6 Month old Pit Puppy, 14 Year old Yorkie?

Animal aggression is NOT human aggression. A dog that will tear another dog apart on sight can be a lamb with a child. Indeed many fighting dogs were also called "Nanny dogs" as any fighting dog willing to put their teeth on a human was put down.

Assuming this wasn't an accident on the puppies part either (which can happen with a larger puppy playing with a very small dog)- I would more than likely vote that this individual did not supervise as he should have. I would also say it's likely he did not get his pup from a reputable breeder who breeds for good temperament, and may have not done a very good job socializing either.

American Pit Bull ***Terriers*** even have animal aggression/high prey drives as part of their breed standard- and anyone thinking about getting one needs to know this and how to deal with it.

As an added note- Dogs of any breed should not ever be left unsupervised with other dogs or children.

Add:

The two people should have been supervising- End of story.

You have a small puppy that played too roughly and possibly thought the Yorkie was some sort of prey animal rather than a small dog.

Any parent stupid enough to leave a small baby in a blanket on the floor with a dog of any breed needs to get checked out by child services- Dogs and children NEED to be supervised. They should never be left alone together period.

The male Pit Bull you describe sounds to have food aggression as well- Something brought upon either A. due to lack of training, or more likely B. The natural reaction that an "alpha dog" would have- He considered himself higher ranking than the female making his food his and he gets to eat first.

I also would like you to play this game:

http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.ht...

Dog aggression is part of the breed.

Dog aggression is in many breeds. A dog does not have to be taught to fight to not like another dog. It's called genetics.

Just because the dog hurt another dog it does not mean it will go after a child. Dogs know the difference.

Dog aggression and human aggression are two different things.

Encourging the dog to be a protector would be teaching human aggression.

This young Pit Bull could very well be developing dog aggression at a young age. But this is a large dog playing with a very small, fragile dog and it very well could have been an accident. Play getting to rough. Supervision should have been better IMO. A Yorkie is a small dog and it is not gonna take much for any breed of dog to seriously injure a Yorkie.

I own 4 Pit Bulls, A Golden, a Dachchund, I have 3 children, I have a cat. There must be very close supervision with the dogs and cat.

The cat plays with the dogs but sometimes they can forget and think he is a toy. Nothing serious has happened cause we have stopped it before hand. And monitor the play.

Sorry it's not the dogs fault regardless of breed.

The fault is with the owner.

ADD: The Yorkie is 14 yrs old it is gonna have a hard time healing after such a thing. How many stiches do you expect a small dog to need that got injured by a LARGE dog. The Yorkie can probably fit in the pups mouth already.

This was owner error. The Pit Bull is just that a puppy and is still learning. It was an accient. Does not sound like dog aggression.

An owner that leaves a dog unattended with a child is an idiot and should not have dogs let alone a child. That is just plain irresponsibilty. No responsible owner is gonna leave their baby on the floor with a dog without watching them.

Dogs do not think like humans. Children have been injured because the parents left them unsupervised child starts crying and go trys to help the child. Not the dogs fault, it's the owners.

As for the unneutered male. He was most likely the Alpha and he gets to eat first. She gets to eat last. It could also be resource guarding.

You have nothing to fear with the breed as whole. What you need to fear is the person on the other end of the leash. That is where the problem starts.

As I said earlier, I have 4 Pit Bulls one of which is my Service Dog.

Pit bulls were bred to fight. They are raised to fight or to be a loving family pet. The dog didn't do it on purpose and it's not anyone's fault. You never let a small yorkie play with the large boned, greatly muscualr Pit Bull Terrier. They may both be dogs but when it comes to playing, one is bigger than the other. It's horrible if someone fights Pitties but it's a total accident if the dog ended up on the smaller dog. If the dog showed no signs of aggression (growling, barking, clawing, biting, "smiling", etc...) then it was not on purpose and should be ignored if the smaller dog turns out okay. I hope the Yorkie is okay as is the Pit-Bull. My neighbor owns one of the most sweetest dogs I've known and guess what? That's right, She's a Pit Bull. I have nothing against any breed, as for children, they need to be taught the proper way to greet a dog, or need more supervision. No one's fault but your own's what I say. :-/

People aggression does not translate into dog aggression.

Yes, pitbulls are game bred animals with a HIGH prey drive for other animals, especially those small and furry (hence the Yorkie situation).

A child is not furry, nor as small as a Yorkie.

