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Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2013
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Pittbulls kill 2 year old and 5 month old
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How do you feel about PittBull's? I posted this because my wife shared this story with me and my son was just recently participating in a "read to sheltered dogs" event where you could adopt a dog (I know brilliant). I've heard the arguments that PittBull's get a bad wrap, but it seems time and time again they are the focal point of dogs who do these horrible acts. |
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Posts: 2,847
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#31 | |
Fish are scared of me
Join Date: Nov 2001
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Posts: 40,699
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#32 | |
Sauntering Vaguely Downwards
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Columbia, Mo
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Quote:
I finally figured out that bird/sport dogs listen/learn because they want to. A high drive working dog is going to listen/learn because he realizes its in his best interests to do so. The desire to please w/ a sporting dog is orders of magnitude higher. Once they understand what you're trying to tell them, they'll move heaven and earth to get it right. With working dogs, they'll understand what your saying and still kinda think "eh - why the **** should I do that?" So you have to be insanely consistent with enforcement/incentive and over time they'll stop questioning the 'why' of it and settle into a really good equilibrium. And at that point I find them easier to train than sporting dogs because they have better focus and a better attention span. I didn't necessarily think one was any harder than the other once I understood the necessary distinctions in approach. But man, they really couldn't be much different. |
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Posts: 61,797
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#33 | |
Sauntering Vaguely Downwards
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Columbia, Mo
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Quote:
He was fine until about 9 months old and the testosterone kicked in. And since I'd been training him like a sporting dog to that point, I wasn't prepared for him to hit a rebellious streak. When he did, we were simply at loggerheads. There was a genuine confrontation about every day and I stupidly started seeking them out to 'break' him of it. My own fault - I needed to be a more versatile trainer. It was a situation where I thought I knew everything there was to know but I clearly did not. I will openly concede that I ****ed that up and set myself back probably a full year. At this point, however, I'm convinced you could give me a 9 year old wild timberwolf an I'd be able to whip it into shape. |
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Posts: 61,797
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#34 |
Going home eventually
Join Date: Dec 2002
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Posts: 30,770
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#35 |
Fish are scared of me
Join Date: Nov 2001
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My STUD Rott retrieved better than my Yellow lab. LOL
He was so loyal. I could put him in the back yard and give him the "SIT" command by hand signal. Go in the house and come back out 30 minutes later and he'd be sitting right there with his tough hanging out waiting for me. |
Posts: 40,699
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#36 |
I'll be back.
Join Date: Nov 2002
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has anyone ever had a pit jump a fence and attack their dog?
i live next door to a pit and he plays with my hound, running up and down a chain link fence...he's never tried to jump the fence and i don't think he would, but i'd never forgive myself if i just let them play and bark at each other and one day the pit snapped, jumped the fence and killed my hound i know pits can jump out of the gym |
Posts: 284,232
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#37 | |
Fish are scared of me
Join Date: Nov 2001
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Quote:
NOT financial advise! |
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Posts: 40,699
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#38 | |
Sauntering Vaguely Downwards
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Columbia, Mo
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Quote:
Working dogs are exceptionally attentive and you can do really great things with them when you figure them out. But you have to realize that their brains are in many ways like a muscle - you've gotta get them using parts of it that they aren't hard-wired to use. The biggest hurdle is impulse control. So an exercise that I recommend for anyone is a delayed gratification drill. Find their absolute favorite treat (for us its pepperoni). Put them in a sit and then stand with the treat open palmed in front of you at chest height. Bring it down slowly and when they make a move for it, close your hand around it. Don't say anything - let them figure it out. Let them nose and lick for however long it takes before they give up. They'll sit back down and look at you when they do. Once that happens, start moving it back down again with an open palm. Move slowly (like, a foot every 20-30 seconds) until you get to their eye level. At eye level for them it's gonna be hard for them to maintain their sit and if he jumps at it again, close your hand, come back up, rinse repeat. Over a week or so you'll get to where you can take that all the way to their nose and they won't lunge. Then you teach them a 'look' command so they lock eyes and hold it until you release them. And when you do, they get the treat. Over time you make them hold that look longer and longer until you can get them stock still, ignoring the treat and looking at you for a command for at least a minute. I can get a pretty much indefinite look/hold at this point. It makes them focus so much on their impulse control. And you do that drill with them for a month and you're working that 'muscle' in their brain to where they eventually become capable of doing exactly what you're saying. Mine will sit and stare at his food bowl for 20 minutes until I yell 'take it' from wherever I am in the house. Because I worked the hell out of his impulse control. But the bottom line is that if you have a working dog that ISN'T a high drive dog, you probably don't have a very good working dog. Those lines aren't going to be very good. So you need to understand how to work with and train a dog like that. They're just very different. And if you're not someone that wants to deal with all that - cool. I ain't mad at ya. Just get yourself a sporting dog. You're probably never going to get the kind of focus you can get from a working dog, but the barriers to entry on training one of those is essentially non-existent because they want so badly to please their owners. |
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Posts: 61,797
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#39 |
Hey Loochy, I'm hooome!
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: PooPooKaKaPeePeeShire
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Ban assault pit bulls
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Posts: 41,070
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#40 |
Fish are scared of me
Join Date: Nov 2001
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Making me want to get another ROTT! Stop it Mr. DJ's Left Nut!
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Posts: 40,699
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#41 |
I'll be back.
Join Date: Nov 2002
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Posts: 284,232
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#42 |
Fish are scared of me
Join Date: Nov 2001
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Posts: 40,699
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#43 | |
Cynical Misanthrope
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Alaska
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Quote:
And I’ve had a couple of mastiffs. They were great, loyal dogs and really mellow. Surprised to see that they are a breed of concern. Maybe mine were outliers but all they wanted to do was lie around the house, although they were really protective. Neighbor across the street had a pit that came into the street barking at my daughter and my mastiff came barreling down barking at that pit. I think those barks registered at the Tsunami warning center. But he was just the most loyal, faithful, mellow dog I have ever had and I’ve never heard of them being aggressive. But it is odd how such a large percentage of fatalities can be attributed to one breed of dog that is such a small portion of the population. It’s like propensity for violence is a genetic trait or something. |
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Posts: 4,088
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#44 | |
MVP
Join Date: Jan 2013
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Quote:
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Posts: 12,820
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#45 |
Fish are scared of me
Join Date: Nov 2001
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Curios how big are Mastiff terds ?
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Posts: 40,699
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