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I’m a little worried. I have an american/red nosed puppy about 3 months old. the other day, I gave him a hug, he growled a little but I thought it was a playful kind of growl, so I gave him another little hug, he turned around and bit me in the face. He also growled at me while I was petting while he was eating. I’m concerned about this. I will not spank him but I need to know another way of disciplining him now before he gets any bigger and can do real harm to somebody. I’ve never had a puppy of any breed do this to me and I’ve raised A LOT of dogs!
He was never abused, and is in a home with 3 teenaged boys, my husband, myself and 2 other female (non-pit) dogs. He’s never shown agression to my other dogs or to anybody else in the home. I’m thinking he’s more of a “guys” kind of dog, which I need to break him of.
Any suggestions?
iv just started getting problems with our 6 month old ,she keeps biting other dogs ears and a few times now has gone to bite my hand but when she does this shes always wagging her tail am i worrying over nothing? im new to the pitbull world and want to do every thing right by her
When your pup growls or bite. Yelp high pitched and loudly and stand up and walk away you can even put in crate for awhile. In the wild if a pup bit mom she would yelp and leave the dog alone. It will take time and consistently do it the same way every time. They need to learn that u r the pack leader.Good Luck.
Ive raised pits and have been around them my whole life i do not believe in animal abuse at all and would never hurt a dog, but with pit bulls you half to show them who is boss, spanking them is like poking a cotton ball it doesn’t affect them, not gonna lie my pit bull would always listen when i got a big plastic soup spoon and smacked his butt after that i just pulled it out and he would listen w/o whooping him so try that but dont whoop them to much bc you can make them turn on you.
I had a boxer that would only be bitchy with others when they scolded her. I raised my pits to know what a spray bottle means. I just grab it and the hunch down like I beat them to death people can’t believe it. If I have learned anything with my pits is you have to have a firm voice when commanding them. My mom has raised several breeds of dogs and they all obeayed her but her 9 month old female pit doesn’t respond to a word she says and loves water so the spray bottle doesn’t work on her. She only listens to me or my dad. It is truley in the tone of your voice and making sure that you never show fear or back down to them when they at like that. You are the boss and they have to know that.
Thanks for the advise. This is my first pit I’ve ever had. I’ve read about how they were bred to fight but are usually great around people, just bad around other dogs. Since mine has shown aggression at such a young age, this really bothers me. He’s a little aggressive when playing with my other 2 dogs as well (full grown big dog breeds). He seems to get carried away and they cry because of a bite to the ear or something.
I’ll try a spray water bottle and a firm voice (which I do anyway) and hopefully that will detour any aggression in the future for this puppy.
Any other advise from experienced pit owners is strongly welcomed!! I love this puppy, but am afraid of what it might turn into when its an adult dog.
Beth,
I know what you are going through trust me. I became a first time pit owner in June of 2009. I had heard all the bad things too about them. I was so scared of Kira become aggressive I was overly caustious. I immediatly put her in puppy kindergarden and the obeience then CGC. My mom constantly was yelling at me for letting her play rough. I talked to the trainers and they said she’s a puppy she’s gonna play rough. Just watch for signs of her using attack grabs like the ham string or throat. I finally stopped listening to everyone and she has become a great dog that can’t get enough attention. She is a strong headed dog though. So stay relaxed and don’t think the worst of the situation. Now I love my two pits and wouldn’t trade them for the world but if they EVER attacked for no reason a human they would be put down.
Amberslash’s mom,
your dog growls when you pet him while eating because its his alpha dog instinct.an alpha dog in a pack in the wild eats first before the other dogs and growls at anyone who tries to eat with or before him.a dog, once domesticated, the humans become his pack.and be careful about the growling thing, growling often leads to biting. you just have to establish authority with your dog, he is treating you like his subordinate and not his alpha(human owner). but never beat him, well, there are some instances that you may need to spank him but is not really advisable.pit bulls are not lapdogs so never treat them as one.never teach them human emotions though they are part of your family, they still need to act as dogs.its also important that he socializes with other pups or dogs and humans. what i do with puppies, by the way, is i hand-feed them before i put the food in their bowls so they know that its my food I’m giving them.and that is one way of establishing authority.its also important that only one person in the family feeds the pit bull, so he knows who is really in command, well, that’s just based on my experience.hope it helps..slash’s mom,
your dog growls when you pet him while eating because its his alpha dog instinct.an alpha dog in a pack in the wild eats first before the other dogs and growls at anyone who tries to eat with or before him.a dog, once domesticated, the humans become his pack.and be careful about the growling thing, growling often leads to biting. you just have to establish authority with your dog, he is treating you like his subordinate and not his alpha(human owner). but never beat him, well, there are some instances that you may need to spank him but is not really advisable.pit bulls are not lapdogs so never treat them as one.never teach them human emotions though they are part of your family, they still need to act as dogs.its also important that he socializes with other pups or dogs and humans. what i do with puppies, by the way, is i hand-feed them before i put the food in their bowls so they know that its my food I’m giving them.and that is one way of establishing authority.its also important that only one person in the family feeds the pit bull, so he knows who is really in command, well, that’s just based on my experience.hope it helps..I think you should just care more for him, show him attention and concern. At the same time, constantly give him activities to do, such as exercise and games. Keeping an active Pitbull keeps him occupied and not aggressive.
