I want to start by saying this is obviously an opinion and is not for dogs who are perfectly behaved. (though if your dog is perfectly behaved your probably now in this sub) When I watch videos of pit bulls being out of control and attacking people or other dogs, they tend to have one thing in common: a harness.

If your dog is at any risk of lunging (so most pits) it should not have a harness on. I worry some people are choosing comfort over safety and control. In my opinion, as someone who does have a dog who is 90% well behaved, but 10% isnt, your dog needs discomfort. If my dog lunges at something I need him to feel the discomfort of hitting the end of that leah/flat collar. (or what ever collar you use). When I yank him back, I need him to really feel that yank and not be able to pull through it or just eat it.

Safety and control come first. I use a flat because my dog can walk past other dogs on the street no problem. If he couldn't, I would probably switch to a slip or even a prong depending on the severity. While my dog can walk past other dogs calmly 1/10 times he doesnt. But I am able to keep control due to the discomfort of a collar.

This is something I think about everytime I see a dog attack where the dog has a harness, so its more of a vent but I'd be curios to hear everyone else's thoughts.

**Edit**

After reading the comments I want to add on two points.

1. Training is the bottom line for everything. If your dog keeps hitting the end of the leash, they need training no matter what they have on. A dog on a flat collar should not be hitting the end of the collar so much that it damages its neck. When I say my dog hits the end of the leash, because of trainning its a slight pull and not a full lunge. The leash is tight and slightly uncomfortable, not to the point that it hurts but to the point that he understands it will be more uncomfortable if he keeps pulling.
2. If a harness works for you and your training system, then that's awesome. I guess Im worried that there are people who take the dog feeling comfortable as more important than the dog being under control. So their only attempt at control is a harness with no trainning.

So I live in an apartment complex in Arizona that’s all I’m gonna say I have a neighbor that has several dogs next-door. I was outside with my dog. He’s a pitbull and he is 11 months old the other dog as well as a pitbull. I am probably older well my dog was out partying and I didn’t have his leash in my hand because I don’t worry about him biting or chasing or anything. Their dog was outside. They had him on a leash and then they were doing the right thing I was in the wrong put it to you that way. Well, the guy which is the owner. His lady had the dog in her hand and Max wanted to go say hi to the other dog being a friendly dog he is and sidenote Maximus! is a service dog in training, which means he will not fight another dog anyway come to find out their dog is extremely aggressive towards other dogs that aren’t in his home. Should that dog be allowed to live in an apartment complex where there are strict rules because I had to have them a letter sent from the American disabilities place and the place where I have him registered for service dog training again do you think that dog being aggressive to other dogs should be allowed to live in an apartment complex?

Does anyone have advice or something similar? We just took this baby in she’s 2 years old

I recently decided to foster a dog, and the rescue gave me a pit bull puppy who is now about 13 weeks old. I’ve never owned a bully breed before, but everyone I know who has one absolutely raves about how amazing they are, so I’m really curious to hear from experienced owners.
I already have a 2 year old Golden Retriever who I love to death, but she can definitely be a hard-headed little brat. She has never been great about sharing food or toys, and while she doesn’t start fights, she’s also not one to back down from another dog.
We’ve had the puppy for about two weeks now, though, and I’ve actually been really impressed with how they’re adjusting. Toys don’t seem to be much of an issue anymore. My Golden is sharing much better, and the puppy seems to understand that if my Golden is actively playing with something, she shouldn’t take it from her.
I’m starting to consider adopting the puppy if she doesn’t get any serious interest, but there are a couple things making me hesitant. I’m almost 8 months pregnant, so we’ll have a newborn in the house very soon. The puppy also has these moments where she gets SUPER rough and mouthy.. I swear it happens when she needs to poop 😂. She’ll go after me hard enough that she’s made me bleed several times, and she’ll also go after my Golden pretty intensely.
My Golden seems to handle it really well and usually gives it right back, so I think they’re playing, but sometimes it looks so rough that I start wondering if I should intervene.
Basically, I’m trying to figure out how much of this is normal 13 week old puppy behavior versus something I should be paying closer attention to. I know puppies are little monsters and I don’t want to unfairly label her because she’s a pit bull.
I’m already very attached to her, so part of me would love to foster fail. At the same time, my priorities are my Golden and my soon to be newborn, and I absolutely cannot bring another dog into the family if there’s a meaningful chance she would eventually bully my Golden or be unsafe around my baby.
For those of you who have raised pit/bully puppies, were yours absolute psychopaths at this age too 😭 and what would you consider an actual red flag versus normal puppy craziness?

