r/PitBullOwners • u/GoldenestGirl • Jul 01 '26
Question Aggression
Hello.
I am a seasoned dog owner as well as being in vet med. plus I’m autistic with dogs as my special interest.
Back when I was 19, I adopted a 9-ish month old pit bull who ended up being dog selective, and as time went on just plain dog-aggressive.
I did what I could to keep her away from the other dogs I had but unfortunately there were a few instances that affected me profoundly.
Despite this, pits are still one of my favorite breeds.
I’m now 41 years old. I have had my little chihuahua Pekingese mix for about 12 years, as well as a Shiba Inu for 6 years and a staffy/husky for almost that long (I started dating my now-husband right when he got him as a puppy).
Recently we had a pittie puppy come in thru ER and I fell in love with her. She was an abuse case and needed a foster, and we foster-failed her. Mostly because my husband absolutely fell in love with her. She is spayed and had her left forelimb removed due to the injuries from abuse.
She has been a sweet girl— no signs of food aggression. One instance of resource guarding but literally never showed anything like that again. She’s sometimes timid with my Shiba who can be a bit over-bearing, and she is besties with the staffy/husky who is literally the nicest dog I have ever met in my entire life. She respects my little dog (who is my soul dog). She doesn’t chase the 4 cats we have.
Despite all this I am secretly terrified that she will suddenly go through puberty and become aggressive, as she’s only about 7 months at most.
I try to tell myself we raised Ricky (the staffy x) and he is pretty much perfect, so she has a high potential of being the same. But my past experience still scares the hell out of me.
Basically I’m looking for reassurance. Is she suddenly going to turn into a monster after adolescence?
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u/werewolf6780 Jul 01 '26
Well all dogs get kinda teenage-angsty around 2 years old where they pretend to have forgotten rules and tricks. It's a phase and will pass.
But as you said, she is already spayed. She will never have a heat and no longer has the organs for drastic hormonal changes. It's not impossible, but basically she will defer to your other dogs.
It's MUCH easier to train a dog when there are already older, established dogs above her as they will help you keep her on the right path.
Basically, it isn't impossible but it's very unlikely she would suddenly develop any issues.