[TXDoggiemama]

About two weeks ago my nephew's friend had a puppy dumped off in their yard. They already have 7 dogs and his mom finally said no more. My nephew said it was a golden retriever mix. After some discussion, my husband and I decided to let him have the dog.

After we got it home and began looking at it, my husband said he thought the pup might have some pit bull in it. I immediately became concerned, as I have heard all the stories about this type of dog.

We have a four year old son, 2 cats and 2 min pin puppies (5 months old). So, I began researching on line to get some information. My primary concern was and is my 4 year olds safety, but I also became increasing alarmed by the term "animal aggression" and the information I read specifically said that at about 1 year of age a pit can start attacking (even killing) small dogs that they normally get along with.

This puppy is incredibly sweet, quiet and lovable. He is strong. Right now he is the same height as the min pins, but is definitely heavier and stronger. We have a pit bull rescue down here and I am wondering if I would be more responsible to hand him over to someone with a more pit "friendly" family where there is not so many other pets or if I am just overreacting out of ignorance.

Any advice/suggestions from people with experience with pits would be enormously appreciated. Thank you:)

[jennapbt]

Yeah your assumption is completely based on ignorance. First of all you don't even know if it is a pit bull or not and you clearly said that it was mixed with something. There are many breeds out there that resemble pit bulls. The "pit bull" gene is a dominant gene therefore a dog can be 10% pit bull and still have a large portion of the characteristics of the breed. As for you being deathly afraid of this unknown dog that you've already let into your house hold, is absurd. As you can tell he hasn't done any harm probably nothing more than tearing things up as puppies do. If it's a heinz 57 breed of dog or a pure bred pit bull it all depends on how you raise the pup and how you deal with situations and what experiences it has been through. Pretty much any psychological issue in a dog can be resolved. You have nothing to worry about as long as you know how to raise a dog. I own pit bulls and breed them. I also have small dogs and birds and I'm never afraid to leave them together because they are wonderful loving loyal smart companions that are very misunderstood. You will know if the pup is dog aggressive obiviously because you have dogs. Just throwing a dog in the pound because it's a certain breed that you don't understand only contributes to the problem and misconception that not only pit bulls but all dogs go through now. Hopefully this information helped if you have any other questions feel free to ask.

PS- Post a picture of the puppy and I can tell you what the breed(s) are :)

[labman]

There are some people here with Pit Bull experience. You should see some heart warming stories about Pit Bulls fitting into a family. For horror stories, see https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=3920 I will leave descriptions of Pit Bulls to the Pit Bull owners.

I will generalize from my Lab experience. Our 14'th Lab since 1991 will be 3 months old tomorrow. Already I can see some distinct differences between her and the other 13 plus the Lab/Golden that we recently sent off to dog guide school. I see a lot of Labs. In addition to having 1 or 2 in my own house, I see other people's.



I think I have enough experience to say that not all Labs are alike. I see a lot of other breeds too, mostly Shepherds and Goldens, but many other breeds too. My 6 years on the net on several sites answering dog questions and reading other's answers also has been a learning experience. I doubt any of the other breeds are any more alike than my Labs. The are not peas in a pod, not even litter mates.

Early socialization is important too. Not sure how you know he is 7 weeks old, if so his teeth should be showing some gaps where the jaw has grown since the teeth came in. If any adult teeth are starting to erupt, he may be more like 10 weeks. 7 weeks is a great time to start with a puppy. They are developed enough to pay more attention to other than their mother and litter mates. What they encounter now, they will accept as normal and be comfortable around all their life. Your 4 year old and the Min Pins will be his pack, to love and defend with his life.

Genetics does play a big part too. Penn State is working with a number of service dog schools now in a big study to nail down just how much. Much of a dog's personality is determined by 12 weeks. It is not fully developed until 3 years. I think as the dog ages, genetic tendencies may be more important than earlier. That may be part of the problem you mention about a year old Pit Bull.

I say keep him. The Pit bull rescue people should be a great resource. I have no end of admiration for rescue people. They should be much happier to help you properly socialize him than to take him. Good socialization is important. Neuter him at 6 months or when your vet wants to. That is a big factor in aggression. I doubt many of the Pit bulls in the news stories were spay/neutered. Do not confuse aggression with typical young dog play. These are not aggressive dogs. The Lab is now working as a dog guide, and the Shepherd was selected as the best of the best to be dog guide breeding stock.



