so, my daughter adopted this dog. help.

[mopinko]

my daughter (21yo) is a great kid, soft hearted like her mom. (i have hardened up a little in my old age. life does that to ya) she has been working in a doggy day care for almost 2 years, and does know dogs. she has a funny little schnauzer mix, zeke, who is a good boy even though he is the incredibly barking machine sometimes.
she has been living on her own, well, with bf (asshole, imho) and roommate, for about a year. they live in a shitty big old building, which is what you live in if you work at a doggy day care. place is not that big.
so, someone talked her into rescuing a pit bull. like i said, soft heart, and a couple soft spots in the head, too.

she had him for about 3 days before he attacked another dog from the building. popped his collar in half. grabbed the thing's ear, and wouldn't let go. they broke a broom over his head, pounded on his head with a shoe, and finally she stuck her hand in his mouth. she drove the people and the dog to the vet, and $600 later, the dog might get to keep his ear.
i just met the dog, and he has me worried. they told her he was a young dog, under a year. but the vaccination record show he is more like 2 1/2. he is about 100 lb. at least he is neutered.
he gets along fine with zeke, they say. and mostly walks well on a leash, and knows a little about sit and all. (they say. i wasn't exactly impressed) but he was paying no attention whatsoever to b.f. or to me. didn't care to be petted, or even really smell me up, even though i had just eaten dinner.

enter my dogs. he didn't go crazy, but he took some hard corrections to make him sit. this was with a pinch collar, too. my boxer, barbie, is a little too interested in other dogs, so we sat them about 2 feet apart. he never took his eyes off her. when corrected, he did sit, but did not look at anything but barbie. he absolutely wanted a bite.

daughter wont walk the dog now. she was really upset. she is thinking there is no hope for this dog. roommate agrees. bf is trying to take over, but i dunno. she is a much better handler/trainer. but the dog is too strong.

i love bullies. i do not think that a pit is automatically a bad dog. but i am a realist, and i know that some are true to the breeding of idiots, who strengthened their worst trait. if they had a big old house in the country, i might feel differently. but they live in a little apartment, in a city neighborhood FULL of dogs.
i don't think there is any other help out there for him, either. there is a bully breed rescue here, but they are up to their eyeballs.


so, help?

[MadMaddie]

1. She needs to really think about how much money

she wants to invest to see if the dogs temperment is acceptable for a pet.

The next time it may not be another dog it could be a child.

What does she know about the dogs history?
I like Pitts and I have been around well mannered, well trained and well cared for Pitts.

The organizations that helped and rehabilitated Michael Vicks dogs might be a good starting place.

Have her get him evaluated and then she can make an informed decision of what her next step will be.

[mopinko]

2. yeah the $600 is already more than she can afford.

and i know she will never forgive herself is anything happens to zeke. which i would put a bet on at this point, as the 2 of them play tug of war.

i emailed a guy i know from another blog that has a rescued pit himself.

i kinda gotta stand by my own evaluation- he was not interested in me, or in the guy at the other end of the leash. it was that more than his obvious desire to get next to my dog that bothered me.

[njlib]

4. Best Friends helped the Vick dogs

From what I understand, they'll only accept referrals from shelters or intervene in well-publicized cases. They're a great organization, one that I contribute to every year, and if anyone can rehabilitate an animal, it's Best Friends. It would definitely be worth a try to see what kind of advice or help they can offer. www.bestfriends.org

[GardeningGal]

3. Doesn't sound good to me but I don't know about pit bulls.

I suggest you PM flvegan and ask for his advise. He rescues pit bulls and may be able to give you some ideas.

[njlib]

5. Also...

You could try contacting Linda Blair's Worldheart Foundation. They're located in California and pits are their specialty. www.lindablairworldheart.com

My son was an avid "Chiller Theatre" convention-goer for a few years. It's one of those meet/greet/give me $20 for my autograph things. Linda Blair is ALWAYS at the October show, so we met her a few times. She's a very sweet person, always has the longest line because she talks to everyone and lets them take pictures. The first time we met her, it was actually Halloween night and she asked my son, who was probably 13 at the time, why he wasn't out trick or treating. He was speechless!! I told her he skipped Halloween to meet her, she told him how flattered she was, and gave him a big hug. Needless to say, she's a favorite in my house! She always has all of her rescue literature displayed at her table and gives the proceeds from these shows to her organization.

Sorry to ramble off topic...just thinking that maybe her organization would be able to offer help. Best of luck to you and your daughter and please keep us posted!

[roody]

6. I love dogs, and this one should be euthanized.

There are many more homeless who will not put her at risk. I am a member of the Pit Crew at our local shelter. We have class for them twice a week and work a lot on getting them to ignore other dogs. This dog would be euthanized by the shelter for being dog-aggressive. They kill very few dogs.

[mopinko]

7. he was surrendered to the pound today.

they will probably keep him around until his court date, but i have no doubt that they will have to euthanize him.
we suspect this is not his first offense, and that is why the original owner got rid of him in the first place. we are hoping that he will chip in for the vet bill. and the lady who passed this dog on is a licensed rescue, so should have some insurance.
the vet bill so far is $1200, which we paid today. he will need several more follow-ups, and may still lose the ear, anyway. so, we may end up in court, i suppose. the rescuer said we should cancel the charge, but no way i am sticking either the vet or the victim's family with this. i will chew a couple of people out, and file in small claims if i have to.
what a mess.

[roody]

8. So sorry!

[mopinko]

9. here is the icing on the cake-

the dog bit a person when the original owner had him.
and the rescue lady is spinning like a top. wanted us to cancel the credit card charge for the vet bill. i refuse to stick the vet with this.
and when i was talking to my daughter yesterday, she was in the background giving the victim's owners a hard time.

jesus.

[BrklynLiberal]

10. Sure sounds like this rescue person did not reveal the entire truth...and is now

trying to encourage your daughter to do something illegal..
If you cannot sue her, I would guess that there must be some local agency at which you can file a complaint against her.

She knew about this previous biting incident and did not tell you about it. That sounds unethical..and perhaps illegal.

[mopinko]

11. not sure if she knew before hand, or

if that came out in subsequent conversations with the owner.
i do know that this dog was so obviously not people oriented, and obviously dog aggressive that unless you were born yesterday, you would have known that it was not a good pet.

and now she is trying to make sure that it doesn't cost us anything, so we won't have anything to sue her for.

argh.

[LostinVA]

12. I wouldn't keep a dog like that

Also, pit bulls don't weigh 100lbs. That dog probably is an American Bulldog or Dogo or something.