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Training Tools:
Water Bottle:
My very favorite instrument of choice is the WATER Squirt Bottle. It has always worked great for me. Coupled with
"NO!" or "Stop!" or whatever the appropriate admonishment would be. The dogs hate it when the water seems to land on
them from nowhere. It distracts them from what they are doing, which causes them to momentarily pause, stopping whatever it
is that they were doing (this does not work to break up a dog fight!) to look around trying to find
the source of the strange water. Then your "No!" breaks the momentary interest in what they were doing that was inappropriate.
At that time, you redirect their behavior to an appropriate action. If they were chewing on a shoe, take it away, show it
to them, tell them "No!". Remove the shoe from sight. Bring in 'appropriate chewable item' and present it to the dog with
a happy face saying 'Good. Go ahead, here, chew this' or whatever praise or words of encouragement you would use to get your
dog interested in the 'appropriate chew toy'. When they begin chewing on it, Praise, Praise, Praise.
Kennel:
Their kennel should be 'their' space. A place they can go to be left alone, to get away from everyone (kids maybe?),
to take a nap, a safe place for them that is just theirs and no one elses. Never punish a dog in their kennel. Never
forcefully remove a dog from their kennel. If they want to be in there and you want to talk to them when they decide to come
out [of their room], then shut the kennel door. Come back in 10 minutes (maybe after you have calmed down a little as well)
and open the door. Don't pull the dog out, don't call the dog out. Never Never Never call a dog to you and then punish it
for something else. This teaches the dog that when you call them, they are in trouble and will be punished. So why come??
Never Never Never call a dog to you and then punish it -evenutally, your dog will learn to not come when you
call it. Let the dog come to you. When s/he does, show the dog what it did, display your 'bad dog' face so they will know
that you are not happy with them. Then tell them to go lay down somewhere -'go on, lay down -away from me!'. Then shun them
for 10-15 minutes. They want you to love them. They want you to be their best friend. Eventually they will learn what is 'good/ok'
and what isn't.
Disclaimer Information:
This information is provided to share training experiences that have worked for me in the past training dogs. Please
remember that each and every dog is an individual. An individual life. They have their own individual personality, their own
individual issues, fears, needs. All of these things affect your dog's behavior. There are a lot of dogs out there where this
particular training exercise will not work. However that does not mean that a non-physical, non-abusive behavior correction
method can not be found. Translation: It is Never Never Never 'Ok' to hit your dog -NEVER.
There is ALWAYS a non-abusive way to train your Pit Bull (or any dog for that matter), you just have to:
- Be interested in finding it.
- Be willing to learn it (so you can teach it to your dog).
- Make the time needed to implement the new training regime.
They are not stupid. Don't treat them like stupid animals and I'm sure the chances of you getting a better response will
greatly increase. They are intelligent dogs and want your love and respect. Try to see things through their eyes, it may help
you figure out how to better communicate your training requests differently to your dog!
Reactive Dog:
Alexia is what we call a reactive dog. I would also call her sensitive. She is very affected by the
tone of your voice, if you raise your hand, etc. No matter what you do, she seems to wiggle. Personally, I love it. If you
were hoping that you had gotten a dog that wasn't going to need a lot of your time, you got the wrong dog. Each dog inside
each breed is an individual and there are differences. Here are some tips to help you keep your reactive dog calm
(and maybe a little more attentive!):
Stay Calm: She will react to your calmness in a positive way. Speak calmly, pet calmly. Attempt
in everywhere to show her the behavior you want - calm.
Direct To Wanted Behavior: Instead of focusing on "No" behaviors, focus on "Yes" behaviors.
Make her sit, then pet her, make her lay down, then praise/pet her. Give her something easy that she can do to make
you happy and you'll get better results.
Make Her Work For Praise: Make her sit -calmly, before getting pets, before going outside for
a walk, before each throw of a toy. Make her do what you want her to do before she gets what she wants. Eventually, you will
both get want you want.
Jumping:
First, I'm going to scold you *smile* then tell you what to do to fix it. You have a jumping dog because
YOU were bad, not her. You taught her it was ok when she was young. When she was a young puppy jumping at your leg for attention,
you gave it to her -you picked her up, you petted her, whatever, she got attention. When you came home and she jumped
around you thought it was cute and picked her up, you bent down to her, you told her how good she was, remember??!? *smile*
Now she's bigger ... and jumps ... and now you have a problem. I refuse to have a dog jumping on me when
I walk in the door with my hands full of something. So we started on this one right away.
Stop Rewarding Jumping: Don't pet, play or speak to her when she's on two feet.
Stop all interaction the moment her front paws leave the ground. No matter if it's when you first get home, when you're sitting
on the couch playing catch, fetch, tug-a-war, what-ever. If her front feet come up, end the play time, end the praise session,
tell her "No" and turn away from her, don't look at her, don't let her touch you until her feet are back on the ground. She
is a reactive dog. This will be devastating for her. But she's also a very smart dog, she'll catch on real quick. When she
sits, tell her she is good and pet her CALMLY. If she tries to jump up, start all over again. Time and patience and more time
and more patience.
Redirect Behavior: Always try to couple a "No" behavior with a "Yes" behavior.
Tell her to sit, then praise her. Alexia is very people oriented and love motivated. Some dogs will do anything for a treat.
Alexia will do it for love. So with her, it is especially important that she has a way to get the praise and attention she
wants-needs. With jumping, she will get it by sitting. Tell her to sit whenever you touch her, speak to her, play with her.
