Posted on 03/26/2013 8:40:49 PM PDT by Arthurio
A four-year-old Chihuahua came to the rescue of an eight-year-old Chilliwack girl after a neighbour's pit bull attacked her and began biting her face.
Jenna Desrochers was outside in a backyard last Tuesday at around 5 p.m. PT when the neighbour's pit bull broke free from its enclosure and went after her.
Soon after, her grandmother's Chihuahua came to the rescue.
Anne Marie Desrochers, Jenna's grandmother, says the pit bull knocked Jenna down and began biting her face. Honey, a four-year-old Chihuahua, then came to the rescue by drawing the attacking dog away.
"The pit bull took Jenna down at the knees, that's what the owner had told me, and basically went for her face."
"Then, the Chihuahua was around...The pit bull ran for the Chihuaua. She was distracted enough," Desrochers said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbc.ca ...
I’m micro-chipped and tattooed.
[I hate wearing pendants. This darn spiked collar is bad enough.]
:D
Shari, do you have just the one Doberman? Do they generally play well others if introduced into an existing pack?
Mojo was a beautiful dog, and I’m sure a great friend and companion. The pic of him carrying the log made me laugh. My Lucy does the same exact thing. When I walk them on the trail on my back five acres, for years now, she has always brought me a challenge stick, to see if I can pull it from her mouth. I never win, but it’s her favorite game now. So, as soon as we hit the woods, she immediately starts looking for a stick. Usually, it’s appropriate size, but if she can’t find a normal one, sometimes she’ll give up and come running with some enormous log, just like in your pic. Sometimes my wife comes with us, and Lucy has taken us both off our feet before, by trying to run by us with the log.
I have two, male and female.
The female is everybody’s friend.
The male is the house cop.
He maintains order but he does get along with everybody.
It really depends on the dog.
They don’t have a ‘pack nature’ like my Sight Hounds do so *can* be one-dog household critters or lovers of all creatures, great and small.
It’s extremely variable and every dog is different.
They generally do see themselves as Your Dog and can be a bit jealous of your other dogs but it’s not unmanageable.
Usually, the pack hierarchy sorts itself out *if* you let it.
I’ve had multiple male Dobes at a time with no problems and I know one breeder whose males all run together just fine, albeit with a very established pecking order.
Nah. I would have to disagree. I have always had Wolf/Malamute, Sheppard/Malamute, or a combo of that, some up to 150 lbs. Sled dogs are closer to wolf than anything else, and any one of mine would have (and have) taken down a pit bull for fun. But I never had a problem with them doing any real damage to people (unless I told them to). They might nip a kid getting out of line, or something, but nothing like the OP would ever happen.
All dogs, ALL of them, are socialized into their GOOD habits. ALL dogs, left to their own devices, would revert to the wild. The breakdown here is not in the species, but rather, most definitely in the training, and most particularly in the socializing...
I have a Mini Ozzie Sheppard now, precisely because I can no longer stretch a Malamute out - They will go batsh*t if they are kept in a yard all the time, not to mention a pen. But the principles in training that Ozzie are the very same I used in training my Malamutes. And socializing is what teaches them what is prey and what is not.
One has to remember that Man's relationship with the dog has been changing exponentially - Even in my Father's day, the dog was a part of everything, not just shut up in a yard and left alone. Go to a farm sometime, where dogs still have the same relationship they always have had with Man... Farm dogs are vicious to strangers of any kind, and they will pack up to face the threat. But all it takes is a word from the farmer, and they settle right down. The same with cow dogs, which the pit is part of. His job is to 'pit' the bull, so the other dogs can work the herd effectively. Sure Pits on the range are bad ass (keeping the bull settled is a tough and tricky job), but they are not like the one in the OP.
There is wisdom in that.
You may be wondering about my other dog; well, you're in luck-- here's Mr Bob. Found him on the street 5 yrs ago. Bob likes to eat.
At my dog park there's a regular visitor: a large red Doberman who patrols others and is thus known as "Officer Dobie." He breaks up skirmishes, not suffering pugnacious pooches gladly.
It’s good to have so many experts here in one place. As a layman... What do I look for to tell the difference? How do I know the difference between the pit that will play nice with my kids, and the pit that will play for a while and then suddenly rip their throats out? What do you look for?
Lucky you!
Odin sleeps upside down on his back with all his junk on full displaying, snoring like a boar hog.
