While there does seem to be an over abundance of stupidity in the world where pits are concerned, I think the tide seems to be SLOWLY turning in our favor!  I have just decided that I’m going to have one of the best trained, best behaved dogs around.  When we took our Piper to work at a fundraiser for the shelter we rescued her from, you should have seen how excited this little old lady was when she knelt to pet Piper & Piper basically climbed into her lap.  She couldn’t wait to go tell all her friends that she petted “a real live Pit Bull & it kissed her!”  I think when more people start seeing what really good animals these are, things will change!

We love it!  I got the Petsafe brand.  Our pit was 5 months old and picked up on it really fast.  We have trained a couple of older dogs w/it too & it went really well.  Spend the extra few bucks to get the deluxe model–it beeps & vibrates before it does the electric stimulation, so they have plenty of chance to react to it.  

Hey Katie, I’m like you, I can NOT believe the bad rap these dogs have gotten!  Our rescued pit mix is the best behaved dog we’ve had (and the biggest baby! 🙂  Anyway, to your question, have you tried a water bottle that has a nozzle that hangs inside the crate?  That would eliminate the wet bedding.  We found that a Kong filled with peanutbutter or Kong Stuffn and frozen gives them something to do while they are in the crate, just be sure you get one of the large ones.   Let me know how it goes!  Good luck!

I actually had a friend w/a Sheltie that did the same thing.  What she did was open all the car doors, set with her other dog inside the car, played gave him treats, and just made a HUGE production over the dog that was in the car.  They just let the Sheltie do her own thing while they were doing this. I think she said that went on for 2 days.  When the Sheltie eventually got into the car, she basically just “threw a party” and made a HUGE production over her  (she also got hot dogs as treats while they were doing this–but only when she got in the car).  Eventually, they took short rides (to the dog park, someplace where she could just have a TON of fun).  Eventually the dog got over it.  As people motivated as pits seem to be, I bet you could tailor this to suit your dog too!  Good luck!

Hey guys!  I’m really new to the site & about a year into owning our first pit.  Got QUITE the assortment here too (horses, the pit, a jack russell, beagle, & a foster). I have to say I was a HARDCORE jack russell person & the pit has given me second thoughts (about JRT’S).  I have been SO FLOORED by what a good dog the pit has been!  Easy to train, gets along with all of the other animals, and is honestly a giant lap dog.  What awesome animals!