My neighbor has a big, intact, male, Pit and he does just fine with the cats he lives with…he plays gently with them and snuggles with them ;). He does not chase my cat, even though my cat is the sworn enemy of one of the Pit’s cats, he just ignores my kitty. He’s great with other dogs as long as the other dog is not aggressive toward him. He plays very rough with my young, female, BC mix…she loves it and both know the difference between play fighting and real fighting, it has never crossed the line, even when there is lots of body slamming and pinning the other dog to the ground going on.
I walk him quite a bit for his owner, who is not healthy enough to exercise him, and the only time I see any aggression is when another dog approaches HIM in an aggressive manner, if they approach politey, he’s fine. I believe his basic nature is to be sweet and tolerant, but he cannot turn down a blatant offer to fight initiated by another dog. Fortunately, most people are smart enough not to let their aggressive dog get too close to a big Pit. He is willing to take orders from my elderly ACD/JRT mix, who is a bitch in both senses of the word, but who is not aggressive, just very, very bossy. He could care less about horses, much better with large animals than my two herders.
I hope I’m not just a bleeding heart for pits. Can’t see myself owning one now or in the next 10 years. Had a pit/chow mix show up on the farm from a house down the street that got it as a puppy to fight. Learned about the responsibility and liability of a serious, protective, guardy, poker-faced pooch. Quite chow-y from what I have now learned.