If he were a person, he’d be Al Bundy...;]
Beautiful boy you have there!
My first Dobe [the stray angel] smiled all the time.
My mom and I were in the house when we heard shrieking coming from the front yard.
We ran out to find my aunt with her back smashed against the front door, the meat platter she was returning thrust in front of her as a shield while Caesar was happily smiling and clicking his teeth at her.
He was overjoyed to see her and she thought he was about to kill her.
The ones I had before Odin were a pair of reds and Arthur would ‘sneer’ when you skritched the top of his muzzle.
It was funny and he seemed to really get a kick out out of making me laugh.
:)
Just about all my rarely-seen relatives asked at my dad’s viewing last month “You still got them big black dogs?”
Oh, yeah.
LOL
That’s exactly what he does.
When the bitches get bitchy and start squabbling over toys/blankets/pillows/whatever, he’ll lay here and starting ‘groaning’ which progresses to a low growl and keeps intensifying if they don’t stop.
Finally, he’ll launch himself off the sofa and land between them, growling and shoulder them apart until they go to the opposite ends of their sofa and lie down.
They behave, then.
He apparently really detests discord because it’s not something I ever taught him to do.
A very good post.
Thank you.
GOOD reputable breeders who diligently socialize their puppies using the Rule of 7.
http://www.echowyn.com/Ruleof7.html
Backyard breeders and thugs will not waste that much time on their litters.
His ears were slicked back, his nub and whole rear end were wagging like mad and for God’s sake, the dog was *smiling*!
The only thing more obvious would’ve been if he’d been holding a sign that said “I’M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU I CAN BARELY STAND IT!”
I haven’t had such an obvious ‘smiler’ in long time but I can look at all my dogs’ faces and see their smiles, their frowns, their confusion, their fear...*whatever*.
It might be too subtle for some people but to me, it sticks out like the dog holding up a sign with his thoughts written plainly in English.
I keep trying to show people by example but a very large percentage of dog owners don’t have a clue what their dog is really thinking from one minute to the next.
[they’re usually the people who say “I just can’t get my dog to listen!” maybe they should “listen” to their dog, first.]
:-\
Body language boot camp
http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/diagrams.html
http://www.pawsacrossamerica.com/interpret.html
http://www.edicionsub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/168548_10151052668028278_1817492921_n.jpg
Indeed. Crowd sourcing is a thing of beauty and IMO FR is a fountain of knowledge.
For starters you can stop believing the horror stories you see disseminated in the media are the rule. There are dogs selected and bred for their aggressiveness by the criminal class. Historically any "Pit" that showed any aggression toward humans were undesirable and removed from the pool. Unfortunately general nastiness is prized by a certain demo, and you know who they are. It is a mistake to think magically removing a breed you personally abhor will also take away your fear. They will simply move on to the next breed. Akita, Chow, Sharpei, "Rockweiler", GSD...the list is long. Don't otherwise fool yourself. And of course, these are terriers, who by nature are dominant, and PBs are also powerful.
And I've said it before and I will again, they are not appropriate for many people. They need a knowledgeable and firm hand. Socializing from an early age is critical. The underclass denies their dogs this from the moment they capture them, and are typically abused to promote aggressiveness. Their progeny gets out there, sometimes into unsuspecting and unprepared hands.
I hope that answers your question. I've dealt with the obsessive PB haters here long enough to know better, though. I doubt you are so naive as to think you shouldn't supervise your children when encountering any powerful animal regardless of any preconceived notions about a particular breed.
Two things I do agree on:
1 - All dogs, ALL of them, are socialized into their GOOD habits. ALL dogs, left to their own devices, would revert to the wild. The breakdown here is not in the species, but rather, most definitely in the training, and most particularly in the socializing...
That is precisely my original point, the idiots that are keeping the problem Pits are training to or often letting them to be bad.
2 - Go to a farm sometime, where dogs still have the same relationship they always have had with Man... Farm dogs are vicious to strangers of any kind, and they will pack up to face the threat. But all it takes is a word from the farmer, and they settle right down.
Being on a farm and having 3 farm dogs, they know their property boundaries and are very protective. They do “escort” anyone they are not familiar with until I tell them its OK and still they stay close by “watching”, but they are not vicious except to strange dogs, coyotes or wild animals invading their territory.
The only responsible Pit keepers I know of anymore are hog hunters and when the Pits are not hunting hogs they are kept closly supervised.
That is one sweet looking pup!
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