pocketpit wrote:For me it's always been the intensity that is the clue. Inara while she wants to play isn't "locked" onto Riggs and allows herself to bounce around, present her butt and generally be silly to ivite play. While Riggs has his tail wagging and his ears up he's obviously very focused on her and much more tense. He moves in a forward direction only and never deviates from his "target".
BigDogBuford wrote:*edited to add that I love the way Inara throws her a$$ at Riggs when she's trying to get him to play.
mnp13 wrote:The topic of Pit Bulls "liking" to fight has been rather heated in the past. Liz and Inara were at our house this past weekend and we had an interesting experience that we decided would be a good one to share.
Riggs is truly dog aggressive. He has no interest in the "usual" posturing that comes with the normally accepted description of dog aggression - screaming, hackles up, lunging, barking and otherwise carrying on. In most dogs, this type of behavior is meant to scare the other dog so that a fight can be avoided. You do not try to scare away that which you would like to draw nearer. Most (not all) of the behavior usually labeled "dog aggression" is actually fear based, not confidence based. Yes, possible the outcome is the same - a dog fight - but the root of the behavior is different.
This may sound like semantics, but learning to recognize certian behaviors can help to avoid a problem.
We initially introduced Inara and Riggs "correctly." He has been ok with other females and we thought he would be fine with her. He attempted to grab her, Liz pulled Inara away by her back legs and I stuck my hand in his mouth to prevent him from connecting with her. We tried a second time and weren't fast enough to avoid contact, Inara ended up with two punctures - so that was the end of that. Had we not both been alert the first time we would have had a disaster, the second time he was too fast for either of us, even though we knew exactly what to expect.
The interesting thing about the encounter was the complete lack of warning. Riggs was silent both times, and his body language was almost exactly the same as Inara's. Ears forward, tail up and wagging, some dancing on the tippy toes. Nothing else.
Inara spent the weekend playing with Ruby and Connor - with the exact same mannerisms as she is showing in the video, including the barking and jumping.
We talked about it a lot over the weekend and decided to video another encounter between the two dogs. We carefully set up the meeting so that the dogs were as safe as possible, we didn't want to add any extra risk to an already somewhat risky plan.
Riggs' body language gives little to no indication that he wants to do anything but play, except for the rather loud snap of him missing Inara when he tried to grab her.
Here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPRT-DXQhts
A few things to note: yes the leashes are tight, the last thing we wanted was for them to actually connect. The only commands that Riggs was given was heel, down and break (as in you can get up from your down / break your heel.) There are also some avoidance behaviors at the end.
Personally, I think Pit Bull owners have a different level of responsibility regarding dog-dog interactions. There is no warning when Riggs decides to go after another dog, and I've had more than one person tell me that "all he wants to do is play, just look at him." Well, frankly, his idea of play isn't the same as most dogs.
BigDogBuford wrote:edited to add that I love the way Inara throws her a$$ at Riggs when she's trying to get him to play.
amazincc wrote:If I didn't know better I would've thought that Riggs just wanted to play w/Inara.
pocketpit wrote:While Riggs has his tail wagging and his ears up he's obviously very focused on her and much more tense. He moves in a forward direction only and never deviates from his "target".
For me it's always been the intensity that is the clue. Inara while she wants to play isn't "locked" onto Riggs and allows herself to bounce around, present her butt and generally be silly to ivite play. While Riggs has his tail wagging and his ears up he's obviously very focused on her and much more tense. He moves in a forward direction only and never deviates from his "target".
cheekymunkee wrote:Been there done that precious.
babyreba wrote:i know a dog that acts like riggs, and that's aja's puppy. he's excited and happy and doesn't telegraph anything, just acts "normal" and happy, then grabs.
i have a different kind of dog-aggressive dog here in doc--he's not really looking for a fight, he does actually want to play, and he will play for a while. but while playing he will sometimes get so over-the-top that he sort of loses control of himself and turns it into aggression--almost prey aggression, really. it's not personal with the other dog at all, and he holds no grudges. it's just a fast and furious response when he gets too swept away.
This is an interesting conversation. I think back to last week with the dobie approaching Cy. Cy was peeing and didn't see the dog coming...it wasn't until Cy looked over his shoulder and saw the dog (with it's nose up his butt) that he started to growl and his hackles went up...
pocketpit wrote:For me it's always been the intensity that is the clue. Inara while she wants to play isn't "locked" onto Riggs and allows herself to bounce around, present her butt and generally be silly to ivite play. While Riggs has his tail wagging and his ears up he's obviously very focused on her and much more tense. He moves in a forward direction only and never deviates from his "target".
How much of this is learned behavior? By that I mean, he learned to hold his displays in check because of something...an aversive of some sort.
amazincc wrote:So are you saying that Riggs' behavior is "instinct", per say? Were Pit Bulls actually bred for NOT displaying any warning signs?
Users browsing this forum: No registered users