multi- pit bull households????

I have a 2 year old Female APBT that Is absolutlely wonderful, a little bit spoiled but a great dog. shes about 45 pounds and has been spayed. She is housetrained and knows all the basic tricks. I was given her at about 4-5 months from some friends that had her living in their car because their parents wouldnt let them keep her since they already had a pair of pomeranians. I have raised her since with lots of care and even before she was given to me she was also a great dog (despite her living situation) but she still needed to be housetrained and acquire some house manners. she now goes to the dog park and plays with lots of my friends pups without any incidents and the only time Ive ever seen her bark or even show aggression is only when were at home and she sees a dog being walked across the street from our window, but when we even so much as drive by the dog park in our area she will start to cry and cry because she wants to go play, or If Im walking her and she sees a dog shes always the one to try to make friends............ anyways enough of her Background on to my "problem"

I recently decided to purchase a solid blue baby boy and am awaiting his 6 weeks to bring him home. My Main concern is how the dogs will get along with eachother at full maturity as I know the Male has the potential to be almost twice the size of my Female and I have recently stumbled upon a few sites that stated how many people they know that have written in talking about how theyre dogs were always fine until one day when they came home and one of them was dead. Honestly the thought of having to ever come home to this sort of a tragedy scares the shit outta me as I would hate to mess up a good thing as it is. Now im contemplating whether to begin crate training at an early age to avoid tragedy later on or simply tie up the male in the backyard with a nice long lead since that where both dogs would be going out ot the bathroom

I have talked to a few well known trainers in my area and they said that they really dont think there would be much of a problem and if there was theyd be more than happy to help me out. So should I really be as concerned (more like paranoid) as I am about the situation? My dog is never really left alone for longer than maybe 5 hours but as Ive heard "you should never trust your pit bull not to fight" and if need be I guess I may have to tie up the boy in the backyard while im gone but I would really rather not have to as some people have even told me the boy would probably get jealous as the girl gets free roam of the house!!!! so really whats the deal here? I really just want to do whats best for my dogs but Id really rather not sacrifice one for the other, any advice and input will be greatly considered and appreciated, thanx for your time

 

Cees: Congrats on the newest member of your pack. Firstly I would like to say that it is wonderful that you have come to look for advice BEFORE a problem occured.

Now, there are a couple of things you can do to ensure the safety of both your dogs, because you are right, you can never trust a Pit Bull not to fight.
For starters, try to get a hold of the breeder, see if you can introduce your dog to the new pup at their home maybe 1 or 2 times first. Then, the day you pick him up, bring your girl with you. This will help with the transition with bringing him home. Second, I know it will be tempting to pay TONS of attention to the new pup, but you must remember your girl. APBT's crave human attention and can get very jealous if they feel their position in the house is threatened. So, everyday make sure to have some quality alone time with your girl. I am sure you have some friends that would love to watch the pup for an hour or so.

Secondly, you should invest in 2 crates. Crating is a very important key in owning multi-pit homes because when you are not home, your dogs should NEVER be left alone together. They should be seperated always when you are not there to watch them. This ensures their safety and the safety of your home and belongings. The crate will become the dogs personal space. Many dogs that are crate trained will go in their on their own just to have some time to themselves. Crate training is a very effective key to also helping to potty train puppies. Because the space is so small they do not want to do their business in it.
There are great articles on crate training your dogs. Remeber to never force your dog to go in their. This needs to become thier safe place.

Other than that you should be ready. Puppy school is essential for socialization and manners. You sound like a very responsible person. Hope you stick with the board for a while.

We would love to see pics if you have any.

 

Bullylove gave you some Excellent advice! Let me say first Welcome to the board!.
I am a multi pet family. In fact I have 4 APBT Bluebelle, Pinky, Punkin and Princess as of right now is my foster baby and 1 Pekingese named Fancy. And this weekend my newest addition Katey also a foster and also an APBT will be joining the family.
It all works out great for us. We have a schedule we follow everyday. And you learn quickly who gets along well and who doesn't. My girls have their occasional tiffs. So we have seperate breakfast and dinner times and potty times. Playtimes are not always seperate but always supervised. It really just depends on their attitude. Some days they all get along great. Obedience class as Bullylove suggested is absolutly the best thing you can do for both you and your puppy. Best of luck to you! You can see all my babies by clicking on my www tab below my post.

 

I think that putting them in a crate while you are not home is a good idea. My brother has 4 females that stay inside and he crates them when he leaves (EVEN THOUGH they get along) Sometimes one of them might be moody so you should keep a close eye.
Are you planning on getting either one of them fixed?

