just adopted a 1.5 year old pit, but having issues :(

[robr]

im going to post my issues in the training section with all the details in a minute.

forum looks set up well here

[Boo439]

Welcome to the board! You might as well post your issues here because you are probably still blocked from the rest of the site until one of the admins grants you access. Congrats on your new addition. What is the issue?

[robr]

she is a 1 1/2 year old pit. she was found loose on the streets of Newark, NJ and taken in by the foster my roommate got her from (it's technically his dog, but he left us here alone for the weekend )

anywho, she came into our house 2/10/4 at about 10:30pm, and hasn't moved from under the kitchen table since.

[Boo439]

She is probably still scared. Has she been taken to a vet and scanned for a microchip? She may belong to someone. That would be my first step.

[voodoopitbull]

You say she came from a foster home? What rescue org?

[Boo439]

Oh, I must have misunderstood the foster part...

[robr]

can't edit yet either, huh? thanks for replying and offering to help so quickly

problem: as i said, we just got her thursday night. the tuesday before my roommate had her brought to the house to meet her. i told him to stay with her for atleast an hour. what does he do? talks to the guy for all of 15 minutes. i came home from work maybe 20 minutes after they left.

now thursday night the foster brought her over. while he was here she was perfect. calm, friendly, adorable, etc. i went to bed shortly after he left since i have to wake up at 4:30am to go to work.

wake up friday morning and she barracaded herself under the kitchen table and just growls. as soon as she heard me moving in my room, she started. walk closer to her it gets worse obviously. seems to be more of a scared growling/slight bark than trying to eat us.

since then we've (more of an "I" than we) sat on the floor and slowly reach my hand to her to try to pet her. if i take upwards of 15 miutes to even get an inch from her face thats quick. i've gotten to pet her snout 2 times since after the foster left. and even then, they were for all of 2 seconds then she just moves her head. she'll wonder real cautioniously around the house if she thinks were not home. as son as she pops her head in my bedroom she'll ster for a second, then just run back - tail between legs - to under the table.

of course we cant get a lease on her (so i'm stuck cleaning the gifts in the kitchen) or get her in the crate.

i'm a very patient guy (surprising more upset Brenda isn't warming up to me at all than the fact he gets her then leaves for the weekend), but my roommate has already said things along the lines of giving her back. it's a shame because she is a beautiful dog, and i'm more of a dachshund/italian greyhound guy...

[robr]

to answer the foster question - i'm not sure what the name is. my roommate, Jim, went to petfinder.org and found the guy in fairfield i believe. from what i've gathered he runs it from his house?? i'm not sure how this whole deal works, as the only dog i've adopted was from Noah's Ark, a 'real' shelter, and that was more my parents since i was about 12. again, it's more Jim's dog than mine so he knows more of the details than I.

my main concern right now is trying to get Brenda to trust us and come out and play. or atleast come out so we can walk her. i can deal with the nastiness in the kitchen for awhile, but the fact that there is a gorgeous dog hiding under my table is upsetting.

[voodoopitbull]

now thursday night the foster brought her over

You keep saying foster...who is this foster and what rescue group do they belong to?

First of all, don't try to pet the dog. It's obviously very scared and lack of confidence is not a normal APBT trait. They are generally very confident, social butterflies. You need to back off and let the dog come to you. It will eventually happen. If I were you, I'd call back this "foster" person and return the dog. Tell them to socialize their animals before adopting them out!

The "fosters" introduction to your home, while he/she was on the right track, was not long enough. A few small visits and then POOF...foster is gone. For a dog lacking confidence and obviously very sheltered (even with this foster person), that's waaaay too soon.

[voodoopitbull]

Sorry. Posted after you explained who the foster was.

[GreddysAngel]

I agree, find out exactly where this dog came from!

[robr]

i agree the foster should have known better than to just leave the dog here after one short meeting. however, he said she was very social (and appeared so the night he dropped her off), it was her brother that was acting exactly like this at his house and thats why he wasn't letting him go yet.

i know my roomie has called the guy a few times to ask for advice. apparently he's been doing this for awhile and only works with pits. he gave Jim good advice for the questions he asked. granted they weren't the right questions at all, but he does seem knowledgable.

i know it's expected for her to act differently the night she was dropped off because she thinks the foster was still here. i figured she would be somewhat hessitant of us for a few days. i did not think she would be this scared.

i can say taht now she is getting more 'adventurous' the last few hours. she will come out from under the table and start walking down the hallway, but, again, she'll pop her head in my doorway, see me, then go back to the kitchen.

and of note: she only growls slightly at me (i'm assuming since i've been the one feeding her) when i walk into the kitchen and makes no sign of trying to move (paws are still somewhat relaxed looking, doesnt tense up, etc). when i go get her food bowl she just lets me, no growling. same with putting it back in front of her. i put a pieve of ham in her bowl (we have no hot dogs) and she waited a few minutes then smelled it. never even touched it[/b]

[voodoopitbull]

If it were me personally I would've never adopted a growling APBT out. Ever. To anyone. That's just a recipe for disaster. I'm not saying she's aggressive and will attack at any time or that type of nonsense, but this is going to take you a year or so to overcome, IMHO. You will have to be extremely diligent to not let this dog get past her bite threshold. This isn't something to be taken lightly. You're going to first have to get her used to you, living in a home environment, etc. I would recommend doing seeing a behaviorist for the dog. She may be just growling and scared. She may be completely unsound and expectations for her to be reliable around strangers may be asking too much. It's impossible to tell over the internet.

Good luck. Don't let this get you down about the dog or APBTs in general. I commend you for trying to work with her.

[robr]

the thing is she never growled once before friday morning. not when she was here thursday night, and was told she didn't when she was here tuesday. so i can't say i blame the guy for thinking she would be ok. but i do blame him for giving her to us after such a short meeting, and not meeting me prior to dropping her off (he was told there is 2 of us living here).

from what i know of previous dogs, it's more of a scared growl than anything else. the growls last a few seconds, if that, and she never even moves her body. they're not real threatening growls either - in fact, the side of her lip doesn't even move. she has not once tried to luge at either one of us or take an attack position. when she sees me after walking through the house, she'll go back to the kitchen table with tail between legs, no growling. the only time i've heard her bark was friday morning when i walked into the kitchen with the lights off (i thought she was in my roommates room). even that seemed more a warning bark than a threat.

fwiw, when the foster was here thursday to drop her off, there were 4 people here. me, Jim, and our 2 friends. Jim was talking to the guy while myself and the other 2 were in a room with Brenda. she was VERY socialable - licking faces, sitting in laps, etc

and, again, thanks for helping me with this.

[robr]

since we obvisouly can't get her on a leash or in a crate, do you think if we can get the foster to come here for awhile would work? that way she'd be in our house, with us, and he'd be here to reassure her we are firendly. i'd call him myself, but i don't know where any of his contact info is (hence not knowing what organization he's from either) and my roomie doesn't get service where he is