Hi Folks,
Just joined and it's great to see so many other pitbull owners.
My partner and I recently rescued a labrador/american pit bull cross (Buddy) and it's the first time we've had any experience with the breed. It's been an eye opener! We both have experience with dogs but not bullies. We availed of a dog trainer/behaviourist not long after we got Buddy and it was a huge help. He taught us some great techniques to deal with his issues like his over-excitement at meeting other dogs right through to his pure dog aggression. He was growling at everyone who came in our house and since we learned some good tricks from the trainer we're all much happier.
Being a rescue we were inevitably worried about his past and whether he'd been baited with dogs or anything but we're now over all that and realise that we control how he reacts for the most part.
Overall, owning a pitbull cross has been a great experience so far. He has an amazing personality, it incredibly loyal and very easy to train. He has us both wrapped around his big paws but we're still able to remind him whose boss!!
The biggest challenge we've faced so far is other peoples reactions to him. I appreciate he can look quite intimidating but I wonder will the general public (non dog people) ever get over the stigma and fear of a pitbull? It's easy to see real dog lovers when we're out walking as they dont' look at the breed but at the dog and that's really all we want for the new member of our family.
Well done on the forum.
Joanne