need advice... aggressive dog

Hi all, I'm brand new to Dogsey but have looked around the site quite a bit. Seems to me that this site is full of caring and knowledgeable pet owners, so hopefully some good advice can be sent my way.

I have a male pitt bull who is four years old (please look past the breed), and his name is Romeo. Romeo has lived with my parents for the past 3 years because I now live in an apartment that is too small for him. My parents also had two dogs of their own, an older female Shephard mix and a smaller black mutt named Max. Since Romeo was about 2 years old, he has shown serious aggression toward Max, the other male. A few times over the years, Romeo has gotten through the blockades set in place to keep them apart and got a hold of Max. He had the opportunity to kill, but never did. Just shook him up a bit. But yesterday, my father came home to find Max in a pool of blood and Romeo standing over him-- not aggressive at that time, possibly because Max was no longer fighting back??-- and took him immediately to the vet. Turns out that Romeo had severed Max's jugular, and within a few hours, Max passed away.

The issues here are many. First of all, Max was the only THING (animal, human, child, anything) that has ever Romeo showed any aggression towards. Is it possible it was just an 'alpha male' thing and will never resurface?? Also, if we were to give him to a shelter, either they would immediately put him down or someone would adopt him with the knowledge of his past and based on his breed put him in a ring to fight other dogs.

Romeo is a wonderful dog except for this. But its a big 'except'. I got him when he was 2 weeks old and hand fed him every three hours for months until he got stronger. This is tearing us all apart and some advice from an outside source would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

Wow! Tough one to answer! I'm afraid to say having him put to sleep would be the only way to be sure he doesn't tear out any more jugulars. I would imagine that most people here would consider the same option if their dog killed another dog in a similar way. (Feel free to come up with other options anyone!)

You mention it being, probably, an alpha male thing. As I only have 1 dog (Male.) I wouldn't know, but would this sort of dominance problem be minimised if there was a strong human alpha in the 'pack'?

Unfortunately, there is a lot of anti pit bull hysteria in the UK at the moment. I hope I haven't let that influence what I've said. I do think that, as mentioned above, most people would not be able to let that much aggression go on to potentially get worse. sorry, probably not what you wanted to hear...

I tend to agree with Rich - sorry.

A pit bull here in the UK (illegally) has just killed a five year old child, and seriously injured the child's grandmother. It transpires that the dog had previous aggressive tendencies that weren't acted upon. I don't want to sound too alarmist, but I would hate for you to end up with the same scenario

Welcome to Dogsey.
Sorry I have to agree with the other two posts,it doesn't matter in my mind what breed the dog is if it has done that to one of your other dogs the only option is to have him PTS it could be your other dog next, someone on the street or yourselves.
I couldn't feel safe around a dog that had done that.
Probably not what you are wanting to hear a hard decision to be made.

Unfortunatley i too feel the same way. There is a possiblity that he could do the same to another dog or worse still a human being. Can you honestly say that you could trust him in public again without even the slightest bit of doubt coming to the fore? You really need to sit down as a family and see if there is anything you can do for him.

I really feel for you and your family but as the others have said PittBulls are a very sensative subject in the UK at the moment.

I'm afraid I'm of the opposite opinion. I had 3 of my poodles killed by my terriers (parson russells) but I rehomed them to homes without any other animals and with the owners full knowledge and they never did anything like that again, it was an inhouse thing.
The only problem I see is that your parents may not want to keep your dog any more because of the reminder that they have.
A dog aggressive dog can be kept away from other animals but a human aggressive dog is very different.
I think you need to do a lot of soul searching and do what is best for Romeo, if that means euthanasia then so be it.
If you do rehome it needs to be with the new owners full knowledge but in view of his breed he could end up in dog fighting circles and so the best course, if you can't keep him or your parents wont is to have him put to sleep.
Becky

I am afraid I agree with the others , if he has killed another dog, one he has lived with all his life, can you honestly say you will be able to ever trust him again. By the way this is not a dominance thing ,dominant dogs dont need to throw their weight around, they do it with a look and body language.

You have 2 options, rehome him or have him PTS , and with such a breed , to me having him PTS is the kinder of the two. Being a Pit, he has been luckly living with you, but once he has gone, you dont know what his fate will become, if his history becomes available he could end up in exactly the situation he was bred for "dog fighting" I am sure you would not want that.

If he was mine , and I could`nt guarantee he can never get to another dog again, you would have to have him live with you and lead a very regimented life, them I would take the kindest way out for him, I would not give him up to face his fate..........He is a Pit , there is no getting away from that , he is not a JR or another breed, that can be rehomed to an "only dog home" .

You have loved him I knowthat, but think of the future he may have. If you can 100% guarantee him a good loving home where he can never get to another dog again, than great, but I would not take the chance, I would look at it as "its my job to keep him safe from ending up in a fighting ring" and to me this would mean , having him PTS.

I feel for you , what ever you decide, good luck.

I too feel for you but I agree with all of the other posts. Once a dog has attacked and to be fair this wasn't just an ordinary attack, this was for the kill, the dog can NEVER be trusted again. Put yourself in a situation, what if you had been there to stop the fight, with all the hysteria that was going on would you have been able to break the fight up or would the dog have turned on you ? It doesn't bear thinking about. If this happened again and he were to meet another dog which no doubt in his life he will unless you lived on a remote island the possibilty of it happening again is far too high to take the risk. The kindest thing I would do is have the dog humanely put to sleep.

Obviously the other dog was there first, I would consider rehoming Romeo before he does kill the dog!

That's a tough one. I would have to agree with everyone else. Regardless of the bread, since you cannot guarantee the safety toward other animals you either have to find it another home without animals or you should him down.