Well, it's been a while since I've logged on to this site and had a chance to update you on anything. If no one remembers correctly, I have...or rather had there dogs! Shih tzu, chocolate lab/springer spaniel and the newest addition was our German Shepherd who will be turning 7 months.

Everything is going great with them. They are alllll best friends however 3 days ago, we decided we'd like to rescue a dog....well what kind of dog do you think we "decided" needed to be rescued...


....a pitbull of course!

I am NOT one to judge the breed as I have friends that own pitbulls that are amazing, so I came into this slightly confident about the whole idea. Since they are banned in Ontario, Canada I couldn't really buy a puppy, so we found a registered Pitbull (3 1/2 years old) in Toronto. The information we were given was that she was a BIG suck, loves attention and had never hurt anyone in her life.

When we went to pick her up, we brought my shih tzu because that was the combination I was most worried about upon picking the pitbull up.

When we introduced them, Bailey (shih tzu) was in a calm, submissive state of mind however Bella (pitbull) was barking and pouncing and ....POKING her! She never once tried to bite my shih tzu but the barking was nerve racking enough.

We put that aside after an hour when we played with her for that time without my shih tzu around to see how she acted with us. Everything was good, we took her home and she stayed in the back of our truck and she was great. No barking, no whining, no aggression, no fear.

When we got her home, we introduced her one at a time to our other dogs (the energetic ones). It seems to me that she is slightly intimidated by them as my Labradinger is an in your face dog, and the German Shepherd is her best friend so she's getting the same personality.

Bella (Pitbull) would simply bark when they got too close and lope off to a different part of our back yard.

Now I'm noticing that I THINK..key word there, I think that she is getting a bond with my shih tzu, however I can't be too sure because she stands over her and her ears perk right up and occasionally she will paw at my shih tzu and Bailey (shih tzu) will just roll over on her back to let Bella sniff her and Bella will POKE her...Odd, this poking thing I've never heard of other than in herding dogs. I've read that pitbulls herded Bulls, but other than that she pokes my shih tzu. (That's one problem I'd like to know if anyone can help me with)

The other is her aggression (that just peaked out) with our other two dogs. If they get in her face, I can literally watch Bella's lip curl up and her start growling. If it doesn't stop, she will lash out but it's not to BITE them, very weird. It's almost like she's telling them to back off and leave her alone. We take them for 2 walks a day and go to the dog park everyday and she is fine with people, children and all the other dogs but of course she has her muzzle on so I'm not worried to begin with.

I just want to make sure that nothing bad will happen and that there will be hope that she won't have those aggressive moments.

She is the MOST AMAZING dog ever when she's not barking or growling at the other dogs. SHe loves to sit on our laps and act like she's a lap dog. She won't leave our side in the dog park and she always looks at us to make sure we don't go too far. She comes when told to come and she has decided to make her bed on our bed between me and my partner but she is the most cuddly, LOVING dog I've ever owned.



Today, the neighbours dog (Lab/ border collie) came over and this dog is EXTREMELY hyperactive. I thought it would be okay to introduce them but their dog was too hyper. Their dog ended up jumping on and over Bella which must have annoyed her because Bella started barking and running after her. When she was running after her though she wasn't putting enough effort into it to actually catch her or to hurt her, but their dog kept doing laps so I couldn't catch Bella or their dog for that matter to stop it. The owners ended up thinking it was Bella's fault for lashing out, when I really believe their dog was too hyper to introduce to Bella at that moment in time.

Does anyone have any suggestions for future training for Bella. I would appreciate it VERY much!

[Lunareclipse]

I have a 165 lb Saint bernard named Sammie. Our best friend, Ed came over and brought his hyperactive lab, Katie. Katie may be hyper but she loves us to death. Sammie gets all hyper around Katie bacause Katie is hyper. Sammie will pin Katie to the ground and grab her neck, and then lay down on her. I think it's a doninance thing. So me and Ed have been working with our dogs everyday together on leashes until they get used to each other. I gave Ed pointers on how to get his dog to calm doan, and I have been more dominate with Sammie, so she doesn't feel she has to protect me from other dogs. Seems to be helping. They get along fine at the end of the sessions. Our only problem is that they act like strangers the next day and we have to do it all over again.

[Lara's mom]

I also come from Ontario and I'll be very honest. I'm scared to death of pitbulls. I once saw one rip a little helpless dog almost to shreds. That was more than enough for me. I wouldn't let either of my girls anywhere near a pitbull. I'm responsible for keeping them safe and I just won't take a chance.