Aggressive female pitty

[Roadstar10]

Hello to all. New guy here and first post. My problem is with our American Bulldog, Max and our 15 month old female pit, Zeva. Both are fixed. Max is approx. 3 yrs old and weighs about 120 lbs. Zeva was adopted from the SPCA and is about 15 months old now. She was 6 months old when we brought her home. We adopted her for Max after his friend Peppy passed away. He was kind of rough and dominate, so we wanted a dog that would be able to roll with him. He put her down several times and showed her that he was the boss. This was easy because he outweighted her about 60 lbs. They really got along well with a little rough and tumble playing from time to time. They have a large yard to run around in with several sheds to go in and chill out. Now for the problem.
Latley, Zeva has become aggressive towards Max. She attacks Max and they are really fighting. I am talking about ear biting, pulling, leg grabing and wounds with blood. I tried to break them up with the water hose because Max hates water, but she continues the attack as he is trying to get away. I had to get inbtween them and pull them apart by the collars and that’s not easy and is scary. I am a 6’2″ and 295 lb Fugitive Recovery Agent and it’s hard to pull them apart. As long as they are by themselves, they get along great, even after they fight they lick each other’s wounds. It’s like Zeva is jealous if we give Maxs any attention. We treat each dog the same, loving on both and petting and playing with them. Zeva, being lighter than Max, gets the worst of the fight, but she has no quit in her and she is defintaly the aggressor. Short of tazing her or spraying her with pepper spray, I dont know what to do with her. Would taking her for long walks several times a week, help. I love this dog, but I may have to give her away if I cant stop this. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[amberc922]

Well it sounds like you have a rough story. I know they do need lots of exercise but making her tired isn’t going to change her aggression issue. My 2 can run their hearts out for hours then just when you think ok their done they take off wrestling again. My mom has a 9mo female pit who water doesn’t work she love the hose. It sounds almost like you need to see a one on one trainer and you may think this is crazy but even a Ceaser type person. I know some people don’t like him but I use some of his techniques and they work. I mean you know he does have pit bulls him self and has helped many who were on their last straw. I don’t think theirs any advice that you can do on your own. One thing I’m curious about is how she is with other dogs that don’t live with her?

Amber

[Roadstar10]

Hi Amber, thanks for the post. She has really never been around other dogs except Max. I don’t know her history before the adoption except that a couple had her in a rental and the landlord said that they could not keep her. She was at SPCA only about a week before we chose her. We brough her home and she got along with our 3 small dogs except she was so much bigger than they were. She was healing from her operation, so we did not want to put her with Max right away. We keep the big dogs at my mother-in-law who is 87. We go every day and spend time with them. Zeva is a very sweet and playful pit and likes to play and even fetch. Its just latley that she has begun to challenge Max. We take her for a walk and she ignores other dogs and people. It may be just the pit in her.

[Juju]

I have 2 pit bulls and they love to play but, they get too rough with each other. I have noticed if I let them go outside at the same time they will go way in the back of the yard where I can’t see them so they can play. (too rough) I don’t let them outside together unless they are calm before they go out. If they have a whole bunch of energy they are going to act bad. It seems like if I’m standing right by them and they are being supervised they are fine. I don’t let them be alone together at all. If I can’t be in the same area they are to watch them I crate one of them. They act like children and have to be supervised at all times. Make sure when you go outside with them they are calm and you go outside before them. When you get out side make sure you are standing right by them. It’s a good idea to take them out seperately at least once a day. It gives them a little one on one time with you. If they give you too much of a problem don’t let them outside together until u can keep them from fighting all the time. For some reason when my dogs get out side they think they can do what they want and I have to remind them that they cant!! Good Luck. And yes walking definately can’t hurt. I walk both my dogs at least once a day and it really really helps.

[amberc922]

Since she seems ok with other dogs especially small dogs she probably has a thing with Max she doesn’t like. I wouldn’t say its the Pit in her its something about him she just doesn’t like. It could even be that when she was at her previous owners a bigger dog attacked her or something similar. Me and my ex-husband had a dog that he took with him that was a cocker spanial lab mix. She was a medium dog and not aggressive. The neighbors dog always gets loose and runs the neighborhood. Ellie was out side on her rope and that dog got loose and attacked her in the face. She was scared to death at first but then became very intolerable of Kira and Ace when they came along. She absoulutely hated Ace when I got him. If she was laying on the bed and he got up there she would jump up and growl at him like get out of my bed I’m warning you. She moved with my ex thank god. But after getting attacked she was different and more aggressive.

[arm11679]

In my years with pits i have seen the same pattern. females are more aggressive then male. even more so after a litter. my best addvise would be to keep a close eye on her. pits arent like other dogs due to there remarkable speed and stregth. its like haveing a 6 foot 200 pound 9 year old child with a temper. and they can be very strong headed not untrainable just takes a little more attention. just keep a close eye and correct when needed.(do not slap or hit) just encoureges aggession. spray bottle works great…..

[Author]

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