selective dog aggression?

so pepper has pretty much shown me that she has little to no patience for other dogs. but the last 2 days she seemed to be ok with a few. like today we went to my mom's house and they have this REALLY old decrepit german shephard that is real sweet and just really really old and a stroke survivor and pepper got out the door and went up to him and was LICKING him!!! i was like wtf??? and then yesterday we were at petsmart and i was watching her like a hawk and another dog came up to her and she was sweet and sniffing and relaxed, but then another puppy mix came by her and she went bezerk!! growling and barking and whining. is this selective DA? is that even possible??? just wondering b/c it baffled me! thanks!

 

how old is she? she could be selective DA , or she could just not like certain hyper puppies.. my pit mix is selective DA with unneutered males, and some other dogs that he just doesnt like. but give him a puppy or a dog who doesnt care if he is top dog and he is fine.

 

she is 9 weeks old. thanks for the relation, i am confused, so i thought i would ask you all what you thought!

 

yes thats exactley what it is,the pit bull is the only breed of dog that i have been around who it can choose who it wants to show aggression towards.now i know that sounds odd and alot of people will say o any dog can do that.well this is how the pitbull is diffrent and it all stems from the pitfighting days of old.you could take pepper as she gets older and put 2 dogs infront of her she could be going bezerk towards one while turning around and licking the other dog in the midst of all the commotion.and this stems from when they were in the pit, a handler had to be able to pick up the dog without any fear what so ever of getting bit no matter what was going on,so what that meant was they had to show aggression in one direction and show love in another direction and they couldnt get confused they also had to do the same when they were on the scratch line they couldn't scratch into the other handler they had to go straight for the dog.i hope it aint to confusing for you,lol.

 

My dog Bane is selective DA he LOVES some dogs and others he want st to go at em' on sight. Even if they are blocks down the road. He also seems to dislike certain breeds. He HATES all german shepherds and HATES Cocker spaniels but yet so far loves all labs he has came in contact with and he seems to like Chows whether they are male or female. He also likes small smooth coated dogs and puppies. But when he dont like a certain dog he wants to get them. I can control him but he shakes and whines and his eyes get all bloodshot. Most people think he is "scared" and I have to explain no he isnt scared dont let your dog over here.

 

thanks texas and HVAPBT! i followed you pretty well texas, lol, thanks for the history there! glad to hear others relating!! i was just so confused earlier! lol, but at least now i know that a dog has a 50/50 chance of her *not* wanting to rip its face off! lmao!

 

Yeah , my girl Kasha is like that too. she only doesn't like this one yorkie that always growls and runs under its owners legs. man, she hates that dog. Good thing I'm moving end of this month!

 

lol, the yorkie AND the wipers lol, she is WWA (windshield wiper aggressive!) thanks Cemoreno, i am jealous i wanna move!!!!!

 

same here. i used to think it was age, sex, or neutered/unneutered but he has problems with all of the three. he's had issues (on leash of course) with submissive females, same age neutered aggressive males, and older aggressive males. anytime he gets competitive with others regarding toys always results in cur snapping. i just don't trust him with anything. bottom line, i don't let him play with any dog. it just takes one time to turn your life and wallet upside down. good luck.

 

i hear that david! thanks!

 

Red is selective DA. She just selects a few to be mean to. She will be fine and then OMG. SO, I manage her around other dogs. I take her everywhere and MAKE her FOCUS on ME. She goes to PetsMart every chance we get and she will let a dog run up to her without going bezerko Although she used to growl the whole time.

 

Red- do not let any dog just run up to your dog. you stand in front of your dog protecting her.. you dont want her to get defensive every time a dog runs up to her, by her growling she is letting you know she is not happy- she is signaling to you and you are ignoring her signal. one day she will growl and then go after a dog and you will be in shock... tell people to keep their dogs controlled, and if any offleash dogs come up to her andyou put yourself in front of your dog,and do whatever necessary to protect your dog from a strange dog.. you also should train red to act like a lady in public. and not go off on strange dogs.. teachher to behave politely and to ignore other dogs..

pepper- where did you get her from? was it from a breeder? a rescue? a shelter? since she is 9 weeks old you have to start NOW showing her how to behave in public with all strange dogs around. it is not acceptable for her to go after any dogs in public.. it is your duty to teach her to behave politely in public with you, so that she shows the good side of the breed.. she could also be afraid of some dogs with the way they approach her, and is being defensive to protect her self. same with you, put yourself in front of her to protect her, and do whatever necessary to keep an unleashed dog away from her.

i have no problem telling people to control their dogs when my pitx is out in public, as i taught him from 2 months old how to behave in public. no one wants to see a snarling out of control dog,let alone a pup of this breed acting like a snot.. i also have no problem gettng physical with a dog that is unleashed coming after my dog.. i am his protector, and he should not have to be on guard all the time out in public...

