Quote Originally Posted by Acesaun View Post
I was reading a post on peds online and it made me wonder if you had a small toy dog that played with your hound before he had any type of schooling will this have an effect on him and will it be a hazard after he has had his first class or bump ?
Your dog may be confused at first, but if he's smart he'll "get it."

Silverback was a house dog before he was ever rolled, so he viewed other dogs as "friends." When I first tried to start him, he actually ran passed the other dog and tried to jump up and "say hi" to its owner ... didn't even pay attention to the other dog (he did that the first couple times actually)

However, as soon as he got bit, he knocked the living shit out of what bit him ...

After a couple of rolls, he figured out the pit was the place to fight, yet at home Silverback still laid around with a couple bitches. For that matter, all the bitches were schooled too, but the small group just knew they were "friends" in the house. (Naturally, I have had dogs that just wouldn't get along with anything also.)

As a matter of fact, Silverback's mama Missy would wag her tail in my arms as I carried her to the pit, but as soon as I stepped in the pit she would start growling. If I stepped back out of the pit, she would wag her tail again. If I stepped inside once more, she'd go to growling again ... she knew what a pit was too

Bottom line is, I don't think any smart dog will start "fighting everything," if it's been socialized FIRST. It will still remember who its friends are after the fact. The real trouble is taking a totally schooled dog (that's never been socialized first) and then expecting it to get along if fighting is all it knows. Even this can be done, but it's tougher when they have no social skills at all.

The other possible trouble is if a fight occurs between your (now) schooled dog and the toy. Before an actual fight, the bulldog might just growl if the toy pissed him off ... but after your dog understands fighting ... IF it gets pissed off then it might go the whole route rather than just issue a warning. But most likely not, and your bulldog will be unaffected and treat the toy as his buddy same as before.

Jack