Pit breeds are actually quite tolerant when they're not raised as fighters, the English actually called the English Staffordshire Terriers, the "baby sitter" dog. They would routinely leave the dogs to guard children, with no fear of the dogs turning on the children.
Anytime a dog growls it's a warning, and it's time to intervene. Dogs don't growl just when they feel threatened. They can growl when they're annoyed, they'll growl when they're saying "it's mine get away". They'll also growl to say "You Shall Not Pass!!" or to say "go away or I'll kick your ass". You may have a pure bred pyr, the coat can sometimes take on a yellowish tinge. However if it's a darker yellow it's probably a pyr/golden mix. Which are beautiful dogs, and they usually get the best of both breeds. Make sure you know the difference between playing and fighting. Dogs playing looks like fighting, minus the growling. There's a specific body language that says "I wanna play" but it can get pretty rough. As far as breaking up a fight, if both dogs are yours, yes step in, they should both see you as alpha, and your word is law. I've stepped between MacGregor and our Airedale/Hound mix, Finnegan when they get to rough. They know dad means business and they'll stop. Check out http://www.sporn.com I use their training harness on both dogs and they barley pull at all. One more thing, check out http://www.pitbulllovers.com/ this is a pro pitbull anti-breed specific legislation site, with a lot of good information about all the different pit breeds -- Scott Stewart ColdFusion Developer SSTWebworks 7241 Jillspring Ct. Springfield, Va. 22152 (703) 220-2835 http://www.sstwebworks.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/sstwebworks -----Original Message----- From: Dana [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 9:59 AM To: CF-Community Subject: Re: A pic to make ya cringe really? My son was sort of pushing the pit from side to side, definitely playing, but roughly. The pit had a clear shot to bite him if she really felt threatened. I did not consider either my son or the pit to but outside the bounds of playing. Interesting that you would say that. The Pyrenee, now, I have never heard her growl.... she has not been with us since she was a puppy though. She is a Humane Society dog; that is why I said probably Pyrenees mix. She looks just like the pictures on the AKC site but is a pale yellow instead of white. She might have been about two when I got her. She guards the house though, for sure. When I forgot the key to the courtyard at the other house and had to climb the wall, she definitely came to check that out. A good dog but it's a pain to walk her because of her size, ayup. Anyway, I have no doubt she thought she was protecting my son, even though I disagree. What I was wondering was whether in future dog fights we should NOT intervene. It sounds I am hearing no? The ER suggested a hose but that last fight was in the living room so that would not have been an option ;) Thanks for the info on breed perception -- I wondered about that. Possibly it was a manners issue kinda. That last pit was definitely not very well behaved. Dana > There's really no such thing as a play growl, my Pyr, play barks and he > makes a noise that we call "talking" (kinda sounds like "ha-rah, ha-rah, > ha-rah") But once the growls start he's not fooling around anymore. These > dogs were bred to guard large flocks, the growl is meant as a warning and > nothing else. One thing with these dogs, you have to maintain "alpha" > status. They can get very large (MacGregor is a year and a half old and he's > pushing 100lbs, he's not mature for another six months or so, we think he's > gonna top out at around 120-130lbs) and you don't want a dog that can be as > heavy as 150lbs uncontrolled. Our boy is very well mannered and well behaved > because my wife and I both maintain alpha status and we don't put up with > any misbehavior from him. > > If the pyr mix was raised with your son from a puppy, he considers your son > as his flock, and will protect him. > > We use the "Ceasar Pinch" on our Pyr or we block him if he growls at any of > the other animals, it's amazingly effective. > > Dogs have no concept of breed or size, it's all about body language, he > would have responded the same way whether it was a pit breed or a Chihuahua. > > -- > Scott Stewart > ColdFusion Developer > > SSTWebworks > 7241 Jillspring Ct. > Springfield, Va. 22152 > (703) 220-2835 > > http://www.sstwebworks.com > http://www.linkedin.com/in/sstwebworks > > -----Original Message----- > From: Dana [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 8:38 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: A pic to make ya cringe > > to hijack this thread off into a tangent a bit -- does this mean that > if two dogs are fighting and they have NOT been trained to dogfight -- > they are just having a territorial dispute oe whatever -- that they > won't hurt each other probably? > > Just curious because my otherwise gentle dog (a probably pyrenees mix) > attacked a couple of our foster dogs. She did tolerate them kinda > afterwards, but we intervened both times. In both cases she probably > considered herself provoked. In one case my son was playing rather > roughly with the other dog, who growled. I saw this and would have > considered it a play growl -- anyway the pyrenees took offense and > attacked the other dog. I just found it rather disconcerting and > wondered....if it makes a difference both dogs this happened with were > pits. > > thanks for any thoughts > Dana > > On 7/23/07, Jim Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Zaphod Beeblebrox [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 11:21 AM > > > To: CF-Community > > > Subject: Re: A pic to make ya cringe > > > > > > So my question is, what makes dog fights so wrong compared with other > > > forms of entertainment. (I myself believe them to be wrong, but I > > > don't like violence in general) ? A dogs true nature is to be > > > territorial, protective, leader of the pack. In nature, these same > > > fights would occur. Just watch your national geographic channel to > > > catch this same kind of behavior in wild animals. > > > > That's a false analogy. > > > > Wild dogs do NOT fight like this. Wild dogs fight for reasons - these > > fights rarely end in serious injury or death. The purpose of combat, in > > nature, doesn't require it: once the female is wooed, the food eaten, > > submission obtained, whatever - the need for fighting is over. > > > > When training dogs for combat their natural instinct to temper themselves > > are suppressed. They are trained to be ruthless, cruel and deadly - to > rip > > and tear and bite until they're forced to stop. > > > > That's not "natural". > > > > Jim Davis > > > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Download the latest ColdFusion 8 utilities including Report Builder, plug-ins for Eclipse and Dreamweaver updates. http;//www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=labs%5adobecf8%5Fbeta Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:238910 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
