Hi! New here. To begin, we adopted a female, 10 mo., intact gsd, named scully, from a family 3 days ago. The previous owners kept her in a crate all day and night long with what sounds like short potty and play breaks in between. They never took her on a walk EVER and rarely left the house. (She was their first pet and openly admitted they had no clue how to care for her.) They do have a 3 year old daughter that they say she was great with.
Since getting her, she is adjusting phenomenally. She is an extremely sweet girl, already very obedient and eager to please. She is playful, listens well, and is a big child loving lapdog (we have a 2 year old and a new baby). We really couldn't be happier with her behavior. We spend a lot of time with her playing, training, walking, and she is always supervised especially with the little ones.
So here's the issue- we have a half double house with a huge unfenced backyard. Our neighbor has a 2 year old female pitbull mix. They never have this dog on a leash (as required in Pa). We talked to them about scully before we got her. They assured us they would make sure we were not outside when they let their dog out and vice versa. Scully was out today and the neighbor came out without his dog. She was stand offish and barked but we assured her he was ok and she relaxed. Smelled him and gave plenty of kisses. then some hours later we had scully out *always on a leash on our side of the property. Their pit came running out their door straight for scully barking. Luckily my husband had scully and not me because she did not like this surprise encounter one bit!! My husband held scully tight while trying to push the pit back. The owner came out and put the pit on a leash, pulled her back to his side then approached scully with her again. Scully was in full blown attack mode at this point. Teeth glaring, attack stance and nonstop aggressive barking. My husband held her close well telling the neighbor enough was enough. The pit retreated and scully definitely proved dominant. Thankfully no contact between them was made.
Afterwards scully returned to her sweet self, enjoyed some petting and took a long nap in her bed.
I spoke to neighbor and told him what happened was not ok. He insisted they were playing and i didn't understand dogs. THEY WERE NOT PLAYING scully would have had the pit by the neck in the blink of an eye.
How do i handle future encounters with other dogs and this pit especially?
Something tells me due to the nature of this surprise 'attack' on scully theres no chance for the 2 of them being friendly in the future.
This is the first face to face encounter my poor girl has had with another dog.
Any advice would be appreciated
Since getting her, she is adjusting phenomenally. She is an extremely sweet girl, already very obedient and eager to please. She is playful, listens well, and is a big child loving lapdog (we have a 2 year old and a new baby). We really couldn't be happier with her behavior. We spend a lot of time with her playing, training, walking, and she is always supervised especially with the little ones.
So here's the issue- we have a half double house with a huge unfenced backyard. Our neighbor has a 2 year old female pitbull mix. They never have this dog on a leash (as required in Pa). We talked to them about scully before we got her. They assured us they would make sure we were not outside when they let their dog out and vice versa. Scully was out today and the neighbor came out without his dog. She was stand offish and barked but we assured her he was ok and she relaxed. Smelled him and gave plenty of kisses. then some hours later we had scully out *always on a leash on our side of the property. Their pit came running out their door straight for scully barking. Luckily my husband had scully and not me because she did not like this surprise encounter one bit!! My husband held scully tight while trying to push the pit back. The owner came out and put the pit on a leash, pulled her back to his side then approached scully with her again. Scully was in full blown attack mode at this point. Teeth glaring, attack stance and nonstop aggressive barking. My husband held her close well telling the neighbor enough was enough. The pit retreated and scully definitely proved dominant. Thankfully no contact between them was made.
Afterwards scully returned to her sweet self, enjoyed some petting and took a long nap in her bed.
I spoke to neighbor and told him what happened was not ok. He insisted they were playing and i didn't understand dogs. THEY WERE NOT PLAYING scully would have had the pit by the neck in the blink of an eye.
How do i handle future encounters with other dogs and this pit especially?
Something tells me due to the nature of this surprise 'attack' on scully theres no chance for the 2 of them being friendly in the future.
This is the first face to face encounter my poor girl has had with another dog.
Any advice would be appreciated
I honestly believe this encounter is not as dire as it seems.Dogs and humans were both startled and defensive.The neighbor's dog perceived an unknown intruder dog. "Who are you and why are you in my yard?!" Perfectly normal.We have no fencing either and my dogs do the same whenever one of the neighbor's dogs wander over for a visit.After a few seconds of posturing,growling,sniffing,they all chill.They spend some time snuffling around the yard together and I call mine inside.The visitor heads home shortly and all is well.If I were to rush out there and interfere I'm certain there would be a brawl.
