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She isn’t even a year old yet. I definitely believe in brushing a dog’s teeth and I have been working on it with her, but I have never had a dog give me such trouble in doing so. The 2nd time I tried she wouldn’t let me touch her mouth for an hour after I was done and I was gentle, let her taste the toothpaste and took my time with her. I don’t think she likes the way it feels on her gums…I don’t want her to get to where she won’t let me touch her mouth and open it because right now she is fine when I handle her. I did find if I put the toothpaste on the brush and kinda let her chew on it on her own, but make slight movements with it she is ok, so it doesn’t do the best job, but it is better than not doing it at all. I can’t use the finger brush anymore because she has all her adult teeth and tried to chew on that piece, but doesn’t realize my finger is in there…so that doesn’t work either.
From personal experience I would guess she cut her gums on her bone. Our dog did that with hers and she still kept chewing I had to have her give it to me or she would have kept scratching up her mouth. I am guessing she has lost all of her teeth? Our dog also had that happen when she would chew on something and lose a tooth, her tennis ball was covered in blood after that.
The last week we have had a lot of new people over with the holiday season. It seems she has been doing a lot better. We posted a notice on our door informing people of our new puppy and everyone else has been respectful and treated her well. She also hasn’t been growling anymore either. Sometimes she will give an alert bark, but usually stays quiet and happily greats and sniffs them. We are just going to continue to socialize her with new people and bring her to the daycare to socialize there with other dogs and the daycare staff, obedience classes also start next month.
We did do research before finalizing the adoption for her and I continue to do research about dogs in general and pit bulls. I do not know everything though and appreciate all the advice everyone has given me. Thank You!
I agree with you. I never leave our puppy outside unattended, and don’t plan to when she is an adult. We take the time to socialize her to with kids, adults, and other dogs, but whenever we do so we always watch her. She met our friend’s kids for the first time the other night and I made sure to never leave them unattended because even though she is very friendly, I have seen those kids wrestle and jump on top of their dog, I don’t want her to end up being punished because she thought she was protecting herself, because they think they can do that to a dog. I even spoke to the kids before letting them meet her on how to treat a dog the right way. There was an incident in our town not too long ago where a baby was “eaten by a pit bull”…where were the parents, they were showering together…I am not happy that their child was “eaten”, but who leaves their infant in their living room completely unattended with any breed of dog? It is people that make poor decisions, something happens involving their dogs, and then people say that breed is vicious. Keep up the good work you are doing!
Yes, she is crate trained. When we first got her she would go in the kennel, but we made it so that we could section off her kennel as she grows, so now it isn’t too big for her. After we did that she only had 1 accident in there and had to sit in it for an hour because we were gone, she learned not to go in there anymore. She does know where the door is because if I say go outside she will walk to the door with some encouragement, and yes we give her lots of praise for going outside. I can still pick her up, but make her walk to the door since I won’t be able to pick her up forever. I don’t know what size everyone elses dogs were at 8 months, but I am guessing our Libby is on the smaller side, she is just hit 30 pounds. Thanks for the input, we will just keep an eye on her and work with her and she will get it.
Thanks for the comments. She seems to be doing a little better in the cold…maybe she is getting use to it. I still don’t think she is thrilled about it, but she isn’t shaking like before.
I am not sure what you have available in your area and how you dogs are with others, but we take out pit bull puppy to doggy daycare. I know many people have giving me crap about this, but it is the best thing we could have ever done. Try to search for bark central in your area, they rock. They take great care of our dog and she goes there once a week and comes home so tired and well behaved, it takes her about 3 days to get all her energy back. They first evaluate your dog to see if they can be there and get along with everyone and once you pass that, you are good to go. She loves it, I can tell she recognizes the building every time we go, and with being a puppy we expected some chewing and behavior problems, but we haven’t had anything major because we make sure she works off her energy. I can definitely tell if she hasn’t been to daycare or walked for a few days because of weather. I know this option isn’t going to be available to everyone but it is well worth it if you have it in your area.
I hear you and completely agree. When my coworkers found out I was getting a Pitbull some were not so excited for me. It seemed like they were trying to talk me out of it. About a week after we got our puppy one coworker started giving me stories from her EMT friend about one eating a baby in our town and all of these horrible stories from attacks. I finally just walked away because I was so sick of hearing all of this. My dog is very loving, she hasn’t met a person she doesn’t like yet and we continue to introduce her to new people. She is also very well socialized with other dogs and plays very well. Because she isn’t a lab, this lady has to talk crap…even though at the shelter there was a lab that would have torn us apart if that cage wasn’t there.
I have found that nyla bones are great and last a very long time. I just look for anything that is suppose to be for extreme chewers. Even if the toy is more expensive if it lasts long than the others it is definitely worth it. I would much rather have my puppy chewing on a toy that she is suppose to than on other things around the house.
