@Mama loves Maximus We seem to experience the same “excitedness” of which you speak with our pitbull. However, if I notice that kids are too excited, I remove O’Shea from the situation, as I know that often the people who are super excited are way young and couldn’t handle his excited nature. But I always try to educate people when they greet him, “You first should put out your hand, so he can sniff you…and I’ll bring him to you. Be sure to pet him -here or there-, as sometimes he doesn’t like being pet around his nose…” those sort of things. I know people will sometimes say “I know how to approach a dog,” but I think pits are a little different, in that they ARE high energy dogs, and if someone doesn’t know how to approach them, they could get hurt. And it’s NOT because it’s in the pit nature to hurt someone–because that’s BOLOGNA!
Has you done different training exercises with your pup? I know ours still attempts on jumping up on people, but we use commands such as “down” and “sit…” keep it simple, with a real stern voice, and if he doesn’t comply, we place him in the other room….or, if you’re outside with the dog, is he on a chain of some kind? I am sure you’re taking all the steps necessary to be a responsible owner–I’m just trying to think of all the things I’d try to do to keep the people I love, and my dog, safe 🙂
I do hope you’re able to find lots of help on this site. I’m a new owner (have had O’Shea for a year now), and am learning new things every day. Do consult people here–many have such good information to share, it’s wonderful!
