American Bulldog- is he right for me?

[Tori's mom]

Or should I say am I right for HIM! OK, So I'm failing fostering 101. I fell hard. I rescued an American Bulldog pup- probably 9-12 months, and now I want to make him a part of our family. (for the whole story see "poor baby" in the rescue and adoption threads) Problem is we are involved in rescue, we foster on average 1 dog every month or so. Loki is male, soon to be nutered (currently medical issues are postponing sugery), our other 2 resident dogs are both spayed females, slightly larger than Loki. Bully Folks- here's where I need you! What is your experience with Bully types (American Bulldogs in particular) when placed in such a situation? Currently Loki is very friendly, I'm actually working with him to tone down his play style. He has met a several dogs while in my care, and he has NO agression issues whatsoever. He has loved every dog he has met, even an adult male intact American Bulldog who has dog agression issues. Can this work? Can I continue to foster and give Loki the home he deserves? I am just in love with that big bully grin- and everything else about this guy!

[GSP4619]

awwwww you have it bad looks like. I don't know what I would do if in your shoes. So he is not the first foster you have is it?

[Nixx]

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[Tori's mom]

No, Loki is not my first foster... I've had quite a few, I've just never gotten attached before! Who guessed it would be a bully! Just to clarify our other permanant dogs are 2 spayed females. We do not have any intact males (unless you mean Loki, and he will be nutered ASAP!). That dosn't mean I wouldn't need to foster an intact male at some point... If you look in the photo and art section under Tasha and the gang you will see our 2, our current foster and one of our fosters that went to her forever home. Socializing is not a problem, my guys go everywhere and have regular play dates with canine friends. Any ideas?

[Patch O' Pits]

No, Loki is not my first foster... I've had quite a few, I've just never gotten attached before! Who guessed it would be a bully! Just to clarify our other permanant dogs are 2 spayed females. We do not have any intact males (unless you mean Loki, and he will be nutered ASAP!). That dosn't mean I wouldn't need to foster an intact male at some point... If you look in the photo and art section under Tasha and the gang you will see our 2, our current foster and one of our fosters that went to her forever home. Socializing is not a problem, my guys go everywhere and have regular play dates with canine friends. Any ideas?

I agree about a dog becoming more aggressive possibly especially since this is a pup. He will not fully mature until 2-3 years old to know. I think you can make it work. But you may have to rotate dogs in and out of rooms or crates when fostering. I also agree about never leaving the dogs unattended all together. That is just realy a given.

Bully breeds make wonderful pets to owners who are responsible with them.
I think you understand that and are willing to do what is best.

Good luck w/ your decision. Keep us posted

My breed is the APBT so although I have been around ABs I have never owned one, so hopefully more who own one will chime into this discusion

[Nixx]

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[seraphicia]

I love the bully breeds and we get a lot of ABs into rescue, many of them just puppies. They like many other bully breeds just need a good commanding officer LOL. They just need rules and training. Dog aggression won't just pop up out of the blue because he turns three years old though. I have currently one female four year old shepherd mix, an 11 yr old lab mix, a two year old lab mix, a lab/pit pup foster, and a 3.5 yr old pit that probably has some AB mixed in. The shepherd is the only female and the dominant dog, and while my pit challenged her a lot for the first two years, he really accepted his role as not the top dog, and we made sure to reinforce his position there in the right place in the pack. He's never been aggresive towards our other males at all. When he was two we brought a AB we found in the street home and there were some issues only when not supervised, but they didn't get a proper intro as we foudn him around 1 am so.... We found Hank's(as is name was for the four days we had him) home, and we have fostered many other dogs that always happened to be younger than Mick the pit, so him personally(dogally:) nothing else has arrived. He always showed a no back down attitude out and about when other dogs wanted to pick a fight, but if a problem arised, it just became something to manage to prevent any problems. Even when he was downright challenged over food or toys or even space, he never actually hurt anyone, or left a mark, he just put them in their place or else minded his own business. Anyway, all I'm saying is it can very well work out. Mick LOVES people and is okay with any dog he meets in a controlled environment. Its just about continued socialization and training, as has been said.

As far as the last post that mentioned nuetering making an aggression problem worse...the only people I've heard that from were people who didn't want to get there dogs neutered or wanted to encourage aggression. Some boneheads my brother hung out with stupidly told him to make sure our first pit was neutered to increase his aggression.Hey if it makes them neuter! He was neutered at six months, and now we nueter all our dogs and fosters at four months. The earlier the better, the same as training and socialization.

Just remember to set him up for success and read his body language to prevent any problems and educate yourself in case problems arise.I would imagine that it would take the different foster dogs being aggressive to bring up problems. And from the other experiences you've mentioned, there probably would've been some retaliation or hint of aggression if he was boldly showed some by another dog. What has been said is good advise and I agree. Good luck with your pup, preparation is a good thing and it sounds like you're off to a good start!

[Nixx]

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[Tori's mom]

I've been doing ALOT of research, and everything points to this being managable... but I have some time before I have to make my decision. Until hi is totally healthy and fixed he is not adoptable anyway. Pity, the poor pup is stuck with me!:p I really appriciate all the advice... Everyone feel free to chime in! I'll be posting pics soon, he has started healing up and looks much better, turning out to be quite handsome if i do say so myself. Smart, too. He's been with us for 2 weeks now, and has learned sit, down, wait, leave it, stay, and how to walk on a loose leash. Oh, and potty training! Best foster I've ever had as far as that goes. Yeah Loki! And he is such a love. Kisses constantly, even cought him grooming the stuffed toys! It's wonderful seeing him come out of his shell so quickly.
Does anyone know what happened to all Nixx's posts?

[GSP4619]

Glad to hear that and best of luck and I look forward to pictures & updates :D .

[Tori's mom]

Pics have been posted in the photography forum! Loki is doing great! He had a play date with a total of 6 dogs on saturday, and boy did he ever have a ball! This boy just keeps getting better and better.