Originally Posted by blinkykush

my boy braxton is 12 weeks old and weighs 35 pounds his dad was 93 pounds he is Razor bloodline.....i would suggest picking up a book on the breed and reading up, not to sound like a f ing book worm I havnt read anything since this months issue of hightines, but this breed is a very handson breed and need a lot of attention and socialization. take it to dog parks and socialize the pitt with other dogs and peeps....and if your dog ever snaps at another dog dont automaticly assume he is gonna rip the next ten yearolds arm off that walks by, human aggression and dog aggression are two different behaviors and just b;c your pitt may have one doesnt mean he has the other.

Originally Posted by WeFallToday

My dog jumped in the river today...went out in the middle..then starting howling until i had to go in and bring him out
i turned him around and he was looking at me and jumped back in
and did the process overMy dogs got covered in mud the other day. We have a lot of lfooding around here on the trails and such.

._.


but back to the thread
i love pit's there awesome dogs

i wouldnt take what its doing serious
may just want attention?

Originally Posted by Gryphonn

Just gotta big note myself for a bit...

We've had a *lot* of dogs in our time...lotsa different breeds and mixes. At one point we had 23 dogs in various stages of maturity. All of them, except the youngest pups knew that there was a 'no biting' rule in our pack. That is, absolutely no mouthing of people or their doggie pack. I'd love to show you some pics of them playing (might do if this thread continues). There was also a rule of 'no jumping'. We implemented this rule so that our dogs wouldn't jump up on kids as a sign of affection. They also, all except the 8 youngest pups that were learning the rule, would sit until we said "OK" at feed time. It's pretty cool to see 15 dogs all sitting and waiting until all the bowls are filled and then waiting for the OK. They all came when called without hesitation. We loved our pack...had to give all except one away when we moved back to town...We never allowed any of our big dogs to jump up on anything and they never did.

Anyway, I'd suggest being the pack leader and teaching him that it's bad form to mouth or nibble. You can do what King Papawawa suggested with the scruff of the neck shake and a big 'no biting'. That's a very strong signal in the dog world, because it harks back to severe puppy discipline from their mother. Just re-inforce it every time he/she does it. After a while (in our dogs' cases), they would sometimes forget and put their mouth near an arm or whatever. "No Biting!" was all it took for them to remember. You could see the "Oh, sorry dude" look on their faces.

Consistency in your actions are what they understand and respect.

For the record, we rarely used harsh discipline on our pack. The worst was a severe shaking by the scruff of the neck and then a hold down with lots of angry words (much like growling and snarling at them but in human terms) if they did something really bad, like going walk about when they weren't supposed to. It was rare, but we had one of our spoiled girls who would lead the others astray. She just couldn't stay around the house when there was thousands of acres around her to explore.

Seamaiden, Lucy and blinkykush are all right on the button re dogs. You are their leader and therefore you have to show them leadership. Otherwise they'll do what they want and start to consider themselves a contender.

Originally Posted by Seamaiden

I hadn't thought about the jumping, I have a thing that dogs are not allowed to put their feet on me, either. That's because they don't understand that their feet may be dirty one day or I may be wearing something nice another day, I don't expect them to tell the difference.

My Ridgie is so good about the mouth that I will play with her and put my hand in her mouth and she pulls her lips over her teeth and never shuts her jaws. She's gotten quite good about it. Now if only I could teach her to stop with that whip of a tail. Only way I know of to stop the wagging is to cut it off.

I, too, disapprove of human forms of negative reinforcement, no hitting or yelling. They just want to please us most of the time, and they need to know where we stand and where they stand. Once they understand that they're much happier and so are we.Yes I have to agree here also except in extreme cases. Sometimes you need to raise or shout if there is a serious issue happening....ie....dog running across the road after a squirrel or something.

Now... if only we could convince the kids of how to work with their new little terrier (terror is more like it). Smart as a whip and he needs direction, good dog, but again, he needs direction. And his balls cut, he's begun marking in the house.

