You have two Pits and one Lab that gets picked on by one of the pits.

Even the play habits of the two breeds can be much different.

Two dogs that can be dangerous around other dogs and one that is famous for being a lover of anything that moves.

It's a generalized statement but with what has already happened the potential for a serious confrontation will only get worse.

In general it's easier for males to get along. They can often acknowledge their dominance and submissiveness over one another as long as both don't have strong dominance behaviors.

Females decide they dislike one another and it can be a lifelong vendetta and that lifetime could be shortened much to quickly.

Dominance/submission doesn't always have to play a role in the situation. It could be the one just doesn't like the other and simple things could act as a trigger point.

 Quote: Bob Scott

It's a generalized statement but with what has already happened the potential for a serious confrontation will only get worse. . . .Dominance/submission doesn't always have to play a role in the situation. It could be the one just doesn't like the other and simple things could act as a trigger point.

Exactly. From your OP, you have watched a number of DVDs about pack structure, handling dominant/aggressive dogs, etc. I commend you for this. Knowledge gained in these areas will be helpful in managing your pack. However, I believe you may be focusing too much on whether your dog has certain genetic traits or not and what to call those traits. My advice is to forget the labels. The labels are not going to help. If you are going to keep these three dogs in your home, serious management is going to be key.

I have to echo the other posters who have expressed alarm at the type of neighborhood you live in. It goes without saying that getting out of an area like that would be the best thing to do, but I'm assuming you have reasons for staying, and you did not post here for advice on lifestyle choices.

I also want to say ditto to the posters who have warned about the possibility of very serious injury to you or your husband when you have to try to break up fights between the dogs.

Having crates for your dogs does not mean that all three have to be in crates at the same time. Many people who own multiple dogs who do not get along adopt a policy called "crate and rotate." One or more will be crated for a period of time while others have the run of the house, and you switch them every so often. Maybe your husband could be convinced to go along with that. But remember, as others have pointed out, a criminal would not hesitate to shoot a dog.

I hope you will post back with any follow-up questions you may have.

Ian, Nicole, Betty, Cheri, Kristin, Duan, Candi, Connie, thank you so so much for your clear and honest opinions, warnings, recommendations, which are immensely useful to me. I also recieved from you support for crating, what I always wanted to have. It would have been much easier, if we had done this right from the beginning, yet I have the conviction, that it could still work, even though with more work and careful organization.

By the way, the tip to crate my husband is a very good one too. I'll give it a try. But on the other hand, where can I get such a big crate? Does Leerburg sell such a thing too?

Without joke, I already many times thought about simply ordering crates without his blessings. I am thickheaded and would have no problem with doing this. But it wouldn't work. I'd crate the dogs and he'd release them.

I was so happy to have convinced him and then this incident happened. We are living in Brazil (I am Swiss, my husband Austrian) in a region without professionals and the general mentality is to let the dogs roam about in the streets, wherever they want. Or they abuse them as "protection" dogs, who are not trained professionally as protection dogs, mostly in very inhuman way.

So that means, my husband has the support of (exaggerated) a whole country behind him. Everyone reproached me to have had the two dogs chained, while I was walking the third one. They think, they must be free all the time and find it thoughtless, dangerous and irresponsible, the way I did it.

And thats one of the reasons, why I am so grateful to you all to have answered to me, because the more answers I get, the more weight they will have in order to convince my husband. Conviction would be the best way, I believe. Although I am of course very often annoyed about his lack of insight, he is a good guy and is very nice to the dogs, he simply can't see the trainings value of crates or kennels.

Thank you all so much for trying to help me. I think that one day these answers will help and until then, I will have to take other measures in order to protect my Lab.

Thanks!

Christina

A big thank also to Bob. Sorry for having mistakenly left out your name. Your message gave a lot to think. Especially I realized, that I am not yet able enough tothink like a dog.

Thank you very much

Christina

although i've never been to brazil myself , i have a good friend who lives in curitiba and he can confirm what you have told us regarding random violence .

i personally can't imagine living under such conditions . where i live i've never even locked my doors but then i don't have much anyone would want to steal anyway .

i'm presuming your husband has seen this thread . . . my question to him would be : given what has already happened ( to the lab ) , how does he propose to manage the situation ?

Good luck to you!
Maybe you could talk you husband into giving you 6 months to train and work the dogs your way, and when he notices the improvement he will be convinced that having stable pack structure is the better way to go. He could always go back to his way in 6 months if he isn't convinced.
My best wishes to your family pack! :-)

Maybe-
The lab could have the job of indoor house "guard" and the pits could guard outdoors.

