The Dog Blog

Safe containment is an important issue for any pet owner. Keeping your pet on your property and decreasing their ability to roam or chase are some of the reasons for installing a fence, particularly for hunting breeds or herding breeds which are stimulated by sights, scents, and sounds. Electronic or so called "invisible" fencing is one of the options that many pet owners choose. Over the years, both my personal and professional experiences with electric fencing systems have demonstrated that the cons far outweigh the pros. The illusions of "freedom" and "safety" that the systems provide set people and their pets up for failure.

Okay, so sometimes we get frustrated with our dogs and with dog ownership itself. This is normal, and it’s healthy to acknowledge our feelings. However, it is also healthy to follow up our venting with a search for solutions.

Here’s a little exercise to get you started. Get a piece of paper and make four columns. Put the following in each column:

1.In the first column, make a list of the doggy behaviors that drive you nuts. Keep it simple: jumps on people, barks too much, pulls on leash, etc.

2.In the second column, think very hard about how your dog is being reinforced for this behavior. In other words, what is the result, what does the dog get when she pulls on leash? Does she get where she’s going? When she jumps on people, does she get attention? What’s the payoff?

Do you remember the scene in MY FAIR LADY where Professor Henry Higgins, who has been working with brazen young Eliza Doolittle to learn, among other things, proper diction in the belief that it will bump her up several notches in the Victorian Age of England? And they're doing that RAIN IN SPAIN song and he finally shouts out,

By George, she's got it!

And then, well, suddenly the epiphany of proper speech propels our Eliza onward and upward into grand adventures culminating in an open ended finale that exudes hope and personal growth to my mind, but I digress.

Whether you are living under breed bans or not, there are a few special considerations in raising a pit bull puppy that will help you contribute to good Pit PR when your pup matures.

1) Teach a sit stay with eye contact when dogs pass by:

Why: many pit bulls will inevitably become aggressive towards dogs when they reach social maturity. While socialization of pit bulls is very effective at enabling acquired bite inhibition, is much less effective at overriding the breed's typically strong inclination towards conspecific aggression. It is much easier to manage dog-dog aggression at social maturity if obedience routines are learned in puppyhood for potentially troublesome situations.

Example: My pit bull, Charlotte, has been taught to sit and watch me while other dogs pass by at a distance she can tolerate. Charlotte gets cookies for sitting. In doing this Charlotte appears to be well behaved, and well trained - making her a good diplomat for her breed.