Some of my pack

This is Zeus, also in my avatar. He is seven years old and we rescued him from a salvage yard when he was 1 year old.



This is Chance. He is 2 1/2 years old. We adopted him from some people who were building a new house and didn't think to check their HOA's that prohibited a number of different breeds of dogs.


Allie is 1 1/2 years old. She is a rescue from a high-kill shelter in TX.


Hannah is almost 5 years old. She is a rescue from a neglect situation.


Marina aka Hula Palooza is a girl I pulled from a small shelter near me that had seized her and 3 other dogs that were being fought. She's an absolute angel and sweetheart. She's about 2 years old.
We call her Hula Palooza because she wiggles her whole butt when she's happy and so she kind of looks like she's hula dancing. LOL!

They are all very beautiful dogs. The one that was being fought..........is she ok with the other dogs now? And did you have to retrain her or anything to not be a fighter anymore? You can tell by the look on all their faces that they are so happy and just love you so much ex[hug]

Thank you! :)

Actually, Marina blended in with the others amazingly well. We kept her separated from the other dogs for a few days. We crate all the pit bulls when we're gone so there is no chance of a problem.
Knowing the situation she came from I don't believe she had been trained all that much to fight. The dogs were pets that belonged to teens and an adult had been coaching them to fight their dogs. One of the males that was seized was pretty aggressive and they eventually put him to sleep as they felt he was too dangerous to adopt and we couldn't find a rescue that would take him.
Marina spent 3 months in animal control before I pulled her and the animal control officer said she had calmed down quite a bit while there. She seems to love everything and everybody. I've had to train her in the sense that she didn't have very good house manners and she needed to be leash trained but I haven't had to try to train any bad habits out of her.

I really like Hannah and Chance, lots of character.

What gorgeous babies!!! I do agree with Bullfrog: Hannah and Chance do show lots of character. Chance looks like he can be quite the litte instigator! I'm sure there is never a dull moment with all these darlin's around.

I used to have the most beautiful (IMHO) brindle, large square-headed pits ever! His name was Charlie, and he was a great gentle giant. He played with my oldest son (then about 3 or 4 yrs old) for hours--no worries. When someone came up my driveway, he would give a distinct warning bark. He would then wait for me to tell him if it was "ok". If it was, he would lay on his back, belly up, and give this wimpy little 'notice me' bark. If it was not "ok", he would give the business bark and growl. Truly a great dog.

Wonderful family, DP.

Beautiful babies, Desertponder. It's so great that you rescued them. It's good to hear also that they are getting along good.

I had meeting with a pit bull on Thanksgiving. I always bring my greyhound to my cousin's for holidays. We are gone too long to leave her home and my cousin is generous enough to welcome her. This year I also had another greyhound with me who I was doggie sitting.

A friend of my cousin had his two sons (young 20's) there also. When we first arrived I saw there was a dog in one of the cars. I asked why, and my cousin't husband said that it was this kid's dog and that it was 10 months old and wild and a pit bull. I said that he couldn't leave the poor dog in the car all day but I didn't want my dogs around it. Even if the dog jumped on my dogs in an attempt to play, sighthounds don't have a undercoat to protect them and very thin skin and get cuts very easily. Most of the ones you see from the track are full of scars. Beside that, it was a strange dog who I didn't know and a pit bull whose temperment I don't trust. They put the dog in my cousin's son's apartment above the garage. After dinner, without warning someone decided to let this dog in the house. It came charging up to us and I just threw myself over my dogs. That dog would not leave them alone. I took my dogs outside then locked them in the laundry room until I could go home. The pit bull was a nice dog and I was not afraid for myself, but I don't trust it around my dogs. The next day I looked up the breed on the internet and all the sites said basically the same thing. That they were animal agressive due to their being breed to fight, that they had unstable temperments and that it is important that the breeder is responsible.

http://www.yourpurebredpuppy.com/reviews/americanpitbullterriers.html

http://www.rescueeverydog.org/pitbull_breed.html

I also had another bad experience with them this past summer. I again was doggie sitting the other greyhound and I was with my friend and her Whippet. We had just had lunch at an outdoor cafe that allowed the dogs and we decided to walk around the neighboorhood. As we approached this one house two loose pit bulls that were outside, unleashed, with the owner came charging towards us-barking. I threw myself over my dogs to protect them and my friend picked up her dog and literlly held off these pit bulls with her voice and body language until the owner came and got them. She has a lot of training experience as she also fosters leader dog puppies. Thank God she was with me and knew how to handle the situation. She kept telling me not to show fear. Afterwards, I couldn't stop shaking.

Maybe because you adopted your dogs as adults and could see their temperment you aren't having any problems.

You have more knowledge and have more experience with them than I do. Do you think that these links give a fair description of the breed? Every site I saw said the same thing so I have to say I am afraid to trust them around my dog.

Yours look like very sweet babies and they are beautiful. The one we met at Thanksgiving looked just like your Chance.

Thanks everyone.:)

Personally, I don't like that first link. The second one isn't too bad.

There is better information at these two sites.

http://www.pbrc.net/

http://www.badrap.org/rescue/myths.cfm

I wouldn't say that most pit pulls are aggressive towards other dogs. Yes, some are and mine certainly have a few issues too.
Allie and Chance are actually my two problem kids. Chance and Zeus will not get along, period. They will fight so they have to be kept apart. Allie absolutely hates Zeus and my two australian shepherds so they have to be kept apart. Basically, I function with two separate packs in my house. Each pack with dogs that get along with each other. Its a challenge but we seem to make it work. One pack will be outside while the other is in the house and then we switch them around.
Some pit bulls will tolerate other dogs and some won't. They're picky about their friends. Marina and Hannah are the ones in the bunch that get along with everyone else and can be with either pack. I can take any of them but Allie to Petsmart, etc. and they do not show any aggression towards other dogs or people.
Pits are not for everyone and you have to be committed to their training and care. They are high energy and demand a great deal of attention. This is why they do not make good pets for the average person and also why they have gotten such a bad rap in the media and are so widely abused. They are not a dog a person can put in the backyard and ignore. That is a recipe for trouble.

Thanks, Desertponder! That's what I'm afraid of - that they will be fine with another dog and than one day instinct will kick in and they will attack.

I wish all pet owners, especially put bulls would take the time to learn about the breed before they adopt and then take the time and effort to train them. There are so many ignorant dog owners out there and the poor dogs are the ones to suffer.

There was a story on the news today about a lady in Detroit who got 2 pit bulls for protection. She had to keep them apart but something happened and they started fighting. She tried to break up the fight then they started attacking her. Somehow she got away, ran upstairs and called 911. The police came and shot both dogs to death. What a shame.

That is sad. You have to know how to break up the fights so you don't get hurt.
Its important to know what can trigger a fight and work to prevent those triggers. Its important to keep the energy level down in your house. Plain and simple, you have to know dogs and you have to know how to train them and be the boss or you'll have problems with more than one pit bull in the house. Even then, they will not always get along.
They all have individual personalities and you have to know how to work with that to keep the peace.

I use to be terrified of pit bulls until I started watching "The Dog Whjisperer". I've learned a lot from Ceasar and his dogs. Calm assertive! The human has to be pack leader!