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I am in need of a little advice regrading my bully. Let me give you a little bit of background on us first:
My husband and I adopted a 4 month old Brindle Female from Williamson County Animal Shelter 2 Years ago last January. She is was the only “child” until I got my cat in September of this year. They love each other and that is not the problem. She has been wonderful, loves playing with other dogs, kids, adults, and Max the cat. But we noticed she is a little hesitant around my husband. We live on a golf course and have had problems with 2 golfers coming up and kicking her to get their golf balls back (She LOVES chasing golf balls that land on my porch, this is a weekly occurrence). One kicked her so hard she actually flipped, this happened about 5 months ago right in front of my husband and he told the guy off!
Prior to last weekend she had never shown any signs of aggression, but that all changed last Friday. I was at work and my husband had Lexi on the porch while he was down on the green putting. He watched as 2 black kids cut between our house and the neighbors house. Her collar came undone and she started to run towards the boys to “play”, my husband saw this and hollered up to Lexi telling her to come. She did and the boys started to walk away again at which point Lexi ran after them to “play” some more. He hollered at her again and she came back but as he turned to walk her back up to the house, he said she turned on him and “attacked” his foot. He says she acted like she know who he was but then just something in her head switched and she bit him. My dilemma is I DO NOT want to have to give her up and she does not act weird towards me but she still grawls and lunges at him and he is now afraid of her.
I had a friend that recommended reaching out to Bully rescues in the hopes that they would be willing to help keep the Bully name clean. I am at my wits end and have tried everything shy of a shock collar for her and I DO NOT want to do that to her. We do not have a lot of money as my husband is unemployed and I am working 2 jobs just to keep our house, so I can not really hire a trainer. Please let me know if you have any ideas or if you think you might be able to help us keep our Lexi!That is a dilemma! I think the obvious cause and where she went after to attack is obvious, her being kicked by men. He was also probably wearing the same type of shoe the men who hurt her were wearing. She is probably associating those shoes with pain. Does she react only when your husband wears them or is it all the time now? Also is it possible to post private property do not enter on your land? How dare they come on your property and attack your dog. That is what has happened she has been attacked by multiple men. I think calling a pit bull rescue for assistance is a good idea. They know the breed and have to deal with aggression. Let them know that you are in trouble financially and need help correcting this behavior, cant afford a trainer, and want to keep her. I think any pitty rescue would be happy to help keep her in her loving home.
Also if I was your husband I would not wear golfing shoes around her, she probably associates the shoes with pain. I also wouldn’t put her on the same porch any longer, she probably associates that porch with being attacked. Both will make her fearful and reactive.
I agree that the obvious thing is the golfer issue! He actually was in his flip flops and the golfer was in cleets. She reacts all the time now with him bare foot, tennis shoes, in the house, out in the yard. As for the Private property, we actually live on the golf course and we can not even have a fence, because idiot golfers who suck at their game have to be able to have access to their balls. So no my HOA will not allow me to put a private property sign in the yard *good thought though*.
She was fine on the porch with me last night, and even with him sitting in the patio chair she was ok she sat next to him but as soon as he got up she started to eye him. I am going to try taking her out front into our LITTLE patch of grass and see if having Hubby walk across the parking lot where she can see him makes a difference.
As for the Bully Rescues I have not heard back from any of the ones I have reached out to, which is kinda getting depressing. I am trying not to lose hope cause I love this little girl and really want to keep her!
I hate stupid people. For all those people who are so ignorant and think pits are just nasty and mean and dangerous, I wish we could pettition for illegalizing stupidity because of the negative it effects it has on our society. This is obviously a problem due to the mistreatment by total jerks. It sucks so bad that your family and this little girl are now having to deal with this because somebody can’t play golf. Don’t give up hope, keep trying to get a hold of the rescues. I have a couple suggestions. First, punch anybody who tries to hurt your dog again! Jk, jk, don’t do that! Do keep her out of the way of those agressive golfers though. Also, try having your husband feed and care for her. If she associates him with happy things, then she may be less apt to feel leary. You will need to be careful with anything you do because you certainly don’t want to risk your husband! I would say that she’s having a trust crisis. Have him love on her, give her treats, feed her, brush her, anything she will COMFORTABLY let him do to regain that bond. Additionally, try walking her on a leash side by side. Let him be far enough away that, if she wanted to lunge at him she couldn’t reach and just walk down the street, side by side. Let her relax while walking with him. However, DO NOT reward any tense or agressive behavior. He should carry the treats and reward her for walking calmly and relaxed, but you should be the one to correct her if she does something wrong, rather than him while her trust is still fragile. I have confidence that he will be able to regain her trust with a little time and effort. However, I would caution. She may never behave the same towards strange men. I would be VERY cautious with her around other people, at least until you are confident that she will not be aggressive.
I have a positive update! Last night when I got home from work, Husband and I took Lexi for a walk around the golf course. I walked her for awhile until I was sure she was exhausted and then let him take over, hot dog pieces in hand. She did GREAT! She was sitting for him and leaning on him as we walked!!!!!!!!! I am still a little weary but I think with time and walking her together nightly we should be able to have them trusting each other again. But for now I am keeping the fridge stocked with plenty of cut up hot dogs!
i adopted a young cattle dog that was abused by a guy. i didnt find out till after. everytime i went near her she would run but she liked my mum.
Oh good!!!! I’m so glad to hear you’re having some luck!!! Keep up the good work, or rather, encourage your hubby to keep up the hard work for your little girl. The more work he puts in with her, the better she’ll be for him. 🙂
and if he decides eff this imma love this girl and just pours it on her she is bound to feel it and give it in return. love covers a multitude of sins.
I have a serious problem. My family and I have recently moved and we would love to bring our baby with us but the landlord would charge us by the month to keep him. He isn’t one just yet and he is very playful and very protective of his owners. We had him living with a relative but they have a lot of company which leads him to barking. We would prefer to give him away or give him to a shelter that will be able to find him a home instead of putting him to sleep but I don’t know of any in my area that are taking pits in, can someone please recommend a shelter too us because he is a beautiful dog and we would rather he protect someone else than be put to sleep. We live in Hephzibah, GA and if anyone knows someone that would like a pit and that would take excellent care of him please let me know as soon as possible.
Here’s a list of a few shelter. There are some “no kill” shelters listed.
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