West Highland Terrier Rescue

I have 3 dogs, a 3 year old female staffordshire bull terrier, Bella, a 3 year old male staffordshire bull terrier, Jake and a 6/7 year old female jack russell terrier, Poppy.

Poppy and Bella had a Fight last saturday, bella was taken to a rescue center as it was the second time she had fought, once was with my west higland terrier when she was in heat and we brought her back from a rescue center we took her to, the west higland terrier now lives at my nans, this time we have taken her and there is too much upset in the house and want her back.

My family all want bella back but we cannot put poppy and bella back together, so my family are thinking of giving my jack russell to the same nans who have my west highland terrier, sam, and bring bella back and change everything we are doing wrong, we are going to stop her sleeping on the bed at night and getting both jake and bella a behaviourist in which to help bella not to fight.

Bella is a lovely dog as the woman at the rescue center has said apart from the first time when she was on heat, which we now have had her spade. the only time when she goes weird is when she see something outside and goes hysterical at it and if one of the dogs gets in her way we are scared she will fight with them, or if she is on the grass which is on a higher level so she gets more territorial if she is up there and she sees something, but besides that she is calm and docile.

will a behaviourist help bella, and will it help stop jake jumping up people. my family are upset aswell that poppy will be living at my nans aswell, my nans is not very far away only about 5 minutes away, but if we do give her to my nan we can still see her but then again shes not our dog and im worried that poppy will forget us.

should i leave bella at the rescue center or bring her back and get a behaviourist, will poppy forget us, will a behaviourist work, will bella fight again with jake?

i’m so sorry !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am not just saying that i know how much you love the dog i feel so bad i would say you have to give her away or put her on medicine we had to give our golden retriever away my best friend sad

In a news paper I was reading it said how a dad and his 14 year old son were attacked by their family pet a (pit bull terrier).

Also my local rescue centre has an American pit bull puppy for adoption; I thought they were banned, oh and a neighbor of my friend has one too but they got rid of it as it ripped the ear off of their west highland terrier.

If they are banned here in the UK why do so many people still have them?
The types of people who want to own them here turn them into evil pets like this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1229190/Pictured-The-shocking-moment-guide-dog-savagely-attacked-pit-bull.html

Because the DD Act is not being enforced by the police/RSPCA/dog wardens, the people that own them are breaking the law in black market breeding/fighting/selling them and neighbours are not reporting them for fear of being targeted/bullied.

I was at a rescue centre late last year, on display was a Pit Bull which had been picked up…..I asked about it and was told it was a ‘staffie’ by one of the volunteers and said I needed to give her my details and come back that afternoon and speak with the manager if I was interested in ‘adopting’ it……… she didn’t know me….I do a lot of work for that rescue, so I phoned the manager to find out what was going on, the dog had a great temperament however it is an illegal breed and in the wrong hands deadly, also not neutered so a possible breeding stud. I was informed that they had it on display, it would not be adopted by anyone, however the police who had picked it up wandering the streets wanted to see if the owner or friends of the owner came to collect it for obvious reasons….so maybe that is what they do across rescue services Nationwide, I don’t know, however the national rescue services like RSPCA are not going to risk losing their income from the local government with illegally rehoming or the Dogs Trust ( part of the KC) in bad publicity.

The law can only be enforced if the public report and if they did then the many legal bully breed owners would not be having such a hard time when out in public with their legally owned and more than often well mannered dogs.
Banning a breed is not the answer, so Pits and Pit types is at the descression of the law enforcer, it is a bad law, however a law all the same.

Pit Bulls illegal in the UK…yes they are, however there are still regular and a huge amount of dog fighting in the UK attended by ‘people’ from all over the World…dogs coming into the country via Dublin Sth Ireland, across the border to NI and over in cars on the ferry to the mainland………about 3 years ago one fight attended by over 400 people was raided only 500 yards from my property and I had no idea it was going on until 6 weeks prior to the raid( informed by the police), over 900 dogs were brought out of there ( also a puppy farm for several breeds and a baiting centre) two fighting pits dug, DIY medical room to stitch up their dogs, an execution/electrocution ‘room’ along with burger and alcohol bar and a gambling ‘booth’ all very well organised……it was horrific…..and what happened to the organisers, the got bail and skipped off the Spain, 1 year later on arriving back they were fined £300 each with suspended sentencing…….and the dogs PTS, the puppy farmed breeds sent all over the UK for re-homing by the RSPCA, 10 of my customers got one of them and not one survived more than 18 months because of their health issues.

I have 3 dogs, a 3 year old female staffordshire bull terrier, Bella, a 3 year old male staffordshire bull terrier, Jake and a 6/7 year old female jack russell terrier, Poppy.

