posted 10-08-2003 02:05 AM         

I don't don't believe in the whole cropping-off balls technique. Excuse my lingo.
I don't believe in the whole chopping-off your dogs balls so they'll behave better, or have less aggression BS . I believe in unconditional L O V E. Yeah, it's sounds tacky, but it's true, & works!
You see, i have 2 male adult dogs & their proudly swinging theirs!! They behave beautifully together, like bro's. Yeah they play-fight, everyday, but they know thier limits. When they were puppies A LOT of people said the same thing, "oh you ought to get em' fixed", kinda like "or else", you know..? I'm like "HELL NO"!!! I was like, i'm gonna prove this ignorant way of thinking wrong, and raise my dogs KNOWING. Right from Wrong.
I totally hate the fact that people easily resort to this lame alternative.
A dogs personality is built from HOW YOU RAISE YOUR DOG. Yeah, genetics & "it's in their blood" thing matters, but BiG BAD L-O-V-E conquers all!!! Of coarse you'll need an early start, and a whole lotta devoted time. Especially w/ Pits, and dogs of the same nature/drive/will/dominance.
Having 3 males & 1 female will definatly cause some serious problems. Their could easily be a dead dog in your back yard one day. A couple times too! Grown Boxer, GS, & 2 growing Pitties... Disaster Awaits.
If you gotta lotta time on your hands, i beleive harmony is possible, otherwise, uhh-uhh.
Your going to end up separating them by chain (and a life w/ a heart full of unconditional love does'nt diserve a life tied-up), or dividing sections for each dog, rather than having 1 harmonious yard. Mann, thats gonna be 1 noisy yard!!!! I don't know your exact intentions or plans, so i'm just assumming, okay..? No-offense to you & yours at all on this post.
Anyhow, back to our experiances... When my dogs where puppies (4 1/2-11 months young) i would take them to numerous dog parks. Not only for exercise, but also for good socializaion amongst varieties of dogs.
The only bad thing was, my American Bulldog would always get punked by the playground bully. Out of all the male dogs there, it usually would always be 1 for the day. I would almost always hear the owner or even other dog owners say, "oh it's his dogs fault (mine) because he still has stuff". I would never argue this, because it would be me against almost the whole park.
But you know what, it was never my dogs fault, NEVER.
My dog would always be the one that got attacked, practically not even knowing what the hell is going on. My AmBull never had any counter-aggression towards his attacker. He would do the lammess thing tho. He would always insist on trying to play w/ the dog that attacked him, right after he would get attacked. It was almost like he was showing the dog that he was just trying to play by going back. It could've looked like my dog was trying to taunt his attacker by going back and jumping & putting his paws all over him, but i think not, because he was always in a playing type of mood, w/ a big smile on his face. Never any stiffness/seriousness shown.
What i was trying to get at is, if it was always my dogs fault for starting these fights, and that the reason is that the other attacking dog felt threatend, or felt like he was being challeged by my dogs balls aroma (hormones or something) , why the hell was it always only 1 dog? Why did'nt all the other male dogs try jumping him for having his sack intacked?? Believe me there are almost always other Am.Bulls, Pitties, Staffer's, Rotts, Shepards, Ridgebacks, Chows, Dobies, Huskies, you name it the so-called agressive type dogs are in playing lovely togehter.
Why is it that it was only just 1 dog, that was afraid and unassure of himself and the situation of my dog not even necessarily trying to paly w/ him, but just being in the park? I beleive it has to do w/ bad socialization.
For example, when you ever came across a knuckle-head on the street and you got into an unecessary arguement w/ him, why does he always try to restort to fighting? Why does'nt he have reasoning, and have the ability to talk things out calmly, and understand that there's a much better option?
You do what you've always known best to resolve these certain situations.
He instinctivly get's fired up & wants to fight, you insist on reasoning.
You see, i beleieve it's poor socialization skills, and has'nt been told or shown another, better way. Consistancy is a must. Again, starting early is VERY important.
It's gonna be a real tuff challenge, and like i've said, if you don't have the time(pretty much like a whole year), patience, & a whole lotta lovin', it's gonna get nasty. But i don't know, you could like nastiness. LOL.
Good Luck.
Remember you have the option to NOT break out the scissors.
Your dogs have to understand what their limits are amongst themselves. Catching, and correcting them at the instant of wrong doing is key. Consistancy for a year i'd say. They should pretty much have it down and be knowing by then. There's gonna be a whole lotta teaching, scolding, and very possibly some spanking going on...lol.

