[nana911]

the adorable dog 'Petey' on the old show the Little Rascals was a PitBull. I'm not real crazy about the breed. It does seem to be in the forefront of the news.. The bad news. My unscientific theory is that the very real scientific term 'predator drift' is for some reason triggered quicker in pitbulls then in other breeds, perhaps because so many of the ones being currently marketed and rescued are genetically linked to the recently bred fighters.

My largest dog is the sweetest 80lb rescue you'd ever want to meet. Using a lot of Cesar's and Victoria's methods he has been trained and is responsible and by nature submissive, not an alpha bone in his body. He is part lab, border collie, newf and god knows what else. Lets the other dogs crawl all over him. Anyway, on a camping trip while out in the backyard our friends mini dachsund was running and Bear was playfully giving chase when suddenly their dog made an odd movement in the brush and our other friend's fox terrier went after the mini and Bear in the blink of an eye changed. I caught it, no one else did. He became a predator. For a split second, the mini was prey. I screamed his name and was able to snap him out of it, but it scared me to death. He was going after that little dog with the intent to kill, like it was a rabbit or squirrel. That was when I came home and started to research and discovered 'predator drift'.

I have always from day one kept my yorkie girls penned up whenever we are not home or they are not supervised. Now I know why...LOL I would never want Bear or myself to live with the aftermath of a split second instinctual mistake that could have been prevented. Even when I nap, my DH takes Bear down to the basement with him to his 'workshop' rather than leave him unsupervised with the girls if I'm not watching, it's just the way it is.

I just think that, perhaps with some, not all pits, that 'drift' process is just closer to the surface. With a good owner it may never surface, with a bad owner, all bets are off.... JMHO