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1) I'm planning on doing dog daycare (through Rover.com and DogVacay, not an official licensed business) and I'd be afraid the stigma of them would scare people off from leaving their dog at my place. Does anyone here who has a pit bull and also does dog daycare have any input on this?
2) I plan on taking it to dog beaches, should I expect any issues there in terms of people freaking out?
3) Since I am planning on adopting from a shelter, should I be concerned with not knowing the dog's history or is it fairly easy to tell by its temperament whether it was raised to be aggressive or not? I am concerned about it just snapping and killing something out of the blue. I know this can happen with all dogs but from my understanding it's more likely with pit bulls - that info coming from people who have owned them.
4) How are they with shedding? I've heard from a few people it's not much of an issue.
5) I noticed that Petfinder shows if a dog does not get along well with cats. Is that a good sign they might not be sociable with smaller dogs as well?
Edit: also important to mention - if the general consensus is that a pit bull is not suited for what I am looking for, my alternative dog would be the standard schnauzer. Thoughts?
Last edited by GoldenKiwi; 09-09-2015 at 12:21 AM..
Pits are my favorite. I have worked with hundreds at our local shelter. Here are my thoughts
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Originally Posted by GoldenKiwi
2) I plan on taking it to dog beaches, should I expect any issues there in terms of people freaking out?
There are always those that buy into the media hype, believe every pit should be put down and can not be convinced otherwise. At my local shelter, there is a guy that sits out front with one of the dogs and introduces them to visitors that may be interested. One day, a lady and her young daughter stopped to visit. The daughter is petting the dog while her Mom talks. After a few minutes, the Mom says "That is a very friendly dog, what kind is it?" He answered "It's a pit bull". The lady grabbed her daughter by the arm, yanking her away from the dog. She said "How could you let my daughter pet a pit bull !!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldenKiwi
3) Since I am planning on adopting from a shelter, should I be concerned with not knowing the dog's history or is it fairly easy to tell by its temperament whether it was raised to be aggressive or not? I am concerned about it just snapping and killing something out of the blue. I know this can happen with all dogs but from my understanding it's more likely with pit bulls - that info coming from people who have owned them.
I do not think they are any different than other breeds. Get one of the books on behavior by Patricia McConnell, Sophia Yin or others to learn how a dog communicates. A pit will usually not start a fight, but they will finish it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldenKiwi
4) How are they with shedding? I've heard from a few people it's not much of an issue.
Not much of an issue. Blue pits seem to be more likely to have skin issues (need HA food, more frequent baths)
I don't think the issue is the pit bull as such.
As a dog owner who would be leaving my dog with an utter stranger, my concern would be YOUR level of experience in managing dog-dog interactions, your ability to temperament test and assess whether your dog is a good fit with the visiting dog, your understanding of canine body language and ability to interpret it correctly, and your ability to respond appropriately in the event that any of the dogs exhibit fearful, troublesome, or aggressive body language.
Please remember that when you take a dog into your home you are responsible for keeping that dog safe; this involves a certain level of experience and skill to ensure that the visiting dog has a good experience. Not all dogs get along; before you consider taking on responsibility for another person's dog, please be sure you are set up to ensure that dog's safety, including being able to isolate your dog in the event that your dog and the visiting dog don't get along (or alternately, if two visiting dogs don't get along).
If you plan on doing DogVacay AND adopting from a shelter, I think you'd have a hard time getting clients if they knew you had a bully breed in the house that you haven't owned since puppyhood. If you want a bully breed, consider finding a puppy so that you can get it socialized and trained from the very beginning.
I have several friends that got bullies as puppies and they are the sweetest dogs ever. My uncle has always had bullies and they are the best dogs. But he always got them as puppies so he could socialize and train them himself.
We have a dog that might have a bit of bully breed in him, and since we adopted him as an adult, we have safety precautions in place to ensure that nothing triggers potentially negative behavior. For instance, when my kids have friends over, we keep him in our bedroom upstairs since he does not like the high energy that comes from a gaggle of kids running around the house - it makes his prey instinct go to 11. I will go in the backyard when I let him out so that he is less likely to rush the fence to defend his territory against other dogs and kids in their own backyards. When I answer the front door, I put him behind our office doors so that he doesn't try to rush the door and protect me from the "menacing" pizza delivery guy. Our dog is a sweetheart despite his past (we suspect he was abused), but in the 14 months since we adopted him, we've realized he does have a few triggers, and so we do our part to manage them.
I adopted 2 pit mixes (pit/lab and pit/bulldog/lab) when they are adults. See my comments in bold:
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldenKiwi
Here they are:
1) I'm planning on doing dog daycare (through Rover.com and DogVacay, not an official licensed business) and I'd be afraid the stigma of them would scare people off from leaving their dog at my place. Does anyone here who has a pit bull and also does dog daycare have any input on this? No matter where you go, you will get some stares and negative comments about your pit. Guaranteed. If the dog is socialized, and the person watching your pet is knowledgeable to basic dog behaviour, you should be fine. If it's a doggie daycare, other clients may complain but again, it will be from fear, not fact.
2) I plan on taking it to dog beaches, should I expect any issues there in terms of people freaking out? See my answer to #1. You cannot help that. Just ignore them.
