"Living with two (or more) pit bulls is not for the faint of heart. It requires constant monitoring, diligence and being firmly established as your pack leader.

"There is a saying, or mantra if you will, among many pit bull owners, 'NEVER TRUST A PIT BULL NOT TO FIGHT!'"

"I live my life by this saying! Every single pit bull regardless of how well they get along with other dogs has the potential to display dog aggression and the ability to cause some serious damage. This is what they were bred to do, we can never forget this and we have to take a lot of precautions. It might seem like a lot of work at first, but once these precautions become habit it's hard to imagine doing things any other way."

Use A Dog Crate (or Kennel Run)
"My dogs are never left home alone without being separated. The boys are crated and Lucille is given free roam of the house. You would be amazed at the number of emails we receive from people who have two dogs who have been great friends their whole lives, never ever had even a little fight, then they came home one day and one of the dogs was dead and the other was severely injured. You never know what may trigger a fight, it could be the scent of the bone that they chewed in that spot two days ago or a challenging stare."

"Crating them also has the added advantage of keeping the dogs from destroying the house. I've found that while one dog will sleep on the couch, two dogs will try to find out what is inside the couch."


Break Stick
"The first thing that all pit bull owners must do is learn how to break up a dog fight. I highly recommend making or buying a breaking stick. It is the quickest, least damaging way to break up a fight. A picture of one and instructions on how to make one and use one to break up a fight can be found at http://www.pbrc.net/breaksticks.html
I made my own breaking stick out of a hammer handle, it wasn't too difficult. This page also explains how to break up a fight if you do not have a breaking stick."

Prevention!
"The real key to not ending up in the vet's office for stitches is prevention. Anyone living in a multi pit bull or multi dog home with a pit bull must learn to recognize their dogs' signals. Learn to differentiate between an 'I hate you and want to hurt you' growl and the 'I want to play' growl. When you see your dog giving signals that they are uncomfortable that's the time to step in. Often times these signals include hackles going up (the hair down the middle of their back) ears back, eyes dilating, panting, sometimes drooling, they way they carry their tail, etc... Sometimes pit bulls may use more subtle body language than other breeds, but that doesn't mean the signals are not there, you just need to learn to read your dog".


"Fights can also break out when the dogs get overly stimulated. This could be from escalating rough housing, all the dogs suddenly running towards the door when someone knocks or toward the fence when a dog barks. Sometimes there is just something in the air and things are very tense. This would be a good time to give the dogs a 'time out' not really a punishment, but just a way to let everybody chill out. This can be done on a tie down, in a down stay or in their crates (yet another bonus of crate training). If my guys are too excited, sometimes just putting all the toys away helps calm them down enough to put things at ease".

"Teaching your dogs a break command is essential. When my guys are playing a little too rough, a 'hey quit it' is enough to get their attention, then we can distract them or find something else for them to do. We also work a lot of 'off' and 'out'. All of my guys know that when we are playing tug and I say 'out' they need to let go, (okay, Bear is still learning this one). If they are all heading toward the same toy a loud 'off' will often stop them in their tracks.

There are also some simple things one can do like not keeping toys laying around if they are the triggers for fights, keep food out of reach and feed the dogs in separate areas if food is often a trigger."



When Dogs Start a 'Grudge'
"Often times, once things escalate to an extreme level, the dogs may never get along again and they must be kept separated at all times. If this is not possible it is best to rehome one of the dogs. I have been involved in two serious fights and countless little squabbles. After the serious fight those dogs could only be in the same room if they were closely watched, and were kept seperated most of the time. This meant a lot of time in their crates for both dogs, fortunately this was with a foster dog and we knew that she would eventually be rehomed, I would not want to live under those type of conditions forever".

A Few General Suggestions for Keeping Pit bulls together:

• Although there are no hard fast rules, male/female pairings tend to do much better together than same gender pairings. Two or more mature female pit bulls in the same household can be especially prone to scrapping. There will always be those golden exceptions, but don't let yourself be lulled into a false sense of confidence by believing your two pit bulls will always get along great. Many pairs (yes, even male/female pairs) have been known to be completely fine for years, only to start fighting later on in life.
  
• Neutered/Spayed pit bulls get along MUCH better together than intact dogs.
• Pit bulls that do get along famously with other dogs are typically youngsters. Many begin to show less dog tolerance when they reach sexual maturity (1-3 years old is average). Be prepared for these changes in attitude!
• Many well socialized pit bulls will accept 'newcomers' into their homes quite successfully, but introductions must be slow and careful and heavily supervised, as does their play even when they're well acquainted.
• Once two pit bulls start to to get into bad fights, they tend to only get worse. So, don't ever put your pit bull in a situation where it begins to fight its housemate dogs. Finding a new home for a pit bull once s/he's started fighting is tediously difficult.