Comparing those situations is like comparing apples and oranges.

EDIT: Aussie has touched on a great subject. Pitbulls do play VERY rough, I would never own a small dog for that reason-- they're just too prone to being hurt.

EDIT2: There are many pitbulls that do famously with children. I have a 10 month old child, and we have had this dog since my daughter was about 5 months old... and we've never had an issue. My daughter crawls all over the dog, pinches, pulls, pats, squeals at, screams at, drools, mouths the dog, and does famously, this same dog is fear aggressive towards strangers (we are working on socialization as we speak) and animal aggressive.

That's really odd. I think a number of things should be taken into consideration: gender of the two dogs, is it their season (ie. are they in heat), their own personalities, personalities of the dame and sire, etc. In the case of Pitbull puppy, I really think he/she was provoked by something because at that young, such an attack is not normal. It's kind of hard to imagine that happening out of the blue. I've grown up around Pitbulls and the personalities of the parents definitely play a role in their level of aggression.

I actually have a Pitbull and a Yorkie in the same house and they're fine together. When I'm not home, I keep them separate because I think all dogs need their own personal space at times, but they've never shown signs of serious aggression to one another.

I do know that with Yorkies they don't realize how small they are and can get snippy with other dogs, which may aggravate other dogs (main reason why I don't like my Yorkie playing with large dogs). But all dogs, Yorkies included, can become aggressive or territorial if backed into a corner.

Regarding my dogs, when they are playing I watch them closely and train them on how to act with one another. It helps in spotting any behavior I don't want them to make a habit of. I know my Pit will grow to be a lot stronger/bigger than my Yorkie so she has to know that play-biting and swatting too much isn't allowed. And I've made sure to introduce her to A LOT of smaller dogs so it becomes a habit to play gently. And, I don't play roughly with my Pit at all... no tug of war, no wrestling. The owner may not have been training the dog to fight or for aggression, but even the way you play with a Pit will transfer over into its habits. Pits are very easy to train and pick up behaviors very quickly (they are eager to please their owners), so if they see that their own likes to play roughly with them, it's something that carries over into other parts of their lives. It might just come down to the fact that the puppy needs to be properly socialized.

I think that the breed could be improved, its aggressive aspects minimized and the better aspects improved over time, but I do agree. Its important that pit bulls be separated from other dogs, especially tyohse, such as the Yorkie, who can easily be injured. Its not by fault of the dog, its simply instinct, which comes with caution. I have nothing against Pit Bulls, they are the right dog for the right people, I just agree that certain precautions should be taken.

First off, the puppy could not have been socialized enough, I have never seen this happen with a pit, and I am not saying that this could not happen, but this does not seem like a question, it seems like a statement, why do you want other people's thoughts when you have your mind made up, it is not going to make a difference because you have already said they were bred to do that, so the way I feel, pit bull breeds used to be Americas mascot, they used to be nanny dogs in Europe, they used to be working dogs! so how is it that they were bred for fighting when they were originally bred for working, everyone has there own opinion and I understand that but don't go and say this is how it is then ask for other people's opinions.

I have been around so called "bad breeds" since I was a child and none of my dogs ever ever came after me, no matter how rough I was with them, they knew I was a CHILD so its not that they are bad animals, unlike some people think, they are either not raised right, or were not socialized enough

Any dog can be aggressive - puppies in particular don't know their own strength. The idea of the big puppy playing with the tiny elderly dog in itself is crazy. Why would you allow that? If the large dog had been a Golden, the little dog still might have been hurt. And yes, all Pits should be properly trained, all dogs should be trained. There would be so much less fussing if they were! And way less injuries!

You have to be careful with generalizations. Pit bulls, and frankly many terrier breeds have high prey drive toward other animals and some pit bulls have high drive toward dog aggression. But dog aggression and human aggression are very different behaviors. There are many many dogs of many breeds that are perfectly safe with humans, including children, that are not safe with other dogs. In this case, the dog may have mistaken the Yorkie for prey or the dog may be developing dog aggression. Neither is a predictor of how this dog would behave with humans including children. It would take a professional evaluation to get a better idea of that.

The short end of the stick is that pit bulls are bred to be dog aggressive. I have noticed that pits have a *very* rough style of play, and quite frankly I don't appreciate it.

That being said, all dogs have teeth. All dogs can bite. A child, small dog, puppy, cat, anything, really should never be left alone with any dog. Accidents happen.