For dog owners
By ayumitakashi
@ayumitakashi (4462)
United States
February 15, 2010 2:22pm CST
Okay so my beautiful pit-bull/boxer bit my finger yesterday morning before I left to go see a movie with my brother. Now it did pretty much hurt and I'm not really mad at her because she's still a puppy.
Although I do need to show her that she should not do that. She actually does not do that to me often. She does on the other hand chase my brother around and jumps on top of him whenever he comes to my room because she remembers that he used to play around with her and wrestle with her when she was younger. Unfortunately I was either at work or at school when this would happen.
So to get back to the point she is mostly like an angel with me. She lays around all day and just plays with her toys and then gets me to play with her as well. She does growl when anyone gets near her food or her toys because she thinks they are going to take it away. I felt kind of bad yesterday after she bit me becuause I'm trying my best to train her and make her a good dog. I felt pretty disappointed in myself because of that.
Another thing is that she growls a lot at other dogs she sees on the streets and she isn't very friendly with other dogs or with people. Which to a certain extent is good because I live in Bronx and I don't want her to be friendly with every single person that passes by. She is very protective over me when we are walking.
So I just wanted to know if any dog owners felt disappointed at one time or another when something went wrong with training their dogs? I've gotten over it and I am back to teaching her what's right from wrong. Any one got any good tips for me?
3 people like this
3 responses
@warmweatherwoman (2233)
• Atlantic City, New Jersey
15 Feb 10
I watch the show "The Dog Whisperer" quite often. Ceasar Milan is awesome at helping us understand dogs and their behavior better. I'm sure you could get some great tips watching his show. If it doesn't come on where you live I would suggest finding him online- I'm sure he has a website or maybe you could catch some of the episodes online.
2 people like this
@ayumitakashi (4462)
• United States
15 Feb 10
Thanks for reminding me of that. I heard of that show before and I heard that it was really good but I completely forgot about it. I will make sure to check it out. Thanks. 
1 person likes this
@sleepylittlerose (1648)
• United States
15 Feb 10
You are not alone when it comes to disappointment when training a dog. They will always to things that you are so pleased with but then back it up with something that may disappoint you. You need to make sure to reinforce the positive behavior and not dwell on the negative. She will feed off of that and actually become more agressive if you are not careful. I know that many people are probably telling you to be super concious of her breed but typically pits are only as mean as they are taught to be. So make sure that the brother no longer wrestles with her as this will bring out the agression. If she constantly jumps on him when he comes in, have him ignore her or even turn his back to her. She will learn quickly that he is not going to pay attention to her and she will typically stop. As for her nipping your finger, did you have a treat or something that she was going after or had you just eaten something yourself. If either of those are the case it should be somewhat excuseable as she is still a puppy. Find a good obedience school, take steps to correct behaviors now that you do not want in the future. She will make you a fine dog. I know several people that have pits or pit mixes that have children raised in the same house without a minutes fear. Don't allow people to give her a bad wrap just because of her breed.
1 person likes this
@ayumitakashi (4462)
• United States
15 Feb 10
Oh no I don't let him near her too much at all. And it just makes me mad because she's my dog and he doesn't listen to what I say. But he doesn't play with her like that anymore. I make sure of it. I didn't have anything in my hand when she bit me. She was looking under the door and now that I'm thinking about it I think she might have gotten scared when I reached out to touch her.
Thanks for the tips that you gave me. They are really good. I am going to get a trainer that will come to our house and help me train her. I know what people say about pitbulls but I really think that it depends on how the owner trains the dog and I want my dog to be a great dog that can get along with everyone but is cautious at the same time of danger. Thanks.
1 person likes this
@Bad_Daddy55 (497)
• Canada
16 Feb 10
Your dog doesn't have to be friendly with anyone but you. However she NEEDS BASIC obediance training. With basic training she will be taught to obey at all times.
When you walk her/him touch the dog or touch anything that it has near it or eating.
I have Bouviers, I can at anytime touch them or do what ever I want when I want. I train dogs, all working dogs. No dog shold bite their owner unless they are being abused. By not training you pet it will become a hazard to be around.
Loving your pet is showing it how to understand how to be around humans.
REMEMBER ALWAYS LUV/ CARE FOR YOUR DOG/ PET, THEY WILL ALWAYS LUV U...
@ayumitakashi (4462)
• United States
17 Feb 10
First of all your dogs are very beautiful. Of course I don't want her to friendly with everyone but I also don't want her to growl at every single person that passes by. I love my dog extremely and I am going to get her a trainer because I want her to obey me.
I actually have trained her a bit and she knows some of the basics like sit, stay and come but I'm already looking into getting a professional trainer to help me with the rest. Thanks for the tips.
