Newbie & Green

[Janie]

In 2010 my now ex got a 5 week old male pitty/shar pei puppy. As he grew he developed an attitude. My husband took him almost everywhere with him to the point that nobody else could sit in the truck - not even me even though I took care of him atleast half the time. He was ok when they visited somebody - small circle of friends but not at our house/yard. When he was about 6 years old he sauntered across the LR floor to my chair, spread himself belly down on the overstuffed arm and I petted him. He spun his head around and clamped down on my arm. I had three puncture wounds - my husband was in the bathroom at the time. Funny thing is, his previous dog was a 13 inch male beagle who had a similar attitude but not to that extent. The pittie was extremely territorial, dominant and fairly aggressive. He also went after my sweet lab/retriever dog and she was bigger but never aggressive - too submissive really. My husband never tried to correct his dog's behavior which should have been done when he was young. I blame my husbands lack of concern more than some inherent gene. He liked having a guard dog type. He was quite capable of correcting the dog because my husband was very good at training. He raised both his dogs from puppies and they were very, very smart - when outside in the yard, they knocked on the door to get back inside. After the pittie passed away, my husband got a 1 1/2 year old Bully pitbull from somebody. The dog was bigger, very friendly and affectionate. I didn't get to spend much time with that dog but he was truly sweet. I had to leave, actually at that time I was already half homeless, I can only hope the Bully stayed friendly. After watching Pitbulls and Parolees I do belief that most of these dogs with attitudes can be changed, they have done it, it just takes a person's attitude, love and patience to prove to the dog that they will not be abused, thrown into a ring to fight or tied up on a chain. (Our dogs were house dogs.)  One good thing is that about the last 2 years of the pitbull/shar pei's life he became affectionate towards me which made me happy because I did love the dog - his bad behavior was mostly due to my husbands bad influence on the dog.  I'd like a pittie but can't speculate right now. Whatever dog I get mostly likely will be older to start with probably 5-7 years old since I am an old lady myself. Doesn't seem to be much room in my van - but there will be room for a dog - rearranging it today to travel back upstate.