------------------
...it's the understanding of what's wrong, when you only know how to do right...

posted 10-08-2003 12:23 PM         

You also have to consider the fact that intact dogs have one main "goal" in life... to procreate. Instinct is telling them to find a mate and make more pups to carry on their genes. Yet if you're a responsible owner, you won't be letting a "pet" dog breed.... is that really fair to the dog? Someone on another board I read likened it to taking you when you were a teen, full of raging hormones, and sticking you in a chair in the girls locker room, to watch all the pretty girls prancing around, but not be able to go near them. Similar situation, instincts telling you one thing, authority figure telling you something different.

Don't mistake this to mean that I think EVERY dog should be fixed at 6 months of age, as that's far from the truth. I do believe that if an owner is responsible and can handle an intact dog, that's fine if they want to keep them that way. Unfortunately though, those owners are in the minority, and average pet owners do NOT have the skills or knowledge needed to keep an intact dog responsibly. In a case like this, it would be STUPID to keep both APBTs intact, and would likely end up resulting in at least one death by the time all was said and done.

quote:

---

For example, when you ever came across a knuckle-head on the street and you got into an unecessary arguement w/ him, why does he always try to restort to fighting? Why does'nt he have reasoning, and have the ability to talk things out calmly, and understand that there's a much better option?
You do what you've always known best to resolve these certain situations.
He instinctivly get's fired up & wants to fight, you insist on reasoning.

---

quote:

---

A dogs personality is built from HOW YOU RAISE YOUR DOG. Yeah, genetics & "it's in their blood" thing matters, but BiG BAD L-O-V-E conquers all!!!

---

To give an example, a couple months ago, I started tracking classes with our Dachshund. She is tracking much better (more focused and accurate) than the other dogs in the class (GSDs, Rotties, and a Dobie), because she has a GENETIC predisposition towards tracking. This same dog has horribly high prey drive, and loves to hunt down furry little animals. Because I don't find this behavior particularly "fun", I've taught her not to. A rabbit can pop up out of the ground 10 ft in front of us and take off running right past us, but she will not bother them, even off-leash. That of course didn't stop her from crawling under our shed the other day and baying at a groundhog for over 20 minutes before I finally managed to catch her collar with a pole and pull her out. I had forgotten that the GH was under there and "free"ed her after some obedience work. She had been waiting for just that opportunity, and shot right under the shed. Just an example of how her instinct was CONTROLLED during the obedience work, but as soon as she was allowed to do what she wanted, she was right under the shed. Someone who had seen her during the obedience work and known about her propensity for hunting down furries would have thought I "changed" her instinct to hunt, but instead I taught her to control it, "cover it up" so to speak. The same holds true for almost ALL instinctive behaviors, including fighting.

Many people have thought that the way they raised their dogs, without tolerating fighting, means they will NEVER fight. Sadly, many of those people have been proved wrong, sometimes with fatal results for their dogs.

posted 10-08-2003 01:48 PM         

Too many men live life through their dogs balls! Who cares if your dog has balls? He sure does not! He wont know the difference. But if men are so small that they are obsessed with the dogs balls I feel for them. LMFAO

Anyway get them dogs clipped and it MAY help. Then again I had a male Colby bred APBT that would even fight when he was clipped. He was clipped at 3 years. He had already started to like to fight.
Good Luck
Samantha

posted 10-08-2003 10:19 PM         

I believe what i posted, & don't post things up just to look pretty & beautifull & all. These are my ways, & i guess i've been succesfull w/ them.
I was just trying to let people know that theres a way around those facts.
Again, i agree with w/ much of what you mentioned of ways & how things are.

In the end, i guess i can only speak for myself, & my boys...

NO-OFFENSE TO ANYONE