[MrsJohnnyG]

My husband woke me up early this morning by calling from the living room, "Come look! The babies are outside and another pup is playing with them!" ("the babies" being Dabney and Jackson, our two 8-month-old Standard Poodles.)

I sleepily toddled in to the living room and looked out into the back yard, and saw the puppies frolicking with a gorgeous pit bull. They were romping and running and playing, tails all wagging happily.

Dixon, who is very fearful of and aggressive toward other dogs, came over, saw the visiting pit bull, and started barking her head off.

Before I could stop him, my hubby said, "Dixon, you want to go play too?" and opened the door and let her out... of course, she went charging up to this pit bull and barking crazily RIGHT in his face.

Thankfully, the pittie good-naturedly turned and trotted away, wagging his tail behind him.

I was yelling at my husband, "WHY did you do that??? You KNOW she's aggressive and that could have ended up having a really bad outcome!! If that pittie had decided to fight back, one of them could have been seriously hurt!!"

He brushed me off and said Dixon did nothing wrong and was just defending her property. Umm, that's not the point... the point is what HE (my husband!) did was really stupid... letting a dog-aggressive poodle go out and start telling off a pit bull... am I right about this??

 

[erway]

Umm...I have to say that I agree with you.

 

[Pai]

Umm...I have to say that I agree with you.

Same here.

 

[zimandtakandgrrandmimi]

pit or not it was a bad idea.

strange dog, regardless of breed..is an unknown quantity.


however I will say this...

its been my experience that pits who aren't dog aggressive often tend to shrug off behavior that other breeds percieve as threatening when they are in a playful mood. Pit play is pretty rough and can involve aggressive seeming behaviors at times. though that isn't a consistent thing...I've just noticed it in some of them. it couldve have gotten nasty though.


who's letting their pit run around like that???

 

[trumpetjock]

Doesn't really matter if the dog was a pit or not.... what he did was stupid.

 

[MissMutt]

What I'm wondering is where this dog came from. Your dogs were outside and then this one just appeared? That doesn't seem safe.

 

[MrsJohnnyG]

Thanks for backing me up... I think he gets now why that was a dumb idea (he just lives in this idyllic world where all animals live in peace, love and harmony -- he doesn't think it's possible for dogs to get into dangerous fights ).

What I'm wondering is where this dog came from. Your dogs were outside and then this one just appeared? That doesn't seem safe.

In our neighborhood, every once in a while a dog gets loose (not very often, maybe once every couple of months that I know of)... we don't have a fence (my pups are well-trained with an Invisible Fence, which they love as it gives them the free run of our acre property), so during the hours they play outside, I keep an eye out and if I spot a neighbor's dog who has gotten loose (unless all three of my pups and I know the dog -- such as the Lab across the street), I will call them inside immediately so there's no confrontation, and then send an email to the neighbors to try to track down the owner.

When the hubs let them out to potty this morning, he wasn't thinking that a loose dog would come by to play so early (and actually he thinks it's adorable when a loose dog trots over for an uninvited play date ).

Oh, one thing that made me sad was that even though the boys had been romping and frolicking and playing with this very friendly pittie, after Dixon chased him away, THEY chimed in and started telling him off/barking as he trotted away as if to say, "annnnd STAY out!" I don't want them to learn to hate other dogs because Dixon is so anti-social. Fortunately the pittie was still wagging his tail as he headed home so I don't think he was as emotionally scarred as I was.

BTW - I still haven't found out who the owner is, but if/when I do, would it be an okay idea to plan a play date with just the boys (NOT Dixon)? They really enjoyed playing with him.

 

[Inga]

No judgment on your fence. I just wanted to say, that is why I hate invisible fences. I would have had a heart attack to look out and see my dogs playing with some strange dog. I just have seen things like that go badly too often. I am glad that in your case, it turned out well.

Do you have an animal control officer that you could call to report the loose dog? I mean, rather then see the poor thing get hit by a car or something.

 

[MrsJohnnyG]

Do you have an animal control officer that you could call to report the loose dog? I mean, rather then see the poor thing get hit by a car or something.

Goodness, I know... I did send an email to the neighborhood but haven't heard back anything... the pup did have a collar but Dixon chased him away before I was able to go see if he had a tag with the owner's phone number on it. We drove slowly around the neighborhood this afternoon and didn't see the pittie so I'm hoping he made it home... wonder if I should call animal control just in case??

No judgment on your fence. I just wanted to say, that is why I hate invisible fences. I would have had a heart attack to look out and see my dogs playing with some strange dog. I just have seen things like that go badly too often.

That was our one big concern re: the Invisible Fence too. We decided that the pro's so vastly outweighed the cons, since it is so rare for a dog to wander onto our property that we don't know (and we don't have coyotes etc. here). It does help that I keep a close eye on them at all times while they're outside. Our house is set really far back from the road so that helps in being able to watch out for "strange" dogs and being able to call the pups inside before they have a chance to meet.

 

[Spicy1_VV]

Not insane, but quite frankly naive. This is a super bad idea with a Pit, even if it was playing nice with the others. I hear what Zim is saying as I've witnesses it several times before, but have also seen that they will fight a dog that is being aggressive even if they were so friendly with the playful dogs. It is a huge risk. I mean what would your husband have done if it had attacked Dixon and really got serious? Without expecting nor knowing how to stop a pit bull fighting it could have ended terrible for Dixon.

Of course as others said it really doesn't matter what breed it was in the end. Dixon could have got hurt or hurt another dog by him not thinking of what could happen.

 

[BrittanyG]

I think he gets now why that was a dumb idea (he just lives in this idyllic world where all animals live in peace, love and harmony -- he doesn't think it's possible for dogs to get into dangerous fights ).

I would do my best to shatter this illusion asap. 3 dogs depend on you and him to keep them safe, and I wonder if he is able to do it.

 

[Inga]

Not insane, but quite frankly naive. This is a super bad idea with a Pit, even if it was playing nice with the others. I hear what Zim is saying as I've witnesses it several times before, but have also seen that they will fight a dog that is being aggressive even if they were so friendly with the playful dogs. It is a huge risk. I mean what would your husband have done if it had attacked Dixon and really got serious? Without expecting nor knowing how to stop a pit bull fighting it could have ended terrible for Dixon.

Of course as others said it really doesn't matter what breed it was in the end. Dixon could have got hurt or hurt another dog by him not thinking of what could happen.

Yes, and the other 2 could have then "got into it" as well. I have seen that happen all too often. Two dogs fight and the other dogs in the area get all revved up and want a piece of the action. Thank God it turned out well. No harm, no foul. Just a lesson learned, hopefully.

 

[JediRach]

I'm on your side with this one.

 

[Spicy1_VV]

Yes, and the other 2 could have then "got into it" as well. I have seen that happen all too often. Two dogs fight and the other dogs in the area get all revved up and want a piece of the action. Thank God it turned out well. No harm, no foul. Just a lesson learned, hopefully.

Yes Inga so true. I'm cautious of that as well. If one of my dogs is getting fired up I know to stop them quickly and get everyone calm, sit-stay, whatever it takes. Even if something like that wouldn't happen I'd rather not risk 2 of them getting into it then the others joining.

 

[MrsJohnnyG]

THANK YOU so much, everyone, for your replies!! I think he's seen the light now but I'm going to have him read this thread just in case (after I reread it and make sure I haven't said anything I wouldn't want him to read )!

 

[chrisn6104]

I vote insane naive or whatever you want to call it. It was a bad move.