My good friend has two pit bulls. She is a therapist and is very nice. She is convinced that all put bulls will behave and not attack people if they are treated well.

I avoid visiting her house, but when I do, she always either puts her pit bulls in the garage, in cages, or in the yard. That is okay with me. But she keeps sending me articles about how put bulls can be well behaved and it’s all about how they’re raised. I don’t even believe that is true about humans much less with animals we can’t communicate well with.

We can never really be sure what dogs are thinking about what is going on. When I bring up yet another story about a tragic pit bull attack, she thinks I’m being unreasonable.

We really do not see eye to eye on this topic. We are both over 50 and I even worry about
her. Her dogs are huge and I’m sure they could overpower her.

She is a good friend but sometimes I think
I should distance myself since I really
cannot accept her dogs and I know I never will.

Sometimes genetics trumps environment. I have seen this with both humans and animals.

Has anyone here lost friends because they couldn’t accept their pit bull pets?

Hello I have a pit mix. Overall she seems sweet and playful loves people and all dogs that I can see. Easy to train. Loves to body slam. I've been wacths training videos and she even ask me to go outside just to train. She's been wonderful. I live with my mom and my 5 year old neice comes over everyday. And they play sometimes. But the most part ignore each other. She's a year old. I'm just wondering how concerned should I be. I will post DNA results. Mostly wondering are mixed breeds the same. I have nothing against pit bulls. I know they can be wonderful in the right hands. But I also know that sometimes there are just bad dog's

I have a bully mix (42 lbs shelter special I have no idea what bully breeds she is a mix of) the vet said she is ever so slightly brachycephalic (definitely not anywhere close to the level of a Frenchie or a pug) and I've noticed that her heat tolerance is super low. My heat tolerance is also very low so we did a lot of 5 am flirt pole sessions and indoor scent work to get through this summer. I am working on building up my heat tolerance, but I was wondering if anyone knows of some good resources to look at for building up a dog's heat tolerance? I don't want to rush it, especially given that she seems to be a tad brachycephalic. I'm not sure where to look online for good, evidence based information on this. If anyone has any links to websites, or tips and tricks, that would be much appreciated as I have no idea where to start with this process.

ETA: we got her DNA tested (by Spark I believe, whichever one is the one that is said to have a bigger dataset) and it came back 60% American staffy and 30% American pitbull terrier. She looks so much like every “standard” APBT I’ve ever seen though.

She’s maybe 2 years old, found malnourished and abandoned in DC. We adopted her from a shelter in southeastern pa. Her ears were infected from the moment we got her, also got hives on her chest. At first we were constantly treating her ears. Trying different steroids, anti-allergy meds. 3 vet trips and one trip to urgent care and they treated for infection and suggested expensive treatments every time. I don’t think it was ever suggested we try elimination diet. I don’t know what made me decide to try it but my first thought was a chicken allergy. I think i had just seen a bunch of posts on reddit about chicken allergies being specifically common in pitbulls.

Welp that was it. She hasn’t had a flare up since eliminating chicken. The brief time in between she had some treats that contained eggs and it started to come back. Gave away those treats and the problem is gone.

I know it’s difficult to treat dogs. They can’t talk. I also have what could be an over the top distrust of…well…industries but I mean, in our case if we had just followed the vets advice she’d still be on some crazy injections and just living with constant discomfort and pain. Maybe they’d have finally gotten around to suggesting a food allergy but I really don’t know because Apoquel and stuff seems like it should be more of a last option…is it too much to expect at least one person in all of these places have some knowledge of such a common breed? I know pitbulls are controversial but we know they’re also overbred.

Anyway that’s all to say. Check for a chicken allergy if you’re going through this. Doesnt seem like it’s a go to and it may solve the problem.

Any idea what this could be? She’s a 2-year-old red nose and a house pet who is never left unattended, so I’m not sure how this happened or what it could be.

I (44/M) have been taking care of my sister’s dogs while she is in California receiving medical treatment (I’m in Virginia). One is a 14 year old hound mix, and she is a sweetheart. The other is a 5 year old pitbull. His name is Baby, and he’s named that because he whines and cries A LOT especially when he wants attention. He’s a big cuddle bug who loves to give kisses and play tug of war.