Originally Posted by Gryphonn

Hehehe, Jack, the only pup (three years old going on four) we have left from the 23 we had a couple years back, is a wagger. We're constantly going "Tail Dude!" if he gets too close. He's not a big dog, but yep, he has a steel whip too.

Yeah, Jack just doesn't mouth anymore. He nibbles on my fingers on occasion, but very rarely. Oh, the clothes thing is another reason we have the jump/paws on body rule. He puts his paw up on us when he is craving some lurv though. Then we say "Gimme Five" and he does, and he *always* sits if he wants a pat.

We love our puppy.

Originally Posted by To0 Much Dr0

hes teething get him some chew toys or just smoke an ounce blunt with him im a vet tech trust me itll work

Originally Posted by Biggravy22

Ok guys...there have been a lot of great responses...thank you. As far as trying to dominating me...I don't think so. Because we'll Be petting him, and he'll get a little hyper, and just slide the thumb nibble for litterally 2 seconds and let go. No pressure. Just kinda like how a baby would chew on something.

Originally Posted by Gryphonn

Kind of like a nuzzle, but different. Our pups would inevitably do that, but we nipped it in the bud early. We had to with so many dogs.



With the jumping, try explaining to your visitors that you are breaking him out of the habit so he doesn't jump on a toddler and knock it over by accident. Unfortunately, it can take a while for a pup to realise its strength, so it's a good idea to break the need to jump up early. It can also lead to a dominance thing, where the dog will show its superiority to a stranger in their territory by standing up or jumping up on them. Not an attack, but a "hey dude, how you doin? I live here and I'm more important than you."
Anyway, always say "No!" (we say "No Jumping!"...it's distinctive in its sound) and push him back to the ground. Ask your friends to do the same and he'll soon realise it's wrong. But above all, be persistent and consistent...and love 'em up heaps too of course .

The harshest discipline our dogs got was me grabbing them around the snout and forcing them to the ground. Not twisting or anything, just firmly grabbing their snout, then guiding their head to the ground and holding them there while I chastised them and they stopped trying to pull away. That's another very good dominance thing that dogs understand.If they growled at me, they got slapped. Our dogs were also taught not to growl at each other or fight during feed time and missed out if they argued over food. At one stage we only had five large bowls for 15 dogs and they all knew who they shared a bowl with and never raided the other dogs' bowls.

I know it sounds corny, but you can combine a distinctive hand movement with the "No jumping" thing and after a while all you'll need do is get his attention and make the hand movement. Hehe, if I point at Jack when he's done nothing wrong, his expression immediately changes to "What'd I do?"
Dogs are brilliant at interpreting body language in dogs *and* humans that they live with.

Damn I wish my Lady was here. She has 'the way' with dogs. She barely has to raise her voice and Jack is already stopped whatever he may have been about to do. She could explain all this better than me. Only two days before she's back...with medicine too!

Oh, before I take over this thread too much, if you hand feed him and he lunges at the food, push him back and say something like "No. Be gentle." If you have too *gently* slap him on the end of the nose. It's really sensitive, so don't hit him hard. Practice with him long enough and he'll learn to take food from your finger gentler than a mouse. Jack's father could lift a 1/2" cube of meat from your fingers so slowly and gently, that you could barely feel his lips, teeth or tongue. With bigger pieces he'd take them gently into his mouth, but wouldn't pull back until you let the meat go. I've got a photo of him around this 'puter somewhere too. I've gotta shut up. Back to the

I'm happy for you guys getting a dog.

Originally Posted by kingpapawawa

best way to train him is to grab him by the scruff of the neck and give a slight tug while saying "NO!" - thats how his momma would have grabbed him to discipline him.

then you want to give him something he is allowed to chew on and while he is chewing give him some "good boy!" and pats on the head.

also you should work on getting him to let you take back whatever it is he is chewing on. hand it to him and take it back a few times.

also just another note.. whenever you leave and enter the house with the dog make sure you go in or out first. in a pack of dogs the head dog always goes in/out first. the rest know their place..