Post by Heather Says So on Apr 28, 2014 12:41:49 GMT -5
Let me be clear. Bender has NEVER, EVER displayed any aggression towards a human. Ever. He -loves- people. As of this moment he's curled up in my lap taking a nap on me and waking up to lick my arm occasionally.
That said, he has been displaying a lot of dog aggression lately. We've socialized him his entire life. He grew up with three other dogs in the house and probably 15 neighborhood dogs he's been running around and playing with since day one. We've always gone to the dog park without issue and had a great time until about three months ago, right as he was turning a year old. Since that time he's progressively gotten rougher with the other dogs, trying to goad them into running by chest bumping so he can chase them, trying to pin them down and sit on them, doing that bit where they stand on their back legs and waggle their heads around sounding fierce but don't ever actually use teeth. We started leashing him at the park at that point because I'd rather have control of the situation. The last time we went was last week (and the last time we will go for QUITE some time) and he slipped his lead as we walked in the door. He then chased down and jumped all over a young black lab who was trying to play with him. He ended up pinning the dog down and putting his mouth on the dog's throat before I could chase him down. He did NOT bite down or draw any blood and his tail was wagging the whole time, so he clearly thought we were all playing, but that was enough for me. We will not put him in a position to be the bad guy or potentially hurt another animal.
We live on a mountain so we don't have a dedicated yard right now. We're moving in a few weeks to a house with a lovely high fenced yard but everyone on our mountain has always just given their dogs run of the place. We keep Bender in the yard for the most part by putting him on a rope but when it's just a quick trip outside to go potty I don't bother. He wanted to potty this morning so I let him out and walked to the kitchen to get some tea. About three minutes later my neighbor (who has known and adored Bender since he was a puppy) threw our door open screaming that if Bender came at him again he'd kill him.
Needless to say I was , because this isn't something we've ever had to worry about with him. I went outside and started to bring him in, he was staying a good 15 feet away from the neighbor and slinked over to me with his tail between his legs. The neighbor brandished his cane and screamed, "I'll kill you" at the dog again and I had to ask him to back off enough to let me bring Bender inside. Bender did not seem worked up or excited at all and mostly just acted scared and confused.
After a few minutes I asked my roommate to go ask him what happened because I suspected I would just make the man angry again. The roommate came back saying our neighbor had been out in the yard walking with a cane. Bender allegedly ran up on him, jumped on him, and tried to bite him and the neighbor had to push him away.
Now, my issues with this accusation are as follows. Bender is not an people-aggressive dog, that's something I believe with all my heart. That said, Bender is an 85 pound pit bull. If he wanted to attack someone with intent, a simple push away and yelling at him would not have deterred him. I am extremely aware that he is physically able to kill, I just can't even fathom him attempting it. Bender also did not attempt to engage the man in aggression again as the man walked away from him and towards our house, and in fact hid from him.
My personal theory is that Bender was going after the cane. He loves to play fetch and will often try to grab sticks out of my hands before I can throw them. He's had some issues with getting a bit territorial over them but nothing more than a little growling and trying to get away with the stick.
Regardless, I'm scared. We can't get him out of here for at least two more weeks and our neighbor is not a forgiving person. He is bad tempered and has a history of acting violent when he feels threatened. He will, without hesitation, shoot Bender point blank without offering any excuses. If my dog is genuinely aggressing on and biting people I'll have him put down myself but I'm not willing to lose him over an over-reaction or a false accusation. We've already agreed he'll have to be on a leash at all times and put in the dog-run if we can't be home with him and he needs to be outside, but is there more we should be doing?
Is playing fetch now out of the picture because it causes him to do things like this? I do admit there's been one game going on in the house that I didn't approve of and probably should have put a stop to. Our roommate is a big guy, 6'1, 225 pounds or so. Bender LOVES to play rough with him. We call it "Terrible Dog". Basically Bender will come up to him and hop up and down until the roommate starts to playfully smack his head from side to side. Bender bounces and wags his tail and tries to catch the hands and never gets enough of it. He whines and cries for 10 minutes after the game stops. I never really liked the game but Bender was having so much fun that I convinced myself it was alright. Now I'm wondering if allowing it to continue could be a contributing factor to his dog aggression and this claimed human aggression. I put the kibosh on it and everyone has agreed to respect that but has the damage already been done? I'm trying to be very calm and rational about all this but this is my kid and people already have prejudices against him based soley on his breed. We did not intend to adopt a pit when we got him but we fell in love and rushed into things without doing our homework. He was always so great that I naively convinced myself he didn't have breed traits and wasn't going to be a problem but I now realize how ignorant that was. I'm trying to catch up so I can be a good mom and give him a long and happy life without further instances like this. I'd really appreciate any help you guys are willing to give.
