Pit aggression question ?

[Dixon81]

I have a 3 year old pit that is very socialized with humans and other dogs. From the day i had him i began socializing with other family memebrs dogs/ dogs parks/ petsmart etc. He never showed aggression towards other dogs. He would whine and whimper untill he got close enough to sniff the other dog but never aggressive. 3 weeks ago i bought an 8 week old Am Staff. My 3 year old has seem to gotten very attached to the little one. yea he gets annoyed when she jumps at hims face but he seems to like her alot. But recently when i have been bringing them both around other dogs he has been barking and growling at them. i am wondering if he feels that he has to protect the puppy. anyone with any comments would be great thanks

Phil

[Chezza]

Yea I would say so most definatly, especially the pup being a girl He has claimed her as his mate i'd say..Has your boy been desexed????
This could turn into a bit of an issue if he gets very very obsessive with her..
IMO, if you are a breeder or you do not intend to "Breed" from either, get them desexed..

[DeLaUK]

Agree with Chezza, sounds like he is being a little over protective with her, not uncommon when you bring a new pup or even adult dog into 'your pack'. They know the difference between an adult and puppy though so I think that maybe at this stage is just a matter of 'protecting his pack'.

Hopefully he will settle down soon but it could go the other way and escalate, I would definately get both neutered and spayed or you will have problems in about 6 months time.

[Dixon81]

the 3 year is nuetered and i plan on gettin the pup fixed when she gets older. any tips that would help this problem?

[DeLaUK]

Yeah it should help if they are both neutered and spayed.

Just curious, what is your older dog like around other dogs when the pup is not around? Is he acting his usual self or is he still being cranky with them?

Like I said he is probably just being over protective, hopefully this will level out as she gets older....there are a lot of male dogs (and cats) that will take on basically a 'parental' role with a young pup (or kitten).

As long as he is okay with other dogs when your pup isnt around then you should make sure he gets some time without her but with other dogs, this will help ensure that he doesnt get into the 'habit' of going for other dogs all the time (usually what happens is once a dog starts a particular behaviour it soon becomes a habit rather than...like he is doing it just because he is dog aggressive....hope that made sense), wont hurt either to allow your pup to socialize with other dogs, preferably close in age to her without the older dog present (vaccine status permitting), by doing this your pup should develop some independance away from the older dog as they can become too dependant on each other.
What you have to remember that when you have more than one dog this constitues a pack and there is always the chance that they will be more likely to 'take on' any dogs that come near their 'territory' or if they feel threatened. The majority of multiple dog households dont have this problem but it can happen.

What I would recommend is taking your older dog to some kind of training classes or do some training yourself and then the same with your pup when she is a little older. The training...as long as its done right will give you control of situations (on leash at least), a good trainer will be able to show you how to work with your dog and different techniques you can use to do things like aversion training and so on....this is not something that you can really do over the internet as things that one person is explaining can be misunderstood, misinterpretted and if you do it wrong it could make the situation worse.

Hope that helped.

[Chezza]