We adopted at 8 weeks a pitbull puppy she is now almost 7 months old she loves kids has never shown aggression to us or the kids but she is food aggresive to our yorkie mix and border collie and she has maled 1 cat and kittens to death. I am a loss now we come home from school today and she comes around the house with my kiddos cat in her mouth. I thought he was dead by the way he looked we yelled and yelled at her to let him go but she wouldn't when she did I ran through the house to help the cat but she was right back on him. luckly the cat got loose and hid from her and I got her in the house to help sid he is okay but If we didn't get home sooner he would of killed him. now my question is do you think that this is a sigh that we need to find her a new home or have her put to sleep. I am at loss. I love this dog but I am afraid of her now. We found out from the lady we bought her from they had to put down her brother for food aggression and she bit her husband when he was trying to move the bowl.
please any help would be greatly appricated.

By Hlgmom on Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - 07:01 pm:

With kids in the house i would definetely get rid of her. I have had friends with pitbulls who were very nice non agressive and then suddenly turned on them or a child- one friend had a seriously injured child from a Pit they thought loved kids! Good luck

By Colette on Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - 07:03 pm:

I think you should put her down immediately.

By Luvn29 on Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - 07:09 pm:

I don't know about putting her down, but possibly trying to find a good home with no children and no other pets. Probably hard to do, I'm sure. But I would definitely not trust her alone with anymore helpless cats or other animals. Crate her or lock her in a room or something when no one is there to watch her. And never leave the kids alone with her, or allow them to rough house with her.

By Ginny~moderator on Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - 07:15 pm:

My son, Scott, is a firm supporter of bulldogs and thinks pit bulls are much maligned and misunderstood.

That said, he says "Get rid of the dog. Let the vets at the shelter decide if the dog needs to be put down."

I agree with Scott. You can't keep a dog you are afraid of. And this dog has already shown aggression to your other dog and, from what you say, has killed a cat and kittens. There is no way you can keep this dog. And when you take her to the shelter (and you must), you MUST be completely honest with them about her history. Otherwise, you risk someone else getting hurt.

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - 09:48 pm:

Ditto the others. I don't know about putting him down, but get rid of him immediately. There are too many wonderful, family-friendly dogs that you can trust around your kids and other pets to keep this aggression in your home. It will be sad for you, but even more sad if there is a tragic injury in your home.

We had a cocker when I was young who was sweet as honey to everyone except at mealtimes. I remember that dog tried everyday to bite my dad's hand off when he was putting food IN his bowl. Two years later, for no apparent reason at all, he attacked my 5 year old sister. He managed to only break the skin on her forehead with his teeth before my Dad went ballistic and got him off. He was gone the next day, to a family with no children on a farm. I remember being so sad because he was always so nice to me, but aggressive tendencies can explode at any minute for reasons we don't understand.

By Heaventree on Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - 09:59 pm:

I'm so sorry this happened to you, you must be heartbroken. It is so very difficult when you become attached to animal to have to make this kind of decision.

I do agree with everyone else, but it still makes me sad. I really do think you need to keep this dog seperate from your family until you can have her removed from your home.

You can't keep her, how will you ever feel safe? What if something worse happens? You will never forgive yourself.

Hugs to you Shann, I know it must be very difficult.

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - 10:07 pm:

{{{HUGS}}}

By Hol on Wednesday, September 6, 2006 - 10:39 pm:

It pains me to say this, but you should have her put down. Once a dog has tasted blood, they can get very aggresive. She could turn on your kiddos (or you and DH) without provocation. In fact the American Humane Society uses food aggression as a test to determine if an animal can be placed. If you cannot take a bowl of food away from them while they are eating, it is not a good dog. And, it sure isn't fair to your poor kitty, or your neighbors' cats to risk their lives. I hope your kitty will be okay. He must have been scared to death!

I totally agree with Ginny's Scott. I think that pits get a bad rap, but sometimes their tendencies are in bred and it is not their fault. If you put her in a shelter, and even if you are totally honest, there's no saying that she won't get bounced around to other homes anyway if she becomes a problem. We just had a real nasty case here in RI. A man hacked a pit bull to death with a hatchet because it attacked his baby. He chained her to a dumpster and killed her. Another woman had owned her before, and she said that she had been very sweet. However, her grandkids couldn't come to visit unless she got rid of the dog. She placed her in the shelter and this horrible person adopted her. So, as hard as it is to put her down, you may be saving her from a worse fate.

Also, another consideration...some homeowners insurance companies will not insure you if you have certain breeds, and pits fall into that category. You sure don't want to end up losing your home because of a lawsuit.

I know it's a hard decision, and a sad one. However, you have to think of the greater good. I agree with Reds. There are too many nice, child friendly dogs in shelters that need homes to keep a problem one.

