What HAVE I done????

Well, we're buying big dog things now. I'm worried my husband's getting attached to Bruce. He now has 3 bones, a tarp for shade, a twisty rope, a huge DOGHOUSE!!! and Michael has priced kennels for him to sleep in at night and the giant crate is set up in the spare bedroom for the daytime when it gets too hot. :eek: I'm in deep doo doo here folks!
Three tiny dogs and one mammoth dog????!!!!???? It could never work. I keep telling him, but he keeps saying it could. Chester and Bruce could never be together without being leashed, and I just don't think it would be fait to either of them. :confused: :( :confused: :(

What a mess your in....so sorry I dont have any helping words...but lets just say I use the same tatics you husband is using on my parents when I want a dog. But its alittle different when you can't trust your dogs togather.

:eek: Who's the dominant dog in your pack? Is it Chester? I think they could probably be together unleashed after a while, I just wouldn't leave them unsupervised.

It might change too after Bruce get 'tutored'!

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Originally posted by Cheshirekatt
:eek: Who's the dominant dog in your pack? Is it Chester? I think they could probably be together unleashed after a while, I just wouldn't leave them unsupervised.

It might change too after Bruce get 'tutored'!

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Chester is definitely the dominant dog and he attempts to attack and incite riots! He's really a good dog, just very unruly with other males! Or females at first. So far all the girls have backed down quickly. LOL I'm just worried that he'd push Bruce way too hard. Chester is like hell on wheels around him. It would be comical if not so depressing.

Bruce is very interested in that snappy, snarly, out of control, sometimes scary little thing called Chester. :D

I must have missed a thread lol..who's Bruce? :confused:

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Originally posted by micki76
Chester is definitely the dominant dog and he attempts to attack and incite riots! He's really a good dog, just very unruly with other males! Or females at first. So far all the girls have backed down quickly. LOL I'm just worried that he'd push Bruce way too hard. Chester is like hell on wheels around him. It would be comical if not so depressing.

Bruce is very interested in that snappy, snarly, out of control, sometimes scary little thing called Chester. :D

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Chester and Wilma sound a LOT a like. lol Better not got those two together! :eek:

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Originally posted by wolfsoul
I must have missed a thread lol..who's Bruce? :confused:

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My pit/lab I rescued

:D Here's the thread Jordan:
Bruce

lol, the thread is right under this one...I'm such a loser. :rolleyes:

What a cutie!!! I love him!!! Ecspecially the way his body colour contrasts with his eyes, so pretty! :)

So you don't think it can work? :( At all? ;) You know you want him.....you know you do.....heehee ;)

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Originally posted by wolfsoul
lol, the thread is right under this one...I'm such a loser. :rolleyes:

What a cutie!!! I love him!!! Ecspecially the way his body colour contrasts with his eyes, so pretty! :)

So you don't think it can work? :( At all? ;) You know you want him.....you know you do.....heehee ;)

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I just don't know. He's so quiet, reserved and LAZY!!:p
But Chester's so psycho. :rolleyes:

And yes, we do want him, but not at the price of everyone's happiness.

You should've seen me trying to get him in my little compact car twice today! Hilarious. I pick up the front two paws and place them on the car seat. Walk him forward a bit and lift the rear end, while taking baby steps, until he's finally in the backseat. Then he just looks at me like, "You want me to sit here?" He's very good in the car though, once in. Oh, Lord listen to me!!!:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Micki -

I totally sympathize with your situation and have been there many times myself. You must have that same 'sucker' tattoo on your forehead :D I would suggest neutering him and then slowly trying to reintroduce him to Chester. If it doesn't work out after however long you're willing to try it out for, you could always call me and we'll make an appointment for him to come in to my shelter.

You might be able to get Chester and Bruce to the point where they could be offleash together as long as they are supervised, and then you could just seperate them when no one's home. After a long time of doing that, you may even feel comfortable leaving them together unsupervised.

If you guys are really set on keeping him, you could even seek help from a behaviorist who could come over and watch little Chester in action.

Whatever your decision, we all support you! And no matter what happens, Bruce will have a wonderful home thanks to you!

I'll stick with our original plan unless you tell me otherwise :)

Oh yeah, I definitley have the tattoo. LOL :D Espicially for this lazy bones dog. He'd be the ultimate couch potato. Michael takes him for a walk every night at dusk and Bruce is just ready to get home and lay down again! This is not the dog for and active person. :D
He's gonna need a special home where he can relax and settle down. Even when Chester's not in the yard, Bruce likes to sty in the fenced off area. I guess he just feels more secure there. He's a little bit intimidated by Chester. Dogs can be so strange. :rolleyes:

Yep, let's stick to the plan.

Pittys are notorious couch patatos. I remember one I rescused many years back.....he found his forever home with an avid runner. LOL Joe would run around the track and Foster would do 1/2 lap then lay down in the center of the track and watch Joe do the rest of his run.

lololololol

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Originally posted by micki76
My pit/lab I rescued

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Note the `My` not `The`!??:D :D

Seriously, I hope it works out for his forever home to be with you, but if not, he is such a lovely dog I am sure there is great home waiting for him out there somewhere, and all, as Aly said, thanks to you!:)
Good luck!:)

Chris

Ummm! Not sure what to tell you.
But you did a wonderful thing by saving that
poor Boy.

