[mrcrowley]

We have a 1 year old pitbull terrier mix since we adopted her as a puppy. For the most part her behavior is very good. We took her through 3 training courses at PetSmart and she has recieved her Canine Good Citizenship. She is very obedient to us when it is just my wife and I. She is very well behaved on walks and normally walks beside us without pulling. She does many tricks very well and actually has a lot of concentration on tricks. However, there are several things that no matter how we try to approach she does not improve on. We figured that some of the behaviors would decrease as she had gotten older, but they have not changed even when we try to correct her.

The first is new people. When a guest comes over to our house and to the front door there is nothing that we can do to calm her excitement. She does not listen to us, she tries to barge through to the front door to jump all over them. My wife and I have both tried claiming the space around the door to make her back up and sit but it's like we're not even there. All she sees is the people at the door. She means no harm, she really just wants to get attention and give them kisses, but for a 65 pound pure muscle dog it is very overwhelming to people who are not expecting it. My wife and I have tried practicing by each ringing the doorbell. And waiting for her to sit at least 6 feet away from the door. It works with the both of us just fine, but it does not work the same with others. The other time that it does not work is when we are walking her. If a jogger goes past us or someone walks the other direction down a trail she becomes full of excitement and it is very hard to get her to calm down again. Normally she does not pull on the leash but after encountering someone she can turn a good walk into a bad one, pulling from the moment she sees a person till the walk is over. Sometimes she will raise up on her hind legs to try to jump on the person which, I imagine to some can look very startling, especially for those who are affraid of pitbulls. We've also tried correcting this by making her sit or using a correction from the choke collar but it's like a switch has been activated.

The second and more important problem is her running game. This only happens sporatically but when it does happen it is very frustrating. Usually she will come in after going outside no question. But every once in a while she will not come in no matter how much coaxing with treats, her toys, etc to get her to come back in. I or my wife have to physically go into the back yard to get her and then she runs like Speedy Gonzalez away from us. She runs so fast she looses her balance and falls when turning sometimes. There can be 10 minutes of this before we catch her and put her in submission. After we do that she's fine she comes right inside following us with no leash. But it's Groundhog Day all over the next time that she doesn't feel like listening to us to come inside. This is amplified further when she get's loose on walks. There have been several times, including this morning, where she has slipped off the leash and began to run wildly throughout the neighborhood completely ingoring our commands and evading us as if it is a game. She actually taunts us by coming in close then speeding away. She completely ignores streets and runs across them without looking at all. We're very concerned that one of these times she's going to get hit by a car. My wife followed after her for 20 minutes this morning until she cornered her in a fenced in yard that had the gate open. She called me in tears to tell me about the incident and how worried and upset she was about the dog. I just don't understand. I see a lot of dogs in our neighborhood that are not fenced in, that stay in their yard and don't run the neighborhood. I don't think our dog could ever be that way and it is very frustrating. We have friends who have farmland and they let their dogs run around the yard and they know their dog will always come back. I think ours would just keep going or run out to the highway and get hit so we don't even think of bringing her with.

I try not to show my frustration when she does these things, but there is only so much you can hold in without feeding your emotions to the dog. Does anyone know where I can even start with this behavior?

Thanks in advance.

[Toby4Life]

I'm curious how much exercise the dog gets normally. It sounds like she's got quite a bit of pent up energy.

You say that when she won't come in from the yard that you go out to get her and she runs around. Do you chase her?? If so, than your probably right that she thinks it's a game when she's running around and you are trying to catch her.

Something you can try when she is running around in the yard is to lay on the ground and yell wierd noises. Not words or preferably anything she's heard before, just odd yips. In most cases the dog is wondering why in the world you are laying there making these weird noises and will come to investigate. It sounds and looks odd, but I've seen it work.

My other suggestion would be to give the dog more mental stimulation. I know you said you did training at a store, what about a more formal training club in the area. Look into agility or flyball to help her get rid of that excess energy. Good luck!!!

[K8IE]

Sounds like she is still just a very energetic puppy and has a hard time concentrating and understanding what you are asking. I know how that is, as my pup is not much older and also a silly, playful breed. Hang in there..