When you are occupied, the lab could be in a crate in the laundry/garage, somewhere not underfoot.

Having crates would allow you to train/work with each dog individually, allowing you to build a relationship with the dog, have it under your control. Dogs will be more effective as protection if you can control them. Otherwise, you've just got a pack yapping and scrapping amongst themselves--and a lot of the time you are just going to have them all chained up, so that the household can operate without commotion. If they are all chained up there is no protection function at all.

Hi Betty, thanks with all my heart for showing so much interest for my problem. I am convinced you are right with every word you write. And the ideas you give me are great too.

Unfortunately our dogs are not allowed to enter the house, although I should have wished to have them around me, whenever possible. The reason for leaving them outside is, that my husband has an allergie. That's why we never had dogs before, although I always should have wanted. In Switzerland it would not have been possible to leave dogs outside during wintertime, while here in this region the temperatures are no problem.

Nevertheless your ideas can be realized in a similar way as you describe. I think (hope) one crate at least I will be able to push through once he has recovered emotionally from the shock.

Our dogs are not chained all day long. Only while I'm training, swimming or playing with one of them. Or when I walk the Lab. Then I chain Slippie, as I want to avoid to be recieved by a jealous dog, who might attack agein. The rest of the time they are loose within the garden, which I know is also far from ideal. I wish to have things better organized and will work on this. This would be necessary even if we had no aggression problem at all.

By the way, we have a kennel, but for two dogs together. It's idiotic,I know, but in the very beginning we thought it was a good thing. Nevertheless it can be used to put one of the dogs inside. But very often this kennel is occupied by a forth dog, a street dog whom I often met on my walks, he was a skeleton and in general in a pitiful state. and we thought he really needed a home. He was accepted (it seemed) for about 6 months. But there was a strange thing going on. Slippie frequently went to Charlie and licked his penis. He didn't seem to have anything against this on the contrary.
We often sat on the veranda all together and except for this strange behaviour, there was tranquility and peace. One day, I petted Charlie a bit, which I had done many times before without the least reaction of Slippie. But this time without any warning sign before, Slippie within a blink of an eye attacked him and the others participated.

Since then we do not dare to let Charlie inside the garden. He is a street dog and is used to this. But we feed him, go to the Vet, when necessary and on rainy days I chain Slippie for some moments, in order to let Charlie come in without danger. He then goes on his own directly into the kennel, where he has a good shelter.

He accompanies us voluntarily, near to my right side all the three walks, even when I walk Slippie. She doesn't show any interest for him, but she never attacks him outside of her territory. I did not write about him the first time, because I did not nwant to be to long and besides this, the problem is more or less solved at least with regard to her aggression.

So you have a rounded picture about how we live here. Thank you again for your efforts. I will send you a message once something has changed in the positive way.

Christina

Yes, that's a good idea, Nicole, certainly. But at the moment he isn't open to any conversation about this theme. I can only wait for a better moment and then try again.
I have made him watch the Leerburg DVDs about pack structure and aggression. He finds it very interesting and entertaining, but it does not yet trigger a real perception of the problem. Watching these DVDs is more like watching TV for him.

Thanks

Christina

Hi Ian,

I don'know, how it is in Curitiba. But generally in metropolis like Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo etc. it is much worse, as people tell. % uears ago - when we moved to here -, Cabralia was still a more or less quiet place. But it changed immensely within these years.
I do not like this at all, but I could put up with it to a certain extent. We have a wall around the whole house, like more or less everyone has. But there is one weak point in this wall: a door, which leads into the forest, and this door is not high enough. In my eyes this is the only spot where the criminal could enter. With a ladder he cannot have been here. He wouldn't have had to leave her back in the hurry had to disappear. So before insisting on crates I will first have to insist on making finally this all save. Also with electric fence, which triggers alarm when cut. Against organised criminilatiy you can't do much. They succeed to break in anywhere. But there cannot so much be stolen in our house, so I'm not really afraid of them, but these awfull "little" guys bother me, because they use every occasion, where it seems or is easy to enter.

To your question about my husband. How he proposes to manage the situation. The answer is simple: Not at all or more exactly relying on the dogs. I have already contacted a mason to begin with the most important thing.. But he didn't come yet. That's also Brazil.

Thank you

Christina