After haveing 3 dogs, I think two is the perfect.
(Of course my horse Rocky can be a pain in the butt.)

To be fair,
My little terrier Pepper is fine unsupervised with
our two Akita's "in the house".
Good luck with your decision.
Sounds like hubby has a new dog,
What ever you decided, you did a wonderful act by
saving him.

You did such a good thing .............. I really, really hope you can help your "vicious" attack dog (aka Chester!!!!) accept and LOVE Bruce ............ then you could keep him!!

Fingers crossed, and you are amazing for rescuing him. :D

How does Bruce react when Chester is being a *attack dog ;)* around him?? Have you and your hubby tryed to leash introduce them together? You hold chester on a leash and your husband holds Bruce on another leash and then let then sniff and if any aggression is showed just pull back and start again! I have a book on terriroial dogs, I could type a few things you could do about this lil prob you have ;). I really dont think it is as bad as you think. Chester will cower if Bruce becomes agressive, I think. What about you? I read in my agression book that smaller dogs tend to act tuff around bigger dogs intull the larger of the breeds puts the other in place. please take it into consideration to let them meet supervied and on a leash. It might work. :p

Micki -

I ALMOST called you today with the perfect home lined up for Bruce. These people were so awesome. They are experienced pit owners and have a male pit right now. The only problem was their male doesn't like other males so they need a female :( I was sooooo disappointed. I really liked these people!

I had no luck this weekend on finding Motor, one of our shelter pits, a home. They said he needs to be the one thats adopted before Bruce can come. The other pits we have are puppies so we are sure they will be adopted soon. Anyway, at the rate things are going *I* will probably be the one adopting Motor! :eek: Well just kidding, I'm at my limit, but I am head over heels in love with this dog. I've been spending too much time with him because now if he hears my voice, he starts crying :( :( :( I painted his nails blue today, hehe. He looks like a prissy pit now.

I'll keep you updated.

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Originally posted by tikeyas_mom
How does Bruce react when Chester is being a *attack dog ;)* around him?? Have you and your hubby tryed to leash introduce them together? You hold chester on a leash and your husband holds Bruce on another leash and then let then sniff and if any aggression is showed just pull back and start again! I have a book on terriroial dogs, I could type a few things you could do about this lil prob you have ;). I really dont think it is as bad as you think. Chester will cower if Bruce becomes agressive, I think. What about you? I read in my agression book that smaller dogs tend to act tuff around bigger dogs intull the larger of the breeds puts the other in place. please take it into consideration to let them meet supervied and on a leash. It might work. :p

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She did let them meet on leash in a neutral area. From what I gather, Chester has never liked other males. While it could possibly work out after a long time, I don't think she wants to put her doggies through the stress of going through all that.

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Originally posted by aly
She did let them meet on leash in a neutral area. From what I gather, Chester has never liked other males. While it could possibly work out after a long time, I don't think she wants to put her doggies through the stress of going through all that.

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Yup. We've tried it several times and Chester is very iffy. Bruce seems pretty ok with it, but it does make him want to play with Ches whenever he acts so psycho. :rolleyes:
Millie has actually lunged at Bruce during their leashed meeting. :eek: He really didn't know what to think of that. They were pretty indifferent to him today while he was inside sleeping in the crate. Chester went in and barked a few times, then went to lie down on the couch.

Aly-Michael would kill me if I painted any of the dogs' nails any color! :D : D Makes me wanna do it!:p

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Originally posted by micki76

Aly-Michael would kill me if I painted any of the dogs' nails any color! :D : D Makes me wanna do it!:p

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OH you should! Its hilarious to watch peoples' reactions .. especially when its a Pit with the nails painted. You should do Bruce in PINK, hehe :D

Fighting is uncommon within a well-established group of dogs. A key factor for a socail harmony is the stability of the group. The memebers of the current group of dogs *milly and checter* have developed a hierarchical structure of social organisation.

It is traditionally held that pairs of dogs form complementary dominant/Subordinant relationshipd, which are the building blocks for the dominance hierarchy of the entire pack.

Rank is thought to be established during agressive encounters, whereby one dog dominates the other and by so doing establishes its superior position in the hierarchy. *Chester feels that Bruse is trying to take over his rank as the superior ranking dog in the pack*

The highest ranking animals of each sex are termed the alfa-male and alfa-female. Males are generally dominant to females. *Chester is dominant over Milly*.

The main predictors of fighting are the sex, age social rank of the animals concerned. Male dogs are more apt to fight then females. In over 90% of the dog fights, the participants are both male.

In the wild, there is usually some uniformity in size, conformation, behaviour and temperament of group members. As a result of domestic breeding, domestic dogs come in a myraid of shapes and sizes and vary greatly in terms of behaviour and teprament. This situation may have an unsettling influence on the development of social stability.

Letting dogs work out their differences can be a main factor to a stable household of domestic dogs. This allows dogs to understand the basics of dominance.

