What now? People that own big dogs and Yorkies HELP!

[tiggerr36792]

I have a Border Collie who is abit older and she keeps an eye on all 3 of my yorkie's. She acts like its her job to watch them. She has been taught to be easy with them and she lets them just about do anything to her. I think with proper trainning they can get along, however I'm sceptical of Pits.

[Dawn125]

I don't think you would have any problem with a pitt and yorkie getting along together. Especially if you get the yorkie first. Yorkies tend to take over as the dominate dog. The few pitts I have known were very sweet dogs. One in particular was everybodys darling and never a threat to anyone. However, once it got into a tussle with another friends lab and blood was shed (the labs). Nothing tragic happened but scary just the same. In any case I don't think you would have any problem getting the two dogs to get along.

However, I would never own a pitt anyway. There are too many issues to consider. Do you own or rent? If you rent you will forever have problems getting landlords to accept your choice of dog. If you own you will have problems with insurance coverage. If there is ever an altercation between your pitt and another persons dog your pitt will be blamed. People won't want your dog near their children. People will stear clear of you when you walk your dog especially if they have a little dog. And a final thought. Go to the local dog shelter and take a look around. The huge majority are pitts and pitt mixes. Too many people decide they can't keep them for one reason or another and they are very difficult to rehome so they end up with a death sentence. Definitey not cool. Tell hubby he can have a lab.

[Yorkiedaze]

AT this point I wouldn't get any dog. I'd wait till the son was older and wait till your husband gets the macho image out of his head. I see these dogs all the time being led around town by the Hispanic males strutting their stuff and acting all cocky. Makes my blood boil. I have nothing against Pit bulls if they are raised properly. My son has a Pit/Lab and another son use to have a Pit till she was stolen out of a fenced back yard. Anyway, I'd just let the notion of getting a dog go for now.

[my2boyz]

At this point I wouldn't get a dog at all. Your reaction and concerns should be enough for your husband to give up the idea of a pit bull whether a Yorkie comes into the picture or not. If you're scared a dog will know and you'll have no control over it and if you're concerned for the safety of your son and yourself that should be enough reason for him to not get one.

[LoveMyGirlz]

Originally Posted by Fran42478

Everyone has their own opinions on pitbulls...We have one in our family was was raised with my beloved Sammi and they ADORED each other...Storm would let Sammi do WHATEVER she pleased...Never once was I worried about him hurting her...I wouldnt leave them unattended due to SIZE but never did I think twice that he would harm her by biting her...

Alot of the pitbull drama is stirred up by the media...Fatal attacks since 1975 have been attributed to over 30 different dog breeds yet all the media can talk about are Pit bulls, Rottweilers, Dobermans, or Akitas. Size alone is not an accurate indicator of which dogs are capable of killing and which dogs are not. In October of 2000, a baby was killed by the families Pomeranian dog in California. The average weight of a Pomeranian being only 4 pounds, and in February of 2002, a Jack Russell Terrier mauled a 6 week old baby in Tennessee...I will always stand behind this breed and that is MY CHOICE just as everyone has a choice to accept them or not

If you do not feel safe around one then dont get one...Its just not right to slam the breed because of what you read and/or see...Because remember ANY dog is capable of killing...

Hugs to you all (and here are some pics of Sammi and Storm)

BTW - Storm lives in my moms house, my mom has a 6 year old malt and they get along awesome too...When I bring my 2 there Storm is great as well, but I know he misses his partner in crime Sammi

I will chime in here and agree with you Fran42478...
We also own a pit and she is probably the best and most well behaved dog I've ever owned. We got her as a puppy and did obedience training with her. She is mostly an outside dog but comes in once in while but only on her mat - she gets antsy and would rather be outside. Let me say that she shares her dog run with my 12 pound Maltese and they are great friends!!!
Bottom line is a big dog is much stronger than a small dog and IMO ANY big breed can easily hurt a small breed animal if not supervised. I do not trust that our pit, Sheeba, would NOT run up on a dog she did not know but to all our animals that she is familiar with, she is great. With that said, I also do not let my yorkies run with Sheeba because she tramples them given her size I believe supervision and training are key. I am babysitting a tiny yorkie right now and my younger puppy is a lot bigger than her and if I don't watch them, she hurts the little girl! She doesn't realize how strong and how much bigger she is. Another example is a female yorkie bit my Vixxen's dad on the heat when trying to mate and he died!!! ANYTHING can happen if dogs are not "used" to each other and/or supervised.
Also...IF you are to get both....personally, i would get the pitbull first, as a puppy, train him and let him grow out of the puppy stage before getting a smaller dog. A) the dog has manners and is trained now, B) puppies are so full of energy and don't realize their strength and size and a big puppy of this size with a small puppy of yorkie size would not be safe playing - IMO.
Here are some pics we have too!

[LoveMyGirlz]

Oh I should add that Sheeba is about 10 years old now...so our sons were 5, 7, and 10 when we got her as a puppy.

[chachi]

Theirs no way I would own a Pitt with a child or a small dog

[Percys_mamma]

Pit Bulls *really* get a bad rap. Yes, they can be a mean dog, so can Huskies, Labs, and even a Chi. My Rottie would have gotten hit by a truck before she let anything happen to one of the babies or me. ANY dog can be mean if not trained properly. A little Yorkie could end up being a vicious biter if not taken care of properly. (yes, I know a Yorkie bite is different from a Pit bite)

What I am trying to say is this. If you were to get them, get them as very young puppies, at the same time, and train immediately. A properly trained dog will listen to you above all else, and a happy well adjusted animal isn't going to haul off and kill someone. I would be more concerned about how your son would re-act. Has he been around animals and pets before? If not, I would wait until he was a few years older. A yorkie or a pit wouldn't be good around a child who was not used to animals.