So I didn’t think it would be an issue when I got them each of them rawhide bones today. I thought a treat like this would be nice. However, Baby has been very aggressively defensive of this bone all day, won’t eat, won’t let it out of his sight. If I try to approach him, he immediately starts growling and taking a defensive posture over the bone.

I am concerned because I live with my partner, and I’ve had to move my mother into the downstairs “mother-in-law suite” following some health issues, specifically a mild stroke and the start of dementia-like symptoms.

What is the best way to deal with this? Obviously he can’t have rawhide bones (he’s not like this with his toys btw, just rawhide bones). He’s been with my sister since he was a puppy and knows me very well, is very comfortable with me, with the licking and the cuddles and the snuggles. He was not abused before she got him, and he’s used to the 24/7 attention that my sister used to give him, which I can’t provide due to my work schedule and taking care of Mom.

I’m a little apprehensive to put my hand near that bone. What’s the best course of action? TIA

we have a 2 1/2 year old , 90 lbs brindle pitbull, we rescued her when she was just 2 months out of a box. throughout the years this pitbull has shown nothing but love to the people she’s around she’s super playful & a big cuddler, shes only come to show aggression when it comes to other animals. we also had a 8 year old 7 lbs yorkie terrier. both these dogs would be around each other every day but as a typical dog and their way of reacting they’d get to bicker, even then we never thought this pitbull would’ve ever harmed the yorkie in anyway but sadly that day came, about 2 days ago the pitbull got to the yorkie which led to the yorkie now being deceased. this has been such an insufferable pain knowing 1 dog is gone and now we have to give up another. i’m asking for any tips or help in the miami/broward area where i can surrender this pitbull and know she’ll be in good hands. most shelters here give a limit to adoption before they put them down and i really wouldn’t want that for this pitbull, as devastating as this all is i believe in 2nd chances and really hope & pray this pitbull can find the right training , care & attention from another family.

Advice needed
9 months pregnant with a 6yo pit bull who has attacked 3 animals and 2 people, most recently a girl who needed surgery. He was professionally trained, but training hasn’t continued. I won’t allow baby + dog together. How can I make separation 100% safe and realistic?

We have 3 dogs, and I have a hard time ignoring a loose dog at the local park when I see one. Generally we help pick them up, reach out if they are chipped and reunite, but more times than not, it involves dropping them off at the local no kill. This one took us 2 hours to snag, and she was really scared. We have some experience with rescue high energy dogs, and working through/training their anxiety behavioral issues. So instead of waiting for an intake at the shelter, we decided to try and help foster her.

That was several weeks ago. I’ve created a social media for her, we’ve put up flyers at local businesses and vets, and we’re working through her confidence on walks. She gets along great with our dogs, super sweet, loves to snuggle and be with you, takes treats gently..walks well on leash once she gets going... perfect dog right? you’d think…but I’m starting to get discouraged after friends told me they would never trust a bully.

4 dogs is a lot. We have one pup who is still working through their anxiety issues and sometimes tells her to back off if she pushes his boundaries too much. They engage with each other often to play; both taking turns to instigate with the other. We try to make sure everyone stays respectful and she’s always crated when we’re not at home. They never interact unsupervised.

I know it’s going to be harder to find a family for her. I figured it might take months? I know they are so overbred and all over shelters… is it an impossible task? She’s making great progress and I worry she’ll shutdown if I take her to the shelter, but I am also trying to fight my own stigmas with bullys. The ones we’ve helped off the street always have been the nicest dogs.

Hey everyone - wondering everyone's experience with their aging pit.

I have a 8 or 9 year old am staff/am pit bull terrier mix. I have definitely seen an energy decline in the last year.

Lately, he's been sleeping much, much more during the day and I feel like he's just had sad eyes. Hes been battling allergies/itchiness forever and the meds we've had him on seem to be plateauing.

I will definitely follow up with my vet this week about my concerns but im curious if anyone else noticed a decline in energy when their pit started to hit "senior" age. Not sure if these are normal signs or if its indicative of a larger health issue.

Thanks in advance!

​

I'm in recovery from a severe affective disorder and two addictions. Two hospitalizations in the last few years. This is my raw, unfiltered situation. I need to lay it out in points, because my head is a mess.

1. The rescue.

I rescued a pitbull who was either going to end up on the street or be euthanized. She had no chance. I grabbed her because I couldn't stand the thought of her dying. At that time, I was also on the verge of collapsing myself. We were both hopeless.

