackles raise due to arousal, whether it's excitement, fear, or aggression. Kane gets his hackles up when I get out his chuck-it because he loves fetch so much.

It's hard to "diagnose" body language over the internet because dog language involves so much more than looking at one or two parts--you have to take everything in.

If Lacey wanted to attack, she would attack. She wouldn't think about whether she wanted to or not. How long were these sniffs? How much exposure to other dogs does she get? Kane is dog-friendly, but when I don't take him out to meet other dogs enough, he'll start to get "desperate" to meet them. Sometimes when we're in Petsmart for the first time in a while, he'll see another dog and pull towards them and throw them play bows from across the store, lol.

As for the whole socialization thing ... I believe that for most dogs if you don't properly socialize them, you're setting them up for failure. If you don't expose them to other dogs, they don't understand how to properly communicate with other dogs. This has been proven in studies. HOWEVER, and I want to make sure I say that in caps, HOWEVER you can't get by on socialization alone. DA has a genetic component and genetics will always win over socialization--socialization will only help minimize repercussions and give the dog something to fall back on.

properly communicating with other dogs to my dogs means to attack them.
since i have APBT dogs i see no reason to try and teach them otherwise. honestly, if i wanted to have dogs that would be good with other dogs i wouldnt have picked the dogs i did. my dogs have met plenty of people though and for the most part are great with them. a woman i work with who has had almost zero interaction with APBT dogs in her life was truly impressed with how friendly he was and said that she wishes her lab would be the same way. this same dog however will quickly attack any animal he sees, be it dog, raccoon, ect. its just what he is.

to make sure he doesnt get into any trouble i keep him under my control or properly contained at all times.

 

[k8nkane]

Which is why I said that genetics always wins over socialization. If any dog (not just the APBT) is DA, there's nothing you can do about it other than manage it.

But I think it's wrong to make a blanket statement that every pit bull type dog is going to be dog aggressive. Dogs are individuals; their breeds give them starting points, but there are border collies who won't herd and labs that won't retrieve. If I'd found this board first, I would never have allowed my dog-friendly APBT to be around other dogs, thereby making what I feared come true--through lack of socialization versus genetics.

That is NOT to say, however, that you shouldn't be prepared for DA at all.

 

[Sadie]

This is a tricky one .. Bulldog's are funny character's a lot of times what looks like playing quickly escalates into a blood bath. Some dog's sound off the alarm before a fight. Some are overly excited tails going acting as if they want to play but what they really want to do is fight. Other's will show absolutely no warning they just go straight in for the kill. The good thing is most of us know these dogs are supposed to be DA genetically so there should be no reason why we are not prepared for it to happen when it does happen. Da really is very manageable as long as the owner stays one step ahead of their dogs. Make no mistake though once DA is shown their is no mistaking it for playing because you will have to intervene to break those dog's off each other.

 

[s.mariegreene]

i had the same problem with Zena i couldn't tell if she wanted to play or attack. i called Bev (thaLadyPit) and ask her if she could come and help me read her body language. now i know she is a roll with the flow kinda girl. if the other dog want to play she will play but if the other dog wants to fight and starts it she is there to. she will stand there waiting to see what the other dog will do. we used my female GSD ( we was introducing them) and we found out the my GSD is a trouble maker she tried to start a fight with Zena

 

[kera5]

a dog barks as a warning to other animals. a lot of the time a pit bull wont actually bark because they arent trying to warn other animals away, they invite encounters. ive had many dogs that wouldnt bark at other animals at all, theyd just attack once they were within range. and sometimes there isnt much of a difference between DA and playing. to them, it IS playing.

totally agree 100%:goodpost:

 

[Lacey's_Mom]

well we got Lacey from the MSPCA and she lived with another female pit bull and (from her last owner's paperwork) never had any issue with it. They did say that she does play rough, I would NEVER bring her to a dog park, it's not my kinda thing anyway, I don't really believe in dog parks because a lot of the dogs that go in there are from dumb owners who think they're dog is great with everything and they have no control over them.

k8nkane, Lacey does the same thing with the play bowing thing in pet stores.

I guess my problem is that i want to see how she interacts with other dogs her size, knowing that she plays rough i would never let her loose around small dogs, thats just an accident waiting to happen.

And out of the other people i know that have big dogs they're not spayed or neutered. Lacey is spayed and i dont want her around a male thats not neutered. My friend has 2 boxers that she wants to breed (lets not even get into that one, lets just say BYB) and i dont want her around that.

and if the dog is spayed or neutered its not trained well, and considering we've had her for about a month and her training is coming along pretty well i dont want another dog or owner to mess up my progress with her. I just think its like kids, you dont want them to hang around with the wrong crowd for fear of them becoming the wrong crowd.

 

[Aczdreign]

If I'd found this board first, I would never have allowed my dog-friendly APBT to be around other dogs, thereby making what I feared come true--through lack of socialization versus genetics.

That is NOT to say, however, that you shouldn't be prepared for DA at all.

Interesting that you say that. I started coming here just a few weeks before I got Argos, and read a lot of stuff about being wary during socialization, and that APBT's are all dog agressive, etc. So when I brought him around initially, I think I was TOO worried about it.

He's a little over a year old now, and since we've come to understand one another better, and I don't feel as on edge as I did initially, and I have only seen him act aggressive one time.

I was walking him one night downtown, and this bum is walking towards us. He was about 50 ft down the street, and Argos starts to loose a low growl followed by guttural barking (very uncommon for him). I quickly took him to the other side of the street and he was fine. He just didn't want us to walk by that guy for whatever reason...I didn't ask.

But anyway, back to the OP, Argos does the SAME THING that you're talking about, especially at the vet!

Last time we went, we were in the waiting room and this lady had a tiny, tiny puppy in her arms. You could swear that I was hurting Argos, he was crying and whining so bad to go sniff that puppy!!!!
He absolutely loses his mind around other dogs (my neighbor's dogs, too), he pulls, he whines and cries like a BIG BABY!!!
And when we do let them play a little (under very close supervision), it's the other dogs that start to bark at HIM, because he is just -so excited-. I think he starts to annoy the other dogs after a while...
And it's only other dogs that he gets excited about...He lives with a cat, and almost completely ignores my neighbor's cats. If he pays them any attention at all, it seems like he's trying to show off his latest feat of airborne tennis ball catching.

Now, please don't misconstrue what I'm saying as having completely given up the watch for DA in my dog. Not at all. I still keep an eye on him, and a close one. But I AM convinced that this particular dog is on the lower end of the DA scale.

 

[Lacey's_Mom]

yea Lacey has never growled at anything except when we're in bed and she hears my fiance coming in through the front door and she doesnt know who it is. thats actually the only time she barks too, if someone is coming through the front door she'll bark until she sees who it is then i swear her back legs dont stay on the floor because her butt is wagging so much.

 

[cEElint]

Dre starts screaming w/ excitement when we see other dogs.. he doesnt do it all the time though.. he's fine off leash w/ other dogs at my cousins and grandmas too..

 

[fishinrob]

If it's the same as the squirrel cry and pull, then it's a prey reaction. Maggie Wants to go with every bigger dog she sees, but lets little ones get a free pass. Better safe than sorry, I'd avoid all dog contact. You just never know!