[jacky]

Originally Posted by Percys_mamma

Pit Bulls *really* get a bad rap. Yes, they can be a mean dog, so can Huskies, Labs, and even a Chi. My Rottie would have gotten hit by a truck before she let anything happen to one of the babies or me. ANY dog can be mean if not trained properly. A little Yorkie could end up being a vicious biter if not taken care of properly. (yes, I know a Yorkie bite is different from a Pit bite)

What I am trying to say is this. If you were to get them, get them as very young puppies, at the same time, and train immediately. A properly trained dog will listen to you above all else, and a happy well adjusted animal isn't going to haul off and kill someone. I would be more concerned about how your son would re-act. Has he been around animals and pets before? If not, I would wait until he was a few years older. A yorkie or a pit wouldn't be good around a child who was not used to animals.

im more scared of chis than anything else. Evrey time i see one its barking, growling or bitting and nipping some1. id rather have a pitt than a chihuahua lol

[Percys_mamma]

Originally Posted by jacky

im more scared of chis than anything else. Evrey time i see one its barking, growling or bitting and nipping some1. id rather have a pitt than a chihuahua lol

I am going to have to kinda agree with you there. My neighbors Chi is the most vicious dog I have ever met. AND they just let him roam the yard. He barks and runs after everything and everyone that passes the yard. He has even run up to my kids and nipped while they were playing in our yard. But, the odd things is, when people are walking by and they Chi runs up growling and barking and yipping like crazy, people go "awwwwwww what a little dog!!!" Meanwhile, when I had my Rottie, and was out walking her on a leash, people would cross the road.

[jacky]

Originally Posted by Percys_mamma

I am going to have to kinda agree with you there. My neighbors Chi is the most vicious dog I have ever met. AND they just let him roam the yard. He barks and runs after everything and everyone that passes the yard. He has even run up to my kids and nipped while they were playing in our yard. But, the odd things is, when people are walking by and they Chi runs up growling and barking and yipping like crazy, people go "awwwwwww what a little dog!!!" Meanwhile, when I had my Rottie, and was out walking her on a leash, people would cross the road.

Its really unfair. The sweetest big dogs are discriminated against because of their breed or size but when little dogs actually are vicious its "cute". Think about some episodes of the dog whisperer, which dogs were the most vicious and hard to control.. the small breeds, the small tiny dogs that when they misbehaved and bit it was "cute"

[Peters]

it's all in how you raise the dogs i will get a pit bull one day as of right now i have a rottie and shes not vicious towards my yorkies i have 2 i thought she would be at 1st but shes not . actually i think my male yorkie thinks shes his girlfreind!! i see nothing wrong with having big & small dogs and kids also i have a daughter almost 4 it has a lot to do with the responsibilty of the guardian as how things turn out!

on myspace
under babypeters i have a pic of them under my pics

[jkquillin]

Before you think about a Pit you should check your
homeowners policy. If we have one of the
"at risk" breeds they surcharge our premiums
or they don't cover any incidents where the
dog is involved. ((We have Nationwide)).
That is how we kept my sons from getting
a pitbull


Kasey & Annie

[Christen10]

Originally Posted by Fran42478

Everyone has their own opinions on pitbulls...We have one in our family was was raised with my beloved Sammi and they ADORED each other...Storm would let Sammi do WHATEVER she pleased...Never once was I worried about him hurting her...I wouldnt leave them unattended due to SIZE but never did I think twice that he would harm her by biting her...

Alot of the pitbull drama is stirred up by the media...Fatal attacks since 1975 have been attributed to over 30 different dog breeds yet all the media can talk about are Pit bulls, Rottweilers, Dobermans, or Akitas. Size alone is not an accurate indicator of which dogs are capable of killing and which dogs are not. In October of 2000, a baby was killed by the families Pomeranian dog in California. The average weight of a Pomeranian being only 4 pounds, and in February of 2002, a Jack Russell Terrier mauled a 6 week old baby in Tennessee...I will always stand behind this breed and that is MY CHOICE just as everyone has a choice to accept them or not

If you do not feel safe around one then dont get one...Its just not right to slam the breed because of what you read and/or see...Because remember ANY dog is capable of killing...

Hugs to you all (and here are some pics of Sammi and Storm)

BTW - Storm lives in my moms house, my mom has a 6 year old malt and they get along awesome too...When I bring my 2 there Storm is great as well, but I know he misses his partner in crime Sammi

Thanks for the advice and pics. I'm not out to Bash the breed. I think pits are nice looking dogs. The question had alot to do with the Yorkie but also with my son. All dogs snap just like people do but if the Yorkie was to snap and bite my son he couldn't do that much damage and if he didn't it probably wouldn't be life threatening but if the pit was to snap and lose it on my son, then it could be fatal. I just don't wanna take that chance with my child. If I didn't have a small child then maybe I'd get a pit and be perfectly fine with it. But I'd never forgive myself if Kylan got hurt b/c of the dog that we purchased.

[LoveMyGirlz]

Originally Posted by Christen10

Thanks for the advice and pics. I'm not out to Bash the breed. I think pits are nice looking dogs. The question had alot to do with the Yorkie but also with my son. All dogs snap just like people do but if the Yorkie was to snap and bite my son he couldn't do that much damage and if he didn't it probably wouldn't be life threatening but if the pit was to snap and lose it on my son, then it could be fatal. I just don't wanna take that chance with my child. If I didn't have a small child then maybe I'd get a pit and be perfectly fine with it. But I'd never forgive myself if Kylan got hurt b/c of the dog that we purchased.

Hmmm well it sounds like you already made up your mind and answered your own questions then...