Piatt Farms
Member
Hello and greetings from Oklahoma
Although not new to dogs or even large breeds (GSD, Anatolians, Akbash, etc) I am new to Filas. We have a large estate (160 acres) where I raise sport horses, have two beautiful daughters, a husband and a small assortment of critters (other dogs, turkey, cats, etc).
I'll be honest, the Fila was not my first choice but they were in the "short list" and when I happened across someone who had an accidental litter and they lived VERY close to us it seemed like fate had given me a shove. I had done quite a bit of research on all of the breeds, and now since acquiring Samson I've done even more. I've already resigned myself to the fact that despite me taking him everywhere to desensitize him, I will need to pen him when we have legitimate service workers over, people looking to purchase horses, out of state family visiting etc. - and I'm fine with that, it's just taking the good with the bad. But something I can't find and I think I need to ask directly from people who have owned them is....
How will the behavior of our other dogs influence and shape his behavior while he grows? Has anyone else had a diverse dogs environment when they brought in a Fila puppy, and if so, did you notice it's impact?
I have a male Anatolian cross (protective, loves us deeply, aloof to strangers but warms up quickly and can borders on goofy at times), a border collie who is the ruling queen and the kids favorite, and a pit/lab/something cross (we really aren't sure...she's odd), who loves everyone and everything- her tongue is in overdrive as soon as she see's people- she reserves her instinct to kill to only stray dogs. So this is why Samson is here...While each have their own job and are good at it, I'm not sure if any of them would stand ground if someone who wanted to do harm would show up in the middle of the night (especially if they had a gun).
He is by far one of the smartest dogs I've owned. In 2 days time he has learned what "bedtime" means, figured out how to go up and down stairs on his own, navigates a 2400sq house and how to swing around the glass door when we open it to come in (rather than trying to walk through it) and he's only 6 weeks old.
TIA!
Katherine
Although not new to dogs or even large breeds (GSD, Anatolians, Akbash, etc) I am new to Filas. We have a large estate (160 acres) where I raise sport horses, have two beautiful daughters, a husband and a small assortment of critters (other dogs, turkey, cats, etc).
I'll be honest, the Fila was not my first choice but they were in the "short list" and when I happened across someone who had an accidental litter and they lived VERY close to us it seemed like fate had given me a shove. I had done quite a bit of research on all of the breeds, and now since acquiring Samson I've done even more. I've already resigned myself to the fact that despite me taking him everywhere to desensitize him, I will need to pen him when we have legitimate service workers over, people looking to purchase horses, out of state family visiting etc. - and I'm fine with that, it's just taking the good with the bad. But something I can't find and I think I need to ask directly from people who have owned them is....
How will the behavior of our other dogs influence and shape his behavior while he grows? Has anyone else had a diverse dogs environment when they brought in a Fila puppy, and if so, did you notice it's impact?
I have a male Anatolian cross (protective, loves us deeply, aloof to strangers but warms up quickly and can borders on goofy at times), a border collie who is the ruling queen and the kids favorite, and a pit/lab/something cross (we really aren't sure...she's odd), who loves everyone and everything- her tongue is in overdrive as soon as she see's people- she reserves her instinct to kill to only stray dogs. So this is why Samson is here...While each have their own job and are good at it, I'm not sure if any of them would stand ground if someone who wanted to do harm would show up in the middle of the night (especially if they had a gun).
He is by far one of the smartest dogs I've owned. In 2 days time he has learned what "bedtime" means, figured out how to go up and down stairs on his own, navigates a 2400sq house and how to swing around the glass door when we open it to come in (rather than trying to walk through it) and he's only 6 weeks old.
TIA!
Katherine
