HELP! I need advice about my rescue pup!!

[mahlers2nd]

:confused:

Last fall I adopted a puppy who was 1/2 golden and 1/2 labrador. He is just the best dog in a world.

So we decided to adopt another puppy from the same rescue. The woman who rescued her litter knew that the mom was full-blooded golden retriever. She was told that the daddy was either a yellow lab or a chocolate lab (since the neighbors on both sides had labs).

2 of the puppys in the litter had black lips, black nose black around the eyes. The puppy that "adopted" me has reddish nose, redish lips, and her front legs are sort of set apart more like a pit bull than a lab. In addition, the conformation of her face is much more pit bull-like than lab like. Also, her build is much stockier than Thumper was at this stage. The 1st 13 months of her life were also very rough -- poor nutrition, terrible living conditions, not a lot of love.

She is 14 weeks old now and is very sweet. However, she has been very "bold" with our nearly full-grown retriever (60 pounds) and our 11-year old sheltie (who admittedly, is a wuss!). Her rough-housing has been much different than other puppy rough-housing... much rougher. she will grab the scruff our "Golden"'s neck and ears and hang on. She isn't hurting him... yet.

Anyway, she was born in a rural area where pit bulls are popular and unfortunately, the negative stereotype pit bull is also popular.

I have a 9 year old and a 6 year old and the 6 year old. I also have 2 other dogs. I've read that even pit bull mixes can show dog-on-dog agression as they get older and that there is no way of predicting whether that instinct will kick in as she matures.

However, I feel like I can't really take that risk because of my 6 year old and my other dogs if it is truly the case that you can't predict.

So for those of you that know the breed better - help me out here. Is there a significant risk that she could start showing significant agression as she grows older and bigger? Or would it be better to place her in a home without small children and other dogs? I really want her to be happy and have a great life. I'm really broken up about this because it just kills me to return her to the rescue where she was living in the pen outdoors without constant human love and attention. But I don't want to jeapordize my family (fuzzy and non-fuzzy alike).

Thanks in advance for any advice/wisdom you can provide...

Sincerely,
Nancy
mom to Trevor, Evan (bi-peds) and Thumper, Bentley, and Bella (quadra-peds)

[JFarrell12]

HI,
Hoping to help a little here.:)

First, lets no even think about what breed she is, she's a dog and a young one at that, so her mind can still be trained. I am confused though in your posting, is she lab or pitbull? Also what is her age? I see 13 months & 14 weeks?

When you brought her home did she have full control of the house? The reason I ask is that not every dog gets along with every other dog right away and sometimes never, but they can tolerate each other & live together. There is always some pecking order that is established in the pack.

If you brought her home and just let her have full run of the house then the pack order has been upset a little. She is new and doesn't know where she fits in exactly so she in essence is dominant to the other dogs, and partly b/c she still has that youngster energy in her as well. The established dog family members see her as a puppy or youngster still, so are probably cutting her some slack. They also may be just putting up with it for the time being and you could possibly see things escalate until she learns her place in the order of the pack.

I would start with no allowing her "privledges" or the NILF (http://www.dogo.org/Education/NILF.asp) concept (nothing in life is free. Meaning she sits for treats, scratches, pets, or other nice & rewarding things. Don't let her jump on the couch unless you make her sit first and YOU SAY its ok, same goes with the bed. I actually would not let her sleep on the bed until she learns the house rules.

The basic concept is that YOU are in control and the ultimate pack leader in the dogs eyes. They respect you. You love them, ther is no "BAD" punishment, no hitting etc, but you expect certain things from them (like manners) before they get privledges.

The newcomer must also learn to respect the resident dogs, and you are also in control of this. If you must for a few weeks go back to basics of trainig. Leash bound her to you while in the house. That way she goes where you go, you can control her at all times, it builds her trust for you up & she sees you as the authority & pack leader.

You are concerned about your children also. They should go about things the same way, but supervised by you at all times with the dogs if they are young children. Even easier if you do the leash bounding to you for a few weeks. The chidren need to respect the dog & know the rules, as the dog dog needs to respect the children & know the rules. It works both ways :)

I think with a little time & training, and alot of commitment :) you can integrate her into your family where everyone can be happy.

Let us know how you introduced her to the other dogs, when she pulls (whether its at playtime or she goes up & does it on her own), etc.:)

I hope this helps somewhat. Sorry it's long. Check out the NILF link.

[seraphicia]

If she is only 14 weeks not 13 months(did you mean 13 weeks?) then you have plenty of time to avert any real aggression issues if they aren't already showing up, which may not even be there anyway. Playing really rough with other dogs is no surefire indicator that she'll be dog aggressive. Is she actually challenging your other dogs? If she's downright challenging them she may be more of a dominant dogality, but even that doesn't mean you'll have problems. If the sheltie is submissive anyway, than the pup may end up dominant over her/him, but if there'll be a problem, it would arise between the older lab mix if it's a dominance issue. And you have a say in that.

So you know, some labs particularly some english labs are very stocky in nature and more muscular with blocky heads. You may be treating her differently at the thought of her having pit in her, which is not the thing to do. You want to establish good boundries as was suggested, and start establishing a pecking order. If the puppy is not actually showing aggression towards the other dogs than with consistancy and good socialization, you shouldn't have a big problem on your hands, just a pup who needs rules. I wouldn't worry about any possible pit heritage meaning aggression towards your children, as if anything it would be directed at the dogs. But include your children in boundry limitations and respectfullness for the pup and training her. If her first 13 weeks(?) were filled with a lack of caring she needs to be socialized starting now, and she might've missed out on proper dog to dog behavior training, and bite inhibition, which may just mean she's playing too rough because she hasn't been taught not too. If she's actually hurting the lab mix he'll tell her, snap at her or growl, bear teeth shortly, or something. A 60 lb lab can take a lot and give a lot of rough play too, so unless it escalates into her not listening to his corrections and then them getting into an argument and that happening frequesntly over more than rough play(food, toys, attention, or nothing apparant), you don't need to acually contemplate sending her back to rescue.

Unless it gets worse in frequent arguments between the dogs(which if it were going to start, would start soon, depending on how overbearing or dominant the older lab is), than you need not worry or anticipate it, but rather keep a watchful eye to see how she's getting on and continue limits and boundries with love and respect for her. I strongly urge you not to take her back to that 'rescue' if there's another way. She herself will never improve and overcome any aggression if not properly handled and trained and socialized, so unless you're confident that that rescue will provide that for her, if I were you I'd seriosly consider rehoming her myself or atleast contacting other rescues to help her and yourself. Otherwise she may be on a path to home after home for lack of information about her dominance/aggression issues or it worsening and her being put down. So if you care for her and only want the best, use other resources and don't make that decision lightly, as you probably wouldn't.

And lastly, I know about the pit bull breeds, and have dealt with some pits that do have aggression issues which do show up early, but more often than not if they display behaivors that bring about some problems with other dogs or people, what they display is dominance issues, not aggression. And there is a high possibility that she doesn't have pit in her, and you're worried about an issue that you aren't actually encountering. Of course dogs of any breed or mix can have some aggression issues and some dominance issues. The key in dealing with it is just to treat her fairly with love and respect and work on her socialization and training. Also, make sure to spay her if she isn't already as that can have a part in it, though not as much as if she were a boy. And good luck I hope I'm of some help.