New PitBull Owner!

[HeatherH]

Hi everyone!!!! Just wanted to introduce myself... My name is Heather and although ive owned pits in the past I havent owned 1 in quite a while until now. I recently adopted a black female and a black/white male from a great pitbull rescue in ATL. My male is 80lbs and 2 years old and my female is 1 year old and about 45lbs.


I joined this forum to be able to associate with other pitbull owners and people who respect and understand the breed. I have found many ignorant people who refuse to hear that a pitbull can be a great pet!

I do however have a story to share and ask for opinions on this issue. I live in a quiet area near a lake. it is a small community and the other day my husband and I were out walking our 3 dogs (we have a brittney spaniel also)... we had all of them leashed and not bothering anyone. One of our neighbors came out to compliment how pretty the dogs were. We stopped for a moment to thank him when this little jack russell came out of nowhere and nipped at my brittney... Well zigzag the male pitty turned around and grabbed hold of the jack (my pit has never shown aggression till this point) my husband intervened and pulled my pit away from the jack. The jack came back at him and again the dogs tangled. Needless to say zigzag tore the jack up pretty bad . The worst part was the guy standing there kept kicking my dog in the head making him madder while my husband was trying to seperate the dogs. Then the guy tries blaming my pitbull for what the jack russell did to my brittney. As I see this I was being responsible by having all my dogs on leashes and minding our business. I have walked my dogs around before without problem.


Am I wrong when I say that this seems not to be my dogs fault but by this jack russell that wasnt leashed at all? it seems that my pit was just protecting his family? Please any insight would be appreciated.

[michael]

I agree with you. I can understand a dog getting aggressive on a dog showing aggression. I saw it when my dog put her paws on the back of a small dog she wanted to play with while barking. The little dogs mate stepped up and started a shouting match with my Krisee. It evolved into snarling growls before I broke it up.

Welcome here Heather. There's ton of experience and supreme advice on this site. Glad to hear you adopted.

[AmStaffZach]

I am certainly no expert but I, too, hate it when an unleashed and/or untrained dog starts something and then becomes the "victim" after another protects/retaliates. "Oh, look at the cute Jack Russel Terrier" one minute, then"Oh, poor thing." Right...

Nothing against Jacks but all dogs should be leashed if they are not under total voice command. Otherwise these things happen and it only makes the "big, bad, mean, aggressive" stereotype carry on for the other dog.

Anyway, welcome. I'm new as well.
Bob

[HeatherH]

The best part was.. the actual owner of the Jack Russell was no where to be found!!! I just dont understand letting your dog run loose! I mean besides the obvious threats of other larger dogs... there are other threats to including wild animals. To me that is neglect, letting your dog roam around like that! The guy that started kicking my dog in the head acted like it was our fault for walking our dogs! Last time I checked there wasnt a law..well at least here in GA that prevented me from walking my otherwise friendly dogs around.

im just pretty shook up about the whole incident.. I try to be a considerate dog owner and promote the breed in a good light..but incidents like this with other careless dog owners isnt helping my case

[dogfarts]

Obviously, if the Jack Russell Terrier had been on a leash, the whole altercation would have been avoided. It's certainly not your dog's fault for acting in self-defense, even though the little rodent probably didn't pose much of a threat. It sounds like the other guy needs to be kicked in his head a couple of times, though. I think I would have had a really hard time controlling myself if some moron were kicking Luke.

[K9Siren]

It sounds to me like you did everything you could have short of kicking the Jack Russell. I used to own a Jack Russell - I never will again! They think they are big dogs and, they are nippy and, can be dog agressive. They have severe dominance issues. There's a lot of people who are experts on this forum but, I'm not one of them...still, I think you did what you could. Welcome!

[BootsiesMom]

Welcome i'm new here as well. From what you have told us you are entirely in the right. Do you know if there is a leash law in GA where you live? Here in CA there is, and if there is one where you live it's a open and shut case. Person with unleashed pet is ALWAYS in the wrong.

[J.N.O. Pits and Pix]

You were absolutely correct in your actions, and your way of thinking. However, there would have been an altercation b/tween me and the person kicking my dog...couldn't have stood there and allowed that to happen!

One thing about JRTs...they are terriers, just like APBTs and are high sprung (moreso than the APBT), dog aggressive and have dominance issues unless trained otherwise at an early enough age! Do you know who the owner of the JRT is? If you do...call Animal Control and report it as a neussance, and explain what happened. If the AC does its job correctly, then they'll cite the owner, and hopefully, the dog won't be allowed to run loose. Of course, there's always the possibility that the dog escaped from the yard, and the owners were unaware, but that's not an excuse.

Anyways, good luck! And welcome to the board.

Always,
Bev

[HeatherH]

unfortunatly the owner wasnt around...but according to the guy kicking my dog that jack is always around and as he put it "its his neighborhood"... this is the most ignorant thing I had ever heard!!! I have decided just not to walk my dogs around anymore..... Its easier at this point to avoid another altercation. I instead now just bring them down to the lake and walk them there, where there arent any dogs loose. I do feel bad that the dog got his butt handed to him but.... he provoked it.


Thanks everyone for the warm welcome to the forums!

[moochesmama]

Welcome! That's sh**ty thing to have happen.

[tjbsandy]

[GreddysAngel]

Welcome!

I say report it to Animal Control, so that if it even happens again, and things dont go so well, you have it on record that the dog was not on a leash, and attacked ur dog.

[ripley6]

We took Lil Biscuit for a walk at a nature reserve yesterday. We had him on halter, of course. We caught up to a family that had one small dog on leash - and two other larger ones walking free. We had to stop several times in order for them to keep far enough ahead that we did not have to worry about the unleashed dogs coming over. The entrance sign clearly stated, ALL DOGS MUST BE LEASHED.

We are trying to be responsible pet owners, but it sure would help if PBT/X owners didn't have to work twice as hard . . .

Welcome, Heather! Sorry to join in the little rant . . . Good for you for taking in your new sweeties

[cleokarrot]

Welcome!!