A sound Pit Bull has the following
temperament:
- Highly
affectionate toward people, even strangers and
children
- Loves
physical affection and attention
- Never
redirects aggression on humans even during
times of high arousal - Confident
and not anxious (calm, cool, and collected)
- Obedient; eager to please
- Balanced,
emotionally stable
- Submissive
but not to a point of lacking confidence or
being fearful
- A certain amount of intolerance toward other dogs is normal and acceptable in a Pit Bull
An
ill bred or incorrectly trained Pit Bull may be:
- Fearful
- Nervous or "stressed out"
- Intolerant
of handling or touching - avoids affection
from humans
or tries to get away - Aloof
- Territorial
around humans; resource guarding;
- Aggressive
toward humans
- Willing
to redirect aggression on humans when highly
aroused - Overly
aroused with no "off switch"
- Extremely
mouthy
More on Dog Tolerance Levels:
Dog-aggression
and human-aggression are entirely unrelated. As mentioned before, owners and breeders bred out all traces of human- aggression
from Pit Bulls. What does remain is the varying dog intolerance levels
among Pit Bulls.
A temperamentally correct Pit Bull is never human aggressive, but the possibility of intolerance towards other dogs is always there. Some dogs (especially well-socialized ones) may always be tolerant of other dogs while others will have minor to severe levels of intolerance. Those that do show intolerance can be trained to avoid it.
Pit Bull owners can train their Pit Bull to maintain eye contact on command (whether or not the dog's tolerance level has ever been challenged) as a preventive measure. When a sticky situation arises, the
owner can use this eye contact as a distraction technique. He or she may
also request "sit-stays" or "down-stays" from the
dog.
Owners should know that the propensity for low tolerance around other dogs is ALWAYS there, even if they have never seen it. If you have a multi-dog household please separate your dogs when you leave.
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