# Adopted Pitbull/French Mastif



## WickedOdie (Sep 4, 2016)

So I adopted a super friendly awesome Pitbull. You could walk into my yard, break into my house and he'd help you carry out the TV. 

However... Walks aren't the greatest. I'll start with some back story. I adopted him a year ago. I had him for about a month before my brother moved in with his dog. It didn't go well at first. He was super aggressive, lunged, snarled, did some fench fighting. Wasn't pretty. But eventually my brothers dog put her foot down and put him in his place and now shes the boss, shes the aggressive one. Hes used to her now and have no problems unless i'm giving them treats together. Shes food aggressive and my pitbull is nosey. So I limit that.

I walk them together and there is a off leash dog area right behind my house, so I like to take them there. I let her off the leash and shes fine, shes pretty timid, so I never have any problems with her, she just avoids everything. Him on the other hand, when he sees a dog, he gets super excited. He wants to walk up and greet every dog he sees. The problem is, once he's met the dog, after 15-20 seconds, his excitement turns into aggression. Hair on his back flairs up, stiffens then snarls. I'm able to catch it before anything happens and redirect. I never let him off the leash unless there are no dogs in sight. 

He's 5 years old now, rescuded him when he was 4. The place i got him from said he was good with dogs, but it doesn't seem to be that way. I'm wondering if there is any way to get him now to socialize better with dogs. I know hes older, and I have no idea what training if any he got before I got him. But I'd like to be able to take him for walks and not have to worry about the pitbull stigma. I realise he is a pitbul and they are nutorious for dog aggression. But if he can learn to get along with my brothers dog, i'm sure there is a way for him to get along with other dogs as well. 

I'm thinking in his head hes having problems deciphering excitement from aggression.


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