work with both your dogs on behaving in public, and being aware of idiot owners with loose dogs... it always looks better when your pit is behaving and another breed is acting all snarly... the public will see this..

for example, at a local car show this guy and his beagle were walking around. i had rufus with me, as i bringhim everywhere.. the beagle went crazy, barking,snarling and lunging on a freaking flexi leash, and meanwhile rufus was just sitting next to me while i was talking to some people .. they commented on how well behaved he was with the looney beagle going nuts.. i just smiled and said its due to his breed and his training..... the entire time i had one eye on the beagle to make sure he didnt get loose.. the entire night every time the beagle saw rufus he went nuts.. yet rufus basically gave him the finger and kept walking.... that is good PR... i made sure the beagle and his owners looked like asses....

 

9 weeks is a little young for any dog to show real aggression, especially a pitbull. I would chalk it up to her being intimidated by some dogs and feeling the need to look tough, and feeling ok with others. However, I wouldnt take her to petsmart anymore, they arent the place for any dog to be, let alone a APBT. Socialization is key, but at that age I would keep her away from places that dogs frequent that much, her immune system is still week, and it wont take much off another dog to get her fatally ill

 

actually i have seen pups at 2 months old showing dog aggression due to the breeding..

however, if she is not vaccinated properly 14rock is right, her immune system could pick something up, or a dog could attack her back and hurt or kill her

 

Yes, your right marryellen, some dogs are fight crazy at that age, but they are few and far between. I neglected to mention that because I was under the assumption her dog is a "petbull" and wasnt bred for the box, where this type of aggression sometimes presents itself.

 

true, we dont know where the dog came from. but we are both right

 

I do put myself between her and the other dog. Red DOES act like a lady in public. The other post should say used too growl when a dog ran up to her. I was at school and in a hurry earlier. Red has her CGC and TT certificate. She passed both with flying colors. When she goes off on another dog, I will not be surprized. She has got ahold of the neighbors Golden puppy because it was in our yard. She didn't hurt her and let go as soon as I told her "aus". I protect her from strange dogs. I ahev a 2 ft. rule. If their dog is off leash and comes within 2 feet of us, it gets sprayed with Pepper Spray. I'm also not scared to kick a loose dog if the owner won't get it. I don't want you getting the impression that Red is ill behaved in public. She can do a 10 minute down-stay in PetsMart and not once react to a dog walking by her. It has taken me months to get her where she can do this but she can now. We are working towards our BH in SchH, SO she is VERY WELL-BEHAVED in public. She is 19 months 5 days old and is better behaved than any dog I've seen yet around here. When she sees another dog she doesn't go after it, she will watch it IF I let her at which time I tell her to "LEAVE-IT". She focuses back on me and we continue walking. My dog is anythign but ill-behaved.

 

ok, you didnt put all that in your initial post, so i didnt know she was that well behaved in public. please dont take offense.

 

I didn't take offense. Sorry the other post sounded so gruff. I was in a hurry earlier and didn't put that in and can see where you are coming from if what I wrote earlier would have been all there was. Sorry for the confusion. For the most part she behaves a lot like your Rufus(from the way you described him above). Again Sorry.

 

ok...soooooooooo
she came from a guy that my fiance knows. he has 6 APBTs and his bitch was the last to get spayed, she is young i think only like a year and 1/2 and he was slow on getting her spayed b/c his wife just had a baby and it was a tough pregnancy. (i dont have the papers or anything yet but i know he said something about gator bloodlines but i have yet to even try to figure that out b/c 14rock is right, i made my first apbt and pet-bull) anywho, one of the other boys ate through her wooden kennel to get to her and got her pregnant. (they never even fought, as a matter of fact he didnt know it happened til the next morning when they were in the same run together!!!) anyways so she had an "oops" litter, but he is not in it for the money so he started conducting interviews. well the bitch dug under a fence when the pups were 4 weeks old and took a stroll, he put up flyers and went crazy looking for her and started the puppies on carnation or something, well the little old lady who "found" her didnt go out much and just thought she found a real sweet doggie, so she kept her in the house and fed her for 2 weeks and by then they feared the worse for her and had completely weened the puppies to some puppy gruel of boiled chicken and other stuff to keep them healthy. that is why i got her so young (6 weeks) b/c i had gotten a call back that i was up for a puppy!! (i know his interviews were legit b/c one guy that is a friend of his works with brian, my fiance, and he didnt even get one!) so that is where she came from. as far as the DA i just took the growling and stuff when she wrestled with 2 small dogs to be that. but it seems that the bigger the dog, the less growly and "playful" she is, and just sems to respect them more. i think it was talked about in my "got my 1st dose of reality" thread. anyways after all the advise i just chalked it up to her being DA....lol....thats what i get for believeing everything that everyone tells me!!!

whew!!!!! that was a lot to type!