Poppy and Bella had a Fight last saturday, bella was taken to a rescue center as it was the second time she had fought, once was with my west higland terrier when she was in heat and we brought her back from a rescue center we took her to, the west higland terrier now lives at my nans, this time we have taken her and there is too much upset in the house and want her back.

My family all want bella back but we cannot put poppy and bella back together, so my family are thinking of giving my jack russell to the same nans who have my west highland terrier, sam, and bring bella back and change everything we are doing wrong, we are going to stop her sleeping on the bed at night and getting both jake and bella a behaviourist in which to help bella not to fight.

Bella is a lovely dog as the woman at the rescue center has said apart from the first time when she was on heat, which we now have had her spade. the only time when she goes weird is when she see something outside and goes hysterical at it and if one of the dogs gets in her way we are scared she will fight with them, or if she is on the grass which is on a higher level so she gets more territorial if she is up there and she sees something, but besides that she is calm and docile.

will a behaviourist help bella, and will it help stop jake jumping up people. my family are upset aswell that poppy will be living at my nans aswell, my nans is not very far away only about 5 minutes away, but if we do give her to my nan we can still see her but then again shes not our dog and im worried that poppy will forget us.

should i leave bella at the rescue center or bring her back and get a behaviourist, will poppy forget us, will a behaviourist work, will bella fight again with jake?

these dogs CAN live together peacefully- but you need HARDCORE training.
they can never, ever be left alone together. the one who usually instigates MUST be crated or confined elsewhere.

they must wear nylon slip collars and short leashes when you are supervising them.
any dog who so much as POSTURES aggressively must be picked up clean off his feet.
the dogs should know that you are the boss, and that fighting is not ok with you. training them basic obedience will also help. don't bother with a cookie-training class like petco, these dogs need to know that there will be consequences.
i don't know why you think you need a behaviorist to stop a dog from jumping on people- a firm correction, if nothing else has worked so far, should be used EVERY time.

if you can find a better home for these dogs, i suggest you do.
i think you are a good owner, who does not have the skill or knowledge it takes to train and maintain the staffordhire bull terriers, or a bully breed. not everyone is prepared to adequately raise them.

I have 3 dogs, a 3 year old female staffordshire bull terrier, Bella, a 3 year old male staffordshire bull terrier, Jake and a 6/7 year old female jack russell terrier, Poppy.

Poppy and Bella had a Fight last saturday, bella was taken to a rescue center as it was the second time she had fought, once was with my west higland terrier when she was in heat and we brought her back from a rescue center we took her to, the west higland terrier now lives at my nans, this time we have taken her and there is too much upset in the house and want her back.

My family all want bella back but we cannot put poppy and bella back together, so my family are thinking of giving my jack russell to the same nans who have my west highland terrier, sam, and bring bella back and change everything we are doing wrong, we are going to stop her sleeping on the bed at night and getting both jake and bella a behaviourist in which to help bella not to fight.

Bella is a lovely dog as the woman at the rescue center has said apart from the first time when she was on heat, which we now have had her spade. the only time when she goes weird is when she see something outside and goes hysterical at it and if one of the dogs gets in her way we are scared she will fight with them, or if she is on the grass which is on a higher level so she gets more territorial if she is up there and she sees something, but besides that she is calm and docile.

will a behaviourist help bella, and will it help stop jake jumping up people. my family are upset aswell that poppy will be living at my nans aswell, my nans is not very far away only about 5 minutes away, but if we do give her to my nan we can still see her but then again shes not our dog and im worried that poppy will forget us.

should i leave bella at the rescue center or bring her back and get a behaviourist, will poppy forget us, will a behaviourist work, will bella fight again with jake?

Let me get this right, you are going to get rid of the dog that has not had any issues and keep the dog that has aggression challenges.

A behaviorist can help, but these dogs all need a lot of training and that will not ensure that Bella will be trustworthy. While you all love her, are there children in the house? That could be a challenge too.

If you want to work on her, keep her separated from the other dogs so that they are not impacted by her poor social skills and work on all 3 dogs.

If I had to get rid on one, it would be Bella since there are no apparent issues with the other 2. You have already gotten rid of one dog from the house and this would be the 2nd. When she starts with Jake, will he be removed?

There is a high probability that once Poppy is out of the scene that it will be Jake she goes after.

I know that it is a hard decision, but if you want to keep all 3, she should be kept separate and go from there. She may just be one of those dogs that needs to be the ONLY animal in the house.

Good Luck.

My West highland terrier is always trying to eat my Cockatiel! Mitzi (the dog) got the bird in her mouth and mum had to jump in and rescue her! i was wondering if their was any thing i could do to discourage this behavior and if any thing has worked for you?

Try to keep them separated, get a water bottle and spray your dog if it looks at the bird, get him to not want to be near the bird.