At four months old he probably doesn’t have the patience/attention span to be doing alot of training all at once. Take him out for short less then 5 minute walks mutiiple times a day.Keep treats on your side to keep him focused to you and your side.  My dog is a year and a half and when we do trick training I never go past 5 -10 mins at a time without breaks. Dogs are just like humans and will get frustrated, bored and distracted at training.  My german shepherd would pull on the leash and run into me until he was atleast 6 or 8 months.  I use to complain about walking him because it was more fun then work.  Patience ins the key.  Good Luck

Our German Shepherd is the same way.  We figured out through food choices that he allergic to many of the foods that have fillers.  We had to put him on Taste of the Wild which has helped.   Along food allergies he has seasonal allergies too. This week it was a yeast infections so the vet said to use the ear antibiotics in the jowl area of his mouth and ears. The vet thinks our dog when scratching his mouth then ear is transferring the yeast into the ear causing the infection.  sounds weird I know . We also give him Benadryl too.  Just some options to discuss w/ your vet.

I have an intact male German Shepherd who will be 2 next month and Raisin who is approx 14 months and is neutered.  They both seem to get along well although at times Jerry (GSD) can be ball aggressive.  Jerry will growl if Raisin gets near his ball while playing fetch so we just don’t throw the ball when the two are together.  My suggestion if you think your two dogs are starting to play a lil rough is to seperate them, let them calm down then allow them to play again.  I do that often with our two boys just to remind them to “take it down a notch”.

Like Herman’s owner we too are working through some fear issues with Raisin.   He doesn’t like men and when greeting new dogs he tends to overwhelm them.

We crate them when we are not home to prevent any scuffles. Also we have a “pecking order” for lack of better word in our home.  Anytime we are doing something with the dogs such as feeding them the GSD is served first.  But both dogs have been taught food manners.  Neither gets their food until we set it down and say ok and at anytime we can take the food away without fear of being bitten. 

I am far from a dog expert.  My dogs past and present have probably taught me more then I could teach them.  What I have learned is when your dog has boundaries and manners your home will be more harmonious. 

I am still a little shocked though the employee’s in the office allowed another client to talk to you like that. I am glad my vet also owns two pitbulls. I’d get a new vet too. Some people just have no tact.

I think everyone that has replied to your post has been polite and answered your questions in reasonable manner; and yet you still come onto a pro-responsible pitbull ownership site and take jabs at us.  I am going to reiterate I am a 911 Operator so I make stressfull decisions everyday. Did I also mention my boyfriend is a law enforcement officer? So maybe our IQ’s are not high enough to put us through medical school, but everyday we deal with people of every economic level and shocker for you some of the richest people are the worst to their families and pets. Vice a versa some of the poorest will give their last cent to help another.  IQ and wealth  will not make you a good person nor determine if you make good decisions.  It is unknown to me why you insist on this idea.  Was it not Mark Madoff’s son who hung himself in his apt while his child was there? His father was wealthy, made poor decisions and wound up in prison.  Apparently their high IQ’s that lead them to wealth did not help them in the area’s of good decision making.

I am begining to think you came on here just to incite us into fighting with you in hopes of saying that pitbull owners are as unstable as their dogs.  I would say we proved you wrong. 

You want to debate the the severity of a dog bite? Let’s see a larger dog will have a larger bite that just seems like common sense to me.  In Omaha NE animal control just released a report showing labs have the highest bite record.  You may wonder why? The answer is because they are popular in that area and that leads to higher chance of unsocialiezed dogs that bite. As for your comment regarding the bite, shake and hold I ask are you familiar with terrier breeds? Jack Russell terrier’s do the same things as a pitbull terrier does.  They too have prey drives and were raised and breed to flush out rats, gophers and other small animals from their dens.  Funny noone seems to notice when they chase cats or show signs of dog aggression.  I forgot its cute when lil dogs have no manners and jump or bark at people.  Those lil teeth can’t break skin ( yes that is ooozing in sarcasm).

