Saracirce wrote:. : j i n x : . wrote:I am a little jumpy whenever I go near a pitty but thats is only because i had a bad experience with a staffy (I got bit in the face by one when I was 3) and pittys sort of remind me of them but all my friends say they are great nanny dogs and that they know heaps of really nice ones so I think you should only punish them or do anything bad to them if you know for sure that they are viscious.
Okay, let's try to clear this up a little bit:
1. No dog is a 'great nanny dog'. No dog should EVER be left unsupervised with a baby/toddler/kid. Kids do some really stupid things and toddlers and babies just don't know any better. If the child does something they dog doesn't like and the kid doesn't back off or the dog can't get away, even the best dog can nip. They may not mean to hurt them and they're just trying to warn the kid 'hey, back off' but a toddler isn't going to know that, are they? And because the toddler doesn't know any better, you can get into some real deep water. People who leave their kids unsupervised with ANY dog is what makes people think dogs are unsafe around children period.
2. You should NEVER EVER punish a dog for aggression. You just make it worse because they connect the presence of the trigger (aka, what the aggression is directed towards) with punishment. Because we can not communicate with our dogs on the same level as, say, a 10 year old, we can't make it clear to them 'because you do this, you are being punished' they likely won't get it. You have to counter condition the dog. Not punish.
3. If the dog is genetically predisposed to aggression then training isn't going to help much except to POSSIBLY soften it some.
what I meant by "nanny dog" is that they the ones my friends have or know are great with kids, I didn't mean literally a nanny dog that is alone with kids... I don't think any dog is that well trained. And by getting punished I mean that if a dog really attacks somebody and leaves them with scars for life and especially if the kill someone (definitely not just with pitulls or anything similair, I mean all dogs) you will have to do something about it, like put it down, but I didn't mean hit it or hurt it pyshically yourself because that would just make everything worse for yourself and the dog.
I am really bad at expressing typing what I really meant in words and I'm sorry if you took anything the wrong way or anything like that. I'm not really as stupid as you just made me seem... really.... you just completely owned me, and my bad typing skills....