with my pup, 6mo.. i establish dominance in every single situation. He doesn’t walk through a door without sitting first & only after me. When I give him his food I pretend to eat a bite before I give it to him (when I first did this he watched me like he couldn’t believe my nerve! now he doesn’t care) & then I set the bowl down only when he sits and still he is not allowed to go for it till I say “ok”. If he moves toward it I take it away. Once he’s eating I pet him gently and reach my fingers into his bowl and grab food to make him used to allowing my hands around there. It takes patience and more time, but they learn fast. I work on the command “nice” which basically means gentle by not allowing him to eagerly snap treats out of my hand but gently take it. I do this by holding the treat in front of him in a sit, in a way that I can close it into my fist immediately if he tries to go for it. I say “wait”.. then “nice” then move it towards him slowly but as soon as he moves his mouth forward I close it and say “no, wait.. nice” and keep doing this till he learns to be gentle. When he is playing too rough and playful nipping or biting I tap his nose or close his jaws with my hands, look him sternly and say “no bite”. the instant he calms I say “nice” and pet him gently.. he is slowly getting it. Hope this helps.. I recommend get “Training Secrets for Bully Breeds”. It has very practical tips. I’d like more tips as well from anyone who is more experienced.
I had some minor issues with Riley which I nipped in the bud. I watched how his mother reprimanded him and copied her. When he tried anything with her, she held him on the ground and held his neck in her mouth. She would also bite him. (not hard enough to do damage, but it got the point across) Well, I’m not going to bite my dog, but a spank on the butt as well as rolling him over and holding his neck for a minute did the trick. He knows who the pack leader is and it’s smooth sailing ahead!
Our pup is now 5 mos old. We have had him since he was almost 3 mos.
We went through some of the same that you are going through but our problem was a little more intense. He actually went after one of our sons…
After that, I hired a trainer. He went with the trainer for 3 weeks. Absolutely fabulous when he is under the trainers supervision, but with us- not so much. Until he went to the trainer, he never re directed his anger on us- Just growled, yelped and whined. After being with the trainer, He now re directs when he is frustrated.
To be completely honest with you, I got fed up. I had our sons run around the house like idiots making as much noise as they could. (knowing this would excite him) Initially, I tried making the corrections recommended by the trainer… He was muzzled and guess what? I surely would have been bitten. He was MAD and top it off, he was muzzled. So that made him super mad.
I had the kids stop… I grabbed a magazine, rolled it up, duct taped it. I had the kids start running again and when he started to act out of line, I shh’ed him, he ignored so I cracked him on the butt. (I have also been one against spanking the dog and although I love our pup, I love my children more.) Not over forcefully but enough to get his attention and it worked. The kids kept running around and every time they came running our way, he laid down and looked directly at me until they were away then he would look around. His ears were back, his body was relaxed and his attention was on me.
Please do not take this as I am into beating my dog. To be honest with you, This is the first time I have had to crack the dog- well not the first we needed to but the first time we did. We have spent over 2K on training between the 3 weeks in house training, after training sessions, Petsmart training (biggest waste of money in my opinion) and in house training sessions. If I would have known it was only going to take a 3 dollar magazine and a small amount of duct tape, I could have curved this unwanted behavior earlier.
After that, We went for a walk. That was the best walk I have ever had with him. He is trained to walk properly but if someone is outside, he does tend to get off track and pay more attention to neighbors… Last night- his attention was 100% on me. After making the progress we made, we went into the back yard and played tug of war and after that (outting the rope perfectly, sitting and laying down perfectly also) I have him a Angus Hotdog. (his fav treat)
One thing that I have learned is that not every suggestion on training works for every dog.
Best of luck. For over 2 mos, I have shared your pain.Wow Stacey that is a sad situation I bet. I understand where you were coming from with you loving your pup but loving your kids more. That is awsome you stuck it out though and got a handle on the dog. I am not one to beat on my dogs either but sometimes its the only thing left. My moms pit is 10months old and no just doesn’t work with her. I actually have done the same with a rolled magazine and sometimes that doesn’t work so this is going to sound horrible but I kicked her and not like drop kicked her across the yard or anything just enough to get her attention. I haven’t had one problem with her since and she listens to everything I tell her. I felt absolutly horrible for doing it but seeing how it worked and I mean NOTHING else did it was little bit better. Most people in your situation would have gave up on the dog or even put it down.
Amber
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