Make her sit first, if she starts getting too excited, stop touching her, calmly say "No, sit". When she sits, smile. I've
noticed she likes to make me smile. Smile, tell her she's good and pet her again. This will teach her that she gets more smiles
from you, more touches from you, more attention in general from you when she is sitting. Now, with her I've noticed that her
sit is not a still one. She bounces on her bottom, but she is sitting and it's hard not to bust out laughing she's so cute,
but that's still a sit and she's not jumping so be sure to tell her she's good and pet her. I've been getting down on the
floor, sitting and hugging her tight to me when she does so good. I can't stress enough, this dog would die without love.
Her spirit would just disintegrate and she would give up.
Shunning: When she jumps up, turn sidways to her so she isn't getting what she wants,
which is up in your face and attention from you.
Practice: The worst time to teach her to not jump up is when you are trying to
walk in the door with stuff in your hands or people are trying to come inside to visit. Practice several times a day for a
few minutes each time. Step out the door, step back in, have her sit and praise her -then repeat. As she gets the hang of
it, add a knock at the door, or the doorbell. Also take turns practicing. One time you go out and ring the bell and have a
friend answer the door, the other time have a friend go out and you answer the door. This issue can be largely resolved in
about a week IF you are willing to work at it.
Pulling:
Again, you taught her this was ok. Mostly because we are in a hurry and we want them (our dogs) to get in the car, or get
to the potty spot, or get to the park so we let them pulls us because we really want to get there too. Now, you have more
time and you want to slow down a bit, well, she doesn't and she has learned over the last few months that if she pulls on
the leash, you will go faster. Here's how to fix that:
Reward for a Loose Leash: Anytime that she is not pulling on the leash, tell her she's a good
dog. Not so excitedly that she turns around and jumps on you (we're trying to stop that behavior too, remember). If she does
turn around to you, tell her to 'sit' and praise her. If you've never gotten a loose leash, then STOP. If she
doesn't stop pulling after repeated attempts to get her to 'heel', then stop moving. Eventually, she will turn to look at
you to find out what the problem is. When she does, sternly (not angrily) tell her to 'come' and 'sit'. When she does, praise
her. Put her in the 'heel' position, and start over. When she pulls, tell her 'No', pulling her back, then tell her, 'Heel';
continuously back-to-back if you have to and if after 4 or 5 times she still pulls, STOP. And there's the cycle; from 'stop'
to 'stop', it's vicious, I know. *smile* And again, practice, practice, practice.
Dont Walk in a Straight Line: When you get to the park, make sharp turns so she can't predict
where you are going and then she can't pull on the lead quite as much. Weave in-between trees or the swings, whatever. If
you're on the street, go in a circle around a light pole then go in the opposite direction you were going when you started.
When you get to the next pole, do the same thing -then you end up going the initial direction you when you started.
Which helps if you are trying to actually get somewhere, which, by the way, I don't recommend. It would be best
to try doing most of her training when you can focus on her; on training her, watching her reactions, etc., not getting somewhere
else. That way, you're not trying to train her and do something else at the same time -you're training her and that's
it. We call them 'Training Sessions'.
Practice: The only time she has a chance to learn what you want from her is when you work with
her. Make time everyday to practice for at least 15 minutes. You'll be astonished just how good she can be with just 1 or
2 five-minutes training sessions a day! Like I said, she really wants to please you, you just have to give her the behavior
that is going to please you and she will jump (no pun intended!) to doing the right thing!
Digging:
Dogs dig because they are bored, enjoy it, or simply to make a cool spot to lie in. Digging is a self-rewarding
activity, meaning when she digs, 1) she is no longer bored, she has something to do; 2) it's fun and it gives her something
to do; 3) the ground below the surface is much cooler than the top-level ground and it gets hot around here. Digging is a
very hard behavior to stop because it is so self-rewarding.
Try some of the following:
Put her poop in the bottom of the hole before you refill it. Most dogs are repelled by this and will not dig again, at
the very least, she won't dig in that spot again.
Give her something else to do. Get some toys for the backyard that are interactive or semi-interactive. A Boomer Ball,
a Kong stuffed with yummy treats that take her a while to get out maybe or a Treat Cube like the one I showed you at the house.
A Boomer Ball is a hard, plastic ball that last for a long time. Once she learns how to push them with her nose, she may entertain
herself for hours. Only use this in a fenced area. The downside is that she may scrape the top of her nose raw playing with
the ball.
Give her someplace to dig that is appropriate. Build her a sandbox. Show her the toys, bury them in the sandbox and encourage
her to dig them up. Go out to the sandbox frequently and encourage her to dig her toys up and praise her for doing her digging
in the sandbox. When you see her digging elsewhere (and this is the crux, you have to catch her doing it) tell her "No" and
bring her to the sandbox and again encourage her to dig then praise her.
Try "Setting Her Up". Set up a scenario where you think she will dig. When she starts digging throw a plastic bottle at
her that you have put a few small pebbles in, like a noise maker or rattle. The sound will scare her and maybe she will associate
being scared and hit with this thing and digging so she will stop digging.
The best solution is to not leave her outside. When I leave the house, I have been putting her in a crate. She doesn't
seem to mind the crate at all. She actually goes in there and lays down even when I'm home with her and sleeps. Do you have
a crate for her? You may want to invest in one if you really want to keep this wonderful dog.
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