So last weekend, one of Val's uncles came to town to visit and spend some time with us. We urged him to bring one of his dogs because Baby has had 0 experiences with other dogs that we've seen or heard before we got her. We heard a couple things about her being fine with some smaller dogs like yorkies or chihuahuas, and was even fine with my sisters toy poodle, but never heard anything about her and other dogs her size. Well he brought Duddy who is a 7ish old NM brown pitbull, with an extremely easy going temperament. Since it is in our best interest and Babys best interest to get along with other dogs we had a short meeting between Baby and Duddy.
It all started fine even though Baby was extremely anxious to get to Duddy, a lot of whining, whimpering, and other tense energy filled the room. At first Baby sniffed Duddy from head to toe with him just sitting by Vals uncle with an anxious look on his face. It was all fine until Baby decided to sniff under him, his stomach, when that happened he moved quickly and Baby quickly responded with some tense energy that was aggressive. We then separated them because the line has been crossed and we had to think about what exactly went wrong and why it didnt work out.
I've probably mentioned it before but when we got Baby we know that her owners got foreclosed on and she lived under a house for at least a month, as well as went from house to house(or apt) and never really had a single home, not only that but with other pets as well. On top of that we know that she had at least one litter if not two or more of puppies so her maternal protective instinct was a bit more honed than a dog whose never been a mother. Adding all of these things together plus the fact that this has been her home for 5 months as the queen of the household led us to believe that she was exhibiting signs of over protectiveness, as in (this is my house and I have no idea what you're doing here).
This all leads me back to my Title of this blog. Above all else you need patience with pitbulls and bully breeds. You can't expect any breed of dog to be stable, obedient, calm, without the training, patience, and calm assertive energy. Obedience is a must for all dogs, they must receive the love like a son or daughter, but you need to know when to give it. You can't expect dogs to be perfect, especially when you don't know their past. Because Val and I will be starting a pitbull rescue in the future it is imperative for Baby to get along with other dogs and as the owner of a protective dog to work with her, to train her, to understand that we are the alpha leaders of the pack, she needs to develop her trust in us but the only way she can do it is if we show her how. Our biggest mistake of this introduction of Duddy was that it was inside her home, a place where she feels loved and secure. In order to properly introduce a new dog into the pack it is optimal if it is done outside of the home and I would say not even just outside, but at a park or some middle ground where neither dog would feel that they need to be protective over it.
This introduction was just the beginning to Babys socialization and obedience and we will keep you updated all along the way with things we've learned as well as adorable pictures of our little miss Baby.
