Are pit bulls dangerous dogs, or is their behavior based on training?

Pit Bull-type dogs - the American Kennel Club does not recognize a specific purebred dog as a Pit Bull - have been implicated in a higher-than-average number of bite and fighting incidents. However, these dogs have also been trained to fight by nefarious individuals, and that has contributed to their aggressive reputation. As a group of dogs, Pit Bulls are smart and loyal, but like any dogs, when trained to be vicious, they will be vicious.

Every dog has the capacity to be aggressive, even breeds considered more gentle such as a Golden Retriever. I personally think it's more the owners that lead the dog to have terrible behavior, typically from a lack of training and obedience. Staffordshire Bull Terriers are not for novice dog owners, they required experienced dog owners who are firm and consistent. They can be great family dogs, as they are very loving, but they need early socialization. I strongly recommend that if you get one, you enroll it in puppy preschool and training so it can learn socialization and start on training it. Best of luck, I hope this helps!

Pit Bulls are very smart, and very anxious to please, and these qualities together makes then very trainable. However, they do seem to have something of a strong will, so they do best with strong leadership and focused training.

Yes absolutely with appropriate training they can be very nice family dogs. I think Dobermanns as many other breeds have just a bad reputation. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Generally speaking they seem all healthy and yes, they are likely to be purebred. Unfortunately it is impossible to give you a 100% reliable answer about it. Feedback from our answers is very important for all the experts, so please mark the questions as useful/helpful.

The answer very much depends on why he's aggressive (fear-based, territorial, play-based, etc) but my general recommendations are to stop ALL punishments, avoid anything that is causing aggression, and never allow him around children. Then you need to find a veterinary behaviorist to work with who can go over a detailed history and diagnosis and treat his issues. If you are unable to find a veterinary behaviorist, your vet may be able to start him on medications and talk about some behavior modification.

Yes it could be and could look like it, but it is difficult to know it for certain. Do you know anything about the mother and father? Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Hi there. Without being able to evaluate Oreo in person and watch her behavior with the cats, it's hard to say why she is doing this. It may be play-related behavior, fear-based aggression, or predatory aggression. Specific treatment recommendations will vary depending on the underlying cause. This is a very dangerous situation for your cats because Oreo is such a large, powerful dog, so I would strongly recommend getting in touch with a veterinary behaviorist or a good reward-based trainer who can work with you in person. You can search for one here: www.dacvb.org or here: www.ccpdt.org In the meantime, I would recommend keeping the cats physically separated from Oreo (in another room with the door closed) at all times to prevent any further problems until you can get a professional in to help.

The first thing you need to ask yourself here is whether or not you believe the bite to you occurred intentionally, or accidentally while you were trying to separate the two dogs. If it is the former, keeping a dog within your home that you only just adopted that is already ready inflict harm to you is going to be difficult if you don't have a ton of experience with dog behavior and training. While I love pit bulls (I have three), I readily understand that they are large, powerful dogs that can do some serious damage. If you live alone, or if you have children, my recommendation would be to relinquish the dog unfortunately, If the latter is what happened, there may be opportunities for addressing the issue. I would keep the dogs separated for at least the next 24 hours and let things cool off. I would reexamine the entire situation and try to identify what could have happened that brought about the fight the first time. Examine it from every single angle possible, in terms of pe

It is possible that training can help but you need to consult with a professional dog trainer in your area. This is not going to be an easy fix. It will take time, patience and money. Your trainer can help make a determination if she is "too dangerous" or not based on their evaluation. That is not something we can tell you over the internet. I would contact one of these to see if they can help. If they can't, then maybe they can direct you to someone who can. https://www.baltimoredogworks.com/ https://www.barkbusters.com/dog-training-baltimore-northeast Hope this helps. Best wishes.