heres part of the problem Pits Dont just need walks to get the energy out, They need to RUN, Do you guys have a dog park or somewhere where you can get him running? Non Fixed males are higher energy than females so your gotta stand your ground on the rules. I agree that you need to flip him onto his back (risk getting peed on!) and make him Submit, Currentley it sounds like hes got you pretty whipped, You need to turn the whos boss thing around there buddy!

Good Luck!!!

if he isnt, i would get him neutered. it will help alot....just make sure you are the dominant one in the relationship but dont be abusive because that will make them fight back. theyre good dogs they just need to be taken care of in the right way.

You absolutely have to make sure that you are the dominate person in the house. If he pees on the floor, jam his nose into the puddle repeatedly, yelling at him the whole time (it doesn't matter what, TONE OF VOICE is what matters), then toss him outside. That way he knows WHAT he did wrong, that you are MAD, and that he'll be tossed out of his "pack" if he keeps doing it.
Any time you catch him doing something wrong, punish him right then and there. If he grabs food, knock him down and yell at him, then toss him outside.

Basically, you have to treat him the same way that the alpha dog of his pack would. Assert the dominance, don't let him skate for a second.
7 months is roughly equivalent to 12-13 years old in human terms.....and you can guess what that means!

ut ohh.. trouble teen'*.... thats why he is crazy ..

but yeah i really appericate all the advice..

as for the peeing on the floor he only does it when i catch him doing something wrong.. so if i stick his nose in it and put him out side then how will he know i am punishing him for what he did and not just because he pee'd in front of me.?

and yes i do have a specific park that has a closed fenced in area that you can bring your dog in and unleash him/her at your own risk if other dogs are in there. but im not worried about my dog. he only backs down from me.

and i guess i have to take him and run him some more but it does still get down to 10-30 degrees over here most times so its too cold.

please keep the advice and tips coming guys/gals i really appericate it..


(( also i think he is startring too lock his jaw while playing tug-a-war with me and his rope toy. he can and will pull me off the couch or too the floor from standing up. wow this dog is powerful like a **** on roids..

every watch the Dog Whisperer on the Animal Planet? That guy has some amazing skills and it is very easy to learn from him. I wish I still had my dog so I could retrain him.

I too have a dominant breed. My Doberman pinscher is no pit bull physically, but personality wise, he is very dominant and will take his advantage when he can.

What I would stress is to be extremely firm, but not too agressive- this can make your dog get defensive and resentful, and when a dog like that wants to defend himself... you're going to lose that one every time. That is a powerful breed, and you do not want to trigger agression.

At this age, he will chew on everything he can, so the only thing you can do is to supervise him as if he were a baby- don't take your eye off of him! I know it'* hard with young kids and their toys all over, but it'* hard for a puppy to understand what he is to chew on and what not to, unless you correct him IN THE ACT and EVERY time he does it. If you find something later on and tell him he was bad, it'* just not going to register. Good luck, that'* a tough one!

A woman I know has the same breed. He never grew out of the chewing bit (he'* 2 now). She resorted to putting a muzzle on him as punishment for chewing. But he still does it, so I don't see how that has worked.

I went to Obedience School once (...well, I had a dog too).... but they can teach you so much. And it is the owner than gets trained, not the dog. I learned that dogs, like people, respond to different forms of rewards. Some dogs respond well to treats, while others respond to affection. (Come to think of it, my last bf responded well to both). The key is to figure out what your dog prefers, and to treat him with a balance between negative punishment and positive reinforcement. Sort of like raising kids too... only you can't muzzle your kids.

My suggestion is to invest in taking him to school.

Regarding food - train him to eat gently out of your hand, and to allow you to take his food away for a few mins, then give it back. You don't want your kids (or someone visiting you) to get bit...that is very important.

I don’t know much about Pit Bulls, other than they frighten me. Maybe it’* a bad rap, I don’t know. I know that my Golden had a penchant for chewing that got him sent to the Big House (pound) by his original owner – he chewed down a cherry tree sapling (in retrospect, I should have named him George, eh?). This chewing passion lasted until he was about two people-years old. He even ate, not chewed, but ATE an old pair of combat boots, metal lace eyelets and all.

My point is, after turning two he settled down and chewed only things we gave him – rawhides, sticks, bones – and quit chewing up my electrical cords, hoses, and anything leather. After that, he was the best dog EVER. I do miss him.

While breed has a lot of bearing, it’* quite possible that you may just have to endure through the chewing and other naughty behavior until he grows out of it. Neutering will help settle him down too.