Trust me, they are sweet dogs.

[fredg]

Hi, TX,
I think it's great that you and your family like animals so much, and are providing a good home for them. I only have one mixed terrior breed, housedog, and she is like one of the family.
I agree with keeping him. He may or may not actually have Pit Bull in him, and even so, may not even make a difference in his attitudes.
Please give him a chance to be in your loving home. Later, if you see something you don't like in him, then think about other alternatives.
Happy New Year.

[TXDoggiemama]

I appreciate all of the input y'all gave me. It solidified what my heart was telling me. We have had a rough year with dogs. We had two large dogs (one lab, setter mix and one lab, hound mix) the lab setter, Barney, was poisoned by a neighbor (ours was not the only dog) and by the time the vet was able to figure out the cause, it was too late. Our other dog, Andy was hit by a car and his injuries were too extensive for us to save him.

All of our animals are rescue animals, except for the min pins. Come to think of it, the min pins are the only pets I've ever owned in my life that weren't rescue dogs, although they were Katrina evacuees (and 1 1/2 weeks after we got them they evacuated with is from Rita).

As requested, here is a picture of "Buddy"... thanks again for the input, and let me know what you see in his breed... or what type of mix you think you see in him...

[labman]

Thanks for the pictures. I am surprise you have only heard from one Pit Bull owner so far. There have been some technical problems. I don't think a lot of the public will see him as a Pit Bull. I am not sure some of the people hating Pit Bulls even know what they look like.

[jennapbt]

It's hard to tell with the pics so small and not too clear but I don't really see golden in him.It's hard to tell when they are puppies. Regardless of the breed he's still cute and should be treated like part of the family. :) Good luck with the pup.

[lilfyre]

You are fine, and he will be fine, I rescued a Pit mix from the pop corn zoo, she had sat there for almost three year before we adopted her. She had 3 strikes against her

1. pit-bull
2. she was white
3. many medical conditions

She is not aggressive to any thing, I run a guinea pig rescue, and she has become the segregate mother for all of them. Right now there are 29 piggies living in my home they all get out to have piggy floor time in a huge open cage. When I first brought her home I was truly concerned about them being a hot snack. She was constantly at the cages licking and sniffing. I went as far to lock her out of the room because I was afraid she might hurt them.

You see I went to the pop corn zoo to adopt something small and fluffy, something young and cute. Not a pit bull, by no means a pit, after learning her past, and looking at her sweet face, she stole my heart and put her foot prints on it. She too is a lab mix. So needles to say I came home with a 50 some odd pound pit.

I had to be sure she would not hurt them, she was good with the cats as long as they did not run, after a while we learned the most she did to the cats was lick them to death. Knowing this I felt better about introducing her to the piggies in the home. She is so funny. Miss Piggy loves to clean them, she lays in the play cage with them and bumps them into a small pile, she will not allow them to get to far away from her. You could almost say that they are her puppies.

We recently saved a lopped eared rabbit off the street in out town, now these two are the best of friends, funny bunny free roams the house and the he is always with Miss Piggy, I was going to offer the bunny up for adoption but have since changed my mind because piggy would be heart broken

These dog are one of the sweetest breed I have ever met, I was raised around dogs, and always feared this breed, after saving one from a shelter, I will continue to offer my home to them, they are truly misunderstood because of bad humans, May I suggest doggy obedience classes, because they are strong, and you need to be able to handle your dog, and always present you pit-bull as a role model of the pit-bull to the general public.

Miss piggy goes on every outing with the guinea pig rescue. I also bring her along at our equine rescue events also, I try to speak about her at every event we go to so people can see that they are not mean just the people are.


I tried to upload a picture to show you her but it was to large, I have yet to figure out this feature )O:

[dakrib]

Ya know I was kind of in the same boat. My husband wanted to adopt this pit mix and I was kind of iffy. She was on the list to be euthinized and I couldn't let that happen. So yes we adopted her and let me tell you she is the best puppy ever. She may not look much like a puppy but she is only 9 months. She is super awesome with my 7 year old and my 2 year old daughters. And even though the cat doesn't like her too much she still wants to play with the cat. All in all I am so glad we saved her. If someone could help me figure out how to put my pics of her on here I would show you.