Why does my dog lock himself in the bathroom? (gator Pittbull)?

Question

I have a 2yr old Gator pittbull (He used to be a fighting dog but i saved him). I also have a 1 yr old Yorkie as well. It appears that whenever the Yorkie shows up, the Pittbull goes in the bathroom and closes the door. He never wants to come out and when i take him out to play with the yorkie he turns his body (showing the back side) and ignores the yorkie.

We believe that the pittbull is trying to avoid any problems because he still feels that he can harm the little dog. He also shows this type of behavior when he is at the dog park.

He doesn't show any fear or aggression. He just tries to ignore the other dogs as if he's sayin " I don't want to hurt you so please stay away".

I feel that the fighting is in his blood and he doesn't want it to trigger automatically.

what do i do?

Answer 1

He is not thinking " I don't want to hurt you " he is simply afraid of other dogs for some reason. Probably becuase he correlates seeing another dog with being bitten by it soon. You have to socialize him better

. Be careful when your trying to introduce him to other dogs though. If you see him staring intensely at the dog it's a bad sign, and he might bite the dog soon. If he is doing this then give him a quick touch on the side to snap him out of this. No matter what don't praise him when he is all tensed up like this becuase it will only encourage the behavior.

Only praise him when he learns to be relaxed at the presence of another dog. It may mean when he learns to be near the dog but kinda ignore it, like have that dog smile on his face and happily look somewhere else. After hes calm is when you can feel confident about letting him or another dog approach each other.

Also another very important thing is that you yourself keep calm and not fearful or tense. Your dog can read your energy and react to it.

Answer 2

you should get him professionally trained as part of his rehabilitation ... You've done a good thing saving a fighting dog ... he will need help to recover from his other life and may never be good around other animals ...  

Answer 3

maybe he never wanted to be a fighting dog in the first place and is fearful that the dogs are wanting to fight.Turning like that is a dogs way of showing they are being submissive. Does the yorkie bark alot or jump on him?  Congrats on saving a pit. I saved mine also. They are awesome dogs. Good Luck. Try asking a trainer. Hey there's always Cesar. They guy is awesome.

Answer 4

Thank you for saving this dog, but I do hope that you're not taking him to an off-leash dog park.  Even if you're 99% sure that he'll be fine, all he needs is some adolescent, exuberant young dog to come jump on him..

Definitely continue his socialization, though.  If you can, do lots of side-by-side leash walking with him and the Yorkie.  When he goes to hide, I'd leave him.  He obviously has a reason for it, and given his history it may very well be a good one.

It does seem like he's trying to ignore. But, how long have you had him?  He could still be adjusting to living in a house with a person and other pets, even if he doesn't show fear outright.

Answer 5

I agree with patient paws about adopting a pit if you don't know anything about their recovery. But I don't about pits being killed within a day that have been fighter dogs and have behavior problems. I think you should be more open minded. That's what everyone thought about the "Vik"tory dogs. That they all had to be destroyed but the best friends network decided to take them in and work with them and many of them will find loving homes. Some of them will live their lives out at best friends. This just shows you that maybe if we had some Faith then more of these dogs will be saved and not be euthanized.  

Answer 6

Its clear that you have no business with this dog.

That dog needs PROFESSIONAL rehabilitation. No shelter will adopt an APBT that was previously fought to a person who doesn't know anything about behavioral rehabilitation, nor will they adopt a fighter pit out to anyone who doesn't have experience with the breed, they are usually destroyed within the day.

If, by some fluke, you ended up with this dog because you stole it or found it, you need to seek a behaviorist.

How do you know that he was a fighting pit bull? In my experience, any dog that has been fought does not AVOID confrontation because they were never taught to.

There is no breed called a "Gator" APBT, its just an extremely horribly bred dog.

Fighting isn't in a dogs blood, its in his brain. A dog that has been fought can trigger a response that they can't control. When a dog has been trained to fight (which in this case I doubt your dog has, pit bulls of that stock and shape are rarely fought, but used as "show" dogs for people who want to look tougher), they will fight if given the opportunity.

Why on earth would you take a dog that you "know" was a fighter pit and take him to a dog park where he is given the opportunity to injure and possibly kill other dogs? Do you realize that if the dog ever snaps it will be YOUR fault, and YOU will be yet another irresponsible owner that gives the rest of us a bad reputation along with our dogs?

That dog needs professional evaluation and training. Otherwise you're sitting on a ticking time bomb.

I personally think that he wasn't a dog that was used for fighting. I think that you believe due to his looks, that he was.

Answer 7

If you rescued him from being a fighter that's probably all he knows.

he probably doesn't even know how to play with other dogs.

Keep taking him to the parks. He will come around, and a pat on the back to you for saving this guy!

Answer 8

well he could just trying to keep confrontation or he wants all ur attention