3) Since I am planning on adopting from a shelter, should I be concerned with not knowing the dog's history or is it fairly easy to tell by its temperament whether it was raised to be aggressive or not? I am concerned about it just snapping and killing something out of the blue. I know this can happen with all dogs but from my understanding it's more likely with pit bulls - that info coming from people who have owned them. Take what people tell you with a grain of salt. Dogs are selected, bred and domesticated for thousands of years to be our companion and coworker. That instinct is born with each dog, no matter the breed. However, lack of socialization, abuse, neglect or simply never trained with manners cause that rift between dog and human relationship.
Pit bulls inparticular were bred to love people. There are many more pits who would endure years of torture than to bite back. We had rescued a pit who had 2nd degree burns from being lit on fire by his owner. She licked my face. When you hear about bite attacks, question the details. Did a child fell on the dog when it was sleeping? Did the owners taught him to play rough with his mouth or won't give him space?
Most shelter pets have little to no history. But most are found as strays, either got lost or dumped or left behind. Those who are surrendered are left behind due to mostly of non-aggressive fixable behaviour or moving. My dogs were strays. They knew their potty training, had a sweet and friendly temperament. Nothing they did land them at the shelter.
4) How are they with shedding? I've heard from a few people it's not much of an issue. I love their fur. Short with almost no shedding.
5) I noticed that Petfinder shows if a dog does not get along well with cats. Is that a good sign they might not be sociable with smaller dogs as well? Maybe. Although Pits can be friends with cats, small dogs, bunnies, etc... The idea behind the origin of breeding was to fight other dogs. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong but Pit bull is not a breed, but rather a term for a mix between a Bulldog and Staffordshire Terrier. In the past, dog fighting was big entertainment. By mixing these two breeds, they created what we call a Pit bull. Again, this does not mean they cannot get along with other animals. It means you have to screen more carefully, supervise the interaction, slow introduction, etc.. until you are 100% confident all will be well. Just like you woukd with any dog.
Edit: also important to mention - if the general consensus is that a pit bull is not suited for what I am looking for, my alternative dog would be the standard schnauzer. Thoughts?
Not sure what your lifestyle is. Are you active? Or a homebody? Do you want simple companionship or a burglar deterrent? I find Lab mixes is a good fit for almost anyone as they are easy to train, gets along with most animals and kids without problems, and shedding is not that bad.
Respectfully, what's your level of experience training and working with dogs? That's what would concern me - you don't seem very familiar with a breed that is pretty ubiquitous. So throw in someone who doesn't have an extensive background with dogs and an adopted adult pit bull, and yeah, I'd be wary. I might leave my dog with you, but only if I knew all the dogs in the group and was comfortable with their personalities and their size.
Pit bulls are great dogs - I love almost all the ones that come to the dog park I use and my friends' dogs. But they're not for beginners, imo, and if you're not supervising dogs at play closely, stuff can go wrong very quickly. A friend's dog just got torn up at the dog park when someone didn't pay attention to what their pit bull was doing. Wouldn't have been a big deal with a less powerful dog, but the dog nailed my friend's schnauzer mix pretty hard - pit bulls are just powerful. I'm told the owner just wasn't paying attention to the plentiful signs that their dog was basically honed in on the other one. Hit the poor little thing from out of nowhere.
At the same time, there's a massive male pit bull at the dog park sometimes who I'd trust with any dog. He's incredibly sweet and patient. The one that attacked my friend's dog was on the small side for a pit bull (though powerfully built) and a female. Training, genetics and upbringing are all huge factors in selecting a pit bull.
If you are going to be doing doggie daycare, the first issue you need to address is liability insurance. You may have to look around to find a provider that will do that with a bully breed in your home. Your homeowner's insurance policy would not be adequate for running a business but check to see if they insure "aggressive breeds" as the list gets new additions all the time. http://quotewizard.com/home-insuranc...nsurance-rates
You'll also need to make sure that bully breeds are allowed in your city/county and other areas where you hope to take the dog(s).
To me, terriers of any type do better with experienced dog owners. How many and what types of dogs have you owned in the past, OP?
Last edited by AnywhereElse; 09-09-2015 at 12:01 PM..
With Bands on Pits I suggest go with another breed. IF you own you can lose your Insurance. IF You rent Finding a place to live with the dog is hard. Just giving you a heads up
I think it also depends on where you live and what people in your area feel about pits. Where I live Pits are very common and most people do not bat and eye when one is at the dog beach or at the dog park. Often they are the dogs that love to play but as others have said they are strong dogs.
I got Dazzle my silken windhound at 8 months and being a sight hound he is very thin and delicate looking, He had not been around other breeds so when he first went to the dog park he was nervous and two dogs sort of adopted him and watched out for him. If a dog was picking on him one of these two would come over and put an end to it ( dog park police!). One was a small mini pin and the other was a pit bull. Dazzle and the pit loved playing together too and you could see the pit trying to be careful when he did play with Daz. Dazzle got his leg caught in a gopher hole once and being the drama queen he is she sat and screamed and howled and everyone thought he had broken his leg . All the other dogs got to him first. When I got to him his pit buddy was licking his face trying to calm him so pits can be great dogs. No Dazzle did bot break a leg as I said he is a drama queen.
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). One was a small mini pin and the other was a pit bull. Dazzle and the pit loved playing together too and you could see the pit trying to be careful when he did play with Daz. Dazzle got his leg caught in a gopher hole once and being the drama queen he is she sat and screamed and howled and everyone thought he had broken his leg . All the other dogs got to him first. When I got to him his pit buddy was licking his face trying to calm him so pits can be great dogs. No Dazzle did bot break a leg as I said he is a drama queen.
