Pit Bulls?

[Crawly's Mom]

Alright. So far I have been working with her using off, it doesn't always work, but she's getting a bit better about it. The main time she jumps is when she's excited. IE: When my husband came home or when you have something she wants. She does seem to know what sit means, she is slow to it sometimes, but she definitely knows the word.

I got to look her over a bit more when she was asleep. Found several more burns on her paws at different stages of healing, some close to completely healed and others still red and raw looking. I made an appointment with a vet tomorrow at 9:30, so I will be taking her down to get her all checked up. At that time I will probably grab some info about training too.

[TheSnakeEye]

Consistency, positive reinforcement and love are key... Also I cannot stress enough that you should take every opportunity you can to socialize her. Whether it be with strangers, dogs, small children. She is already large enough that if she wanted to she could cause some damage, but still young enough to make any aggressive behavior she may have go away. Once she is healed, UTD on all shots, and on a heartworm and flea preventative, I suggest taking her for walks where you will come across other FRIENDLY dogs. If not call w.e friends you have, that have dogs, and go to a park and just chill. Even if it a 2 lb chihuahua, you need to make sure she is well socialzed. Also, and this applies to EVERY dog, make sure she is not food aggressive. Get her use to you putting your hand near her face while she is eating. I have a dog that is food aggressive, luckily I have no small children, cus I can defintiely see a child going to mess with the dog while he's eating, only to get bit.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Consistency, positive reinforcement and love are key....

They can also be bribed very easily with treats in the begining too

[TheSnakeEye]

They can also be bribed very easily with treats in the begining too

Lol that falls under the positive reinforcement and love category

[Crawly's Mom]

So far we have learned in the day that we have had her:

She is not food aggressive. My daughter walked up grabbed her bowl and walked away with it, she was also hand feeding her at one point, one piece of kibble at a time. Oddly enough she only seems to eat if you are in the room with her.

She is afraid of rats. She was sniffing the cage of our two full grown female pet rats. One hopped on the bars and scared her, now she will not even go near the cage.

She doesn't like the vaccum cleaner. She attacked it when I turned it on, it took a no three times and a sit before she would leave it alone. Now she just growls at it from the couch while I vaccum.

I think she might have been hit with sticks. She was playing with my daughter at one point, they were both running around, baby was squealing and excited. She picked up a stick and the dog immediately turned around and ran under the table. She didn't even make a motion to hit her or anything, yet she tuckled tail and ran off quick.

In general she's been really good though. We have some stuff to work on with her. Obviously the jumping needs to go. I am gonna get her to the vet. I do have the paperwork on all her shots, including rabies. I will get her on heartworm. She's already spayed. So hopefully I can get some cream for her burns and get her on the right track. Soon as the doc says she's okay to be around other animals, I'll look into some training classes.

[TheSnakeEye]

That sounds great! From time to time, while she is eating just randomly go up to her and just grab the bowl, it should help keep from being food aggressive. You have to do it while she's eating, just go grab while she's eating. As for the stick, show her the stick without moving it around and get her to come near it, perhaps by using a treat or something. When that works great, that she no longer worries about it and acts like it's not around, trying moving it around while continuing to give her treats. She should realize that the stick is not going to be used to hit her and that stick= treats.

[ShockBunny]

Aw, poor puppy! I'm glad she'll be taken care of now. You did a good thing. She's really cute. Lots of good advice in this thread, too. I think the lack of socialization as a puppy is one of the biggest issue my boyfriend's dog has. Definitely not one to skip!

[GoingPostal]

That sounds great! From time to time, while she is eating just randomly go up to her and just grab the bowl, it should help keep from being food aggressive. You have to do it while she's eating, just go grab while she's eating .

Actually that's a great way to train a dog to be food aggressive, seeing as you keep going up and randomly taking their food. Dogs that guard stuff do so because they are afraid you are going to take it, doing just that isn't going to help matters. Instead make you near their bowl a good thing, drop some treats in while they are eating, once they are comfortable with that, take it away for a milisecond and drop something really yummy in and give it right back, pretty quick you'll have a dog who loves people by their stuff, not one who thinks people are out to steal it. I'll never understand why people are so dead set on messing with dogs while they eat anyways, I expect my dogs to leave me alone while I eat and they get the same respect.

[Crawly's Mom]

So far we have had zero signs of food aggression. Like I said my daughter was over petting her while she was eating and even was hand feeding her pieces of kibble. At one point I caught her holding the water bowl for the puppy to drink out of too. My daughter already loves her. She squeals and runs around and the puppy chases her. At one point she fell and the pup stood over her and gave her kisses. It has gotten to the point that when my daughter wakes up from her nap the puppy runs to her door and whimpers and it's only been one day lol.

I trimmed her nails today with the pedi-paws (aka dremil with a guard lol), which she was perfectly good with, just sat there and let me clean them up. I figure if she is going to jump she needs her nails to not be so sharp!! So far all is going well... except I am struggling with a name. I can't think of anything to call her. My husband and I were batting around the possibility of doing something Christmas/Holiday themed, since it's just around the corner. Anyone have any ideas?

[spygirl]

The jumping up when excited thing will take some time to work through. Again, consistency is key. So when your husband comes home, have him ignore her. Walk through the door and don't make eye contact. When she's better at "sit", have her sit as soon as you walk through the door. If your not excited, it'll keep her from getting excited. Make a routine, so she knows what to expect.

For example, here is my routine for when I come home. I walk through the door and if I speak to the dogs, its in a soft, soothing voice. I let them out of their crates and let them outside. They do their business and we may throw the ball around to get that pent up energy out. Then we head back in. They have to sit at the door and wait to be invited in. I tell them to come in and by that time they've pretty much settled down.

As for the food aggression thing and taking food away from her... It works in certain situations with certain dogs. Both of my dogs have a happy past. No problems with abuse, etc. So we practiced sitting for food/toys and having me take away food/toys. So when its time to put up the toys or rawhide or what ever, I have no problems from removing the item from their mouth. So far, she's shown no issues with food. As she gets more comfortable with you, she may see how far she can push you. In this situation, I would put my hand near the bowl, in her bowl, or hold the bowl while she eats and then treat for good behavior. Same with toys. Then, when you've become a more established "alpha", practice gently taking toys away from her and treating for good behavior.

There was something else I was going to mention, but now I've forgotten... Maybe after the baby goes to bed I'll remember.