That said, he has been displaying a lot of dog aggression lately. We've socialized him his entire life. He grew up with three other dogs in the house and probably 15 neighborhood dogs he's been running around and playing with since day one. We've always gone to the dog park without issue and had a great time until about three months ago, right as he was turning a year old. Since that time he's progressively gotten rougher with the other dogs, trying to goad them into running by chest bumping so he can chase them, trying to pin them down and sit on them, doing that bit where they stand on their back legs and waggle their heads around sounding fierce but don't ever actually use teeth. We started leashing him at the park at that point because I'd rather have control of the situation. The last time we went was last week (and the last time we will go for QUITE some time) and he slipped his lead as we walked in the door. He then chased down and jumped all over a young black lab who was trying to play with him. He ended up pinning the dog down and putting his mouth on the dog's throat before I could chase him down. He did NOT bite down or draw any blood and his tail was wagging the whole time, so he clearly thought we were all playing, but that was enough for me. We will not put him in a position to be the bad guy or potentially hurt another animal.
We live on a mountain so we don't have a dedicated yard right now. We're moving in a few weeks to a house with a lovely high fenced yard but everyone on our mountain has always just given their dogs run of the place. We keep Bender in the yard for the most part by putting him on a rope but when it's just a quick trip outside to go potty I don't bother. He wanted to potty this morning so I let him out and walked to the kitchen to get some tea. About three minutes later my neighbor (who has known and adored Bender since he was a puppy) threw our door open screaming that if Bender came at him again he'd kill him.
Needless to say I was , because this isn't something we've ever had to worry about with him. I went outside and started to bring him in, he was staying a good 15 feet away from the neighbor and slinked over to me with his tail between his legs. The neighbor brandished his cane and screamed, "I'll kill you" at the dog again and I had to ask him to back off enough to let me bring Bender inside. Bender did not seem worked up or excited at all and mostly just acted scared and confused.
After a few minutes I asked my roommate to go ask him what happened because I suspected I would just make the man angry again. The roommate came back saying our neighbor had been out in the yard walking with a cane. Bender allegedly ran up on him, jumped on him, and tried to bite him and the neighbor had to push him away.
Now, my issues with this accusation are as follows. Bender is not an people-aggressive dog, that's something I believe with all my heart. That said, Bender is an 85 pound pit bull. If he wanted to attack someone with intent, a simple push away and yelling at him would not have deterred him. I am extremely aware that he is physically able to kill, I just can't even fathom him attempting it. Bender also did not attempt to engage the man in aggression again as the man walked away from him and towards our house, and in fact hid from him.
My personal theory is that Bender was going after the cane. He loves to play fetch and will often try to grab sticks out of my hands before I can throw them. He's had some issues with getting a bit territorial over them but nothing more than a little growling and trying to get away with the stick.
Regardless, I'm scared. We can't get him out of here for at least two more weeks and our neighbor is not a forgiving person. He is bad tempered and has a history of acting violent when he feels threatened. He will, without hesitation, shoot Bender point blank without offering any excuses. If my dog is genuinely aggressing on and biting people I'll have him put down myself but I'm not willing to lose him over an over-reaction or a false accusation. We've already agreed he'll have to be on a leash at all times and put in the dog-run if we can't be home with him and he needs to be outside, but is there more we should be doing?
Is playing fetch now out of the picture because it causes him to do things like this? I do admit there's been one game going on in the house that I didn't approve of and probably should have put a stop to. Our roommate is a big guy, 6'1, 225 pounds or so. Bender LOVES to play rough with him. We call it "Terrible Dog". Basically Bender will come up to him and hop up and down until the roommate starts to playfully smack his head from side to side. Bender bounces and wags his tail and tries to catch the hands and never gets enough of it. He whines and cries for 10 minutes after the game stops. I never really liked the game but Bender was having so much fun that I convinced myself it was alright. Now I'm wondering if allowing it to continue could be a contributing factor to his dog aggression and this claimed human aggression. I put the kibosh on it and everyone has agreed to respect that but has the damage already been done? I'm trying to be very calm and rational about all this but this is my kid and people already have prejudices against him based soley on his breed. We did not intend to adopt a pit when we got him but we fell in love and rushed into things without doing our homework. He was always so great that I naively convinced myself he didn't have breed traits and wasn't going to be a problem but I now realize how ignorant that was. I'm trying to catch up so I can be a good mom and give him a long and happy life without further instances like this. I'd really appreciate any help you guys are willing to give.