By Shellyg on Thursday, September 7, 2006 - 12:15 am:

No you should not put her down, she is doing what the breed does. She has a high prey for small animals and NOT CHILDREN! I would trust five pit bulls with my kids, before I would trust them to one Chihuahua. The breed is highly misunderstood. The research should of been done before adopting a power breed dog. Do NOT take her to your vet, your local vet studies medicine, not dog behavior. You need to see a trainer that specializes in the breed. I also don't think you should pass along the problem to someone else. The dog is young enough to be trained. She stand no chance at the shelter where it is over 80% Pit Bulls. Less than ONE percent make it out alive.

By Kittycat_26 on Thursday, September 7, 2006 - 07:17 am:

I don't know if I agree that you should put her down. Though I'm definately sure that I wouldn't keep her.

If you are afraid (even unsure) of her then you will do her nor your family any good. I consider dogs alot like children, if you waiver just once, they've got you and they know it.

Good luck!

By Vicki on Thursday, September 7, 2006 - 07:30 am:

I don't know if the answer is putting her down or not, but you can bet that dog would be out of my house!! Will training help?? I guess it could, but I wouldn't be willing to take the risk with my children or other pets during the process that is for sure. If the dog did bite one of the children or kill another pet, I wouldn't be able to live with the guilt of not getting it out of the house.

By Karen~admin on Thursday, September 7, 2006 - 07:43 am:

Have to agree w/Shelley on this one. We had a pit bull in our house for a while when my kids were young. Also had a rottie. 2 breeds that *can* be agressive or *mean*, but they are often trained to be that way. The pit bull had been trained & we had no problems at all. The only reason we got rid of the rottie is that we just couldn't get her housebroken. If you can't invest in a trainer or don't have the desire to, give the dog to a pit bull rescue who will find a home that is a good fit for it.

By Colette on Thursday, September 7, 2006 - 07:55 am:

I am a little confused - did the dog kill a cat and kittens and then also go after your kid's cat? I've owned several and also was a breeder of pits many years ago. If you decide to keep this dog, you better invest in a really good trainer and keep your other pets away from it when you are not around. Personally, I would not want the liability and I think my kids would be really upset if I kept a dog that hurt their cats.

By Juli4 on Thursday, September 7, 2006 - 07:57 am:

Our dog is a terrier mix and she has always been a hunter and never has shown any agression with the kids. We lived in the country and she killed rabbits, birds, mice, and other rodents. I would not however trust a pitbull. It is not worth the risk to me. I do not like them at all. As much as people say they are misunderstood it has been proven over and over again that they are very agressive and are bred with the possibility of hurting children. I also wouldn't get any other power breed that has been known to attack people without provacation.

By Kaye on Thursday, September 7, 2006 - 08:07 am:

My general opinion is...if you have to ask, then yes you need to get rid of her.

Pits can be great dogs, they need to be trained, this takes lots of time and money. But sometimes the right answer is to say, I made a mistake, let's don't make two mistakes.

Really would you ever forgive yourself if something happened to one of your kids?

As far as trusting a pit with my kids over a chiahaua...yep me too. BUT no one said you had to make that choice. Right now you are chosing having a dog or not having a dog. Passing the problem off to someone else isn't a big deal to me either, there are just some problems that aren't yours to fix.

We adopted a pit mix about 3 years ago. She was a puppy and had been fostered. With in a day she bit my son. I admit I wasn't just right there, it wasn't a bad bite and thought maybe he did something (though unlike him). So from that moment on, I didn't leave that dog out of arms reach if she wasn't in the crate. So not a day later, in the midst of "training", we were just sitting in the room petting her. Me and then my son. My son was sitting next to me. He talked to the dog, let her smell him, then pet her, it took about 2 minutes and she went nuts, I had to block her from going for my sons neck both of us got bit in the process. The dog got crated and got given back. My point is, sometimes they get confused. I felt lucky that my son wasn't hurt. However my next mistake, out of fear, we wanted a dog badly, but I needed to feel safe with a dog, so we got a golden...geesh! There is a fine line between safe and can you just not show the burglers where the good stuff is!

Good luck, it is a tough decision, but your kids should come first.

By Yjja123 on Thursday, September 7, 2006 - 11:37 am:

Pits are illegal here. I would not put it to sleep but find it a new home. In a different enviroment it could be fine.

By Cocoabutter on Thursday, September 7, 2006 - 02:40 pm:

I would think that at 7 months, she could be trained, but not by you. You shouldn't risk your kiddos' safety.

My neighbor's adult dd has a rottie, but she's just a big adorable baby.

I know this will be difficult for you. I wish you the best.