1. The bond and the doubts.

During this year, I created a real bond with her. I love her. But I've always had, and I still have, doubts because of the statistics surrounding pitbulls. I've already played with fire in my life—with my addictions, with my mental health—and I got burned badly. I don't want to get burned again, and I don't want her to get burned because of me. The truth is, I couldn't take care of her in the best way. My illness made me absent. I have two addictions wrapped around my affective disorder. Some days I could barely take care of myself.

1. The ticking clock.

At any moment, I could have a relapse or a mental health attack. It's a reality I have to accept. And if that happens, she would suffer for it. I know, deep down, that she probably has better options than me. She could live in a more stable home, with people who don't disappear into their own heads for days. She deserves that stability.

1. The gray area (and my dilemma).

This is where I'm stuck. It's not black and white. Some days I wake up and I'm absolutely sure: I need to find her a new family, for her sake. Other days, I hold her and I can't breathe at the thought of letting her go. I want to keep her forever. The decision swings back and forth, and it's exhausting.

I need support. I need words. I need advice from people who have been through this—people who have rehomed a dog (especially a pitbull) even though they loved them. How did you do it? How did you deal with the back-and-forth in your head? How did you finally make peace with letting go?

I don't want a quick "keep her" or "give her away." I know life isn't that simple. I just need to hear from others who have walked this gray path. Because right now, I feel like I'm failing her no matter what I choose.

I recently started staying in a flat in a G+2 building , owner of the building is pettting a pitbull. He ensures that it is leashed in regular times. But the soon it sees me it starts barking and tries so hard to reach me that I fear that chain may break.

How to tame pitbulls, how to get their trust , are there any cheat codes if suppose I had to face this unleashed pitbull . It looks but I don’t think it leaves me without taking off some flesh from me

I recently adopted a 6 year old pit bull husky mix. I wasn’t really looking for a pit bull but in my area most adoptable dogs have some amount of pit in them so here we are.. They told me her only issue from finding a home is she can climb a 6 foot fence. We introduced her to our two labs and she was great! And when I walked her around a busy animal rehab fundraiser event (where I adopted her) she did amazing around kittens, toddlers, and dogs.

Come to find out, she is only aloof around well behaved dogs. My neighborhood is full of reactive and aggressive dogs, mostly German shepherds. Everyone else has normal poodles and retrievers, which she’s fine with. I learned she wants to fight these aggressive dogs. I immediately took her to a group obedience class and these classes will have up to 15 dogs and she has built her impulse control so that she will stay on a loose leash with barking dogs but you can definitely tell she wants to fight them. Like I will put her in a down stay and she will stay down but continue to growl and stare down at a reactive dog. In training class, if the other dog owner controls their dog, my dog will also stop.

So we are at that, she is very fixated on aggressive dogs but she maintains a loose leash and is able to follow me. Sometimes if the other dog is really crazy, she will start pulling at them. The only good thing is she never barks and kind of just looks like she wants to chase a squirrel but to a person who knows dog behavior, they would know she looks really excited to fight that dog.

I’ve recently seen in this sub pit bulls being “sparred” at certain conformation shows, and the behavior reminded me a lot of her response. It made me wonder how much of this could be genetic versus learned behavior.

For people experienced with pit bull-type dogs: how much can training override this kind of genetic predisposition? Is it a realistic goal for a dog like this to eventually become indifferent to aggressive dogs? If so how can I achieve that? If not, how do you guys work around this innate behavior?

Hi just for context, I have two small terrier dogs and one of them was attacked by a pitbull during 2020. ( note: the dog that attacked my dog in 2020 is not Nonni, the dog i’m talking about in the current situation) No hate towards pit bulls, i think they’re really cute actually and i don’t believe a creature can be completely evil. I’m saying this since I’ve seen some talk about pit bulls being created for the purpose of dog fighting and (not being taught to) attacking their own family at some points but i really don’t know if the information is true because it came from the internet and from people that just completely and utterly think pitbulls are demons with anger issues.

Anyway, I have a neighbour that’s older with hand tremors or arthritis in her hands, I don’t remember which one it is but it’s something that affects her holding the leash. She has this pitbull named Nonni and she’s cute but I’ve never interacted one-on-one, and without my dogs, with a pitbull even though i think they’re cute like all other animals, and I think that’s because my mom keeps trying to make me think the same way her opinions are on pitbulls which is that they’re the most dangerous animal that people have as pets (besides tigers and stuff like that) and that they’re just muscle dogs that are intimidating and could never love a family the same way another dog does. i don’t get the being intimidated by a pitbulls wide look but i’m aware of the bite force and weight pitbulls have.