Be careful about sending him outside when he’* bad too. You don’t want him thinking that going outside is a bad thing. We had a corner of the house we’d send Dakota to when he was up to no good. I’d roll up a single sheet of newspaper and swat him with it, then tell him to go to his corner and he’d slink off to it. Once you’re established as the alpha male, they don’t like to disappoint you.

i have a dog for the first time ever in my life, i always wondered if i would ever get one and then my brother couldnt keep this one when he was about 3 months old so i adopted him legally and had him neutered and a chip implanted in him



now he is almost 2 years(in may coming up)

he is half black lab and half german shepard


i have found you have to be the leader/dominant one

for the first year had had a moderately bad problem of chewing up things and once he got the power cord to one of the 1500 watt heaters

didnt punish him for it since they do not recognize wrong from something they did in the past, they only live in the present, however i showed him it and said bad to him and took him outside

not much else you can do except be the parent and take him away from it or it away from him without contact or such

same as raising a kid, virtually(no i ahave no children maybe never will either at this rate- still freaking single, maybe i will adopt a child one of these days possibly hmmm)

its bene great having a dog, much more than i ever imagined, he is alot of fun, he will do about anything, and he loves the creek he will jump into any water and simw across it really well he loves it all evne the deep water and will pull drag a huge limb across it even, its crazy hahaha, not scared of anything like that at all, surprised the heck out of me!


he is a great guard dog he lets me know if anyone or anything is near the building or trying ot get in or if anyone is near me that is suspicious and most ppl will not come near hi when he is in this mode, he does not bite or attack and never had but a coupel times i wondered if he might due to very suspicious/shady individuals in which i already knew of from past instances

mpost of the time he barks at ppl because he wants to run to them for attention but to the ppl it doesnt seem like that kind of bark, except to a very small number of ppl who recognize the type of barking

i only tell him to stop and lay down if it is very annoying and not necessary and i try to pet or say good puppy if he listens in which he usually will
now when i lead him around i am firm and make him do what i want him to do,
such as from inside the building to outside or to the truck
(actually he will almost always automatically run to the vehicle when i open the back door of the building and if this is where i want him to go if i am getting ready to leave in aa vehicle then i let him run to it on his own because he will very quickly
but otherwise i make him do what i want him to do/where i want him to go and if something is outside taking his attention that he wants to run after then i take and block his vision of it and say hey! evne if it take a few times

when i am walking he will wait for me and wants me to lead the way, almost always unless we are outside somewhere,

him wanting me to lead the way is a good sign

he isnt perfect but he is acting better than most dogs i see every day, some he completely lays to waste/leaves in the dust regarding behavior(most other dogs i dont trust much at all especially pits and other dogs of that nature, most are not trained much at all and are unpredictable both due to nature of their breed and due to their owners, so i just stay away if at all possible no matter what the owner says, no eye contact, no running or sudden movements, etc)

i try to make it an immediate point ot correct things when he is doing something i dont wish him to do

i dont use treats, never have but i should have been

but dont seem to need to really


but i should

i need to make it a point ot use one now and then and to keep at it

to fine tune him, in which he does need some of

on a couple things, but not major really

when he is outside and if i am not leaving i a vehicle he will run off and not want to listen for a while

thats what i need to figure out

but i always will go get him and make him come back, and "ground him" and say no!


he has gotten to be not as bad about the running off thing, but it still needs correction work

treats may be what i need to try haha


in fact i guarantee he would come to me if he saw a treat

so yeah,,,

here he is:

Oscar is the name the person who owned him when he was born named him, i opted to leave his name at that, most of these pics are of him at less than a year old, last summer and winter:













hes a big heavy dog, not really super tall, but VERY bulky and large girth and STRONG

he has the german shepard wrist gnawing traits, ALOT

some ppl dont like it
he likes to do it as play/fun

and he likes to be a lap dog, often to ppl

haha

most ppl like him and play around with him and know he is a good puppy, and all the girls all say he is cute, its a good ice breaker i have found, i need to take some more advantage of this however haha :P they are always playing with and petting him hehehee, im jealous :PPP lmao


getting a dog is probably the best thing i have done, or is the thing i am most glad i did,
it gives me something to raise take care of, he is motiviation for me to try harder with things, and gives me excuses to get out and around more and so forth, things i wouldnt do on my own, as i always have been, virtually since around the age of 13 anyways, hmm.. i trust him more than anyone i know, except for maybe a couple ppl haha, but i live in a small podunk drunken multiple old farmer tavern-toting hick town out in the middle of cornfields nowhere IL, and have since day one of my life, hmmm, i was even born a few blocks away from here lmao..


so..

haha


nice dogs peoples


peace