First, I would suggest two great books: The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell, and The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson. They are awesome and address all of your issues and more. Just very enjoyable to read and incredibly informative. So common sense while you read it you are like "why didn't I think of that???!!" LOL

As far as the front door issue goes, I feel your pain. We are in the process of training our Boxer pup out of the door rushing, people mauling (with wiggles and kisses and jumping) behaviors. The most important thing is to never allow the behaviors you don't want. Meaning restraining them if need be, one of you can answer the door while the other puts a leash on the dog and has her sit until the guests are indoors. The thing though with having guests over and teaching the dog manners, is that the guests need to be on the same page and know to completely ignore the dog until she is behaving as she should. I have Cooper sit on the carpeted area off our foyer as guests come in the front door and keep him in a sit or down stay. This of course requires constant correction at present, but he is doing much better. Once the guests are in the house I will release him and they fold their arms and turn away and look at the ceiling until he is calm. He gets NO reinforcement for acting like a doofus. It does work, but just takes a bit of finagling to get everyone on board so things run smoothly.

With the keep-away game.... Well, this is one of those that you definitely want to get under control asap, like you said, it can at times be a matter of life and death. Working on recall is a must, and making sure of course that every time (even when you are really ticked off) she does come to you that you praise, praise, praise!! One thing I find with dogs not wanting to come in the yard is because many times when dogs are called that means playtime over. If they keep running, playtime is still on. You can work on recall in a play setting to help her realize that coming to you does not always equal=playtime over. Play games of calling her to you just for a quick pat and a treat, then release her. She will be much more likely to come when called if she realizes it doesn't ALWAYS mean she is going back inside or to her crate or whatever. Also, and someone else mentioned this... Make sure you never chase her. Obviously this is the worst thing to do. The best thing is to make yourself seem very interesting by running the opposite way and calling out in a happy voice. It works with my Cooper every time.

I hope this helps. Do look into those books, you won't be disappointed!!

[TooneyDogs]

For the door: instead of a sit use a down. Make her lay down more than 6' away...preferably 15' and behind a natural threshold like carpet/linoleum or a doorway. Lots and lots of practice!
The running game: She's lost her right to be off leash outside. For her safety, you need to use a kennel run, fencing, a tie-out or a dog run.

[beavboyz]

I guess the only way to stop it is training, training, and more training. In that case though you would have to have someone walk in the front door over and over, while you train the dog not to jump.

Same thing with the running away, she probably see's it as a game. I am sure she has fun doing it, maybe call the dog whisperer :P

[fyzbo]

I definitely feel your pain. You have a puppy still with lots of energy.

For the guests, the only way to fix it will be to practice. Find people who are willing to help and make sure they work with you. It's tough as new people are always exciting. Another thing to do is to go out in public with a bag of really great treats and sit with your dog. As long as she remains calm, quit and sitting by your side praise her and reward. This is much easier if she has already had an ample amount of exercise.

As far as recall, I've noticed that until a dog becomes completely perfect the only way to get a young dog to come is when you are more interesting then the other options. Right now her running away is more interesting then coming to you. You can become more interesting with treats, games, etc. Also practice constantly in many different ways. Call her over then let her run again. Go to the far corner of the yard and call her over only to release her again. As mentioned whenever she does come always praise, even if it took 20 min. I would also practice on a long lead and help her listen, this will ensure she understands what you want.

Good luck and keep trying.

[Gripenfelter]

Have you tried tasering her when someone comes to the door? Kidding.

Or you could leash her to your waist while someone else opens the door. Correct her and put her in a sit. Make her wait till people have removed their shoes and come out of the foyer before she greets them. Then when she does greet them, correct her if she jumps on anyone.

I used to have this problem with my dog. I used to block him off behind a child gate and my guests would let him sniff their hands as they passed by. When he settled down he was allowed to come out and greet them.

[mrcrowley]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I do have a fairly large fenced in back yard that is secure and I am not worried about her getting out. However getting her to come in can sometimes be a challenge. I am not sure if what I am doing is chasing, I am walking towards her slowly whatever direction she goes if that is considered chasing then perhaps I need to rethink my strategy. We typically give her a 2 mile walk in the morning followed by some type of activity in the afternoon when we return from work. She has full run of the house while we are away and luckily that is not a problem with her. So yes really the only 2 things are the chase game and door/people rushing. I will try to work on some of the behavior through training. My father-in-law is actually the one more than anything that I think works her up and I think we need to let him know to ignore her behavior until she is done rather than wrestle with her.

[Flygirl]

We had a similar problem with our dog Jill when we first brought her home. She LOVES to be chased, and would initiate a game of chase whenever she could. What has worked for us is to teach her it's much more fun to chase us. We will grab a treat and run through the yard(or house) yelling "Jill treats", when she catches us she gets the treat. She absolutely loves the game and we only have to yell treats and she's right there ready to play. It was a lifesaver when she was scared by a delivery guy, slipped her collar and took off down our driveway.

We are working on come, stay, etc. but till then our game works great. It's also great excercise for both dog and kids on those nasty, rainy days.