I recomend that you place a muzle on Bruse and let your husband hold him tight. While you let Chester go. Chester will be agressive at first but soon will relise that with no dought Bruce is Bigger and is higher rank and IS the alfa male. If Bruce cowers, this is also a good sign, Chester will be giving the satisfaction of being alfa male in the group.

Good luck. ;)

You know, the muzzle thing is a relaly good idea. It has nothing to do with Bruce's race, it's only the size difference that worries me. Well, that and Chester really is vicious. I know we joke about it, but he really won't back down. If you believe in the pit myth, Chester MUST have some pitty in him, cause he'd fight to the death. LOL :D :D I'll say it again, stupid little dog!

Quote:

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Originally posted by tikeyas_mom

I recomend that you place a muzle on Bruse and let your husband hold him tight. While you let Chester go. Chester will be agressive at first but soon will relise that with no dought Bruce is Bigger and is higher rank and IS the alfa male. If Bruce cowers, this is also a good sign, Chester will be giving the satisfaction of being alfa male in the group.

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Dogs should not be held tight during introductions, especially intorductions that are not working out too well. It will only frusterate the dog and possibly cause some aggression that wouldn't occur otherwise. They should always be kept on loose leashes. If held on a tight leash, the other dog could also mistake the upright leash as a challenging posture (looks like the tail is straight up and ready for a fight).

Also, from what micki has said, Chester would definately be the alpha, not Bruce (Size is usually not the determining factor in dominance... sometimes it is but not always). Bruce would be the one that would have to realize that Chester is higher ranking than him, which he probably already knows. The problem is Chester wants to eat him for breakfast, hehe :)

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Originally posted by aly
Dogs should not be held tight during introductions, especially intorductions that are not working out too well. It will only frusterate the dog and possibly cause some aggression that wouldn't occur otherwise. They should always be kept on loose leashes. If held on a tight leash, the other dog could also mistake the upright leash as a challenging posture (looks like the tail is straight up and ready for a fight).

Also, from what micki has said, Chester would definately be the alpha, not Bruce (Size is usually not the determining factor in dominance... sometimes it is but not always). Bruce would be the one that would have to realize that Chester is higher ranking than him, which he probably already knows. The problem is Chester wants to eat him for breakfast, hehe :)

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Aly you and I think alike! I was just going to post this....lololol

I have had a dog react badly to a muzzle also so take it slow. :D

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Originally posted by Cheshirekatt
Aly you and I think alike! I was just going to post this....lololol

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Great minds! :D

Just to let you know large and small can get along.

I have a 160lb Great Dane, male
15lb MinPin, female
74lb Boxer, male
13lb Pom. , female
65lb Boxer, female
45lb Balck Lab, male
More,but you get the point. They all get along fine. The Great Dane and the MinPin have a very close friendship.

Just thought it be a good idea to let you know in can work.
:D Give it time.
Here's the Dane and MinPin toghter. http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...a/fbfea006.jpg

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Originally posted by Fox-Gal
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...a/fbfea006.jpg

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OMG - how gorgeous!!!!!!

I don't know if it'll work for you but it did for my friend, He had a tiny terrier and then got a biggg lab. the tiny terrier(terror) didn't like the biggg lab so Geoff smeared cream cheese on each dogs back and they licked it off of each other-now they are the best of friends. Hopefully your beasties don't fight over food!
:D Good luck!!!
Also, Foxgal love the pic of the biggy and the teensy:)

Miki, I understand exactly what you are talking about with Chester because Angus is the same way.
I have no doubt that in time they could learn to co-exist, but like you, I wouldn't want to take the chance of them *ever* having a encounter. It would be great if it would work out, he sounds like a wonderful guy, if not, I hope he finds a great home:)
I felt the same way about Rose-but I just don't think it would have ever worked out:(

Hey Micki!

You just gotta love those terriers and all that spunk eh?;)
Introducing a puppy is not near as difficult as a dog, but
having terriers myself it was a wee bit of a challenge,
with Murph and Maddie and Oz.

I got some good advice from ppl here at pettalk, especially
aly. One thing I did that I really think helped was I had a
handful of treats at the ready, whenever I had Murph or
Maddie around Oz, and I'd give them a treat for just being
around him and for any acceptable behavior. I never
reprimanded them if they growled at him, cuz I wanted
Oz to learn his place in the pack and they never tried to
hurt him, but they only got the treats when they were all
hanging around each other nicely. As a result both Murph
and Maddie are much more tolerant of Oz, then they are
of each other. I had to throw a glass of ice water on Murph
and Maddie yesterday, cuz Maddie went after Murph for
being on the bed. ah terriers...

Par...

As Par said, the treats can work wonders. We had a little trouble introducing Kito and Abbey--we muzzled Kito (he's our alpha), and it was ok, and the first night, we just kept giving him treats when he didn't bark at her, or anything questionable. We had to get even more treats when Riley came to live with us.
I know you aren't "planning" on keeping Bruce, but it just may ease your mind a little more while he is staying there.

I'm keeping you and all of the furkids in my prayers, I hope something works out.