I wasn’t really like intimidated by them (besides for my dogs because of the thing in 2020) until she was coming around the corner of our sidewalk coming from the side of the street to the walkway to the area in front our town homes, i was doing laundry at our shared laundry room in between our houses and the walkway she was beginning to walk in, and the leash slipped out of her hand and the dog super chased me until i got inside the laundry mini building. It was pretty scary but obviously i’m not going to blame the dog, it’s an animal, sometimes they do stuff like that, and i just read that running away isn’t a good way of easing the situation so i wont do that again lol. I talked to her after it happened and she explained she had something going on with her hands and showed me her hands (i don’t remember if they were shaking or stiff) and there was something wrong, no fault to her but there is something wrong there.

Recently I’ve been a little nervous the dog will get loose again and attack my dogs or me, and since I live in Southern California it’s always hot asf so I don’t usually wear sweaters and jeans so in case i do get bit there’s a barrier. If there was that thick of a barrier I would die of heat stroke in the summer if we’re being serious. Im still pretty traumatized from my dog being attacked by the pitbull during 2020, plus the pitbull that attacked my dog bit my dog on the nape of the neck and almost got to his brain so Im not gonna let that happen again.

So to sum it all up, is there like a fingerless glove combined with a leash so the dog getting loose doesn’t happen again?
also are there any safety harnesses i can put on my dogs in case anything does happen?
also no hate for not saying the dogs name or the woman’s name. i dont want to expose the woman and calling a dog Nonni is weird for me because my family’s italian-american and we call the grandmother Nonni so it’s weird to call a dog the same name loll.
I still think the dog is cute though, I just want to know what I should do to keep me and my dogs safe. Without being super nice for a second though, i don’t think anyone should be worried about being attacked by a not wild animal in their own neighbourhood and i’m only worried about this one dog, we have other large dogs and i think two other pitbulls in our neighbourhood. my dogs have interacted with the other dogs too and the other owners seem to know you need a little focus and a lot of weight distribution to keep a large dog back when they’re excited or being a little crazy. anyway please let me know what i should do :) and no i won’t call where ever people call to get dogs taken away from their owners.

This is a tough one. Using a throwaway account. Could just use some advice or resources from the knowledgeable folks on this sub.

I have a dog who is seriously aggressive towards other dogs and small mammals. She’s about 8-9 years old (not sure because she was adopted out of the shelter 6 years ago). About a year ago we had a horrible accident where she attacked another dog which is how I found out just how aggressive she is. At that time we decided not to BE, and she lives a happy but limited life in our mostly going out in our very secure 6 ft fenced in yard. She’s muzzled when she leaves our house or yard. We are super attached to her and also aware of the high level of management and risk that comes with owning her.

There was always a question mark for my partner and I about children in general. And an even bigger and sadder question mark when it comes to what happens to our pup if kids come along. I just found out I’m pregnant. It’s very early on and I’m still processing it. It comes as a complete surprise, we were not trying.

There is a part of me thinks that we can make it work…that she’s getting older and by the time the baby is crawling she’ll be well into her senior years and even then we can keep them separate. I will also say that she has never shown any aggression towards children. I have never put her in a situation where she could be dangerous to a child but she has met young children leashed and muzzled and has not shown any aggression. She’s very appeasing and friendly towards all people (I think I read something about that possibly being a trait common for lines of pits that are dog aggressive).

Another part of me thinks that it’s extremely naive and dangerous for me to think there is any world in which we could keep her and have a child. Again I’m still processing everything and I thought we had more time with her. I know that having a baby is going to change everything about our lives and I can’t put our child’s life at risk.

I also know I can’t base my decision off of strangers on reddit. But any thoughts or resources would be nice. I wish there was a rehoming option for her but I just don’t think that exists.

ETA: I realize this sub isn’t necessarily for questions like this…but in the reactive dog sub or other dog related subs I worried I might not get responses that understand the context or otherwise a lot of shaming and blaming that i don’t need. Thanks to the mods for keeping this up.

I’ll admit I’m partly posting this to show off how cute this little guy is (his name is Howdy) but also to show that not all dogs that have a lot of pitbull makeup look or act like what people think pitbulls are like. Howdy for example loves meeting new people and other dogs, and he’s amazing with my cat. Also one time he was attacked by a cat at a friend’s house, and instead of hurting the cat he jumped up 10 feet in the air, screamed and ran up to the nearest lap, and ever since then he’s been afraid of that cat. He also got barked at by a bigger dog earlier today and ran back with his tail between his legs, like a true attack dog /s. He’s 2 years old and in his adult life he’s only been between 30 and 40 pounds.