What one needs to focus on is why at that moment the dog bite occured.  Are you expecting a dog to reason like a human does? Cause you expect them to understand they did something wrong ? I am not one of those people who says my dog will never bite because I know he is fully capable of biting and doing damage.  My response is I do the best I can to prevent my dog from being in a situation where he would feel he had to bite whether out of fear or for his protection.

How much excercise is your dog getting eachday? The best advice I can give you is a tired dog is a happy dog. 

It sounds like the wait command would be a good one to teach your dog.  Our dogs have learned they have to sit at the door and wait to be asked in or let out.  It was alot of work but has helped us in establishing boundaries.  I spend alot of time doing obdience with my dog.   A good place to start is your local SPCA and see if they offer any obedience classes or training advice.

When your dog jumps the fence does he have things to do back there? Maybe giving him a large bone to chew on would occcupy some of his time?  My pitbull is a digger unfortunately so even with a playmate he still tries to escape.  I have taken up walking him alot as well as purchaseing an attachment for my bike so he can run next to me.  It seems the more I get him out and excercise him the less time he spends trying to escape. 

Good luck to you.

I echo i luv my pitbull’s sympathy for the loss of your cat.  It is always devestating to lose a pet and under those circumstances I can see how one would feel such a mix of emotions.  And yes if my cat was killed by a dog anger would be one of those emotions.  I own a cat as well as my pitubll and my german shepherd.  Last year I had a friend who could not seem to contain her german shepherd and lab.  They escaped out of her yard multiple times and in the end killed 2 of their neighbors cats.  I know she was devestated for her neighbors.  In the end animal control deemed her dogs and vicious and they had to be euthanized.  Unfortunately her not containing her dogs in their yard lead to the loss of her neighbors beloved cats and her two dogs.  A preventable tragedy all around.

My dog’s vet own’s two pitbulls.  As far as do I kow any other other professionals such as lawyers, doctors,etc that own pitbulls the answer is no I do not.  But I also do not have any friends in those professions. But I have meet many responsible pitbull owners at charity events and one of them could of been in those professions.  I just never thought to ask people what they do for a living. I do not care what someone does to earn a living.  My only hope is that they are positively contributing to their community.  A janitor, a pilot, a teacher, a waitress all have vital roles in our communities.  Do not judge one based on what tax bracket they fall in. 

As for how to break up  a dog fight that includes a pitbull who will not release, I would result to my break stick.  It is a tool placed in a pitbulls mouth behind the molars that you twist so they loosen their grip and let go.  I may also add that I carry one and have never had to use it.  In CA we have strict leash laws and I am one who believes in them.  I also believe in spaying/ neutering pets which can help to reduce aggression.  Often times the media will publish many articles regarding pitbull attacks but leave out the important information such as was the dog spayed/ neutered and was this dog a pet or left in the yard chaned up. 

You said the majority of people on here will have emotional  and not factual responses. That gave me a wonderful chuckle. My boyfriend loves to tell me how I base all my decisions on emotions from voting to what I want to eat that day.  I am an emotional person.  I have to be.  Each day I sit down at my desk and the first thing out of my mouth is “911 what is your emergency?’.  My job requiers me to show compassion to the victim who has just been shot as well professionalism to the person who admits to stabbing their significant other.  In 10 years at my job I have heard so many tragic moments of peoples lives.  There are times when I have to turn off how I feel and just do my job, but I still try to keep compassion in my heart for those during their time of need.   I live my life by the belief that I need to be compassionate to all those around me, human or animal. 

I only hope when you come on this page you are willing enought to agree to disagree.  I get yelled at by people to get my pitbull off their street in the AM on our walks.  My response is to smile and say enjoy your day  ( and no I do not avoid their street on my next walk). Maybe just maybe they will see my well behaved dog and I enjoying life and take away a little part of that joy into their lives.  Life is full of lessons all around us and owning my pitbull has taught me to be less judgemental against those who judge me.  

Again, I am truly sorry for the loss of your cat.