Pittbulls - It finally happened to me

[Bullwinkle]

The first year critical for shaping the animal - A trainer / owner has a very short window in a dogs shaping - some remedial work may be effective at an advanced age - but dont hold your breath - or beat the dog into submission......

At six months to a year (about the time they gain bladder control) the dog is shaped as to how social it will be. Or in the case of a protection dog just the opposite - never to take food or look for cuddles from a stranger - its not rocket science ..........

Its when trainers confuse the two or expect the dog to make a decision on its own that the problems arise....

I'd like to hear how the new crop of dominance trainers would deal with groin biting rotties (30 stitches - ouch) as in the referenced article - I am all ears.... willing to learn..... the jazz player lucky - groin first to subdue large prey - then the arms and legs. then the the neck - thats how dogs kill........ its not pretty or a national geo series........

[Guest]

It has always been pretty obvious to me observing the way wolves are in the wild that the other wolves are fearful of the pack leader, not always in a good way, seems to instill a lot of aggressive competition. Violence begets violence. I would much rather have a devotion of love, rather then fear, although a natural sense of fear as part of the devotion does occur in the human dog relationship. Love takes a bit more understanding and independence, the control is not absolute in the way fear is, you have to explore the world together with your pup, helping your pup to learn under your loving gaze. So I seem to have figured, Hank loves and fears me but I try not to appeal to the fear unless absolutely necessary.

“Setting a good example is a far better way to spread ideals than through force of arms.”
-Ron Paul

[Bullwinkle]

And if one lives in rural areas like puna- always keep one eye open for the nasties. please, please, please, watch the toddlers and......

I would also be considering a fence - even if its a four footer if you dont want to kill the view.

If in Atlanta - I'd make sure to ask the desk clerk if there were any rotties registered that evening........

[ericlp]

There is a guy who walks around my neighborhood holding a baseball bat...

I have often thought about getting a baseball bat to go walking around in my hood. There are tons of nasty dogs on chains with no fence around here and well, as they say a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. I'd really hate to see what might happen if a collar snapped or that dog got off it's chain.

Lets see... Baseball bat vs. 30 stitches ... What would you prefer?

[jlgerk]

OK, my last rant about dogs.
About 30 years ago, I got the nick name "Bat Man"
I had #2 son riding home every evening on his bike from his JOB.
He was often chased by a dog. One evening I heard him atacked about a block away. ..
I got my bat and went out screaming I would kill that F'n bastard bla bla dog.
And I would and still will.
F anyone that thinks their dog is more important than my/any child.
.
OK, my rant is done now.

http://www.icompositions.com/artists/jlgerk

[Jeffhale]

quote:

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Originally posted by Bullwinkle

The first year critical for shaping the animal - A trainer / owner has a very short window in a dogs shaping - some remedial work may be effective at an advanced age - but dont hold your breath - or beat the dog into submission......

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Pavlov:

http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/me...dmore.html

I had a wild dog, some sort of begle mix, born under our house. His mother was so wild nobody ever touched her,, but when she was out,, we'd pet her pups.. gave em away as they got to the right age but,, 1... . He'd begun to take on her wild characteristics, and at 4 months I trapped him in a cage..

as a teen ager who was my best friend,, we roomed our neighborhood high and low,, was a great animal although I had no idea how to train one,, save petting when he'd obey..

30 Years ago,, picked up a Cocker Spaniel mutt at 6 months,,.


bought a book called something like, 'Train your pet like the movie star animals'..

was 'like' 5 bucks..

Having studied psychology, (required collage),

Of course Pavlov is a biggy, ha..

Anyways,, all you do is; get the animal to start doing what you want,, like "Sit" and give it a treat. this might take a bit of time,, so you need to be patent, but when chance comes and it gets half way to doing what ya want,, you build on it till it gets there. Each time it performs the action, you ring a bell or better yet, the book came with a little metal clicker.

As Pavlov did, you slowly stop the treat to teach the animal to become rewarded by just clicking the clicker.. (bell) and or in my case, always said "Good boy, or dog" when rewarding it, and when clicking.

That dog learned every single trick in the book..


eventually I took the clicker out of the picture and reward was simply "Good boy!"

pretty simple,, to just reward an animal.. Dog in this case.. and have a very responsive dog, obey your every command for life..



Unfortunately.. in the case of my Catahoula (probably mixed with a small amount of Pitt) . He'll do anything I've trained him to do except: unlock..

Go figure.

[oink]

I've never owned a Pit but years ago I had a pit owner, who hunted with them, tell me that to get them to release, when they won't respond to verbal commands, is to pick them up by their rear legs and start spreading their legs. I've never tried it so take it for what it's worth, which isn't much.

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

[Guest]

Clicker training is very effective. "Leave it alone" is probably the most important command.

“Setting a good example is a far better way to spread ideals than through force of arms.”
-Ron Paul