 

thanx for the words of encouragement, pix will be up in a few weeks partly due to the fact that I still have alittle over a week left until pickup (I cant wait!!)as far as getting em fixed, the Female is already fixed and the Male will be ASAP. What age is about right to get the males fixed anyways?

how should I go about potty training him too? I have a steep staircase that leads to my garage and backyard where my female goes to do her business, ideally I would like the Male to be trained in the same manner but I realize for the first few weeks the stairs may be too much to handle.
should I paper train him and leave him in his crate from the beginning? or should I just tie him up in the backyard for the few hours theyre alone so he can just go right there whenever he wants? I also figure if my female wants to play w/ him she can always do so by going to the backyard. I wouldnt consider tying him up however for atleast a few weeks after, since he would be so small and im gonna be home almost 24/7 for the next couple months anyways I really prefer not to crate my female as shes really good while were away, I leave animal planet on for her and shes fine about 99% of the time so I dont think shed like the idea of a crate all of a sudden but I could be wrong. also, If I got the Male a crate would she start to be jealous because he has his own place to cozy up by himself and she doesnt? thanx

any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

Hey Cees: First off, you should never leave your dogs outside when you are not home. this is a BIG mistake. Because of the breed and the "stigma" against them it, in my opinion is only asking for trouble.

If you don't feel comfortable crating your girl, that's fine, but your boy should be crated in another room where they can not see or hear each other. Your female shouldn't get too jealous about the crate. Remember, you can always get her a crate and just keep the gate open so she can go in on her own if she wants to. That may be an idea. Most pups won't go potty in their crate because the crate should be small enough where they don't have room to move around, therefore deterning them from finding a corner to go into. This will help wonders with the training. If you are worried about the stairs, just carry him out for the first week or 2, eventually they will be fine for him. Just make sure if you carry him out you make him walk upstairs by himself to get used to them and not develop a fear of them.

As for potty training, I am sure others will have more to say, but if you are planning on training them outside anyway, I would forget about the paper and just start there. Put the puppy out 15-20 mins. after he eats and drinks ANYTHING and every 2 hrs. When he does go outside praise the dickens outta him and give him a treat. I am sure you have figured out how food motivated our fur babies are.

some vets neutur as early as 12 weeks. Most say to wait until 6 months.

I cant wait to see pics of your fur babies!! You are gonna be such a good parent to them!!

 

Hey Cees: First off, you should never leave your dogs outside when you are not home. this is a BIG mistake. Because of the breed and the "stigma" against them it, in my opinion is only asking for trouble.

If you don't feel comfortable crating your girl, that's fine, but your boy should be crated in another room where they can not see or hear each other. Your female shouldn't get too jealous about the crate. Remember, you can always get her a crate and just keep the gate open so she can go in on her own if she wants to. That may be an idea. Most pups won't go potty in their crate because the crate should be small enough where they don't have room to move around, therefore deterning them from finding a corner to go into. This will help wonders with the training. If you are worried about the stairs, just carry him out for the first week or 2, eventually they will be fine for him. Just make sure if you carry him out you make him walk upstairs by himself to get used to them and not develop a fear of them.

As for potty training, I am sure others will have more to say, but if you are planning on training them outside anyway, I would forget about the paper and just start there. Put the puppy out 15-20 mins. after he eats and drinks ANYTHING and every 2 hrs. When he does go outside praise the dickens outta him and give him a treat. I am sure you have figured out how food motivated our fur babies are.

some vets neutur as early as 12 weeks. Most say to wait until 6 months.

I cant wait to see pics of your fur babies!! You are gonna be such a good parent to them!!

 

(I'm not a pit bull expert)
Not necessarily advice but one of my regular customers came in last week incredibly depressed and telling me the horror story of his dogs. He has pits of some sort (he doesn't know..he rescued both) that had been living together happily with him for years now. He came home a week ago to find one of them bleeding profusely and it didn't make it to the emergency vet. I would suggest separate living areas for the two as thry grow up when you are gone. Just to be on the safe side because you never know what can happen while you're gone.

My brother has two cats that used to get along great. One day an unfixed male cat was prowling around the backyard and the two saw him and started fighting. A year later the two cats are STILL ready to kill each other and have to be separated ALL the time. They have the house all divided up and the cats can never be together despite the 100s of ways they have tried to get them to be best buddies again.

Should be fine as long as you raise them in a nice loving home...i would just give them their own spaces.