Found out more about my pit bull's history

Hey, mine had a similar history. Several bite scars. She was abandoned, adopted, returned a week later for getting into an altercation with the adopter's other dog, and eventually I got her.

She has gotten into several "snarl sessions" (I'd call them "fights" but they never really got serious enough to warrant that name), but every negative experience is a learning experience.

I'd recommend keeping them on leash. If he can handle meeting new dogs on leash peacefully, he can likely handle it off leash, too.

Also in case of a negative scenario, take note of the event specifics. Common themes among these scenarios can alert you to scenarios that can trigger your dog, and you can actively work to avoid those scenarios.

For example, my dog hates Boxers. My guess is that a Boxer gave her some or all of her bite wounds. So I do not even try to socialize her with Boxers.

She also cannot handle multiple dog situations. Play with Dog A, everything is fine. Play with Dog B, everything is fine. Play with Dog A and B at the same time? Freak out. So I only let her loose in the dog park when I recognize the other dogs and know that multiple dog playing won't be an issue. If another strange dog is about to come in, I grab her and make her sit by me until I'm confident the new dog won't be an issue.

She also likes to play fight. Submissive dogs who don't play fight back frustrate her and she tends to escalate the roughness of the play. So as soon as a dog acts submissive toward her I separate them.

Lastly, she tends to overstay her sniffing welcome. Other dogs are content to sniff for 5-10 seconds, she will follow a new dog around with her nose planted firmly in their butt for 5 minutes. Some dogs don't mind, but I don't take the risk and I separate her when I see her annoying another dog.

There's almost no dog that can't be taught to handle at least some dog-social scenarios. It just takes more effort for some than others.

/r/pitbulls Thread