Pitbull food agression towards children… HELP!!?
Question by Steph: Pitbull food agression towards children… HELP!!?
Ok before I begin I would love to inform everyone this is not my first pitbull nor my first child. I never leave them unsupervised and their is a gate between the dog and her food and my son at all times since this has happened.
OK lets begin. Nala is a year and a half, 70 pound fixed pure breed red nosed pitbull from Tampa Florida. She’s fully potty trained and knows basic commands such as sit, stay and lay. When I got pregnant I purchased nala from a middle aged couple in tampa and soon gave birth to our now 2 year old son. Nala was great with my son as an infant and often layed hours by his bassinet. About roughly 6 months ago she became food agressive ( or at least we finally found out she was ). My son walked into the kitchen where nala was eating her food and she started growling realllyyy low and for the next hour watched him CONSTANTLY peering out the side of her eyes and wouldn’t let him go near her food. Of course I seperated them and put up a baby gate between her food and the living room and it has been this way since. Well of course she still growls through the baby gate if our son gets near the gate but NEVER growls at adults. I mean I could get right near her food and she wouldnt care !
Let me also add that Nala cannot be around other animals such as dogs or cats because of her agression towards them. She has serios prey drive issues when on a leash as well. After about 30 minutes of walking we can finally relax and just stroll but the first 30 minutes is extreme pull and god forbid us pass another dog while walking !!
SO we decided to get rid of put her up for adoption and rehome her and give her to another family that would have more time for her ( we had to do this since we found out our mother n law has cancer). They had a friend of theirs come over for dinner that night that had a toddler and Nala did the same thing to their friends toddler !! She growled at their friends son while her food was on the ground!
SO clearly she has food agression towards smaller children ( toddlers). My question is: I cannot give her to a shelter because they do temperment testing which involves other dogs being present which will not go well. I’ve already contacted over 25 shelters in florida as well as pitbull rescue places. They ALL do temperment testing which means she will not pass… So what should i Do? Should i still try and rehome her to a family that has no children or other animals or should she be put down? Please think this through before answering and read EVERYTHING !!
Best answer:
Answer by Mama Tex
I don’t even have to read more than the title. a dog no matter what the breed being food or any type of aggression towards humans is put to sleep. You don’t re home her to risk other people and you don’t give her to a shelter where someone will get hurt. Its your dog and your responsibility.
What do you think? Answer below!
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Prey drive and aggression can be managed within the capable hands of an experienced owner. If there is a rescue willing to take her in with an open foster that can manger her by all means PLACE HER WITH THEM.
Whether you like it or not she needs her temperament evaluated by people a lot more experienced than you. The breed is animal aggressive that is NOT going to prevent her from finding a home free of other animals through a resuce.
I’d work with a trainer on this. Pitbulls are pretty smart and a trainer may be able to teach her to be tolerant towards children when they are near the food. Behavior modification is possible, but sounds like you need a professional to guide you through this.
that’s just how pit bulls are they are NOT bad dogs i love them to death but maybe you could give her to a rescue because they will try their best but if she cant get a home usually they will keep her as a pet good luck
lol not you first pit bull???? if that’s so why does it not sound like a pit bull (her size) and why are you using its nose color in its “breed”????? and if its not your first child why was she not socialized with children better??
and finally why the heck would you let an animal aggressive dog next to your child????
you could try TRAINING her or keeping the child and dog separate or you can try to find a pit bull rescue and go from there
edit~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
im just going to say some things lol
1) lol having two accounts is against Y!A rules
2) don’t curse if you have no grounds to (which you don’t)
3) LEARN about the breed you have before buying it, if you did you would know that as said before nose color means nothing(which if you knew you would have not put it down) and most APBT or “pit bulls” are ANIMAL AGGRESSIVE
you can still try to adopt her out as long as they are told No children and you explain what you just did on here. you don’t want to be responsible for someone getting bit. you can also try calling some local animal trainers and just asking for their advice. a good trainer will take the time to answer you.pits usually aren’t aggressive, contrary to their reputation. hopefully you will find the right person in your community to help you. i don’t know if i was very helpful but i hope you find her a good home.
She should be fine at a no/low kill shelter. They do temperament test them, but aggression towards other animals is not something they put them down for; they just tell potential adopters that they must be an only pet. I have also seen some up for adoption at my local humane society that have food aggression as well.
Well, I assume you took Nala back from the people you gave her to?
My respects to you for taking that responsibility onto yourself. A lot of people would have washed their hands of the dog once they’d given it away.
Anyway… to the issue….
“Nala NEVER growls at adults…. but cannot be around other animals such as dogs or cats because of her agression towards them. She has serios prey drive issues”
She views children as the same level as other dogs & cats. As Prey.
She respects Adults, but she has no respect for children, and feels free to get dominant-aggressive.
I’m also dubious about the claim that this is not your first pitbull.
This agression is simply due to a lack of socialising & training. 2 things that any dog owner knows are vitally important with any dog – especially a pitbull around children. This dog has been allowed to become dominant-aggressive toward your child because of lack of training.. Simple as that.
What would YOU do if Nala growled at YOU while she was eating? Give her a firm swift correction and teach her that behaviour will not be tolerated? But when Nala growled at your child, what did you do? Just keep them apart?
The dog now needs some serious re-training, probably more than you are able to give.
You probably (and quite understandably) don’t want to risk keeping her, with your own child in the house. She needs to be rehomed at a Pitbull Rescue or with someone who obviously has no children, and who is an experienced Trainer…. and please make sure that when you rehome her again, you let the new owner know about this issue.
Aaaah… upon further reading of the replies, I see that “Slim” is “Steph’s” husband… and if the tone of that reply is indicative… it could explain a lot about the dog’s unstable & aggressive behaviour. Hmmmm…
You are asking for a law suit.
This dog not only has food aggression, but excessive prey drive. What will happen when she gets out and kills someone’s small dog? A cat? An aviary full of birds?…. a child?
This dog is best euthanized. No, you will not be able to take her to a shelter or rescue. You are right, she will not pass the temperament test. Due to the extreme overpopulation, most shelters are finally being realistic in their expectations and eliminating the behaviorally challenged animals to make room for the good dogs who have not done anything wrong- nor have any problems.
Don’t get me wrong… I love dogs! But why waste the energy and resources on a dangerous dog when so many great ones need homes?
This dog is progressing in her aggressive tendencies. Most likely it is genetics. Even if she is an only dog…there are others who live in this world too. She can not handle the average stresses of life .She is dog aggressive, food aggressive, and now she has worked up to people. I believe in your heart you need to have the words said to you…she needs to be put down. This dog has no peace in this life..she is unsound, and you know that this is true LOVE cannot cure this..and re-homing her is a tragedy waiting to happen. You know this can’t happen and you be able to sleep at night. You have taken her as far as you can in this life…now help her by releasing her to the peace she deserves. I’m sorry, it does hurt…but you also love this dog. You don’t want her to be destroyed by people who only see her as a vicious dog…and not your loved pet.. It is hard, but you care for her and will do right by her. Good Luck with your decision.
ASHLEY – I believe your comment regarding my wife’s question is totally unrelated. We know that using the term ” red nosed ” is not the actualy breed, and as she previously stated, we never leave our son with her alone and this is our second child ( which would mean that this is not the same dog we had around our first ) and the first time we found out about all of this was not by him playing in her food or messing with her while she was eating, it was him just walking into the kitchen.
So please, with all do respect. Keep your fucking mouth shut if you do not have anything good to say. Thank you and a wonderful rest of your shit talking evening!