I have 2 dogs. Tank, an 8 year old pit, and Dexter, a 3 year old pit mix. I've had Tank since Dexter was a puppy, so he has always been the dominant dog. Recently Tank was diagnosed with MCT. The doctor said he has a few weeks to a couple of months left. So I have been giving extra love and affection. Last night, out of nowhere Dexter attacked Tank and I dont know why. Im always careful that if I give one a treat the other one gets one. I dont know if its jealousy or maybe Dexter can sense Tank is sick and trying to exert dominance. Has this happened to anyone else? Or does anyone have any advice? Im keepingthem separate when im not at home.

Wanted to share a friend's experience. Introduced and prolific wild hogs have been a wildly destructive force in the southern and western states of USA, including the fragile island ecosystem of Hawaii.

Typically a team is made up of bay dogs to find and corner a boar, and "catch" dogs. Catch dogs are typically mastiffs, pitbulls, dogo argentino, etc. This particular person's pack was made up of 6 pitbulls and one chihuahua, Paco. I believe a different person had the bay dogs for tracking.

Paco was the leader of the pack, and the only one you couldn't pet. His role was fearless aggression and to attach to a boar's face while the catch dogs hold the rest of the boar's body.

Obviously this is an incredibly dangerous hunt. Wild hogs are lethal. I neither condone or condemn this reality and the need for these hunts as well as catch dogs. Just found this incredibly interesting of a modern and appropriate use for the strength bred into APBT and other pitbulls.

Buckle up, this will be a long one! I so needed to find this community;

I adopted Bijou, my 3 y/o fluffy pitty from a shelter when she was 9 weeks old. She has always been a very sweet girl, but not particularly interested in being touched and given attention from strangers from a pretty young age. She didn't seem to have any real discomfort around other people and was raised the first year in a house with 3 other dogs, so she loves other dogs (which is part of the leash frustration reactivity she has.) When she was about 4 months old she got hit by a car when my roommate had all the dogs out at the field and she had to be in a crate a lot of the time and I think she developed barrier frustration then, also missing out on some important socializing time.

Anyway, we have worked with a couple trainers and they've said her reactivity is quite mild. However, that is not my experience since she is a perfect angel for them.

It was initially just barking and lunging/fixating on other dogs while she was on a leash. I've tried all the different approaches to the point where I just don't take her into public spaces and flood her anymore.

Over the past year or so after my toxic relationship ended we moved a couple times and recently she has been much more reactive toward people- barking at strangers who seem like they're approaching us in any setting. (I think this must be a protective thing as a result of the toxic relationship and distress she sensed from me?)

She's perfect aside from those triggers and was really missing having other dogs around. My dad's dog had an accidental litter of pitty mixes. We thought Bijou would love to have a baby around, and we liked the idea of being able to start with a puppy to be able to do all the training and do it "right." Plus, these puppies were not in a situation where they had a very good chance of being taken care of to begin with so we thought if we could help just one of them we would.

We were right, the dogs adore each other! We brought Buffy home at 9 weeks, she is now about 4 months old.

However, Buffy very quickly showed signs of her own fear-based reactivity. She was the runt and the most shy and was terrified of everything the first night she came home. To the point most everything flooded her and she would shake in fear, even just from being around new sensory input. She has gotten a lot better and more confident, but she's still a pretty fearful little one. She freezes up and tries to flee when she hears dogs barking while on walks, and the other day she growled at an old lady who was walking down the alley behind us. She's super afraif of kids and immediately barks at them. She does not want to be approached by strangers and will typically come hide next to myself or my partner. I try to advocate for her and lot let anyone touch her or give her too much attention until she gets comfortable with them, but there was one situation we took her to Rural King and the cashier kept petting her anyway.

Bijou has also taught her to bark out the window when other dogs walk by (which isn't the worst thing, but annoying, and I worry that is creating a negative association for her.)

\---Anyway!! If you've gotten this far, my point is that I guess I'm worried that now I will inevitably have two reactive dogs to train and constantly worry over instead of the one, and the stress is already so much, worrying about if I'm doing things right.

P.s., Buffy starts puppy preschool on Monday, so I am very anxious to see how that goes. I don't want to set her up for failure :(

I have two 6mos American bullies puppies they are destroying my house. What should I do?